FanPost

ADAM HANGA: THE MAN ADDS VALUE

Spurs fans should be excited if indeed Adam Hanga is indeed coming to San Antonio. Hanga would arrive at a great time in that he is a) in his prime, b) is a polished player and c) possess certain qualities and strengths the Spurs need right now.

He also would arrive at a time when the Spurs have very real needs at the 2 and 3. There is a lot of uncertainty at those two positions due to salary cap issues and Simmons being a free agent, Ginobili possibly retiring, and the jury still being out on whether Anderson is the answer as Kawhi’s backup. It's the perfect time for the Hungarian to don the Silver and Black.

Here’s the primer on Adam Hanga:

Height: 6’7" Weight: 205

Last played for Baskonia in the Euroleague.

He was the Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year this past season. The man can play D. The importance of this cannot be overstated.

Position: primarily a 2 guard, but can also play the 3.

Size comparison to shooting guards and small forwards currently on the Spurs roster: one inch taller than Danny, same height as Kawhi, two inches shorter than Kyle. And that, folks, (Danny, Kawhi and Kyle) is all the Spurs have under contract at the 2/3 as of this moment. Did I mention there is a need here?

Offensive strengths: can put the ball on the floor, has a good handle, aggressive in attacking the basket, passing is fairly sold. Can go coast to coast and finish. Has hops, likes to be on the receiving end of alley-oops and has a decent little floater. In short: he's aggressive and can get to his spots.

Offensive weaknesses: Not a good three- point shooter. Won’t be hearing ‘That’s a Hanga Harom’ (Hungarian for three) often from Bill Schoening, which is a bummer because ‘Hanga Haromhonestly sounds epic. At times (like Ginobili) Hanga will be too ‘creative’ as a passer for his own good and at times, because he is aggressive, he will force shots. He's not nearly as creative as Manu, but has some Ginobilil in him. Pop will have to take the bad with the good.

The likeliest scenario for Hanga offensively is that he will be solid but not spectacular and will at times bring down the house with some high flying finishes acrobatics at the rim.

Defensively: Hanga takes defense very, very seriously. It's his calling card. He has that ‘nasty’ mindset defensively that Pop will love. He keeps his man in front of him, moves his feet well, is quick and moves well laterally and fights through screens. Doesn’t quit on plays. Will run guys down to block shots (he will block shots from just about anywhere by the way). Slides over quickly on help defense. He’s the kind of defender Pop could put on almost any opposing 1,2, or 3, much as he does Leonard and Green.

Last Season’s Stats (courtesy of basketballreference.com): Third leading scorer on team with 11.2 ppg, The teams leading scorer, Shane Larkin averaged 13.6 ppg, second leading scorer Rodrigue Beaubois averaged 12 ppg. Two other players averaged double figures. Five other players on the team averaged between 5.5 ppg -8.9 ppg. In the offensive system there was a lot of ball movement and scoring was almost evenly distributed among ten players.

So, as far as his team and the style of play, it was very much a Euro team, emphasizing ball movement, and team over individual. If one only looks at the 11.2 ppg stat, it would be easy to conclude that Hanga is simply not much of an offensive threat. That would be a wrong assumption. He played within the system.

Look up highlights of games and you’ll see someone who has the tools to score the ball.

He is athletic enough to deal with the speed of the NBA in his rookie campaign perhaps better than most European players would be in their first year in the league. His skill set and style of play may actually be better suited for the NBA.

Hanga fits as a Spur. He’s the kind of player that should flourish here. He’s not The Next Big Thing, but he’s fairly consequential as he will give the Spurs another defensive stopper and, offensively, he’s not someone opponents can ignore. Doze on Hanga and he’ll either get to the rim in a heartbeat or make you pay by hitting the mid-range jumper.

A final word on Hanga, or rather some of the things you will likely hear from some local ‘experts,’ concerning him (not writers from this site-they actually do their homework). Trust your eyes. Don’t listen to the cynical/jaded local reporters who will dismissively make some blasé statement like, ‘best case scenario, Hanga is a poor man’s Bruce Bowen,’ or ‘best case scenario, Hanga is kind of a lateral move to replace Simmons.

Hanga has a more polished offensive game than Bowen ever had. He also comes into the league as a better defender than Simmons with a few more weapons in his offensive arsenal as well.

I only bring this up because it seems some of our local guys have a history of either being exceptionally cynical in their assessments of guys coming over here as of late or just not doing their homework. Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps it’s simply not knowing what to look for when watching a guy on tape.

Case and point: Upon the announcement that Davis Bertans would be a Spur last year, some of these ‘experts’ immediately said ‘Bertans, would be ‘at best a lesser Matt Bonner.’ I guess the assessment was made because both are 6’10" and have red hair? The simple eye test showed that Bertans is exceptionally more athletic than Bonner, has a much better handle, a much quicker release and far deeper range. Video also showed he could also explode and was more than willing to attack the rim.

None of these were qualities Bonner possessed or part of his game. And, it was obvious if one watched enough tape of Bertans that the kid has ice in his veins, a certain swagger that, again, was nothing like Bonner. The Spurs are high on Bertans for a reason: he has potential to be special and he has great upside and is still very young.

The same ‘experts’ also whiffed on Boban by the way.

So when it comes to Adam Hanga: Look at a lot of tape. Trust your eyes and be happy that he will be a Spur, or hope he indeed does become a Spur. The man adds value to the team. The man can play.

And, when you are chasing the Warriors, as the Spurs are, an athletic player with length who can play two positions, defend and frustrate scorers on the perimeter, well, that's valuable too.

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