By Jeff McDonald - Express-News commentary
The news made its way to Roger Mason Jr. sometime before breakfast, immediately giving him an acute case of the Mondays.
Eddie Jordan, the guy who had given Mason his big NBA break, had been fired as coach of the Washington Wizards.
The Wiz were 1-10 when Jordan was axed, but Washington players never saw it coming. So what chance did a former Washington player have?
“I talked to Brendan Haywood the day before it happened,” said Mason, now in a more stable situation in San Antonio. “Everyone was shocked.”
Signed away from Washington in the offseason, Mason had been following the, ahem, exploits of his former team from afar, cringing at each box score as the Wizards set franchise marks for futility that not even a latter day Michael Jordan could have touched.
The Wizards, of course, have reasons for their poor showing. They were down one All-Star (Gilbert Arenas) and one could-be All-Star (Haywood).
“They've been hit with the injury bug,” Mason said of his former team. “Big time.”
Which brings the discussion to Mason's current team.
If any team could blame injuries for a sluggish start, it's the Spurs. They played the first 12 games of the season without Manu Ginobili, and the past eight without Tony Parker.
But, somehow, the Spurs have survived. They are 7-6 after Monday's rout in Memphis and actually have a better record after Parker went down (6-2) than before.
How have the Spurs been able to stay afloat amid crushing injuries, while the Wizards have all but drowned?
“We have Tim Duncan,” Mason said.
And that's true. A first-ballot Hall-of-Fame big man makes for a mighty big Band-Aid.
The second part of Mason's answer, however, doesn't help the case for Jordan's job security.
Mason credits his new coach, Gregg Popovich.
“I'm playing for the best coach in sports, I think,” Mason said. “He makes sure guys are in the right place. There's not going to be excuses with Coach Pop. Everybody is accountable. If we've got guys out, so what?”
Popovich's even-keel, never-panic, pound-the-rock philosophy – and his players' unquestioned devotion to it — is a big reason the Spurs still can accomplish all their goals this season.
The past two weeks might represent one of the best coaching jobs of Popovich's career, just in keeping the entire season from unraveling.
It's the difference between Mason's old team and his new team and why his case of the Mondays won't last long.
Now, on to your questions ...
Why isn't Ian Mahinmi getting playing time with the Spurs? I know he is doing great in the Developmental League, but is it just because Kurt Thomas has a huge deal out there and Fab Oberto is a good complement player that there isn't any room for him?
— Jake Mooney, Los Angeles
Mahinmi's timing is terrible. He sprained his ankle in a pickup game before the start of training camp, just as Popovich was planning to give him every opportunity in the preseason to earn a spot in the rotation. Now, Mahimni is down in Austin on a rehab assignment and could return to the big club soon. After that, who knows? The Spurs are already having enough trouble finding minutes for the veteran Thomas. Unless the Spurs petition the NBA to allow them to play about eight guys at once, it's a strain to see how Mahinmi gets significant minutes with them right now.
Is Tiago Splitter entirely lost to the team? I remember reading that the Spurs still retained options to buy him out of his contract or some such, but is that likely to happen?
— David, Elliot City, Md.
The Spurs will have another shot at Splitter when his Spanish League contract runs out in 2010, but they will face the same set of problems they ran into while courting him last summer. As long as the NBA's rookie contract scale is what it is, the Spurs will basically be prohibited by league rule from paying Splitter what it would take to lure him from overseas. It's a shame, too, because Splitter seems like he could be the missing piece on this team.
Any news about seeing P.J. Carlesimo back on the Spurs' bench again?
— Micah, San Antonio
Not this season, if ever. As much as Popovich loves Carlesimo — and he loves him so much, he grew a beard in homage — he isn't going to demote one of his current assistants to bring P.J. back. Basically, the Spurs would have to have a job opening for Carlesimo to return. With lead assistant Mike Budenholzer likely to be in the running for the vacancies in Oklahoma City and Washington and who-knows-where-else at the end of the season, that could happen sooner rather than later.
Has Kurt Thomas either fallen out of favor with Pop, or did he not have what they expected? When we got him, so much was made of Pop's having wanted him for so long and how he would help us instantly. Yet, both during the playoffs and this year, he seems to have no defined role.
— Armando Gutierrez, Corpus Christi
The official word is that KT is working on his timing and conditioning after missing almost all of the preseason with a strained hamstring. Popovich is basically treating the first month or so of the regular season as if it were Thomas' preseason and allowing him to take baby steps toward getting into shape. We'll buy that, for now. All of the skills that made him valuable to the Spurs last February are still there — the rebounding, the defensive presence, the ability to hit an occasional mid-range jumper — so we'd expect him to be a steady contributor before the season is over.
Is it possible for Eddy Curry to join the Spurs?
— Southern, Seoul
Let's see, he's overweight, he's lazy, and he's defensively challenged. Yeah, Eddy Curry sounds like a Popovich player. Or not. Curry and Popovich would mix like oil and dynamite, which might make for a nice set-up for a sitcom — “Take a discipline-driven former military man and a player single-handedly responsible for half the world's Krispy Kreme sales, lock them in a room together, and watch hilarity ensue!” It probably wouldn't be nearly as entertaining in real life.
Will the Spurs sign Stephen Malbury?
— Anthony, Van Nuys, Calif.
Never heard of this Stephen Malbury character, but we do know this: The Spurs are far more likely to add him to their roster than the permanently disgruntled Stephon Marbury. We're not sure how Marbury would take to making the league minimum and playing behind both Tony Parker and George Hill. We suspect he might have a Mike Tyson-style freakout and tattoo something silly on the side of his head. What? That already happened? Well, never mind.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_Mailbag_Spurs_as_Wiz_Pop_makes_it_impossible.html
