Malik Hairston Returns to Spurs

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Malik Hairston has officially been recalled to the Spurs.Â

Hairston is with the team in Detroit and could see time against the Pistons, especially in light of Tony Parker’s absence.

  • SpurredOn

    Glad he’s back. Glad Tony is resting. Hope that Malik gets competitive minutes.

  • Anthony McDonald

    This shouldn’t even have been a story. Pop’s not going to play him so why even waste the ink. Moreover, the kid actually looks good at times but Pop needs to have confidence in him. Honestly, I thought Pop would call up Morris Almond. He’s the best 3 point shooter in the D league….at least he has a niche.

  • rj

    if we are basically throwing the season, give fin’s minutes to malik. is that possible via buyout/waive, deactivation?

  • Mark

    the spurs are on the downfall like the pistons were a couple years after dominant years.

  • spursfanbayarea

    Hello fellow spurs fan. This is my first post. This has been a hard season to watch the spurs. I can see how everyone is frustrated with our team. With all the injuries and how we have been playing. We should be working on retooling or developing players. From my casual observation it seems that our defense needs a second shot blocker that has been a staple of spur championship teams. Why not free Ian to play and get better. Let him finish out the season with some playing time so that we have another long body to play with Duncan next year. A rotation with Duncan, Blair, Ian, Splitter and Mcdyess could compete with any team. Missing the playoffs would not be a disaster. The last two times we missed the playoffs, we ended with David and Tim. Imagine getting a talented player like Favors or Cousins. Thanks for hearing me out.

  • lvmainman

    Back to back losses vs 20-34 and 20-35 caliber teams. I thought Pop said Bonner was the savior(ha, ha, ha). 2 game starter to DNP-Coach’s Decision. Amazing how every crappy starting lineup by Pop starts off down 10 pts right away. Jefferson at the 4? Why? Start McDyess.

    Would have lost by double digits in regulation if it wasn’t for the hack-o-ben! Watching Blair and Jefferson get out hustled for rebounds by Jerebko to start the 4th qtr was sad. I wonder if Ratliff could’ve gotten any of those. Hmmmm….

    Spurs need to bench the players that won’t be back next year. Mason, Bonner, Finley, Bogans.

    Play only Duncan, McDyess, Blair, Parker, Mahinmi, Hill, Ginobili, Hairston. Jefferson as a last resort, like while Parker is out. Can’t be any worse and build chemistry for next yr.

  • lvmainman

    The front office clearly has to be blamed for the inaction before the trade deadline.

    No Stephen Jackson for Bonner and Mason.

    No Corey Maggette and Anthony Randolph for Jefferson.

    No Tyrus Thomas for expiring contracts.

    No going after Haywood, Butler, or Jamison. Cavs got Jamison for a 1st round draft pick!, cause Z is going to be bought out and rejoin Cavs in 30 days.

    No going after Camby with expiring contracts.

    The front office quit on the Spurs. And now the Spurs as a team have quit in return.

    I’m going to enjoy watching and cheering for Duncan and Ginobili while it lasts but, I won’t expecting any team success any time soon.

  • Sauce

    Ivmainman,

    Stephen Jackson is terrible. I have watched him with the Spurs, and his time with the Warriors (I live in the Bay Area) even before he got the big idea that he was a superstar in the league. The Warriors would never have traded Randolph and Maggette for Jefferson, are you kidding me?

    Ty Thomas and Camby could have been doable though. Camby just would have added to the age. We should have pushed for Ty Thomas but I think the FO sees Splitter joining next year so if we traded for Thomas, a player who wants to start and play a lot of minutes, that would mean we would have 3 power forwards in Blair, Thomas and Splitter. Splitter might not sign with the Spurs if he thinks he is not going to get playing time. Maybe we can get somebody with Jefferson’s expiring contract next year.

  • Bushka

    Don’t know if you’d noticed but theres a guy named Peter Holt who owns the team and is paying 80 million bucks for the privilege.

