Bank Shots: Spurs Preseason

· The Austin Toros experiment, to date, is entirely dependent on Malik Hairston at this point—more so than George Hill or DuJuan Blair, I looked forward to this preseason to see what fruits the Spurs developmental league team would bare.

Mahinmi is still the biggest mystery and might be worth extending. Right now I think for player comparisons you can start at Francisco Elson as your worst case scenario though his ceiling seems to be dropping fast.

Williams appears to be an NBA player. Though I can only envision him as a point forward that neither helps nor hurts you—only he’s young, still learning, and at this point does, in fact, hurt you.

The good news is Hairston seems ready now but still D-league eligible. The best thing I can say about Hairston is that no situation seems too big for him. For a player who has had to transition out to a perimeter oriented game, that’s huge. He’s had a steady handle, excelled at finishing and been a surprising passer with a few multi-assist games. At this point I’ll declare the Austin success ratio as 1-for-3, which I’d say is a success for what the Spurs are looking for.

· Curtis Jerrell irks me—Since we’re on the subject of Austin, there are a lot of Spurs fans who would like to see the former Baylor star show up in Austin. I’d highly advise against it. Jerrells over dribbled his way through the entire Spurs preseason and likely only stayed on the roster so the Spurs could continue scrimmaging while Parker rested. To me, his entire preseason can be summed up with the closing minutes of the Clippers game. With an opportunity to tie he took the ball, raced down the end of the court and forced a shot with plenty of time on the clock.

That’s not to say he doesn’t have some tools. I think he could develop in Austin, though at the cost of the development of those around him. And given that we already have two young point guards I’d rather have a generic system point guard that will get the ball to our developing wings and bigs. To emphasize my point about the Clippers game, that rushed shot would have been a perfect opportunity to see what Blair, Hairston or Williams could have done in the clutch.

· Marcus Haislip needs time and opportunities—Though I’m not sure he’ll get either. I suppose his true value (or lack thereof) will become apparent once he matches up with the perimeter based big forwards that have caused us problems.

Right now as a “stretch four” he seems to lack NBA range, which is no surprise according to ESPN’s Hollinger. As he points out it normally takes a season to get acclimated to the NBA three-pointer. He appears to have a good shot though. Additionally, it seems he still is figuring out what he can get away with in the NBA. He favors a between the legs dribble drive that leads to some out of control drives. Hopefully he’ll figure it out.

· Bonner and Finley can still shoot—It’s not their fault they were miscast as 30 minute a night major contributes. Both have looked great in the preseason and given reduced minutes and roles perhaps they’ll last the season while their new teammates are better equipped to mask their weaknesses.