Wednesday, October 7th, 2009...10:05 am
Malik Hairston Coming Into His Own
After last night’s game, I had no choice but to write about the epic debut of DeJuan Blair. That was my head. My heart wanted to write about Malik Hairston, who is a completely different player than this time a year ago.
I was just reminded of this by my friend Bruno, who has alerted San Antonio Spurs fans to a Tony Parker postgame interview from last night. (As always, thanks Bruno.)
The interview contains a telling line from Parker: “Yesterday’s game was important for Gregg Popovich. We are 18 players in the team now so 3 of us will leave before the regular season starts. Pop inspected all the players against Houston. It was an evaluation game. Besides, Hairston was a pretty good forward (10 points, 5 rbds).”
A year ago Malik Hairston was an athletic wing that played too much power forward in college. He looked tentative and uncomfortable on the perimeter. His catch and shoot game was underdeveloped, especially for a team like San Antonio. And his ball handling was suspect.
But it wasn’t all bad. The Spurs awarded him a contract during the season, and again this summer. In fact, there were early signs that he might have enough talent to stick. Hairston plays good defense. He can get to the rim, and finish above it. And all those deficiencies I mentioned in the prior paragraph, well, they’re quickly diminishing.
During summer league he displayed a surprising new-found ability to catch and shoot, and his defense is always at least competent. Now I’ve watched him play twice in the last week, and he impressed. He played tremendously in the third quarter last night, but lost sight of his role a little in the fourth. But, on balance, he brought way more good than bad. It, apparently, has been a year of hard work for Hairston.
The Parker quote cited above is an indicator that others are noticing too. I’m actually past the point of wondering whether Malik Hairston should make the team. He should. At this point I’m wondering whether he will show further improvement over the next few weeks, and in that case, can he push Michael Finley for minutes?
It’s an interesting question.
Marcus Williams can play multiple positions and Keith Bogans signed a guaranteed deal. If the Spurs keep Hairston-who does, technically, have a year of D-League eligibility left-they’ll have a little logjam at small forward. And with no disrespect to Bogans, I’d rank the three players 1) Hairston 2) Williams (because of his ability to play point and wing) and 3) Bogans.
But maybe, unlike myself, Gregg Popovich is not nearly so enamored by Hairston. In that case I won’t cry for Hairston. He should not have too much trouble finding another contract. He’s earned it. That year in Austin really helped.
Update: Andrew A. McNeill of atxsports.net, a great site, left a comment under this post that I’m promoting up:
I was talking to my buddy who works for the Spurs last night during the game, and at one point the Spurs subbed Malik Hairston out of the game.
He said as Malik was walking off the court, Pop got up and gave him a high five. My buddy was taken aback by that and said “not everyone gets that.”
21 Comments
October 7th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I feel Williams is going to be the odd man out; we have enough other guys who can play point in a pinch (Roger Mason and Manu) that we shouldn’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel in that department. To me, Marcus just hasn’t done enough to warrant us eating Keith Bogans’ contract when Peter Holt is already going so deep into his pockets this year; neither player has really distinguished themselves as offering a skill that the Spurs really need at the very end of the bench, so I think the guaranteed deal wins out in that case.
October 7th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Agreed. Mason or Manu can be the third string points. Or even Richard Jefferson at point forward?
October 7th, 2009 at 11:59 am
I was talking to my buddy who works for the Spurs last night during the game, and at one point the Spurs subbed Malik Hairston out of the game.
He said as Malik was walking off the court, Pop got up and gave him a high five. My buddy was taken aback by that and said “not everyone gets that.”
October 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Every possession the Spurs spend depending on Roger Mason at point guard, they might as well roll the ball into the stands and let the other team inbound it. It would save us all the awkwardness of watching Roger attempt to dribble.
October 7th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Let Timmy run point. Those are encouraging words from Tony Parker. In my opinion one of the coolest things about being a Spurs fan is the team camaraderie. Teammates are sincerely rooting for other teammates to do well. It’s professional but laid back. What a rarity.
October 7th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Awesome quote, Andrew.