    I doubt he is interested in Pop giving up and just playing young guys.

    Pop has to try to make Jefferson work. He has no other option. If he is not giving up on the season he can’t give up on Jefferson.

    I know the losses sting. I know everyone thinks its so cut and dried. It’s why guys like Bill Simmons come up with trades that work in a fictional universe but not in the NBA. So many of us fall into the trap of believing that coaches are stupid & the front office couldn’t breath in an iron lung.

    The truth is these are the ultimate basketball junkies. They are nearly all people with enormous balls who put them on the line and try to fashion a career in their chosen love. The odds against them making it are massive, you have to be exceptional to rise to the position Pop, RC, and co have reached.

    It’s not cut and dried. Theres real people to negotiate with, who themselves have external pressures. Theres long term goals vs short term gains, theres things you have to do regardless (like umm..turn a profit), and it all has to be managed in one neat little package that can be presented to a fanbase without too many complications or variations. Or the sports channels get rabid and restless.

    On another note, and i hate sounding like a broken record.

    You’d better hope that Bonner reups next year.

    If you saw the list of people i went through a few posts back who play similar minutes to Bonner i.e 15 - 17 you’d realise theres a lot of fish in that barrel that flat out suck in comparison.

    You want Mikki Moore? Morris Peterson? Bobby Simmons? Chucky Atkins? Sonny Weems? Garret Temple? Koby Karl?

    The only quality guys you’ll generally find in the 17 minute bracket are young 2nd year pro’s or rookies who are lottery picks.

    It’s going to be difficult to get everyone on board with the cap space situation we have then find minimum wage vets who can contribute to fill out the roster.

    Matt Bonner can be useful in the right situation, we need more solid roleplayers like him who can fill out a stat sheet and combine to give us a strong bench. If your starters average 32 a game, and you have two bench guys averaging 20 a game that still leaves 40 minutes to split between two or three key role playing reserves.

    That doesn’t even count injuries to your rotation players.

    So yeah pray we can pick up some more guys the quality of Bonner, but with say a different skillset, defensive big, backup swingman etc. Because thats what he is. A useful player with situational skills. Hence he goes from starting to DNP-CD.

    That’s the kind of guys your going to be using to fill out your roster slots when that sprained ankle/hip flexor/ etc comes calling.

  • Bushka

    wow mate seroiusly..

    “No Stephen Jackson for Bonner and Mason.

    No Corey Maggette and Anthony Randolph for Jefferson.

    No Tyrus Thomas for expiring contracts.”

    I know your angry but stop ….

    Just because the numbers match in the ESPN trade machine does not mean teams would do the trade. Thats crazy Bill Simmons logic.

    NO ONE in the ENTIRE league wanted RJ. He got shopped hard. No one wanted him for anything. He was 28 million dollars worth of contract thats not playing at all well.

    The only thing that would have gotten us Jamison was Manu plus draft picks. Why would we give up Manu? He is actually playing well, for a guy you can’t be sure will put you over the top and KILLS your cap for the next few years.

    The spurs could sail off into the sunset with no flexibility, no title, and no way of getting out from under.

  • Bushka

    Jamison + spurs payroll would put you at nearly 70 million in payroll next year with 7 players on the roster(assuming they don’t exercise the option on Hairston), before signing splitter, draft picks or filling out the rest of the roster.

    Just as an exercise you would be at 41 million the year after with 5 humans on your roster.

    Hello luxury tax for a 30 win team.

  • L-Man

    He is terrible. Great D leaguer only.

  • Hobson13

    The next two weeks may decide if we get into the playoffs. We lost the last two RRT games to teams who are WAY below .500. The Spurs seem to be regressing. The next 6 games (3 on the road and 3 at home) are against winning teams. 4 of the 6 games are against teams who are right below us in the standings. If those games are lost, we will obviously lose more ground and possibly the ever-important tie breakers with those teams. At this point, we either sink or swim. I predict if we go 2-4 this team’s confidence with be further underminded and the Spurs might sink to even lower depths. How the hell we could lose to Philly AND Detroit is beyone me , but the last two losses have significantly reduced this team’s margin for error especially with the schedule coming up against good teams.

