San Antonio Spurs 2009 Draft

Good stuff once again ATS. I can definitely envision a scenario where the Spurs trade back into the late 1st round (anywhere from 26 to 30), assuming there’s a “destined to be a Spur” type that drops that far. Rumors are flying about how the teams in that range are looking to move out of their spot to save some cash and pick up extra picks in the future, and San Antonio’s front office is savvy enough to take advantage of the economic situation.

I don’t have a problem with the three guys DraftExpress predicts San Antonio will take, but I think we should make a play to move up and acquire a player that will have an immediate impact next season; specifically, Terrence Williams from Louisville and Sam Young from Pitt are two seniors who would provide some youth, athleticism, and defense at the wing position. I also saw a little bit of Gonzaga’s Austin Daye during the season, and he reminded me of a very young Robert Horry – a long, lanky guy who can shoot, put the ball on the floor, create mismatch problems, and D up both forward positions – the type of player Pop loves to utilize and could replace Bonner’s role if we decide to trade him.

And I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the Spurs decide to dip into the international pool once again and snag the Israeli kid, Omri Casspi. From the little I’ve seen of him, Casspi looks like a much younger, MUCH rawer version of Manu, trapped in a 6’8, 220 lbs. body. He’ll need to bulk up a little, dedicate himself on the defensive end, and learn to harness his emotions, but he could certainly provide the Spurs with some youth, athleticism, and scoring ability – the same things we have been saying all along that San Antonio desperately needs.

Whatever happens, I’ll be glued to the tube for the entire draft, and I’m anticipating lots of movement, and maybe some hope and optimism for Spurs fans to fantasize about and discuss until the season starts.

Good job. No offense Davis, but I think that Lakers pic was scaring Spurs fans away from PTR. ATS does two great posts today to push it further down the front page….

Only time I ever went to Bussey’s was when the my dad’s golf clubs were stolen from our garage and the cops believed they were being sold at Bussey’s. My mom and I drove up there to go to this guy’s stand and if we could find one single thing that belonged to my dad, the cops would get this guy but nothing…

Here’s some heartbreak Motown…
During the playoffs, after game 4 I played Smokey Robinson’s We’ve Come to Far to End it Now.
After game 5, my friend and I got back to my car and I was flipping through my IPod looking for the most depressing thing I could and found The Miracles’ Whats so Good About Goodbye. So I absolutely blasted it as loud as I could as I was stuck in line and watched a fan of one team get out of the back seat of car to fight another fan who is banging on said car. I can’t remember if it was the Spurs fan banging or in the car though.

Some great lyrics:
“Well if leavin’ causes grievin’
And to part will break your heart
Tell me what’s so good about it
I could’ve done without it
What’s so good about goodbye
Since you said goodbye to me
All I know is misery”

NBAtv was playing a BSPN draft workout today and they said Joe Ingles could be a first rounder. He isn’t even in the mock draft at draftexpress. 48MoH interviewed him and he doesn’t even know if he’ll be drafted. I don’t think BSPN was overrating him but just don’t know how many picks are in each round.

I’m giving the Spurs 70% odds they move up in the draft or at least don’t end up picking with the 3 picks they start with. Hypothetically, lets say the Spurs have a verbal commitment from Bourousis. Even if they don’t, our biggest need is still SF. Looking at the SF’s in the draft, the number one is Demar Rozen who isn’t projected to go until number 9 to the Raptors. Next is Austin Daye at 15 to the Pistons. No.3 Sam Young (who Graydon at 48MoH seems to like) at 23 to Sacramento. Budinger at 25 to the Thunder. Right after that they have Casspi (who the Spurs have apparently been scouting since the womb) next at 26 to the Bulls. Then you have Jerebko at 29 to the Lakers.

Those are some good prospects to get in the second half of the first round if we can move up. I mean DraftExpress doesn’t have one SF going to the lottery picks. Whether the Spurs take one of those names or do better scouting than DraftExpress and get us someone deeper, I think there is potential to get a SF that could play next year.

over on the nuggets site pickaxeandroll they have a post about getting manu for…wait for it…wait for it……KENYON MARTIN!!! i almost spit out my drink from laughing so hard.

I haven’t read anything on us working out DeMarre Carroll but if he falls to 51 or 53 he’d be a steal. In fact I’d be happy if we went George Hill on him and just took him earlier than projected at 37. At 6’9 225lbs he’s an undersized power forward or a too slow small foward. Or we can look at his size as a possitive mismatch-too big for small forwards to check and too quick for power forwards to run with. If you do consider his physical attributes to be a weakness though(which is completely fair) you need look no further than his hard work ethic and competitive spirit to see what I love about this guy. The dude is a huge gamer and will out hustle anyone not named Manu if he were on our roster. High basketball IQ, good midrange jumper, good offensive rebounder, and rocks dreadlocks.

um…should i know who tanya tucker is?

nbadraft.net has us taking patrick mills at 37? while it would be sorta cool to have an aussie on the team again (first time since andrew gaze, w00t), we really don’t need a small shoot-first PG.

I think there’s an NBA gene I’m unfortunately missing. I simply can’t find it in me to get excited about the draft… Maybe it’s because the Spurs haven’t gotten a high pick since Duncan arrived.

I’m going to use the newly reinstated YouTube to check that Tanya Tucker person now. Should be fun.

will, without a doubt, will get into the first round. Not sure who we’ll draft though as I’m not a very avid NBA draft follower.

