Monday, July 12th, 2010...7:10 am
Ian Mahinmi close to signing with Mavs, fouling out of season opener
It would appear that the biggest source of San Antonio Spurs fans “backup quarterback syndrome” is ready to sign with the place that seemingly invented it-Dallas.
Ed Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Mavericks are close to signing Spurs free agent center Ian Mahinmi:
Mahinmi (6-11) played 26 games for the Spurs last season and is an unrestricted free agent. He averaged 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds in six minutes per game last season. Several NBA sources said the 25-year-old Frenchman is ready to make a significant improvement moving forward.
The Mavericks signed center Brendan Haywood to a six-year deal last week, but Erick Dampier is on a non-guaranteed contract. Dampier is likely to be either traded or waived before the Mavericks would have to pay the $13 million for the final year of his deal.
If the Mavericks secure Mahinmi, who would at the very most require the bi-annual exception of about $1.9 million, it could be a sign that Dampier no longer is in the team’s plans.
Ian Mahinmi for the bi-annual exception unfortunately is a very solid move for the Dallas Mavericks, especially considering the last young, athletic center prospect the Mavs had-Ryan Hollins-received a bigger deal from David Kahn, and Mahinmi is probably already the better player of the two.
A first round draft pick in 2005, once Mahinmi finally arrived stateside he immediately caught the eye of Spurs fans everywhere as the most athletic center on the roster since David Robinson decided to hang them up. But thanks to a series of ankle injuries, a penchant for picking up quick fouls, and being buried on a depth chart that had no time to develop such a raw player, Ian Mahinmi struggled to make it into the rotation.
Though the Spurs invested a lot of time and resources waiting for Mahinmi’s talents to payoff, the development of DeJuan Blair and bringing in prized European big man Tiago Splitter probably made Mahinmi an expendable luxury.
But oh what a luxury he might be. Someday. Which has always been the tease with Ian Mahinmi. Blessed with great length and more fluid than explosive athleticism, Ian is not necessarily as unskilled as most raw projects in his situation are. With a decent jump shot and one or two viable NBA moves, Mahinmi looked solid when placed in one-on-one situations.
Given simple tasks in which his athletic gifts could take over, such as trapping a pick and roll, Mahinmi was aces. In one of his only moments of extended run in fact, Mahinmi was able to completely shut down the Houston Rockets/Aaron Brooks potent pick and roll attack (albeit in a game already decided).
In Mahinmi’s time in the fourth quarter the Rockets involved him in five pick and roll situations, gaining only a marginal advantage on a Brooks three-pointer which is hard to fault Mahinmi with. The other four times Mahinmi and Hill were able to force Brooks to retreat or make a pass to no advantage.
Most fans think of Mahinmi in terms of shot blocking and protecting the rim, but it’s here that he shows the least discipline. But watching a seven-footer stay in front of and coral Brooks on the perimeter and then recover to the rim, that was a revelation.
Placing Mahinmi in five-on-five situations, however, often found the young big man completely out of position and more often than not picking up a foul or five in his limited minutes. Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News probably summed it up best, comparing Mahinmi to Blair and noting the difference between those that “get it” and those that don’t.
So Blair is a round mound stuck on the ground, and Mahinmi is the opposite. He has the classic NBA frame. The Spurs drafted him because of this, and because a slice of video once teased what was possible. Then, in France, he slammed with the force of Amare Stoudemire.
Given that, the Spurs tutored him overseas, and they drilled him in Austin. They waited for the bad-luck injuries to heal, hoping the game had sunk in. But they knew he was always going to be, at best, a manufactured player built in a lab. He would never be a natural, as Blair is.
Mahinmi is still young, and still talented. Throughout the season while I may have argued with those that demanded playing time for him, it does not mean I was not also intrigued by his game. It would be nice to see one more year of development in San Antonio, just as it would be nice to see him go to some other place besides Dallas.
Unfortunately, not all late first round foreign draft picks pan out as nicely as Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and (hopefully) Tiago Splitter do.
