Tuesday, January 12th, 2010...6:35 am
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mahinmi?
As a bench player in basketball, you’re told the best way to earn playing time is to play hard in practice and make the most of the minutes you’re given during the game. If this is the mantra that Coach Popovich subscribes to, on Sunday night Ian Mahinmi earned himself some more minutes, somewhere down the road.
As Tim discussed in his recap of the Spurs win over the New Jersey Nets, Mahinmi, in his first game action in two years, scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 21 minutes of play. He also chipped in a block and an assist. He was the talk of the game, and for good season.
He showed some small flashes of a talented big man throughout the game. Most people will point out the series where he blocked a shot from Courtney Lee on the defensive end and finished the break on the other end with a dunk, but my eyes went to a couple other plays. Both came in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs had built a double-digit lead.
On one, the Nets went to a zone defense and the Spurs rotated the ball around trying to find a soft spot. Mahinmi was able to flash into the middle of the lane and seal off the weak-side guard. He received the entry pass deep in the lane and with that position, it is nearly impossible to stop a big man as athletic as Ian and he finished with a dunk. That knowledge of where to be in spacing is something that a lot of young bigs struggle with, especially when a team switches to a zone defense.
The second play that caught my eye was also in the fourth quarter, when Mahinmi was able to get some space along the baseline after a teammate drove to the basket. He received a kick-out about 12 feet from the basket and drained the jumpshot. It was an extremely slow release, but he showed good form on his shot nonetheless. The jumper from the short corner put a nice cap on Mahinmi’s 6-for-6 night from the field and 3-for-4 from the free throw line.
It wasn’t a perfect night, though. Mahinmi showed nothing resembling a back-to-the-basket game and defensively, he looked a half-step slow in the first half, but that’s something you can expect from a young player who hasn’t logged NBA minutes in two years. That split-second delay in timing led to a several baskets in the lane for the Nets and a couple of foul calls, that a player like Tim Duncan or Antonio McDyess would not pick up.
Though other fouls he committed seemed like the referees were just picking on him, including an illegal screen he was called for in the final period. Mahinmi received his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter, but to his credit, he avoided picking up a sixth foul and played the entire fourth quarter.
Mahinmi’s timing improved as the game wore on, and he did a solid job guarding Brook Lopez, one of the Eastern Conference’s better big men. He battled with Lopez in the post and did well to deny Lopez entry passes throughout, though he picked up a couple fouls for his aggressiveness.
One thing I noticed when watching Mahinmi on defense, is that he doesn’t show on pick-and-rolls. When his man sets a screen on the Spur guarding the ball, instead of helping to slow down the player with the ball and allow his teammate to get back in the play, he hangs back and let’s the ball handler come off of the screen free. I don’t know if that’s by design or defensive mistake that he is repeatedly making, but it’s different than how other Spur bigs defend the play. The same quarter McDyess was showing on screens, so it’s something to keep an eye on when Mahinmi plays again.
Speaking of Mahinmi playing, when is that supposed to happen again?
Honestly, it’s hard to say. No one was expecting Mahinmi to be active on Sunday night, and the Spurs were playing the Nets, owners of the NBA’s worst record. Tonight, they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the team boasting the NBA’s best record. Coach Popovich very well could’ve activated and played Mahinmi against the Nets to give some relief to his normal frontcourt rotation; Tim Duncan didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter against the Nets.
Going along with that line of thinking, it’s hard to predict when or if Mahinmi were to play again. The Spurs don’t have a two consecutive games with such a drastic shift in record the rest of the season, obviously. What may be the more likely scenario is playing Mahinmi on the first or second night of a back-to-back, against a weaker team. San Antonio plays the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday, so there’s a possibility we could see more Mahinmi this weekend.
But what are the Spurs doing with Mahinmi? Are they bringing him along slowly, playing him against weaker teams in order to develop him and build his confidence? With the Spurs passing on picking up Mahinmi’s option year back in October, I think that ship has sailed. I’d speculate that the Spurs don’t think Mahinmi is their type of player and they are playing him now to showcase him as trade bait.
The NBA’s trade deadline is less than five weeks away and if the Spurs hope to get anything in return for Mahinmi, instead of simply letting him walk this summer, they’ve got to prove to other teams that he’s worth taking a risk and trading for. That gives the Spurs a only handful of games left before the deadline to show him off. And if he plays in those games like he did on Sunday night, the Spurs might just get some value in return.
