Spurs Draft Wrap-Up

What I see in James-
He didn’t make a habit of wearing those ridiculous orange thigh-high socks, which leads me to believe that he has some class, and leads me to further believe that he could be SPURS material. Not to mention that his highlight reels aren’t exactly loaded with thundering, awe-inspiring dunks… which typically means he’s got a good chance of being a starter. His name’s a little vanilla, but he’ll have 27 new nicknames from PtR once the season begins, so that’s no issue.

What I see in Ryan-
He’s tall. He does seem to have some aggressiveness. He apparently has never played in front of a crowd bigger than 17 people, so his transition to the NBA will take some time. Another vanilla name. RC must have been tired of picking up guys whose names fans couldn’t pronounce, and he likely just eagerly jumped on a foreigner who had a basic waspy name. We’ll see.

Now, back to yawning through another SPURS draft day and dreaming of a kid named “Gist.” Hope you all are well.

Whew. Whole lotta draft night threading to weave through. Great caps and gifs though, folks; completely_deck brining it as always.

A co-worker blew the whistle on the Anderson pick earlier tonight. I don’t follow college ball AT ALL. But I trust our front office to get it right more often than not. Hill to BLAAAAIR to Anderson would be a sweet draft day steal streak, wouldn’t it? Guess we’ll see.

That second-rounder no one’s heard of will spend the next three years down in Austin.

It seems to me that the British guy was drafted to become a possible future “stretch 4” that the Spurs always loved. He looks like he could be a much better Bonner.
Anderson? If he can shoot well, and im not asking for anything else, I like the guy. If he shows something else? the front office are geniuses.

I think we might be surprised with Ryan Richards. I liked our draft picks.

I’m with chilai on the pommy draftee. Big with a mean streak and a very smooth stroke. I can’t remember where I read it might have been probasketballnews.com, but they were talking about sleepers and he got a mention as someone who could really be a surprise hit.

The other mention was James Anderson as a player people will really regret passing on we got em both lol.

Anderson is a pretty boring interview, but he can shoot all right. Another draft night steal for the Spurs?

Richards. Wow, I have never seen highlight reels like those. He is playing against rather pedestrian competition. I think a few of those guys were sporting slide rules and pocket protectors. But you know what I like about him? He seemed to enjoy shoving those guys around. He means business. Seems like every play, there was somebody near Richards rubbing some new part of their body that had just been bruised. You can see it in the interview, too. Lots of enthusiasm. Also, the kid has good post moves. That’s not just raw talent there—he has been putting work into his game.

Both of these guys are workers. They come to play. I like ’em.

I’m happy with our picks. I’m confident in the Spurs FO so I’m sure these guys will contribute eventually. I’m amazed at what OKC can manage to pull off year after year, bastards, and I mean that as a compliment. Oh, and fuck the Lakers for picking the one UTEP player getting drafted this year. =/

Some quotes I picked up from SI.com (I FanShoted the one on RC Buford):

On Wednesday afternoon I asked Ohio State’s Evan Turner who he considered a sleeper in this draft. He named two guys: Oklahoma State shooting guard James Anderson and Fresno State small forward Paul George: “James Anderson is a pure scorer,” said Turner. “He has an old-school type feel to him, he knows how to score and knows how to play off the ball. He has some tricks. And Paul George is such a versatile player. I really love his poise.”
— Richard Deitsch

And another, this time on our 2nd round pick:

Asked for someone under-the-radar who will make an impact in the NBA, Xavier Henry didn’t hesitate: “The kid from England, Ryan Richards, can really play,” said Henry, the 6-foot-6 shooting guard from Kansas who is expected to go in the first 15 picks. "He showed me a lot of things. He’s a Euro-type of player, but he’s real smart and all of his moves are fast-paced. He can also shoot. That’s something he can do really well. The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Richards played a year in a professional league in Belgium and then six games with BBC Monthey in Switzerland before a shoulder injury ended his season. Richards, 19, was at one of Henry’s last workouts, and the Kansas freshman came away impressed. “He’s nearly 7 feet and when you have a 7-foot guy that can shoot and plays smart, I think that’s someone who can do some good things in the league.”
— Richard Deitsch

1. Is there anyone lamer than Stuart Scott? I mean, I’m sure he’s a nice guy and everything, but how many cringe-worthy remarks can one make in a two hour broadcast? Gotta love Van Gundy, though. Several times tonight both Scott and Barry tried throwing a little pitch to Van Gundy, and the man did not even bother to reply. Hilarious, and I can’t always tell if he is even trying to be.

2. I don’t know the inside joke behind that sloth with the pixilated shades dropping down, but I’ve watched it about forty times and it still makes me chuckle. Maybe I need to go to bed.

England!!!!!!

