San Antonio Spurs: NBA Draft

Summer League Player Grades: Picks 21-30

Hoopsworld — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:34:40 -0400

NBA GMs are judged for their ability to evaluate talent and the best of them are able to find prospects that have been overlooked by other teams. Whether it be finding a contributor in the tail end of the first round or taking a project in the second, executives in the NBA have plenty of reasons to sit through the grueling two rounds. The main one? Those players may be integral pieces in a championship puzzle.

After grading the top and middle 10 picks, HOOPSWORLD rates the last third of the first round:

21. Ryan Anderson – New Jersey Nets (via trade from Dallas)
Noteworthy Performance: 18 points, seven rebounds against the Miami HEAT
Grade: B-
Review: The biggest question mark for Ryan Anderson was whether he was physical enough to play the power forward position in the NBA or if he was going to be an oversized 3 – he didn't quite answer that. Anderson's perimeter game was already known to be very solid, as he has range to the three-point and his ball-handling and quickness are good enough to get to the basket. Although he showed a willingness to play in the paint, Anderson's next step is to continue to develop as a "big". He's on the right track.

22. Courtney Lee – Orlando Magic
Noteworthy Performance: 27 points (8-14 FG), 4 assists, 3-3 from 3P, 8-9 FT against Oklahoma City
Grade: B+
Review: Courtney Lee did exactly what the Magic had hoped they would see from him – score. In addition to his notable statline above, Lee had a 30-point outburst to finish the Summer League. The variety in which he was getting those points is what will really makes the Magic happy – he knocked down threes, nailed the mid-range, and even penetrated to get to the basket and foul line as well. That kind of diversity will be nice for an Orlando team that was far too heavily reliant on the three-pointer at times.

23. Kosta Koufos – Utah Jazz
Noteworthy Performance: 12 points, 10 rebounds against the Atlanta Hawks
Grade: INC
Review: Kosta Koufos has shown that he's able to shoot the NBA three-pointer and he'll be able to develop nicely behind Mehmet Okur, but his performances in Salt Lake City's Rocky Mountain Revue have been too inconsistent so far. After a rough debut, in which it seemed like Koufos could only net fouls, he recovered nicely with the double-double noted above and then had a mediocre showing in Game 3. With a few more games left to go, Koufos can still earn himself a nice grade with solid performances.

24. Serge Ibaka – Oklahoma City (via trade from Phoenix)
Noteworthy Performance: N/A
Grade: N/A
Review: OKC decided to keep Ibaka in Spain for a few years as he continues to develop.

25. Nicolas Batum – Portland Trail Blazers (via trade from Houston)
Noteworthy Performance: 12 points, five rebounds against the Minnesota Timberwolves
Grade: C
Review: The Trail Blazers believe that Nicolas Batum will become a very solid defender in the future because of his length and athleticism. In Vegas, though, Batum was overwhelmed by the speed and physicality of many of his opponents. Although he improved and adjusted as each game passed, he didn't show much aggressiveness on offense and must develop a consistent jumpshot. He's only 19-years old, so he has time, but the Blazers' patience will certainly be tested, as it was with Travis Outlaw.

26. George Hill – San Antonio Spurs
Noteworthy Performance: 21 points, three assists, four rebounds against the Utah Jazz
Grade: C+
Review: The Spurs have said that George Hill has an opportunity to be the team's primary backup to Tony Parker and he has certainly shown talent so far but has been inconsistent. His shot wasn't falling for him in Las Vegas, but his performances have gotten better since coming to Salt Lake City. The nice part for the Spurs is that even if Hill is inconsistent, the team can turn to the steady veteran hand of Jacque Vaughn.

27. Darrell Arthur – Memphis Grizzlies (via trade from New Orleans and Portland)
Noteworthy Performance: 23 points (10-15 FG), six rebounds, one block against the San Antonio Spurs
Grade: B
Review: Everyone knew that Darrell Arthur had talent, but too many teams foolishly passed up on him over a rumor that his kidney isn't 100%. Arthur certainly has a chip on his shoulder and came out with something to prove in Vegas with a stellar debut. He's been resilient as well – in Games 2 and 3, he struggled to hit his shots, but he's clearly confident in his abilities and wasn't fazed. Arthur's mobility gets him up and down the court and his ability to score in a variety of ways (jumpers and post moves) will almost certainly make him a bench contributor for Memphis this season.

28. Donte Greene – Houston Rockets (via trade from Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis)
Noteworthy Performance: 40 points (12-20 FG, 5-10 3P), three assists, three rebounds against the Phoenix Suns
Grade: A
Review: Donte Greene can flat-out shoot the ball, which is certainly something Rockets' head coach Rick Adelman is excited about. Greene needs to diversify his offensive game, becoming more than just a jumpshooter, but he's athletic enough and showed in college that he has a lot of variety of ways to score. He'll need to develop as a defender, but was a flat-out dominant scorer in Las Vegas.

