Question about Ian Mahinmi

[pacers33granger]

I just have some questions about Mahinmi when you guys had him. Until this year I had never really seen him play and I'm somewhat perplexed that he only got a 4 mil a year deal, while players like Deandre Jordan get 10+.

Was he just really bad transitioning to the NBA game early on? It seems he would be a nice fit on the Spurs (though I'm not a big fan of his jump shots and he can be a blackhole).

[franktony]

He wouldn't be a good fit on the Spurs. Kind of hard to believe that a backup C is worth more than 4m/year.

SA let him go for 2 big reasons

1 - He is a low BBIQ player.
2 - He is foul-prone.

For Pop it doesn't matter if you have great size and athleticism if you don't rotate right, commits dumb fouls and make dumb plays. That's pretty much Ian while he was a Spur.

it looks like he improved a bit after he left SA and I am happy for him. But I wouldn't want him back tbh.

[pacers33granger]

Makes sense. He seems a bit better with his rotations and foul problems, but they are still there. Like I said I had just never seen him play before and he's a decent center with legit size. Seems to be a premium on those types of players (i.e. Jordan, Mcgee, etc.)

[co_laper]

As i remember, the biggest reason Spurs let him go was because of his inability to stay healthy. For guys that young, he needs training camp and his best chance of cracking the rotation is early in the season when the rotation hasn't been set and Pop is still tinkering and giving end of bench guys some minutes. But he's always injured. And then when he's finally healthy, we're rolling and the big man rotation is set in stone that we can't find him anymore playing time because it's already midseason.

Also, when he plays, he didn't really show us much. Blair, for instance, didn't play that much his rookie season but wowed us when he did get extended minutes going for 20-20 games and such. Mahinmi, even when he plays, has absolutely no impact on the game. True, his rotations were bad. He didn't show enough shotblocking skills despite being quite athletic. And despite his size, he was a pretty average rebounder. And yes, he's foul prone.

Offensively, he didn't show us anything either. No low post moves. Doesn't finish well. No midrange shot. Aaron Baynes probably showed more in his first game here than Mahinmi did in 3 seasons. That's how bad Mahinmi was. I mean, I really can't even remember if he ever had a good game in San Antonio. If there was, probably just one good game.

Spurs version Mahinmi looked like a young guy with no basketball skill than being fairly athletic and tall. I'm not even sure if that has changed. Statistically, looking at the last 2 years, he's still foul prone, not a shotblocker, and a decent rebounder. I'd take a 6-10 guy with skills than a 6-11 or 7 feet tall Mahinmi with no real basketball skills. Mahinmi is like Diop, but in shape. How good exactly is that?

Thing is with DeAndre Jordan and McGee.

McGee is dumb as hell, but he actually has skills. He's the kind of player that you have to think just needs to mature. I would love to see McGee at 30 years old when he's matured enough while also still being athletic enough to do the things he does now. He should be really good. And he's arguably the most athletic Center in the whole world right now. And a lot of his dumb **** is on the offensive end. His biggest contribution comes on the defensive end where he's shown he can dominate games defensively when his mind is right.

DeAndre Jordan can rebound and block shots at a high level. And he's crazy athletic.

Mahinmi isn't close to being that type of prospect IMO.

[TwentyOne920]

Blair leapfrogged him in the rotation despite Mahinmi having legitimate center size because Blair rebounded very well as a rookie, scored decently enough, and not fouling as much.