    P.S. You guys ought to check out the remaining schedule. It’s so difficult it’s unreal. I was worried about the team earlier this season since we played BY FAR the easiest stretch in the first 40 games and still didn’t look that good. That was the time we should have looked good instead of looking lost.

  • Bushka

    agreed

  • td4life

    Tim and Manu are so fricking good, but they are playing with a bunch of scrubs.
    Hairston sucks, he’s not a NBA player.
    I hope Pop and RC overhaul this thing enough to convince Manu to stay… is he playing for a new contract? Showcasing himself to the league?

  • Easy B

    Hey, we are playing mighty beatup and ugly right now, and it doesnt look like we will do much this postseason the way things stand.
    We have one glimmer of hope though that just about all the other teams don’t have: the team has got unrealised talent and experience and if it comes together when it matters most we can challenge any team. We were a little short due to injuries last two years and are short on chemistry this year, but that can still change….still got fingers crossed.
    Bushka hit the mark with the post about ultimate basketball junkies…..as obsessed as i am, im not nearly privvy to the experiences and inside information that these guys live and breathe every day.

  • Jim Henderson

    A sane, savvy fan. Wow! Nice comments Bushka!

  • Nick (Italy)

    Strong move calling up Malik from the D-League and rush him to Detroit so that he could collect another nice DNP - Coach’s decision.

    Really, it would have been a shame if, say, he was left playing with the Toros on Sunday and joined the Spurs today.

    On the other side, I just can’t understand why Pop played Blair so much. Man, 14 full minutes? Let’s bestow him with a DNP – Coach’s decision, too.

    In the end, it was only the second game on the road in three days and it ended with an OT, no reason to use a lot of players, a 8 man rotation will be just fine. Look, we only took 33 points in the fourth quarter against Philly!

    In my opinion, we need to take a decision soon. As soon as everyone in the FO realizes that we are not championship material, we should call it a season, buy out Finley (no one will be willing to acquire him in a sing and trade) and Mason (if, as it seems to me, we do not hold his bird rights) to save a few bucks (if they sign with someone else, at least we can save some luxury tax), shut down Duncan, Parker and Ginobili (hoping that the latter will sign with us next year or accepts a sign and trade), give the keys of the team to Richard Jefferson, play the young guys, audition D-leaguers and tank badly.

    With some luck, we could have a pick in the 9-13 range which could turn in an useful player next year.

    With a huge amount of luck, once put in a position to be the main guy, Richard Jefferson could make a two month impersonation of a good player (i.e. a moderately inefficient volume shooter with almost average defensive abilities) and this summer we can foul somebody in a trade. Let’s just hope that the Warriors and Timberwolves’ front offices are not going anywhere.

    I know that tanking stinks. I know that auditioning D-leaguers stinks. I know that organizing a free agents’ camp in order to find a Jamario Moon stinks. However, I think that in our position we have to deal with reality and start rebuilding fast, not only to WACITTDE (win another championship in the Tim Duncan era), but also to avoid starting the post Ducan era with a high priced lousy team.

    Best,

    Nick

  • vegatrondon

    First of all, What injuries are we talking about?

    Who besides TP is injured this year?

  • JT

    Does anyone here wonder if the Spurs are giving up games… cough cough “on purpose”, maybe to place themselves against the Laakers on the first round of the playoffs… or for whatever other reason…

    I often think about this, its just that we don’t hear much from the Spurs organization about the disappointing season. Or what expectations we even have with the current roster. I’m really not understanding Pop’s moves lately, weird, weird lineups, no wonder they aren’t gelling, to gel it needs to stay the same for a while… if you keep mixing jello for example, it will stay liquid… come on Pop, get your chef hat on…

    I’m calling MIB to get neuralized to the beginning of the season!!!