How are you in South Texas and not interested in making the Margarita the official drink for the Spurs draft? It just makes sense. San Antonio = Margaritas and San Antonio = Spurs. It’s a match made in heaven.

As far as the draft goes, I don’t really know enough to comment on it. That will not of course stop me from commenting. I hope the Spurs move up. We’re not going to be using 3 second rounders anyway, we might as well get somebody that could play.

i recommend that Tecate Light be the official PtR drink of the draft. its about the same quality of any players the spurs can expect to pick and it really doesnt taste so terrible if you’ve had several beers ahead of time……..

i also thought about a bunch of guys that interested me and posted them in another thread a long time ago. Manuwar mentioning DeMarre Carroll of Missouri got me to thinking about those guys. It made me think that I like Carroll and mistakenly left him out. I must admit that i haven’t seen too many projections lately, so some of these guys may have moved up and down the projected order in the last several weeks.

Anyway, here is my belly (or said another way, some guys that I think are cool, in no particular order):

curtis jerrels – baylor. possibly another one of those point/shooting guard types. great handles, great run and gun shooter – but a shameless gunner without much regard for defense in his college career. good athlete who can score. this is what we need, but would have to start playing some D.

taj gibson – USC/jeff pendergraph – ariz state. both are wiry big guys that could provide the additional inside presence needed. i like gibson better because he is a supreme defender and defensive rebounder. i think that he would be an ideal fit for the spurs. If I could pick a guy to root for the spurs to pick, it would be gibson. pendergraph is a better scorer, but not as physical. could still be useful in our system.

josh heytveldt – gonzaga is a guy who has some offensive skills with good length. He’s tough enough to play with the big boys and would give us the effort on both ends of the floor. Will need him to put on some pounds and get in the weight room.

danny green – north carolina. saw a projection sending him to SA somewhere. a double digit scorer on a team of stars in college. athletic wing type player who has developed his shooting ability every year in school. this could be yet another wing type guy who we want to mold into the bruce bowen spot on our roster. he is more known, but reminds me a little of george hill. Lots of smack on danny green since when I first wrote this, so…….but my basic opinion of his skills hasn’t changed.

Let me add in robert vaden and dionte christmas as tough minded guys who know how to put the ball in the hole. Both have good NBA type bodies too.

i watch a TON of college ball, so i am sure to chime in on some other guys as their names are brought up – but this is what i have as of now……

Wow ATS,

You’re downright giddy when you write about the draft. I don’t think you were ever this excited during the regular season. The hope of finding the next George Hill has really got you hopped up… doesn’t it? By the way, I think the Spurs are going to surprise us again this year with their pick.

I haven’t been to Bussey’s in ages, but the last time I was there I was able to pick up an original LP of the Boss’s first album “Greetings from Asbury Park”. Very Cherry.

As for the BP checks… I already get those on a regular basis. If it’s Spurs related then it’s on the 10 o’clock news. Actually, today a casual acquaintance began an early morning conversation with “I think we should trade Manu”. First, FU. Second, he’s lucky I’d had at least one cup of coffee in me.

Tanya Tucker… sorry you lost me there.

For some reason I think of the Spurs when I listen to this SADE song… it makes me happy.

Enjoy the music selection… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvcNtoHwd6Y

I hate you all. I’ll have to settle with a coca cola

and keeping manu!

w/o a first round pick and a second round pick thats bound to be obscure and never set foot on American soil….cant wait

Well we can add Yiannis Bouroussis to the list of foreign players who used us just to make more money. Well at least the spurs can now focus on players in the draft who well help us out.

I well be fine if we dotn move up in the draft. Just as long as they are planning to get free agents over the summer. There are two realsticly we can get who can help us compete for anthor NBA championship. I think they should go after Zaza Pachulia and Dahntay Jones they can be our new starting SF and C. Players that need to go are Ime Udoka, Drew gooden,Jacque vagun, maybe we can keep bowen or finely at back up If they get Dahntay Jones.

Sorry, too lazy to do a FanPost or Shot so I’m posting it here. See, I still read BSPN just because it’s become part of my daily rounds on the interwebs, and I’m absolutely pissed that almost all of their draft coverage now is on Insider. As ATS and some of us here have already mentioned, we won’t pay for some bloke’s writing when we know that we can get the same information (or better) for free somewhere else.

During these desperate times, I turn to hoopshype. It’s probably not too reliable (heck, having Eddie Johnson as one of the columnists doesn’t really add much credibility), but what I love about it is that they gather the best parts of every significant NBA-related article in the web (including excerpts from Insider posts), and condense it in their “Rumors” page. Great and handy, and exactly just what a lazy dork like me needed.

That said, here are some interesting tweets from Ric Bucher of BSPN recently. He mentions an “SA” initials on the second one, and I am presuming that’s our Spurs. Don’t hesitate to correct me if I’m wrong about this. Thanks.

Ric Bucher: Clips were confident they had a Kaman deal 48 hrs ago. That changed last night. Camby to OKC is still out there right now. Twitter.com

Ric Bucher: (Bucks) are in a tough spot. Need to improve, need to save $. Might have to let Villanueva walk. (SA would snap up.)

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=AvW.0a7z8DABQPYDKKGNR7Y5nYcB?slug=aw-celticspistons062209&prov=yhoo&type=lgns