41 Comments
July 12th, 2010 at 7:25 am
Luis Scola all over again.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:29 am
If he does well on the Mavs, I am going to be very annoyed @ Pop and Co
…Considering this would be the second player we lose to a division rival.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:33 am
Actually, not Luis Scola again. Scola was an established player who in a worst case scenario we knew was going to be a solid player.
Ian Mahinmi offers no such assurances, and the Spurs have two safer, better guys in Splitter and Blair. It’s disappointing, but it’s not Scola disappointing.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:34 am
Badger, if we go by that statement then the Spurs should have nothing to worry about. Sure the Spurs lost to Houston maybe a couple times but if memory serves me correct the Spurs made it to the second round, not Houston. Also, Mahinmi would just be taking up space; clearly the Spurs were already thinking Ian wasn’t going to work out. If after 3 years you are still making rookie mistakes you become a hindrance to the Spurs system. Bad move for Dallas; why add a defensive liability when your whole team consists of defensive liabilities? Regardless, the signing of Splitter and the continuing growth of Blair will help offset whatever Ian may have brought to the Spurs this upcoming year.
Will never turn my back on the Silver and Black!
July 12th, 2010 at 7:39 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrew A. McNeill. Andrew A. McNeill said: Ian Mahinmi close to signing with Mavs, fouling out of season opener http://dlvr.it/2YSSX [...]
July 12th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Not that big of a loss. Many fans of Ian (especially on this site) believe Mahinmi is something that he’s not. The Spurs gave him chances (5 years worth) and he didn’t pan out. It’s that simple. And for those who say Pop has a thing against young players, I would say you are only partially right. Pop doesn’t like to play youngsters who aren’t ready to play NBA basketball. Dejuan Blair was 20 yrs old last year and yet he averaged over 18 min/game on a veteran team. He even played in all 10 playoff games. When Hill was a rookie, he averaged almost 17 min/game. Pop will play rookies and younger players IF they can play the game. If they can’t cut the mustard at the NBA level, then you have the situation we are in with Ian Mahinmi.
July 12th, 2010 at 7:48 am
go sign with Dallas..maybe he is the jinx on our team
July 12th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Ian needs to go to a weak team where he’ll get lots of minutes. His best hope is that he’s a slow learner (as opposed to a non-learner) who can, through sheer repetition, eventually overcome his weaknesses and develop a feel for the game. I don’t think he’ll get the minutes he needs in Dallas.
July 12th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Looks like today may be the day we get Splitter. Let’s keep our fingers crossed…
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Hairston_gets_summer_league_pass_98213839.html?c=y&page=1#storytop
July 12th, 2010 at 9:02 am
Man I wanted to keep Ian. His two problems, defensive discipline and fouling are both things that can be worked on with playing time. We just don’t much to give him until TD retires. I just wish he hadn’t gone to Dallas.
July 12th, 2010 at 9:22 am
For the SPURS sake - I hope he is a total bust!
For his sake… I hope he does well!
Ian has all the tools to be a scoring and defensive machine in the NBA. I just hope it doesnt happen now! This is the first time I have ever wanted anyone to fail!
Sorry Ian!
July 12th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Ian Mahinmi offers no such assurances
Jesse= FAIL.
Ian was never given a fair test to show his worth in the NBA. So we cant say that he offers no assurance. HE SURE AS HELL IS BETTER THAN BONNER.
Hobson- Is your screen saver hearts and pictures of Pop?
July 12th, 2010 at 9:56 am
TradeTP,
“Ian Mahinmi offers no such assurances”
I’m not sure you know what this means. No wait, I am sure.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:02 am
The fact that he’s been a member of the organization for this long and is still considered to be a project speaks volumes. He appears very mechanical and seems to lack basic basketball instincts.
At the end of the day Mahinmi or no Mahinmi is not going to make a difference when it comes to competing for a championship and at this stage that all that matters.