I like the picks just watching those vids.JA is my 2nd pick for us in the first round.(Since I want Paul.G) But JA played in a more competitive league and is the big 12 player, so I guess this is a great pick.And for RR,I think his just like GH,unheralded but he may be very good.So I guess I’ll also give this draft night a B.And just a segue,OKC is really building for the future, 3 1st round picks?I mean if two would turn out very good,then they just have so many assets to trade in the future and they won’t lose to much and they will be stocked with talent that they can’t fit everybody.I think KD is the only guy guaranteed on that roster then RWB.After that everybody can compete for a roster,And I think they should keep Thaboo.

And ps.Do you think Orton will be great or be a bust?his per is really amazing but I doubt him being a really good rookie(Impact wise).i think there are better players better than him in the 2nd rnd or even in the undrafted side.

I know this hardly has to deal with the subject on hand but.. Seems like Hill is having a good time right now.

George_Hill3
  
WHAT’S UP TWIT WORLD. IN AUSTRALIA HAVING SOME ME TIME HOW’S EVERYONE WEEK BEEN GOING SO FAR. about 3 hours ago via web

and

George_Hill3
  
LET’S WELCOME JAMES ANDERSON TO THE SPURS FAMILY..I THINK HE’S GONNA BE GREAT FOR US. SA WHAT YA THINK….. about 3 hours ago via web

Oh, and the reasoning behind Alabi’s stock dropping:

DraftExpress
  
Hepatitis B crashed his draft stock. He’s gonna be OK though. RT @introcollapse: Is this medical issue with Alabi going to stay under wraps. about 6 hours ago via UberTwitter

Ryan Richards played in Bergen (Belgium). Don’t think I’ve ever seen him play though.
I would’ve prefered to see SF instead of SG/SF with James Anderson, although I like what I can find about him.

Per Draft Express’s Twitter, Top Undrafted:

Brian Zoubek, Samardo Samuels, Alexey Shved, Jeremy Wise, Mikhail Torrance, Sylven Landesberg, Manny Harris

Artsiom Parakhouski, Miroslav Raduljica, Aubrey Coleman, Matt Bouldin, Ben Uzoh, A.J. Ogilvy

Marqus Blakely, Stefan Markovic, Jon Scheyer, Tyler Smith, Thomas Heurtel, Jeremy Lin, Jerome Randle

Sherron Collins, Ryan Thompson, A.J. Slaughter, Omar Samhan, Kevin Palmer, Tommy Mason-Griffin, Scottie Reynolds, Wayne Chism

Charles Garcia, Edwin Ubiles, Deon Thompson, Ludovic Vaty, Tyren Johnson, Vladimir Dasic, Elijah Millsap

Jerome Randle is going to be on the Wizards Summer team. Anyone have any comments about anyone else on this list? I believe Jeremy Wise is the only player that had two workouts in San Antonio. He could be a good PG prospect for the Toros.

WalterFootball.com’s Draft Grades for Us:

20. James Anderson, SG, Oklahoma State
The Spurs do it again by getting an NBA-ready player who can bring some scoring to an aging roster. He should fit in perfectly in San Antonio. (Pick Grade: LOVE IT)

49. Ryan Richards, F/C, England
Richards really impressed me at the NBA Draft combine and I love his upside. He wants to come over to the league right away, but the Spurs have had success developing players overseas and may ask him to stay in England for another year. Regardless, I love the pick this late and think it will be another international thievery for the Spurs. (Pick Grade: LOVE IT)

I like what the Spurs have done with their picks in the past few years. They’re building a decent second five:

Old guard: Parker, Ginobili, Jefferson, McDyess, Duncan

Youngsters: Hill, Anderson, Hairston, Blair, Splitter

This assumes that Hairston develops, Anderson’s good enough to be in the rotation and Splitter can be bought over. Still, the Spurs are addressing their need to get younger.

i really like ryan richards from his highlights cuz he seems like a real badass jerk player and i would like to see him right away but it will take some time for him to get used to playing in front of a crowd more than 50 every game. Anderson meanwhile i like his shooting touch and his athletic abilities that he has. maybe get a little bit stronger and be able to defend taller stronger players maybe but hopefully both of these guys will be able to contribute soon. (also anderson needs to learn how to be comfortable in front of the camera and in interviews)
also to Blase with the top undrafted players i just wanted to say Edwin Ubiles from Siena is a very good athletic players with a lot of talent and hard work. i saw all his games since i live near the college and no lie he is very good

Something I forgot I read on Draft Express until I just read it again quotes on 48 MoH, Anderson had the most pick and roll experience of all college players at 2.9 pos/g. I like that a lot.

They also said his biggest weakness was guarded catch and shoot. Well, he won’t be seeing double teams like he did at OSU as their main threat.

From Bill Simmon’s Draft Diary…

6:33: Weird one for me: I’ve learned never to doubt San Antonio’s picks, but they just took someone I had penciled in as a bust (Oklahoma State’s James Anderson). This is awkward.

I feel even better about the Spurs pick now.

Are we still waiting for Nando De Colo to come to the Spurs? Im not sure when he is going to come unless we traded his rights for a bag of dorritos again.

Did we just Draft Dirk Nowitzki v.1.5 in the 2nd round?