I dont know about someone taking Mason from us. I think the sprus could get him back. If he has an okay year he be coming back. IT not like he has to have a great year with us. Manu is our main SG scorer not Mason.

You really are an optimist. I love it.

I don’t think it’s possible for all of our rookies to pan out – especially if you include De Colo, who we know little about, and McClinton, who’s a long way from NBA quality at the moment. Same for Williams – aren’t we basing our opinion on his chances just on RC’s comments? Same for Haislip, who failed to make it in this league on his first try.

I’m not saying it’s not possible, it’d just take some serious luck.

Great post Blase!
I love the optimism as well but as far as Jack Mc goes I don’t think he will amount to shit. The good thing about that though is that wings are a dime a dozen. I’m only concerned with our front court in the future because Parker is just a scoring machine. Splitter and Ian together will be just fine.

About us winning the chip and hopefully trading someone with high value at that point I think Haislip could be a possibility. He is an unknown and if he has a good year we can get some goods for him much the way Ariza seemingly came out of nowhere.

I’m not too concerned with next summer though as we are going to win it this year and I think we’re going to attract free agents on the cheap.

so that could be immediate help, I dont really have high expectations for McClinton or Haislip, especially the former; we seem to go through borderline NBA guards fairly quickly.

I think Haislip will surprise us all. Yes, I have not seen him play, but here are some reasons for my optimism on him:

1. He went 13th to the Bucks. To be a lottery pick in the draft, usually means you are a physical specimen and/or an athlete. Oftentimes this trumps skill set and seems to be the case here. (Also see Thabeet, Hasheem)
2. I’ve seen his game log and if you ever thought he had a really chance to prove himself in those very limited minutes, speak up. He was practically buried on the Bucks and the Pacers brought him as a band aid when O’Neal went down. Do you think the Spurs could replace Duncan with some guy who wasn’t on the roster and only played 10 minutes a game for a season or two? He was set up to fail.
3. According to draft express which I consider to be a great scouting source, he has improved tremendously in Europe, a lot of this improvement is on his shot. DraftExpress also lists Haislip as the #3 international free agent behind Bourousis who we supposedly went after and Jannero Pargo who isn’t a big man as you all know. So basically we got the second best big who also has 3 point range who is an international free agent.
4. In the recent study by 82games which is very rough but a great starting point for a discussion, the Bucks are the #1 drafting team over the sample period. That includes Haislip. Maybe they (the FO and coaches) just quit on him too early and their scouts were right as they appear to usually be (See Sessions, Ramon for coaches mismanaging a scouting coup).
5. The Spurs are an international scouting monster. Trust in Pop, RC, and Dennis Lindsey. Splitter is for real. Scola was for real [sigh]. De Colo was a steal in the draft. We all know about Parker and Manu as well. You could throw out other names too like Barbosa and Javtokas. If they have evaluated Haislip in international play and like him, I trust them.
6. Haislip is likely taking the veteran minimum since we still have our BAE. This is showing a financial sacrifice on his part. You don’t take a pay cut to go ride the bench and not contribute. He is hungry to prove himself and I think the Spurs will give him the chance.
7. He has had a rough road in his professional career in terms of his struggles. Duncan, Dice, Parker, Hill, and RJ haven’t known those types of struggles. I think it’s important to have a guy who really knows how hard it is to be cut from teams and have to go to Europe. It will only help the team mentality with all of the young faces. It also makes me respect him a little more. Pop mentioned in his interview that he likes to tel players about Avery Johnson’s struggles. Haislip has lived those.

Hopefully you’re reaching for the Haislip bandwagon at this point.

McClinton worries me more. Mostly because he is already 24. Yes, that is still young but how many years is he going to be on the D-League or in Europe in order to develop. I’m praying he is just trying to outdo Hill’s summer league from last year or that the coaching staff is challenging him with something that is throwing him off. I really feel like I’m being blindly lead by Pop and RC on this one though. I have a terrible read on defenders though, so its very difficult for me to evaluate his Summer League defense even watching the games.

good stuff man.

hopefully this findog is good with his second ring and decides to retire