  • TheRealBarackObama

    Wtf at some of these comments. So because the Spurs are what, 31-23 they need to tank the season and wait for a draft that they probably wouldnt get a top pick because there is a lottery, and seeing some of these mind boggling conspiracy theories for trades and quitting the season makes me cringe. Sure the season has been terrible, but damn, thats how high our standards as Fans of the Spurs have been set. The Spurs certainly dont look like Championship material and I cant see them beating anybody in the top 4 out west in a 7 game series honestly but they still have time granted that its running out. Everybody calling for pops head and trading TP and trading RJ and trading Manu need to get off the bandwagon and switch to watching mavs games. You guys loved Tp and Pop when we were winning so support them now more than ever granted pop’s religion practices not giving young players a chance unless the circumstances are dire. But i still have faith in my team

  • TheRealBarackObama

    And RJ has been horrible but I still dont want to give up on him i still want to believe that he will fibally come into his own here and contribute quality play. All this talk of “gelling” is fucking bullshit, these “vets” have been in the league for so long but cant grasp pops concepts, since when did guys need to grasp hard plays to throw a good pass, or to hustle or Play quality defense, i understand schemes in the playbooks that might be difficult but it still comes down to basketball in certain instances. Really the only weak spots on the roster Are Bonner, hes a dead accurate shooter but really, do any of you think he’s the type of role player that can help win a championship, really ? Bogans-he’s overrated defensively and terrible offensively cant hit a fucking layup.
    Finley-Gotta Love Fin and all that he’s contributed a true proffesional and player but he’s almost 50-ish, time to let him go
    Mason-Wants more minutes, got em last night, didnt contribute, if you want more minutes when you get them you gotta prove you can deliver, not just offensively but in other ways

    I think the Spurs organization and some of the fans are stuck in the past. Bowen and D-Rob are not coming back, there are no such things as “defensive Stoppers” anymore, when we played D it was always a team concept we need to let go of the old ways of doing things to catch up with the rest of the league, we were always that chameleon team that could adapt to any situations in past years i.e. the battles with detroit and phoenix.

    We have too many one dimensional players, i look around the league and see teams that have role players that can do a little bit of everything not just shoot or dribble, not to say that they are Kobe Bryants but damn, whats wrong with having some players who can run and play pesky defense, and grab rebounds, we’re not asking for players n the mold of durant or bryant, too many games have we looked tired and unwilling to run especially against Portland and Okc those are teams I dont want to face in the playoffs given how they give the Spurs so much trouble.

    Wish we could have (more) pieces that could help now and also help in the future. The current team is a Playoff team, though the playoffs arent even a given especially with these long days on the road coming up.

    As much as it hurts the reality is, Does this team look like it Can actually make a Long Playoff run with the current pieces ? Can we beat any of the other teams out west in a 7 game series, it might be a premature ? to ask but as the days go by thats how we need to start judging our team.

    Lets stand behind them no matter what Spurs fans should reflect the team’s and organizations integrity and class not jump ship when they lose

    31-23 is a hell of a record for a team thats been up and down, we’d be what, 4th out east ?

  • BALLHOG

    Pop has hit a wall…Time that he takes ownership of his shortcommings…

    For this Spur fan, this is humiliating!

  • Bushka

    Pop was the only reason the game was competitive vs detroit.

    If he didn’t get inventive and utilise the weak free throw shooting of Ben Wallace, there never would have been an overtime.

    I love the fact that everyones P**s & Vinegar’ed up because we might not win the championship.

    What a completely undeserved sense of entitlement.

    If we’re not the best fire everyone. How can this happen? It is de rigueur to win 4 titles every ten years isn’t it? Isn’t it?