29. D.J. White – Oklahoma City (via trade from Detroit)
Noteworthy Performance: 20 points, 7 rebounds, 9-15 from the field against the Chicago Bulls
Grade: C
Review: White started in all of OKC's games, averaging a nice 10.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He showed that he was able to leave the paint and knock down some midrange jumpers and that he could bang around inside and grab a few rebounds. Because White is a smart player, he'll adjust as needed and should continue to grow in his productivity.

30. J.R. Giddens – Boston Celtics
Noteworthy Performance: N/A
Grade: N/A
Review: The Champs didn't get involved in any of the summer leagues and Giddens has yet to sign a contract.

Cheerleader of the Day: San Antonio Spurs

Shawn Siegel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:01:59 -0400

Cheerleader of the Day

Thanks to our friends over at Icon
Sports Media, we have access to thousands of great college & NBA basketball photos
to use on the site. Each day, along with our

Picture of the Day, we'll be featuring a Cheerleader of the Day. In honor of
the upcoming NBA Draft, we'll be focusing on NBA dancers until the end of June!

San Antonio Spurs

- Check out past

Cheerleaders of the Day!

- Also check out the

Picture of the Day!

1st Round Picks vs Playoff Success

Jon Teitel — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:04:55 -0400

FACT #1: Most homegrown 1^st round picks since 2000: Celtics, Hawks, and Supersonics with 5 each (but these 3 teams have combined for only 7 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #1: Drafting a lot of players in the 1^st round and keeping them on your team will not necessarily lead to success, as each of these teams have a top-5 lottery pick this year.

FACT #2: Most acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Trailblazers with 9 (but only 4 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #2: Portland has been busy signing/trading for former 1^st round picks for much of the decade, but it has not helped a lot so far, although I have a feeling that their newest homegrown addition (Oden) might turn them from losers into winners.

FACT #3: Most homegrown/acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Trailblazers with 12 (but only 4 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #3: Portland can bring five former 1^st round picks off of their bench, but apparently potential will only get you so far, as they had one of the worst teams in the league last year.

FACT #4: Least homegrown 1^st round picks since 2000: Bucks, Nuggets, Suns, Timberwolves, and Wizards with 1 each (these 5 teams have combined for 23 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #4: Despite the fact that 2 of these 5 teams missed out on the playoffs this year, and the Suns were the only team to win a single playoff series, these teams have shown that you can get to the playoffs year after year without developing your own 1^st round picks.

FACT #5: Least acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Clippers with 0 (and only 1 playoff appearance in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #5: I suppose that Clippers owner Donald Sterling might be the X-factor in this one, but the fact remains that one reason the Clippers keep ending up in the lottery is because they rarely trade for/sign players who are recent 1^st round picks.

FACT #6: Least homegrown/acquired 1^st round picks since 2000: Bucks, Clippers, Jazz, Spurs, Timberwolves with 3 (these 5 teams have combined for 24 playoff appearances in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #6: Sterling’s distaste for re-signing his 1^st round picks has cost him in the past, but the other 4 teams have consistently made the playoffs with a combination of players who are either older, not former 1^st round picks, or both.

FACT #7: Most playoff appearances since 2000: Spurs with 8 (despite only having 2 homegrown and 1 acquired 1^st round pick in 8 years)

CONCLUSION #7: The NBA’s defending champion has proven that the addition of recent 1^st round picks is completely irrelevant to success, although this year’s NBA Finals MVP is one of their 2 homegrown 1^st round picks.

8 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Spurs: 2 homegrown (Parker, Udrih)

1 acquired (Ely)

7 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Kings: 3 homegrown (Douby, Garcia, Martin)

1 acquired (Salmons)

Lakers: 4 homegrown (Bynum, Cook, Farmar, Vujacic)

3 acquired (Brown, Mihm, Radmanovic)

Mavericks: 2 homegrown (Ager, Howard)

2 acquired (Diop, Harris)

Pacers: 3 homegrown (Granger, Harrison, Williams)

4 acquired (Diogu, Dunleavy, Murphy, Tinsley)

6 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Nets: 4 homegrown (Boone, Krstic, Williams, Wright)

3 acquired (Collins, Jefferson, Nachbar)

Suns: 1 homegrown (Stoudemire)

3 acquired (Banks, Barbosa, Diaw)

5 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Bucks: 1 homegrown (Bogut)

2 acquired (Hodge, Villanueva)

