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 2009-10-25 21:13  #1
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[E-N]10.25 Spurs weigh Mahinmi’s fate

Web Posted: 10/25/2009 12:11 CDT
Spurs weigh Mahinmi’s fate
By Jeff McDonald- Express-News

Sometime before Monday’s NBA roster deadline, the Spurs must determine whether Malik Hairston or Marcus Williams will still have a job in San Antonio when the season starts.

Elsewhere on the roster, center Ian Mahinmi is battling a different, delayed sort of job insecurity. The Spurs have until Halloween to determine whether he will still have a job here next year.

Mahinmi, the 28th pick in the 2005 draft, is in the third season of his standard rookie contract, which comes with a team option for a fourth season. As the deadline to extend Mahinmi’s deal approaches, the Spurs’ decision-makers still don’t seem to know what to make of the enigmatic 22-year-old Frenchman, whose career to date has been long on promise but short on production.

“We haven’t talked about it yet,” Mahinmi said after Friday’s preseason finale against the Pacers. “All I can do is take it day after day and see what happens.”

Sometime this week, the Spurs must have their reckoning with Mahinmi.

The team must weigh what it has already invested in its 6-foot-11 project — three seasons and what will total about $2.45 million by the end of this season — against the price of buying Mahinmi more time.

Should the Spurs opt to bring Mahinmi back in 2010-11, it will cost them an additional $1.78 million — and double that, if they are unable to get below the luxury tax line for next season.

“It’s a situation where I think we’re not going to get ahead of the game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We’re going to take it day-to-day and see what we feel when the time comes.”

When it comes to deciding the fate of Mahinmi, the Spurs wish they had what they do not — more time, and a greater body of evidence.

Mahinmi, who is guaranteed $989,670 for the upcoming season, has played just one full season in the United States, a 2007-08 campaign spent mostly with the Austin Toros. He missed all of his sophomore campaign battling a litany of lower leg injuries, eventually requiring season-ending ankle surgery in February.

In brief stints against NBA-caliber competition, Mahinmi has yet to consistently show the form that once made him a Development League All-Star. He has shown glimpses of a natural shot-blocking prowess and can run the floor better than most NBA big men. Yet he is still raw offensively and remains foul prone.

In what amounts to the Spurs’ final evaluation of Mahinmi, he averaged 5.7 points and 3.2 rebounds in 15.3 minutes this preseason.

“He’s really working harder than one can even imagine, because he wants it to work,” Popovich said. “He’s progressing in a positive direction. He’s actually holding his own against guys in practice. As his confidence level increases, I think we’re going to see a better player.”

It can’t hurt Mahinmi’s case that he is coming off one of his best performances of the preseason. In the Spurs’ 114-112 loss at Indiana, Mahinmi stayed in a tight game down the stretch and produced two big buckets over Josh McRoberts.

Veteran center Theo Ratliff says he can understand why the Spurs have devoted so much time and energy to developing Mahinmi.

“He can be an NBA player,” Ratliff said. “It’s just a matter of him continuing to develop, understanding the different nuances of the game. That’s something this coaching staff teaches very well.”

Mahinmi is beginning to believe he belongs on an NBA court. Asked if he now can envision himself as an everyday player someday, Mahinmi didn’t hesitate.

“Oh yes,” he said. “Definitely.”

Whether that day will eventually come with the Spurs, or some other team, is a question for later this week.

NOTABLE: X-rays on DeJuan Blair’s bruised tailbone were negative Saturday. The rookie is considered day-to-day for practices but is not expected to miss Wednesday’s season-opener against New Orleans.



Find this article at:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_weigh_Mahinmis_fate.html
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