Related posts:
13 Comments
January 12th, 2010 at 7:23 am
I hate to see a guy like Mahinmi leave the SPURS! From what i have seem, I would rather have him than, Theo, Haislip, and Hairston. I would almost giv up McDyess as well. If we are in the turn of having to rebuild this team, Why not hold onto a guy like Ian…
January 12th, 2010 at 7:38 am
I’m not trying to argue that the Spurs aren’t trying to showcase Mahinmi to increase his trade value, but what team is really going to trade for him — and, more important from the perspective of Spurs fans, what would he garner in a trade?
Basically, I’m assuming that — despite the recession — the NBA is still the NBA, and some owner or executive (Marc Cuban, anyone?) is still going to overpay to try to lock up Mahinmi just as has been done with countless other big men with upside (Samuel Dalembert is the first to come to mind in a *very* long list). IF that assumption is true, then it’s hard to see why a team would give up much of anything for a guy that is destined to be drawn away by an over-sized contract this summer.
I don’t think the Spurs are interested in taking back another player’s contract; maybe they could get a draft pick for Mahinmi. But what team gives up a second rounder (much less a 1st) for no more than 3 months of having a player on their team? Maybe a contender would do it if they felt like it would put them over the top, but why would the Spurs do a contender such a favor?
So that leaves teams that aren’t contenders and could use frontcourt help. But once again, if such a team trades for Mahinmi, it will be because they expect him to contribute over the next 3 months, which only increases the chances that someone else will come along and overpay him this summer.
We all know that Mahinmi isn’t likely to be traded outright, but rather is more likely to be used as a sweetener in a bigger trade. But by the same reasoning above, he’s not going to be much in the way of a sweetener either.
Of course, the trade market is unpredictable, so we’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, it was nice to see the Spurs’ former 1st round pick have some success against the Nets.
January 12th, 2010 at 9:50 am
Perhaps his next game will be Wednesday night at OKC. After this Lakers game, which will likely see the main guys with a high end of minutes and great deal of exersion, why not give Ian his first road taste of the season against a team that recently gives the Spurs problems. Nothing wrong with an extra big protecting the basket on a night the team may need some extra court energy.
January 12th, 2010 at 10:13 am
One problem I have with trading Ian is that if he plays well enough to increase his trade value, then I’d hate to see a productive young big being traded away. If he doesn’t play well then his trade value will be diminished. I think that they should keep him for the rest of the season and use him like they did against NJ. If the team needs a boost of energy against a bad team Ian can come in and play like it’s the 7th game of the finals. Also, it would be nice to have another big on the roster in case of injury or fatigue.
I actually wouldn’t mind seeing him for 5 minutes tonight against the Lakers. If he is totally overmatched then they can bench him quickly. If he plays well, then let him play 10 minutes.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:21 am
The problem with that line of thought (playing him against the Lakers) is that we already have a player that we’re going to do that with - his name is DaJuan Blair. The problem for Mahnimi is, unfortunately, timing. If Blair wasn’t here, then Mahnimi would probably be soaking up Blair’s minutes (though he’d be coming in with the second unit). The unfortunate side effect of Blair falling into the Spur’s lap has been that we can’t really afford to have two players who are totally at home in one game and totally out of position and screwing up in the next one. Really, I read his activation as having almost as much to do with the coaching staff’s comfort in Blair as anything special to do with Mahnimi.
Though I also don’t think this is a showcase. I think the fact that they didn’t pick up next year of Mahnimi’s contract has a very simple explanation. By not picking up next year’s contract, it situates us better to bring over Splitter. If Splitter doesn’t come next year, then Mahnimi can be re-signed at that point - unless something drastically changes, there is not going to be much of a market for him. Next year we will definitely have McDyess, Duncan, and Blair, there’s really only room on the 12 man roster for one more big.
In the meantime, this is exactly the kind of game he should play in - not much at risk, but an NBA game at NBA speed against the kinds of players the Spurs want Ian to do well against. If he gets into serious trouble, you can always pull Duncan back in for five minutes to settle everything down, but he’s never going to learn about keeping his fouls down and things like that without playing.
Also, it gives Ratliff rest for one night to save himself for the playoffs and games like tonight against the Lakers. And if Mahnimi acquits himself well against teams like the Nets, then he can move up to earning some minutes against teams like OKC and NO - teams that are good but not necessarily dangerous on the front line.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:26 am
I say keep him. The SPurs are right there. They don’t need much. They just need a big guy to box out(if I see a good defensive possesion ruined by a tip in by the other teams big man….) and block a shot or two.
