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On Sunday afternoon, the Spurs opened the doors of the AT&T Center to the public for a free look as the Spurs split up their training camp roster into Silver and Black teams and tipped it off. None of the usual PtR suspects were able to attend in order to offer you a recap, but long time £er aespurs was in attendance and he offered the following assessment of Kawhi Leonard, Corey Maggette, and Patty Mills.
Kawhi Leonard
He looked pretty good. They ran more offense through him and he looked comfortable in some pick and rolls. Showed his good mid-range shot off of picks like Tony Parker. His passing isn't brilliant but its alright. He doesn't make it a cake walk for his roll man to automatically score off of the pick, but he gets the ball to his man well enough for now.
Corey Magette
Since it was a scrimmage, you couldn't really say much about anyone's defense, but if we're just talking offense, then Corey looked pretty damn good. In regards to scoring, he looked very fluid and had extremely good instincts. Drove the ball a lot and was really good at drawing contact. His first step is what caught me by surprise. I always thought he was just a Kawhi type slasher but his first step is something that can catch defenders off guard, which he did at the scrimmage a couple of times. What also needs to be noted is his awareness for passing. He wasn't like Manu or Tony or anything, but he did have a good idea of where his teammates were and when to pass the ball. Translation: he shouldn't be trying out for a fifteenth roster spot. Guy still looks like he has a lot left in the tank.
Patty Mills
Surprised me by looking like the best point guard today other than Tony. Cory Joseph started opposite Tony for the scrimmage, but overall patty looked a little better. Cory got stuck on pick and rolls a couple of times and he wasn't shooting at all. Patty was shooting off of pick and rolls but he was also looking to pass and ended up with three assists. He was judging the tempo pretty well and making good decisions on when to go up the court fast or slow down and settle into the half court. He looks like he lost some weight and worked on being lighter and quicker to the hoop. One of the biggest things to note though is when he was on the court he was trying to be the point guard, not just a shoot guard while Manu controlled the ball. Obviously Manu got more touches but Patty wasn't afraid to take over duties as the floor general and he looked comfortable doing so.
I'm very thankful to aespurs for the write-up, and appreciate his eye for details. If you're interested in reading more about yesterday's game, check out Dan McCarney's impression over at Spurs Nation, and Jeff Garcia's post on Project Spurs.