Sunday, February 22nd, 2009...9:15 pm
Toros Watch: Pops Throws Up a 39/18
The trade market has morphed into the buyout market. These Toros Watch posts may have seemed superfluous until now, but here’s where paying attention matters. The Spurs have until March 1 to sign a player to fill out their roster. Players waived by March 1 retain their playoff eligibility if signed by another team after that date. The Spurs are no doubt watching the wire to see who shakes free. It’s widely suspected they’ll add a big to their current group. This is when owning a farm team is handy.
Over the weekend the Toros traded Mohammed Abukar for Dwayne Jones. Abukar is a nice Developmental League player, but with a limited bag of tricks. He’s a 6’10” forward with a sweet shooting stroke (.452 3pt%). Unfortunately, Abukar doesn’t give you much else. Jones, on the other hand, is a rugged center with legit NBA size. Snipping from the press release, Jones is a well-traveled big man:
Jones has seen time in the NBA with the Celtics (2005-06), Cavaliers (2006-2008), and Bobcats (2008). Jones’ first introduction to the D-League was in 2005 with the Florida Flame, and then again in 2007 when assigned to the Albuquerque Thunderbirds where he posted a game high eight blocks against the Idaho Stampede. Jones played briefly in the Turkish League and then signed with the Iowa Energy in January, 2009. He was traded to the Idaho Stampede.
This Toros trade invites obvious speculation. What does this accomplish for the Spurs/Toros? The answer likely lies with another Toros big, Pops Mensah-Bonsu.
Our readers must be sick of hearing his name. He’s only been with the Toros for a few weeks and I’ve posted about him a half dozen times or more. Pops Mensah-Bonsu should be on an NBA roster. He’s killing the D-League. Earlier today he put up 39 and 18 on the Colorado 14ers. 39 and 18. It didn’t surprise me to learn that the Raptors worked out Mensah-Bonsu last week.
Perhaps, the Toros simply see the writing on the wall-Pops is going to get a contract, and sooner rather than later. The Suns, for example, have lost Amare Stoudemire for the season. I’m not sure what would prevent them from taking a look at Mensah-Bonsu. He would flourish in their system. The Jones trade, in other words, is a kind of preemptive strike. The Toros are covering their losses in advance. But it might signal something more specific.
The buyout market is rumored to include names such as Joe Smith and Rasho Nesterovic. But that’s conjecture. The only player that is currently available to the Spurs is Mikki Moore. To my mind, Pops Mensah-Bonsu is at least as good an option as Mikki Moore, with better long term payout. The short term rewards are a wash. The Spurs really have nothing to lose in giving Pops a 10-Day contract. If someone else becomes available, the Spurs can either waive Mensah-Bonsu or create roster space for a second late season signing by waiving either Ime Udoka or Jacque Vaughn. Again, I’m not sure what would prevent the Spurs from giving Pops a call-up.
Update: Ridiculous Upside shares in our dismay:
As much as you’d assume it was, this is not just an old post I moved back to the top. As usual, I’m serious, call Pops up. As in, this morning, before another team reads RidiculousUpside, 48minutesofhell, or the D-League website itself. He’s hot right now.
Yesterday afternoon, in a 131-124 victory over the Colorado 14ers, Mensah-Bonsu went off, scoring 39 points and grabbing 18 boards. He also had four steals and made 13-of-16 from the charity stripe in his 46 minutes of action. Seriously, 39 and 18, 35 and 14 at the end of regulation. What in the World is preventing this dude from being called-up? He’s good enough to play on Britain’s national team, but not good enough for a 10-day look?
26 Comments
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 am
Okay, I’m sold, Tim. I don’t know if it was your posts, the numbers he’s putting up (which I think are better than even Ian’s during his D-League stints) or just that nifty surname, but I’m feeling a bit panicked considering the possibility of some other team stealing it from us.
