Spurs send Nando De Colo, Aron Baynes to Austin

The San Antonio Spurs announced Sunday they have assigned Nando De Colo and Aron Baynes to the Austin Toro. Both suited up for the Toros opener against the Delaware 87ers (my favorite new D-League team name).

Baynes and De Colo have only seen 16 games combined this season. Baynes is averaging 8.1 minutes a game and De Colo is only getting nine. It hasn't been made clear whether this is a long term thing or just for a couple of games. Short of an injury, I'm actually hopeful this is at least for a couple of weeks. Both players are still relatively new to the Spurs system, so getting them in extra reps in Austin can only be a good thing.

De Colo is in even worse shape on the depth chart than he was last season. Patty Mills appears to be locked in as the team's back up point guard and when Tony Parker gets a day off, Cory Joseph fills in for him. Things look even worse for him at shooting guard where he's playing behind Danny Green, Manu Ginobili and Marco Belinelli.

Baynes has always been more of a long term project, so Austin will continue to help that development. The Spurs are good depth wise, even if Boris Diaw is out for a few weeks with his injured middle finger.