I say play him tonight. Put him against the big boys, see what he’s made of.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:55 am
give the poor guy some benefit of the doubt. we drafted him at 19 which obviously means he was a raw player. the next 2 years he spent time battling injuries and playing in the NBA d-league. he is a young, athletic big, which are extremely hard to come by in the NBA. he knows the spurs system well enough to have a chance to get some court time and show that he belongs with the big boys.
i saw mahinmi play against the clippers in the preseason. although he had a few nice dunks and some late game rebounds over blake griffin, he looked a little on the scrawny side. after watching him play against the nets, it looks as though he has been working to put more muscle on him so he can body up with monsters like brooke lopez. he has been playing in the spurs system long enough to be able to know his place on the floor. we are also getting out into transition more and ian can run the floor and finish better than any other big we have. all mcdyess is good for is a 12 foot jumper. he will be useless, defensivley, against pau, bynum, or odom.
please, hang on to this guy. we need to start investing in our post-timmy situation and IAN could be a big help. it will be inexpensive to resign him next year. give him a chance. at least some garbage time. if we aren’t going to play theo, play ian.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:55 am
give the poor guy some benefit of the doubt. we drafted him at 19 which obviously means he was a raw player. the next 2 years he spent time battling injuries and playing in the NBA d-league. he is a young, athletic big, which are extremely hard to come by in the NBA. he knows the spurs system well enough to have a chance to get some court time and show that he belongs with the big boys.
i saw mahinmi play against the clippers in the preseason. although he had a few nice dunks and some late game rebounds over blake griffin, he looked a little on the scrawny side. after watching him play against the nets, it looks as though he has been working to put more muscle on him so he can body up with monsters like brooke lopez. he has been playing in the spurs system long enough to be able to know his place on the floor. we are also getting out into transition more and ian can run the floor and finish better than any other big we have. all mcdyess is good for is a 12 foot jumper. he will be useless, defensivley, against pau, bynum, or odom.
please, hang on to this guy. we need to start investing in our post-timmy situation and IAN could be a big help. it will be inexpensive to resign him next year. give him a chance. at least some garbage time. if we aren’t going to play theo, play ian.
January 12th, 2010 at 11:58 am
His salary is relatively low, but it does expire. He can be used to balance a trade and even add a little bonus cap room to our trade partner.
For example if we are trading with someone over the cap:
Bonner can be traded for a $2.52-$4.16 million dollar player(s)
Bonner+Mahinmi make it $3.31-$5.40 million dollar player(s)
The key thing here isn’t the raise in money but the overlapping area. If we wanted a player in the $3.31-4.16 range, we are allowed to throw in Mahinmi at no additional cost to our trade partner but allow them to shed an additional $0.99 million on top of Bonner’s $3.25.
This could be the difference in completing a trade for a young SG, SF that has already been extended but the team no longer wants because of reducing salary, coach change, or even a team that thought they could contend and knows they can’t know. This is a somewhat poor example, but the Wizards’ DeShawn Stevenson would fit.
You can raise the window slightly by switching Mason for Bonner. Mason is likely going to be hard to resign anyways. You really raise the window by adding making a 2 or 3 person trade with Mason, Bonner, and Finley.
As much as I personally like Bonner, Mahinmi, Mason, and Finley, their expiring contracts combined with getting Splitter and re-signing Manu makes them fairly trade-able. I think the FO really has to weigh how much these role players can add this year in the playoffs versus a player who will be under contract for the next 2-3 years.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
It is upsetting and disapointing to see that the Spurs will be cutting ties with Ian Mahinmi, this poor kid has been waiting 5 years to get some playing time, only to be let go. I really do think that the Spurs have a hot prospect here, but just like Luis Scola the Spurs will squander this kid away. It is unfortunate, it is possible that you will see Mahinmi in a Rockets, Mavs, or Lakers jersey next season. Only a matter of time till we see Mahinmi dunking on the likes of Tim Duncan soon, and giving the Spurs problems. It’s hard to find an Athletic defender like Ian Mahinmi.
January 12th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
I wish people would stop bringing up Scola. Scola was not let go because the Spurs didn’t want him - he was let go to save the money from Jackie Butler’s contract. Basically Houston agreed to take on the rest of Butler’s contract if they also got Scola. It was at least partially moves like that that allowed us to go all in this last year.
Personally, I hope Mahnimi keeps playing and producing. If Mahnimi can turn the corner he could be very helpful against the Orlando’s and other stretch 4 teams in the league. Next year he would be worth re-signing to pair with Splitter, Blair, Duncan, and McDyess. That would make him an even more trade-able asset down the line if both Blair and Splitter work out.
January 12th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Ian sure looked worth keeping the other night. An athletic, young ” big” seems like something we really need now.
January 14th, 2010 at 9:27 am
[...] The Imperial: Andrew A. McNeill was impressed by Ian Mahinmi’s 15-point, 9 rebound debut performance, but tries to keep things in perspective before getting too excited about it. [48 MoH] [...]
Leave a Reply