Hornets: 4 homegrown (Armstrong, Paul, Simmons, West)

2 acquired (Chandler, Mason)

Jazz: 2 homegrown (Brewer, Williams)

1 acquired (Araujo)

Sixers: 2 homegrown (Dalembert, Iguodala)

2 acquired (Carney, Hunter)

Timberwolves: 1 homegrown (McCants)

2 acquired (Griffin, Madsen)

4 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Celtics: 5 homegrown (Allen, Foye, Green, Jefferson, West)

3 acquired (Perkins, Rondo, Telfair)

Magic: 2 homegrown (Howard, Redick)

3 acquired (Dooling, Nelson, Turkoglu)

Nuggets: 1 homegrown (Anthony)

5 acquired (Hilario, Johnson, Kleiza, Martin, Smith)

Raptors: 4 homegrown (Bargnani, Bosh, Graham, Peterson)

4 acquired (Dixon, Ford, Humphries, Jackson)

Trailblazers: 3 homegrown (Outlaw, Randolph, Webster)

9 acquired (Aldridge, Dickau, Jack, Jones, Magloire, Miles, Przybilla, Rodriguez, Roy)

3 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Bulls: 2 homegrown (Gordon, Hinrich)

5 acquired (Deng, Khryapa, Sefolosha, Sweetney, Thomas)

Grizzlies: 3 homegrown (Lowry, Swift, Warrick)

4 acquired (Gasol, Gay, Jones, Miller)

Knicks: 4 homegrown (Balkman, Collins, Frye, Lee)

5 acquired (Crawford, Curry, Jeffries, Richardson, Robinson)

Rockets: 2 homegrown (Head, Ming)

3 acquired (Battier, Snyder, Tsakalidis)

Supersonics: 5 homegrown (Collison, Petro, Ridnour, Sene, Swift)

1 acquired (Wilcox)

Wizards: 3 acquired (Haywood, Stevenson, Thomas)

1 homegrown (Hayes)

2 playoff appearances in past 8 years

Cavaliers: 2 homegrown (Brown, James)

2 acquired (Gooden, Pavlovic)

1 playoff appearance in past 8 years

Clippers: 3 homegrown (Kaman, Korolev, Livingston)

0 acquired

Warriors: 4 homegrown (Biedrins, O’Bryant, Pietrus, Richardson)

2 acquired (Cabarkapa, Wagner)

0 playoff appearances in past 8 years

*Bobcats: 4 homegrown (Felton, May, Morrison, Okafor)

2 acquired (Brezec, Wallace)

Hawks: 5 homegrown (Childress, Johnson, Smith, M. Wiliams, S. Williams)

1 acquired (Claxton)

*only in existence since 2004

Do Lottery Players Equal NBA Success?

Jeff Fox — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 15:40:49 -0400

The title of the article pretty much sums it up – do the number of lottery drafted players on a NBA team’s roster affect the team’s outcome on the court? At first blush the obvious answer would be yes – more often than not talent wins out on the court, so more talent on a roster should equal more wins. On the other side of the coin, normally the worst teams in the league are the ones drafting in the lottery, so therefore crummy teams should have their rosters saturated with lottery picks.

Your trusty writer went about trying to answer this question by perusing all 30 NBA team’s rosters from the 2006/07 season. Any player who appeared in at least one game for a team qualified to be counted towards that team’s lottery player total, so lottery players who were traded during the season counted on multiple team’s totals. After all the number crunching, NBA teams had on an average about five players on their roster who were selected in the lottery. Here are the teams that disobeyed the average and were at the far ends of the spectrum:

Top of the heap:

Golden State – 9 players (Davis, Richardson, Biedrins, Dunleavy, Diogu, Foyle, O’Bryant, Pietrus, Wagner)

Denver – 8 players (Anthony, Iverson, Camby, Hilario, Miller, Smith, Martin, Johnson)

Miami – 8 players (Wade, O’Neal, Williams, Mourning, Walker, Payton, Jones, Doleac)

All three teams made the playoffs, so talent does get you that far. Miami’s stockpiling of veteran lottery picks (and some kid named Wade) got them the title in 2006. It’s hard to say if the Nuggets’ motley crew of lottery picks will ever be able to play together as a team and really make some noise in the playoffs. Golden State’s big mid-season trade took away some of the lottery talent, but they had enough left over to shock Dallas in the first round of the playoffs.