Please, Pop, get on with the program.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:09 am
So is this guy the next coming of Tim Duncan?! Seriously though, you make great points. Hope Pop picks up Pops before other teams swoop in - if it works out, he’s exactly what we need.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:28 am
I hope Coach Pop is reading this blog.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:43 am
Go for it!
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
What’s the point? The guy is only 6’9″. He weighs 235lbs, so he’s not even a taller Big Baby who can be used to push on other bigs guys. So he throws up a 39/18 game. How does that translate into NBA numbers? First, his 39.6 mins a game will drop to MAYBE 12-15 if he learns the system. Use those numbers to come to a 66% drop in minutes. Use this percentage to calculate his numbers. PPG: 26.6 to 8.7. RPG: 13.0 to 4.3. BPG: 2.5 to .83. And these would be his numbers at 13 mins a game in the d-league. I’m not sure how you even calculate how much playing against real ballers would lower those even more. And who actually believes he’s going to even play this year? At best, he’s a poor man’s Brandon Bass. I just don’t see it. Focus on Ian, get his rehab going properly, bring him back healthy next year, and try to win with what we have now. Hopefully Manu comes back 100%.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:02 am
What’s to lose, ThatBigGuy? Say we sign him to a 10-day contract and we find out he doesn’t quite cut it… what did we lose then? There’s an open spot in the roster, and we could waive him (or JV, or Ime) at any point.
So why not? Because he might not be good? Doesn’t make sense to me.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
I think I may have got too caught up in the numbers and went off the deep end. I guess I’m just not sold on his big D-league numbers translating into a helpful NBA player. I though it was generally agreed upon that we need another scorer on the wing and a defensive oriented big man. I just don’t think he is big enough to fill our needs for a big man. IMO, he doesn’t seem to be our savior for this season like it seems some are willing to label him as. That’s all.
Give him a 10 day contract, the dude deserves it.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:28 am
there can only be one pop(s)!
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
I wonder what the Spurs are waiting on, other than fighting their general slow decision-making and risk aversion.
To lose Pops to another team for a 10 day contract would be stupid, especially because he offers athleticism and rebounding - things we are lacking on the front line.
I suppose there might be an issue that if we sign Pops for 10 days then there wouldn’t be a roster spot available to sign an NBA big who gets bought out and becomes a free agent. But if that situation were to develop, could we not simply cut Pops even if his 10 days are not up yet, assuming we have already paid him? Someone who knows the arcana, please comment.
That’s the best case/scenario I have for us not giving the guy a chance. I hope it isn’t another case of the FO being slow and risk averse…for a 10 day contract.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:57 pm
What’s to say Spurs haven’t offered him a 10 day and he (and his agent) turned it down in hopes of a better offer. It could be a legitimate rest-of-season-guaranteed offer, or just an offer from a team that has more playing time available for a post player. He’d get more time to showcase himself in Toronto then he would here.
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Part of me agrees with Thatbigguy…but the other part of me says to see how he does banging with NBA bigs. I’d love to see him work out (especially defensively) because I don’t know if any of our bigs can stay with Odom…assuming he remains in the lineup with Bynum out. Odom is to quick for Tim, Fab, Kurt, and Bonner. He’s also too big to be guarded by everyone else. What does everyone else think?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:20 pm
http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/2009_02_23_Mikki_Moore_expected_to_join_Celts/srvc=home&position=also
Looks like Mikki Moore is going to Boston, so our big man options include the yet-to-be-bought-out Rasho Nesterovic and Joe Smith, and maybe a D-leaguer like Pops.
Anyone heard of any other possible buy out options?
February 23rd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Yep, absolutely no reason not to sign him up. If it doesn’t happen in the next few days, I’ll be disappointed, even if we still manage to get him signed.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Some sophisticated points, I especially enjoyed ThatBigGuys realistic breakdown of Pops seemingly monster stats.