October 7th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Tim,
Not to be a stickler or anything but in this post and the last post(Blair) you spelled fourth wrong when referring to the 4th quarter.
October 7th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Thanks, Matt. Fixed.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
sixth paragraph you spelled “site” when it should be “sight”
but otherwise, great article. I think, given Finley’s very diminished output (especially defensively) and the end of last year, that Williams and Hairston should definitely be pushing him for playing time. we need to give Williams and Hairston time against A and B squads of teams so that they’re ready when they eventually have to step in and take Finley’s minutes when the rapidly approaching date of Finley’s retirement arrives.
Hairston and Williams are great players, but there is only so much advancing you can do in the D-League, in Practice, and against other teams’ Scrubs. you need actual PT in the NBA if you want to be a productive option.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Tim,
No problem. I always appreciate it at work when someone alerts me to oversights in my grammar. On a side note, here in Denver the fans are pretty high on the nuggets and I called in to the local radio show to duke it out a little bit and the host said he reads your blog pretty often. Thought that was pretty cool and wanted to let you know.
October 7th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Tyler,
My goodness…
Would you believe it’s been a busy day?
October 7th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
williams does look like the odd man out. Id hate to have to let a guy with his vast skill set AND we will need a replacement for Finley this time next year. I keep hearing everyone refer to Bogans as a 3, i remember him playing a D-minded combo gaurd. Some of Bogans money is covered by the league so, with luxury tax, how much would we really eat? Manu seems to like Keith, but I think he goes…Or i really wouldnt be surprised if a bit of further assessment resulted in a 2 for 1 trade. Finley and Mahinmi, at a minimum, are redundant luxuries. All in all though, these are good problems to have, if you ask me.
October 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I’m hoping the Hairston gets that last spot. What he can bring to the table will help the Spurs a lot.
1. He know’s the Spurs system.
2. Spur like guy, can defend and hustle
3. Catch and shoot improved a lot.
4. Underrated atlethiscm.
If he makes it, he is defenitely a rotation player maybe 9th or 10th guy. Just my thoughts…
October 7th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
[...] in all the hoopla over DeJaun Blair was the fact that Mailk Hairston had a solid game last night. Timothy Varner also has a post about Hairston and the Spurs logjam at small forward. Liike George Hill, and even [...]
October 7th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Agreed. Seems like Hairston has his roster spot locked up.
Who will get cut or traded?
Williams, Haislip, Bogans, or Mahinmi?
Those seem to be the candidates.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
I was surprised by the Bogans signing. Realistically, the Spurs go 10 deep and I don’t think Bogans is in that group. So why keep a guy that has little upside when you have 2 players with potential that have worked hard and have improved in your system? I don’t think he’s that much better. If Williams can show that he can defend I would take him over Bogan’s. Hairston looks to have an advantage at this point.
October 7th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I don’t think Haislip is leaving. My guess Is Williams, or perhaps Bogans.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I think Williams will be the odd man out. After watching him in the open practice and in the preseason I found his play underwhelming.
He has a bad tendency to really over dribble and his shot selection has been poor. I don’t think he is ready to run point in the NBA yet. Another year in the DLeague could really improve his game.
Bring on Hairston though. I think he looks like he could give the Spurs a solid 10 minutes a night if he can crack that rotation.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I don’t understand why people keep insisting that William’s future in the NBA is at the point? He’s a 2 who can bring the ball up the court (like Brent Barry), but don’t ask him to run the offense.
When I saw him play with the Toros he was easily their best player. He plays within the offense. He’s unselfish and plays at both ends. If he was dribbling too much it’s most likely that the other guys on the court were lost in running the offense.
I’ll get a chance to see everyone play in the pre-season game against OKC.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Kornbread-
Brent Barry could run an offense. I havent seen enough of Williams to really know anything yet, but if hes Brent Barry, we could use him, especially if he can play D.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I think the one leaving will be the one that they can send down to the Toros. If Williams has more Toros time available it will be him and that is good so he can get court time. Court time with the Toros is better than bench time with the Spurs for a young player.
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