Training camp/ Pre season news and thoughts

[the southern dandy]

Well we're nearly at the end of the training camp and pre season and while a lot of things played out as expected, there were a few surprises in the mix.

The injury bug has bitten us early on this year. It was really frustrating to not be able to see Ian at all, his penchant for picking up injuries is becoming a worrying point. The Salim Stoudamire situation was also quite unfortunate. We'll never really know what he had to offer this team because a groin injury that he sustained on day one never left him. After a few poor shooting performances he was waived.

Charles Gaines contributed nothing but a few nice dunks in garbage time, as expected.

Devin Green was actually a pretty solid player all round. He has a few nice moments here and there, and in any other year he might have been in the race for a roster spot. With that said however he was overshadowed by stronger candidates at his position. I think we'll here more from Devin Green at some point this year.

Darryl Watkins was a guy who I really became a fan of during his time on the team. He brought raw shotblocking and athleticism to the frontcourt, and was highly impressive in almost all his time on court. I would have liked to have seen him make the team, and he'll almost surely be signed by some other team.

Anthony Tolliver was one of the huge surprises of the summer in general. He was fairly impressive in most areas bar shooting in the pre season. He defended reasonably and hit the boards too. It's safe to say he's secured himself a spot on the roster at this point in time. The only issues I have with Tolliver is his height and seemingly duplicated skills. I think he can be a solid player for the Spurs.

This brings us to the final roster battle. Hairston v Farmer. Both players have played well enough to earn a roster spot *curses out Bonner under breath*, but only one can make it. Farmer's offense is tempting but I'm a traditional Spurs fan and I just can't look past what Hairston is doing on the defensive end and on the boards. While he may not score well right now, he scores in an opportunistic way and has proven to be a good scorer in the past.