Hello everyone. As the user name suggests, I'm a long-time reader, very limited poster. I spend far too much time here without posting, and that would probably double if I were to post on a regular basis. However, I live in Salt Lake City and am attending the Rocky Mountain Revue, so I figured I'd give you guys my thoughts from seeing these guys live. I haven't had a chance to read what's been said in the past couple days, so I apologize if a lot of this is reiterated or if the board has someone else viewing the games live. I also apologize if this OP is too long for some people; I'll try to bold each section to help you skim.

Spurs players:

George Hill: The thing that impressed me the most about Hill was how quick his feet are, on both sides of the court. On offense, this helps him get past guys on the perimeter. On defense, this helps him stay in front of the guy he is guarding, which he does very well. In the first game against the Jazz, Hill did a great job of staying in front of Tyrone Brazelton, who is a very fast guard. When Brian Morrison came in to replace Hill, Brazelton blew past him a couple times.

While Hill isn't a pure point guard, I think he'll be capable of playing PG for the Spurs system. He doesn't turn the ball over very often, and he's very good at penetrating and kicking. Accordingly, he does a good job of passing through traffic, both to the perimeter and to big men who are open because they double the penetrator. Hill is also very unselfish, sometimes to a fault. The offense the summer league team seems to be running mostly involves Hill bringing the ball up the court and passing to the wing to initiate a semi-motion offense. Since this is mostly what Jacque Vaughn does half the time (get out of the way and let the scorers score), I can definitely see Hill stepping in immediately. The only problem with this offensive setup is that it hasn't allowed me to see how well Hill passes into the post (e.g. - down to Mahinmi), as he hasn't done it very often.

What Hill needs to work on the most is making guys at the next level respect his penetration by learning how to finish at the rim and/or learning a pull-up jumper. Once he does that, his penetrate and kick will be more effective. Other than this, the primary negatives I saw with Hill are things that I view as rookie mistakes, such as getting himself caught off of his feet or picking up his dribble too soon.

With his very solid defense and good passing and ballhandling abilities, I think Hill will be playing 15 minutes a game by January at the latest.



Ian Mahinmi: Ian has put on a few pounds since the last time I saw him, and he looks good. That being said, he's still skinny for his frame and could stand to put on another 10-15 pounds. Mahinmi definitely shows signs of being very good. However, his biggest fault is that he's not nearly aggressive enough on either side of the court. On defense he really needs to go after rebounds a bit more; not that he's being outrebounded by guys near him, just that he kind of stays in one spot and doesn't move around while anticipating where the ball will go. On offense, he needs to be a little more demanding of the ball, and needs to be a little more physical in his moves to the basket.

All of this being said, I saw a lot of positives in Mahinmi's game. His jump shot and free throw shot look very smooth and comfortable. He has a few different post moves, the most impressive of which came along the baseline, which I kind of get the feeling he is more comfortable with, as opposed to Tim Duncan's typical post-up position. He seems pretty solid on defense, though his best shot-blocking seems to come on help defense. Now that he's not having foul trouble, I think he needs to throw a little more aggressiveness back into his shot block attempts. Yes, he had 7 fouls in the game today (Saturday), but most of those were very ticky-tack fouls called by poor quality summer league refs. In the NBA he would have probably had 3, with 4 at the very most.

Mahinmi is getting frequent breaks in summer league, but I don't think this is because he gets tired easily; I think it's because the coaches are trying to tell him anything and everything that will help him, and they want to get to him while the particular play is still fresh in his mind. All said, I think Mahinmi can be a contributor this year, but not right away. He still needs a lot of grooming, but he also needs some solid NBA experience. I think they will try to throw him into the fire before the stretch run, assuming they don't send him back into the D-League. I'd personally be happy if he's getting into the rotation at all come March through June.


James Gist: I've only seen James play one game since he didn't play Saturday, but from what I saw, he's a lot of fun to watch. I can't remember the last time the Spurs have had such an authoritative rebounder; he pulls down the boards very strongly, even ripping it away from Ian a couple times. His defense is good, but he still got abused once or twice, one of those I believe on a baseline move by Britton Johnsen. He's a good finisher at the basket, and looks comfortable and deceptively fast on the court.

Whether the Spurs have told him or whether he's reading Spurstalk, I think James knows that to make it in the NBA, he's going to have to play 3/4 instead of just 4. Even though the coaches put him in the 4 spot in the lineup, he's trying to play more on the perimeter. He does a great job of finding holes in the defense to run through, both with and without the ball. Also, watching him warmup, he did nothing but shoot 3 pointers. Unfortunately, not many were going in, but that might take time. I think with a little development he can definitely contribute as an energy/rebounding guy, but in the short run at least, I think he's a better fit as a small-ball 4 than as a long 3.


Malik Hairston: I know a lot of people on the board have been hard on Malik, and understandably so since he tends to disappear at times, but there are definitely some redeeming qualities to him. He has a very fast first step, which allows him to get into the lane. However, once he gets there, his ballhandling and finishing abilities seem to be suspect. If he's going to be a true slasher in this league, that's the first thing he needs to work on. His passing ability is actually underrated, as I saw him make several great passes earlier today. However, he might not have the greatest decision-making though, as he was very unimpressive when they asked him to inbound the ball. All-in-all, I think Hairston will be a bit of a project, but not one without a lot of potential. I'd be all for signing Hairston, but he'd need to be in Austin all year.


Anthony Tolliver: I add his name to this post because he has been getting a lot hype due to his shooting ability. However, I don't feel like he can do much else other than shoot. He gets beat a lot on defense, and subsequently ends up fouling a lot. I know a lot of people on this board have advocated him over Matt Bonner, but I think Bonner's game is a lot more polished right now. (Disclaimer: I'm a Matt Bonner fan, and think that he can contribute to the Spurs if given the chance.) So, yes Tolliver is a good shooter, but I don't think he does enough on the way of defense or rebounding to justify taking up a roster spot at this point in time.

http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101557

Hill更自信一点，Ian更壮一点，Gist更高一点。