When I watch highlights of Ryan Richards he already appears to be light years ahead of where Mahinmi is now offensively.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Hey Tim, was “fouling out of season opener” really necessary? Good luck Ian!!! Go Spurs Go!!
July 12th, 2010 at 10:16 am
@ TradeTP
“Ian was never given a fair test to show his worth in the NBA.”
He’s been given ample chances to prove in practice that he’s ready, and he hasn’t. Just because you or I haven’t seen it in games, doesn’t mean he hasn’t been given a chance. And if he didn’t cut it in practice, what would make the coaching staff believe he could get it done in a higher intensity environment like a regular season game? Sure, he showed flashes at times (and by “flashes” I mean 2 games really), but 5 years in we need to see more than flashes.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:24 am
@TradeTP
Ian was given a fair chance. It’s not just playing time during a regular NBA game where players get their chance. It’s in practice, summer league, pre-season, ect. Ian was in our system for 5 years, and we didn’t even guarantee his tiny contract last year. There is something that our coaching staff/front office don’t like in him. Pop has coached D. Rob and Timmy, he knows a good big man, his whole strategy is based around having an excellent post presence.
Mahinmi is like Fransisco Elson in my opinion. Excellent physical gifts but not a big championship-caliber contributor. He may be worse (Ian), I wouldn’t mind having Elson back for under 2m a year, I’m not sure I can say the same about Ian.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Does Mahinmi think he can get enough PT under Carlisle? Good luck to him, but unless he can really impress Carlisle, I don’t think he’ll see significant minutes (unless Dirk and Haywood goes down with injuries).
July 12th, 2010 at 10:31 am
TradeTP
July 12th, 2010 at 9:38 am
“Hobson- Is your screen saver hearts and pictures of Pop?”
DAMN!! How’d you guess?!?!
July 12th, 2010 at 10:45 am
1 Best of wishes to Ian in his new team and thanks for the time spent in SA.
2 This man has been breathing the same air than David Robinson and Tim Duncan(AKA the big fundamental). Where else is he going to get better teachers?
3 He is going to the Mavs. anyway. I would be more concerned if I am told that he will back up Bynum or D. Howard. Then I would think that we might have missed something.
July 12th, 2010 at 10:54 am
When I, and I imagine a lot of other Ian supporters, think about how good he could become, I think of a very solid role player. I think he could be a great 3rd or 4th big man on a team. Someone who comes in and has a boost of energy etc etc.
Some of the Ian haters / non-supporters, try to say us supporters think he’d be an all-star if he just had the chance blahblahblah, but I don’t think that’s the case (for the majority of us supporters).
Yes, we do not know how Ian did in practices, but I think sometimes you need to actually play to learn. On top of that, if you are ALWAYS riding the pine (i mean he played less than 200 minutes in 09-10 right?), that probably pisses you off. So maybe because of that Ian said F-It and stopped trying and started counting down the days until he could sign somewhere else. I wouldn’t blame him for that.
But really, who knows? If he gets a good amount of playing time in Dallas we’ll find out. Personally, I hope he ends up kicking ass and making Pop regret not giving him a chance on the court.
Ps: Bonner totally sucks, Finley totally sucks, and Bogans totally sucks. I got tired of seeing those guys get minutes last year while Ian (and Hairston) rode the pine. I see absolutely no reason Ian could not have been given 10 minutes a game for the first 20 games or so. If he does good he does good, if he’s bad then he’s bad. But at least then we would have known for sure.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:05 am
I am counting on Ian to be a bust. Not every player a team drafts can turn out to have a solid NBA career; many of ours have, with several performing well elsewhere, notably in Houston, Phoenix and even Sacramento. If Ian fails, the odds are greater that Anderson and Richards will be steals, owing to the law of averages and the Spurs above average drafting prowess.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:18 am
I feel Mahinmi was a case of the Spurs getting too cute by half. The Spurs had a lot of success with finding diamonds in the rough in the Euro leagues and they went to the well one too many times.
