Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009...2:33 pm
Spurs Waive McClinton, Add Dwayne Jones
The Spurs announced that they have waived Jack McClinton and added Dwayne Jones, a former Toro who has also spent time on the Cleveland, Boston and Charlotte rosters.
After a poor summer league performance, McClinton’s chances of making the team did not look good. We here at 48 Minutes of Hell wish him well, and hope that one day he can find a home in the NBA.
Last season Jones was quite the nomad: He began in Orlando’s training camp, played two games for Efes Pilsen, and then signed with the Bobcats. After appearing in six games for Charlotte, Jones moved onto the D-league, where he spent time with the Iowa Energy, Idaho Stampede and finally the Austin Toros. He played 20 games with the Toros, including one notable performance in which he nearly dropped a 30-30.
At 6-11, Jones is a serviceable, NBA-ready deep reserve who very well may give Ian Mahinmi a run for his money during camp. But it seems most likely that he’ll end up back in Austin, where some combination of Jerrells, Hairston, Gist and Jones could be a force in the D-League.
After today’s events, the Spurs have filled 18 roster spots, with two training camp invites still available.
12 Comments
September 23rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Does this mean McClinton will not be in Austin this year? I could see him developing into a Courtney Lee type of player in a year or two.
September 23rd, 2009 at 3:56 pm
McClinton has good potential but this move make sense because the Spurs are stacked at the 2 spot already with the addition of Bogans… having another big man @ the camp will certainly help…
and to Jack McClinton… I wish you well…
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I’m sad to see McClinton go…I thought he would be able to shoot the ball fairly well. In college games I would see him step back 3 to 4 feet behind the college 3 point line and drain em easily. Oh well.
And an almost 30-30 game on any basketball level is just riduculously amazing
September 23rd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Yeah McClinton has great range but he didn’t quite impress the Spurs with his Summer League play… Maybe he can still stick with the Toros if his long term plan is with the Spurs.
He may need a year or 2 to contribute to an NBA team… I’m more worried about losing either Hairston or Williams and even Gist.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I was really excited about McClinton, especially after all the analysts considered it a great pick for the Spurs. I hope he can become that Eddie House type player that everyone purported he could be when we first drafted him.
September 23rd, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I suppose this speaks to the high volume of talent the Spurs will bring into training camp. If Gist or Hairston feel they have a better shot with another team, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see them leave also. Maybe not likely but I think it’s a realistic possibility.
September 24th, 2009 at 8:27 am
On his twitter account, McClinton claims to have asked for his release because he didn’t feel there was a spot for him…
September 24th, 2009 at 8:49 am
This goes to show how fortunate the Spurs were that Blair fell to them in the 2nd Round. If Blair hadn’t fallen, the Spurs were talking about drafting McClinton at that spot and then they would have ended up with nothing out of the draft this year.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Mike,
Perhaps.
It’s not certain if the Spurs had someone else, who was rated ahead of McClinton, available to them between Blair and the 50s. But you make a good point.
September 25th, 2009 at 5:15 am
I had high hopes for McClinton too, but I definitely feel this was the right move.
I’m also really excited about picking up Keith Bogans. GO SPURS GO!!!
September 26th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
[...] readers are probably familiar with Jack McClinton’s recent tweets. He explained his release from the Spurs in this way: bc there was not an open spot 4 me, I asked to be released to pursue my dream [...]
October 5th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
D Jones is worth a look. Might play some useful minutes against some bigs that might cause other bigs more problems.
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