FanPost

"The Great Spurs Draft of 2009"

The San Antonio Spurs are known for making the most of draft picks late in the draft but who would have thought they had the ability to basically redo their 2009 draft of second round picks and turn it into players that filled their championship roster?

Back in the 2009 NBA draft, the Spurs had no first round draft picks but did have three second round ones. The Spurs chose DeJuan Blair at #37, Jack McClinton #51 and Nando De Colo #53.

Blair instantly became a fan favorite despite having no ACL. He has number of Youtube video highlights with Manu in the pick and roll. McClinton was given a shot at training camp. De Colo was late in coming to the team but eventually signed with the Spurs in 2012.

But by the time the 2014 roster came around however, none of them were with the Spurs. Blair was not resigned and went on to other teams. McClinton never made the roster and went to Europe. De Colo was traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2013. Not bad for a bunch of second round picks though.

However, seems like the Spurs kept their scouting reports from 2009. Which players didn’t they pick but later signed? That would be Jeff Ayres (pick 31) unwanted by Indiana, Danny Green (pick 46 and unwanted by Cleveland and the Spurs), Patty Mills (pick 55 and unwanted by Golden State) and Aron Baynes (undrafted and unwanted every other NBA team)! Spurs fans know how that turned out. Ayres and Baynes stayed within their rolls as solid Spurs bench players, Mills lost weight and electrified the fans with his pesky defense and his instant offense, and Green grew into a top-flight defender and record setting 3-point shooter.

For more good fun and coincidence, and because they are the Spurs, when they traded 2009 second round pick De Colo, they got 2009 first round pick and unwanted Raptor Austin Daye (1st round number 15 and basically the teams 15th man).

The result? Championship! With, of course, a lot of help from Timmy, Manu, Tony, Kawhi, Boris etc.

The Spurs might have missed out on them the first time but they made the best of their second chances on the unheralded and unwanted players of Draft 2009. Go Spurs Go!

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