It appears that starting with Hill the Spurs shifted their philosophy a bit and began to look at college players who may not become all stars but would be solid contributors for years to come. You can now add Blair and hopefully Anderson to that list. They can still utilize the second round to hopefully land that foreign player who is flying under the radar and can pay big dividends.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:21 am
Haslem’s a fool if he doesn’t take this deal:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AsFNtRnSDdWoejtDoQJtZ6q8vLYF?slug=ys-haslemmavs071210
July 12th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Nice try, Heat!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/rumors/post/Derek-Fisher-saying-no-to-Heat;_ylt=ApPT.od__fG4.yF.mgzzF7q8vLYF?urn=nba,255331
July 12th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Yeah Ian Mahinmi was a bust, and this is from aguy who’s been a fan of his projected ability since we drafted him.
It just sucks because how many athletic 7 foot centers do we have in this league, Dwight Howard? Maybe Ryan Hollins? but the latter just sucks.
So I guess that was it, Ian just sucked. And I watched every game he was in, and save for the New Jersey game at home last year, he generally looked lost and committed silly fouls, often finding himself in foul trouble.
Guess you can’t always win.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:36 am
well damn.
good luck ianny old boy. would have been nice to see him wait his turn once mcdyess retires, but no court time means no development.
he won’t learn much under carlisle or nowitzki, but i’m sure there was something there pop didn’t like about him.
mahinmi or not, our frontcourt looks pretty versitle and devisating. we have our young prospects, our aging superstar, grizzled vet, and the stretch man. i wonder how our smalls pan out.
oh ian, we hardly knew ye!
July 12th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Mahinmi is an unknown commodity. Anyone who says otherwise is only saying so out of emotion. Personally, he might turn into something decent. I have the feeling that we’ll find out soon, just not with the Spurs.
….or we could just blame the coach
July 12th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Let’s get it done, boys!
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Hairston_gets_summer_league_pass_98213839.html
July 12th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Ian will be successful in Dallas, because they have a very limited role for big men. I suspect he may end up playing 10-20 minutes / game for them (or until he fouls out, whichever comes first). His job will be to play 1-on-1 defense on the opposing center/PF and rebound all of Jet’s misses.
Sarcasm aside, don’t be surprised to see him be “successful” in Dallas, by their defensive standards, which we know are not the same as Pop’s. And don’t assume that his success there means that he finally “gets it”. It just means he’s in a system less complicated and more suited for his abilities.
July 12th, 2010 at 11:55 am
supposedly, mavs are trying to trade for al jefferson. that team has always lacked low-post offense, but i see chemistry issues there.
i like hairston. saw good things from him defensively last year (big block on pau) and finishes well at the rim.
if you look on paper, we have a nice combination of youth and experience.
GO SPURS!
July 12th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Mahinmi never got a chance. To assert that practice, summer league, and pre-season constitutes a chance is insane. Playing time during the actual, real season qualifies as a chance.
I don’t know if he’s any good, but not signing his option for $1.78 million, and signing a Theo Ratliff type instead seems like a poor choice.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:26 pm
We already have Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair, Antonio McDyess, and Matt Bonner unquestionably entrenched in front of him on the depth chart. In a world with infinite roster spots, infinite money, and infinite playing time, it might be fun to see if he could pan out. Maybe Dallas will prove us wrong.
But it’s silly to say that Ian never had a chance. It’s been 5 years since we drafted this kid. For three of those years, he has been here in San Antonio right next to Pop, going through training camp, the whole deal. If he had ever showed some bit of promise, Pop would have given him playing time. As it is, time ran out and it’s time to move on and try and see what our other pieces can do. With Tim so close to retirement, we no longer have the luxury of wasting time, money, and other resources on this guy who has never panned out.