  • Jim Henderson

    Hey BALLHOG; you might want to check out my comment from last night!

    Guys, stop complaining about Pop and his use & rotation of players! You just don’t get a simple fact: POP IS ONE OF THE BEST COACHES IN THE HISTORY OF THE NBA. You might question the minutes of certain players, etc. (hell, even I do more often these days), but that’s NOT THE POINT. Pop has his reasons for who he plays and when, and while YOU and I may not always understand it, he knows WAY more about coaching than any of us ever could.

    No, the real problem & main point (besides the fact that guys with more talent are often NOT TRULY EARNING EXTRA MINUTES) is that most of the PLAYERS in the game at any given time are NOT GIVING 100% EFFORT!

    GET IT! It’s the PLAYERS that are ruining the Spurs season!

    In fact, why don’t you conduct a little experiment. Track which players seem to be living up to their potential on a consistent basis. Look at things that are the most important at their position to execute the game-plan of the team.

    Pay particularly close attention to the things that matter most to WINNING. Examples consist of the following:

    – level of contested shots for their man/in their zone.
    – their man/in their zone scores on a lay-up, either in the half-court or in transition.
    – three point percentage
    – field goal percentage
    – minutes played (what quarter).

    And track the following on a per minute basis:

    points
    total rebounds
    offensive rebounds
    steals
    blocks
    turnovers

    I know Pop & his staff track all this data and much more (e.g., player attitude, motivation, work ethic in games & practice, level of positive/negative influence on other teammates, physical/mental health, etc.) for every game to decide who to play and when.

    Look, I understand your frustration, but unless you can provide accurate information on all these data points (and some reasonable assessment of the intangibles, which frankly, none of us know too much about) to justify minutes played for this player or that player, I’m afraid you have no idea what your talking about.

  • BALLHOG

    I understand you guys blowing Pops horn. He did win 4 afterall. He got his praise and accolades for it too…even from me.

    But fella’s, this is about today. This coach took a talented roster, with a mix of seasoned vets and young up satarts, and destroyed it in half a season.

    Im done wasting time pointing him out though, and appreaciate your patience while I whined.

    Unfortunately though, the writing is on the wall.

    Pop might want to go upstairs and let someone else coach the team while he still can before he hurts his legacy.

    This is his worst coaching effort and we all know it…Fouling Wallace wasnt rocket science.

    If he wants to be a true genious, how about just sitting his ass down and letting his players play?

  • BALLHOG

    One last note…Why would Pop even feel the need to over coach? Duncan, Parker, and Ginnobli are like coaches in uniform.

    He just screwed up and cant admit it.

    Bogans is like Bruce? ROFLMAO….Bogans couldnt carry Bruce Bowen’s Jock strap..

    Bonner is like Horry? again, ROFLMAO and cant breathe….

    I like Bonner as the 8th man off the bench. But he is no Horry. Horry was an all around player with a nasty streak. He did whatever this team needed him tyo do to win, including playing defense and getting in guys face.

    Bonner wont even get in the refs face. He is the Choirboy of the NBA…Hes just too nice of a guy.

    Finally, is Pop in denial or what?

    15 fella’s! Bogans, Mason, and Jefferson combined for 15 points against Detroit! Fellas, 40 minuts for Bogans, 30 for Jeff and Mason…15 points?

    If Im Peter Holt, and it is my 80 MILLION DOLLARS…Im not just concerned, Im not just upset,,,,I am wounded!!!

  • BALLHOG

    One last thing…Im no stat hound…

    Im just a guy who loves the game..Played the game for years…

    Any man alive who has played organized basketball at a level higher than PeeWee can plainly see that what is going on with my Spurs is unnececcessary crap…and Im PO’ed about it! The Spur nation loves our 3 warriors TD, TP, MG,,,,,,,and to put it mildly fellas…….Im convinced that they deserve better.

  • Jim Henderson

    I say we hire you as coach, BALLHOG.