D Counts. I thought Gasol would improve most from a full season with LA, but its been Odom that is flourishing. Quick, Bynum, Gasol, Odom, Byant, and Fish are taking the floor in the WCF? What Spurs do you want out on D? Parker, Ginobili, Duncan, Bonner, and…..??? A resonable argument could be made that Pops would be better on Odom than Bowen, Thomas, or Oberto.
As to the Celts signing Mikki Moore, I doubt the Spurs even talked to him. Smith, Rasho and Thomas and Oberto are all better than him and two already know our system.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Despite his craptactular play this season I would still stick Ime on Odom in that situation. He is short, but he plays very physically, which tends to bother Odom. Also, I would not want Bonner out on D. Our D lineup in that situation would be Duncan, Thomas, Udoka, Bowen, and Hill.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:30 am
I don’t understand why Mikki Moore is so sought after. I think he was part of the “Jason Kidd makes him look a lot better than he really was” group, just like K-Mart.
I would take Rasho back if he becomes available, but otherwise I don’t understand why teams want to overpay for scrubs like Moore, Darius Miles, or possibly Starbury if he became available. There are plenty of people in the DLeague who we could pick up for cheap and probably wouldn’t do any worse than the aforementioned players.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Thanks to everyone for their comments. Good stuff, as usual.
You’ll have to forgive me for my lack of response; I’ve been tied up elsewhere for the last few days.
I read this morning Horry may be going to Cleveland (I’m thinking happy thoughts about this), Moore is going to Boston (as previously pointed out in this thread), and Smith wants to stay put. That limits the Spurs options. Rasho is not a sure thing, Pops is available.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Also, Hoopshype reports that the Knicks brought in a bunch of D-League stars for tryouts. The list-James White, Quincy Douby, Demetris Nichols, Joe Crawford, Dontell Jefferson, Cheikh Samb, and Othyus Jeffers-did not include Mensah-Bonsu.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Just pointing out (as everyone always seems to get this wrong this time of year) that we DON’T have to sign anyone by March 1; it’s just anyone that we DO want to sign has to not be on any other NBA roster by March 1. That’s how we were able to re-sign Brent Barry in late March last season; the Sonics bought him out in February, then we waited the required 30 days and re-signed him.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I would like to see JAMES WHITE! on the Knicks. That might actually be a good match, assuming he can hit a jump shot.
Regarding Pops, people who have watched him on the Toros say he isn’t a great defensive player as far as rotations and covering his man. I’d like him on the team but unless he walks on water I doubt he’d sniff serious time in the post season, especially against the Lakers. I just want him to get on the team so we can see if we want to develop him.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Hollywood,
I think you speak for most of us. Most would like to see James White stick in the NBA; everyone basically recognizes that Pops is a long shot, but is showing enough to warrant further investment.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Thanks for the careful eye, John. Actually, I corrected a friend this weekend on the March 1 confusion. So I have to give myself a stern tsk-tsk for making the mistake myself.
One of the things I love about blogs is that they’re so democratic. The factual checks and balances, for example, are more direct than with a dead tree edition. And, of course, I’m referring to more than just the petty “you missed a comma” comment. So, if I make a mistake, as I did with the March 1 date, it’s likely that a reader, such as yourself, will call me on it, and thereby call everyone’s attention to it, within the comment thread. With a newspaper, there is no guarantee that such corrections make it to the editor, and if to the editor, to the author. And even if all that happens, the correction is often relegated to a difficult to spot after the fact retraction. The reader loses out. I’m off on a little bit of a rabbit trail here, but I want to say that I’m thankful for all this. Sincerely. Comment threads allow the best sort of writer-reader collaboration.
February 24th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
What about giving Dwayne Jones a shot? He has the actual size we need and some NBA experience.
February 24th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Samm,
Not a bad idea, but this will prove to be unnecessary speculation by tomorrow morning.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
I heard rumors that Pops has been signed to a 10 day contract. They also said he didn’t play in the Toros game tonight.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Woo hoo! All are troubles are over. The championship is ours!
http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2009/2/24/770329/pops-mensah-bonsu-to-the-n
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