July 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Mahimi is the current version of Pops Bonsu. Meaning lots of people are in love with his athleticism and project him for greatness. He’d showed flashes of brilliance, but also managed to pick up 4 fouls in 3 minutes of work very easily. Francisco Elson comes to mind. Incredible athlete, but many times in the wrong place at the wrong time, didn’t have the basketball I.Q., or suffered from mental lapses and could not put it all together. Again… moments of brilliance but could never get it. I remember saying if you could put Oberto’s basketball brain into Elson’s body, you’d have a hall of famer. That was Mahimi. He did have minutes, although limited; and yes I did scream for more minutes after the New Jersey game but they never came. The Spurs staff saw a lot more of this guy than we did in practices and workout sessions. Something was missing. His athleticism made you want the guy to succeed. Haislip also was let go during the season to the chagrin of some on this board who hailed him as the second coming who never got a chance. Well was so awesome in Greece that Panathinaikos released him in April. Haven’t heard much about who is vying to win this summer’s Haislip sweepstakes? Every team has scouts, the Spurs seem to have some pretty good ones in assessing talent. There haven’t been many players the Spurs have let go (that have actually played in a Spurs uni) that have flourished elsewhere. Can only think of Jax but that was a different story all together. He was not let go because he was a project that didn’t pan out. Beno, Udoka, Brown, Pops Mensah… no major losses there.
July 12th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Dr. Who
July 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I’ll just say that Dr. Who’s post pretty well sums up my thoughts on the matter. I’ll leave at that, and spend my energies elsewhere.
July 12th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Ian just never got it together while with the Spurs. Not all of the foreign imports work out.
July 12th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
@Tradetp
….Ian was never given a fair test to show his worth in the NBA. So we cant say that he offers no assurance. HE SURE AS HELL IS BETTER THAN BONNER.
Hobson- Is your screen saver hearts and pictures of Pop?
—————————
How about you write something that makes sense for once? How about you don’t approach every single post with an agenda. Every post is negative. Every post is negative in the same direction.
We get it..you don’t like Pop, you don’t like Tony Parker, you don’t like Matt Bonner.
The nonsense of comparing him with Matt Bonner, you may as well compare him with Manu.
Who would you rather get the minutes? Blair, Splitter, Timmy or Ian?
Because thats who he is fighting with. Not a frigging floor spreading power forward. But a defensively oriented rebounding big…
July 12th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Roughly 50-50 in replies on the Spurs-Mahinmi split. Just wondering about the staff’s take on him entering last season. He was inactive the first two months, playing his first game (the Spurs’ 35th) in January. Mahinmi appeared in 28 games (26 reg. season, 2 in playoffs) out of a possible 58-less than half. He logged 10+ minutes 8 times, 8 min. twice, and 5 minutes or less 18 times. He only accumulated 4 & 5 fouls a game once each and fouled out once. In retrospect, they deemed him a lost cause from the start. He only saw the floor mostly against weaker opponents or in a couple of blowout losses. Well, the Spurs are 0-2 in the draft & stash Euro bigman method (Scola). Hopefully Splitter (and later but not too much later) Richards work out well.
July 12th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
At this point, I’d take Hollins over Ian. Ian has more potential, but Hollins is smarter defensively (came from Howland’s system at UCLA).
Having said that, it is hard to say. The odds are against Ian though. The NBA is a bad place to really develop your skills (since he got into basketball in his later teen years) unless you have a coach devoted to you (like in college).
For one thing, Ian’s foul trouble is not going away just because he’s on the Mavs. That’ll always be his biggest limiting factor until he learns to play with his feet and not his hands.
July 13th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
Dorie= good post.
Hobson- Wah wah…
September 2nd, 2010 at 4:24 am
[...] Bringing in players with star potential but little track record has its risks, ones the Spurs usually don’t take. George Hill was drafted with the promise of being a good NBA defender. But he also played three years of NCAA basketball before making the jump to the league. San Antonio drafted DeJuan Blair because he had lottery talent, but the front office knew rebounding ability usually translates well from college to the NBA. Ian Mahinmi? He doesn’t exist anymore. [...]
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