Bottom feeders:

Indiana – 2 players (Dunleavy, Diogu)

Milwaukee – 2 players (Bogut, Villanueva)

San Antonio – 3 players (Duncan, Horry, Ely)

Utah – 3 players (Williams, Harpring, Brewer)

Until their mid-season trade with Golden State, Indiana didn’t have any lottery picks on their team – and they suffered through a horrible season. Milwaukee also had a horrible year but at least their lottery talent is young still. The real interesting two are the Spurs and the Jazz, who battled in the Western Conference Finals this past season. These two teams proved it doesn’t matter what spot you draft a player at, rather it is more important to draft and/or trade smart. While having lottery picks Tim Duncan and Deron Williams on their rosters definitely help, it is the later picks that really make the difference for both teams – Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur.

While it is hard to draw a definitive conclusion from all of this, the main point that these numbers illustrates is that a pick in the lottery isn’t a guaranteed ticket to a championship. Unless that pick is named Duncan or O’Neal or probably Oden and/or Durant. So draft wisely NBA GMs, even those of you who aren’t in the lottery this year.

All-Time Draft Studs & Duds: Part Two

Jeff Fox — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 09:19:25 -0400

Part One of All-Time NBA Draft Studs & Duds contains Atlanta through Miami.

Milwaukee Bucks

Stud:

1969-#1- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Dud:

1988-#13- Jeff Grayer

Could have had: Dan Majerle, Rod Strickland, Anthony Mason

Minnesota Timberwolves

Stud:

1995-#5- Kevin Garnett

Dud:

1999-#6- Wally Szczerbiak

Could have had: Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest

New Jersey Nets

Stud:

1977-#7- Bernard King

Dud:

1987-#3- Dennis Hopson

Could have had: Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller

New Orleans Hornets

Stud:

1996-#13- Kobe Bryant

Dud:

1989-#5- J.R. Reid

Could have had: Tim Hardaway, Shawn Kemp

New York Knicks

Stud:

1964- 2^nd round - #10 overall - Willis Reed

Dud:

1962-#2- Duke Hogue

Could have had: Dave deBusschere, Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek

Orlando Magic

Stud:

1992-#1- Shaquille O’Neal

Dud:

2003-#13- Reece Gaines

Could have had: Josh Howard

Philadelphia 76ers

Stud:

1984-#5- Charles Barkley

Dud:

1997-#2- Keith Van Horn

Could have had: Tracy McGrady, Chauncey Billups

Phoenix Suns

Stud:

1996-#15- Steve Nash

Dud:

1987-#2- Armon Gilliam

Could have had: Scottie Pippen, Reggie Miller

Portland Trailblazers

Stud:

1983-#14- Clyde Drexler

Dud:

1984-#2- Sam Bowie

Could have had: Michael Jordan, John Stockton, Charles Barkley

Sacramento Kings

Stud:

1970-#19- Tiny Archibald

Dud:

1956-#1- Si Green

Could have had: Bill Russell

San Antonio

Stud:

1999- 2^nd round - #57 overall – Manu Ginobli

Dud:

1984-#7- Alvin Robertson

Could have had: John Stockton

Seattle Sonics

Stud:

1987-#5- Scottie Pippen

Dud:

2001-#2- Vlad Radmanovic

Could have had: Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest

Toronto Raptors

Stud:

1997-#9- Tracy McGrady

Dud:

1999-#5- Jonathan Bender

Could have had: Richard Hamilton, Shawn Marion, Ron Artest

Utah Jazz

Stud:

1985-#13- Karl Malone

Dud:

1980-#2- Darrell Griffith

Could have had: Kevin McHale

Washington Wizards

Stud:

1968-#2- Wes Unseld

Dud:

1984-#6- Melvin Turpin

Could have had: John Stockton

Return to Part One of All-Time NBA Draft Studs & Duds

San Antonio Spurs: NBA Draft Team Needs

Raphielle Johnson — Sun, 27 May 2007 03:00:00 -0400

NBA Draft: San Antonio Spurs

Record: 58-24, 2^nd Southwest

Draft Picks: 28, 33, 58

Team Needs: The Spurs could use some depth for their bench, preferably on the perimeter with guys like Robert Horry and Brent Barry in the twilight of their careers. Depending on how they feel about Jacque Vaughn and Beno Udrih, the Spurs could even look to shore up the backup point spot.

Who Should They Draft: G Rodney Stuckey (Eastern Washington)

Draft History Since 2000:

2006: Damir Markota (59)

2005 - Ian Mahinmi (28)

2004 - Beno Udrih (28), Romain Sato (52), Sergei Karaulov (57)

2003 - Leandro Barbosa (28)

2002 - John Salmons (26), Luis Scola (56), Randy Holcomb (57)

2001 - Tony Parker (28), Robertas Javtokas (56), Bryan Bracey (57)

2000 - Chris Carrawell (41)

Links: NBA Draft | NBA Teams | Mock Draft | Draft History