Toros on the Clock

There's plenty of drama at the top of this year's NBA draft. Michael Beasley, a player recently expected to be a lock for the first (Chicago Bulls) or second (Miami Heat) pick, seems to be in danger of goofying himself down a few spots. The kid is a joker, and to me that's great. But evidently Heat Honcho Pat Riley is squeamish about drafting the next Agent Zero or Jerry Sienfeld. David Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinal thinks that's all a smoke screen:

Theory I: Beasley is Riley’s hands-down choice. The Heat keeps throwing off the scent by suggesting through back channels (never on the record) they have issues with him. That’s why they brought in Mayo on Tuesday. Everything supports Chicago’s decision for Rose with the first pick, thus leaving Beasley.

Theory II: It really doesn’t like Beasley’s game (no chance). It really thinks Mayo can play point guard (who cares when Wade’s in the same backcourt?) It even thinks Jerryd Bayless could be The One (come on.).

As you can see, Theory I sounds smarter to me.

I'm not sure if I agree. I could see them taking Mayo, or, more likely, trading the pick. How is he going to draft Beasley now after making such a big deal out of disliking his personality?

Anyway it will be interesting to see what happens.

A little further down the draft board, things get much less interesting.

Today's ESPN Mock Draft 7.0 has Ryan Anderson's stock rising a few places to be picked by the Nets at 21, and claims the Spurs may have focused in on one of Tony Parker's countrymen, 6-8 French small forward, Nicolas Batum. But it's also been reported that there may be cause for concern over Batum's heart health after stress echo test returned in the "borderline" area.

Either way, it's almost impossible to know what's going to happen that late in the draft. And, more to the point, it's sort of hard to get too excited about it. The Spurs stole Manu with the 28th pick in the second round in 1999 and Tony Parker 28th in 2001. But those two, along with Tim Duncan, are the only players in the Spurs active rotation this season who were actually drafted by the Spurs. It's not that the Spurs have drafted poorly: other picks such as Luis Scola (2002), John Salmons (2002), Leandro Barbosa (2003), and Beno Udrih (2004) are all playing well for other teams right now. It just seems like it's hard for a young player to break into the Spurs system.

It also seems like the Spurs foreign farm system is running into more problems than it did when they let Manu develop overseas before bringing him in. The Spurs 2007 draft pick, Tiago Splitter, looked like a steal. But it was announced earlier this month that the promising 6-11 power forward from Brazil is signing an extension with his Spanish League Team, Tau Ceramica, that will keep him overseas possibly until the 2011-2012 season. In an article from yesterday's S.A. Express-News, Jeff McDonald includes a great quote from Pop about why the Spurs have continued to work this way:

High-profile struggles in getting draft picks Luis Scola and, more recently, Tiago Splitter into a Spurs jersey apparently have not made the team skittish about going that route again.

“It’s better to have someone baking in the oven than to take somebody who you know can’t play,” Popovich said.

But, to me, it looks like more and more players drafted by the Spurs will do their baking right here in Austin, with the Toros, the Spurs' NDBL franchise.

Spurs 2005 draft selection, Ian Mahimni, led the Toros to the NBDL Championship this year. He was injured and the Toros lost to the Idaho Stampede. But it looks like he'll be able to contribute to the Spurs this season. And there won't be any hang-ups in getting him to San Antonio.

For this reason, I think the NBDL is a far better system than drafting players who then become pros in Europe. Because the Toros are a direct Spurs affiliate, players can be called up and sent back by the Spurs on nearly a daily basis. Toros players also work in the same coaching system as the Spurs (you were wondering why they went to the Championship this year?); plus they don't get a chance to find out how much stronger the Euro is than the dollar.

So whomever the Spurs pick tonight, my only hope is that they'll either use them in San Antonio right away, or that they send them to Austin to laze around at Barton Springs until they figure out how to play basketball.

I'll find some info on whoever we do select either tonight or tomorrow.