By Michael A. De Leon | June 29, 2006 | Print Print

After all the talk and rumors of the Spurs possibly moving up into the first round to select a small forward or point guard, the front office decided to stay put and select Croatian forward Damir Markota with their 59th pick, but they kept him long enough for me to become intrigued and have a pipe dream of Markota becoming the next Dirk Nowitzki before they traded his rights to Milwaukee for the better of the Bucks two 2007 second round picks.

Markota is still about 3 years from being NBA ready and the Spurs already have Ian Mahinmi, Sergei Karaulov and Viktor Sanikidze waiting overseas as well as Luis Scola and Robertas Javtokas, who may come over this summer.

While there weren’t too many players in the first round I would have wanted them to trade up far, with the exception of Kyle Lowry, there were a few second rounders I was hoping the Spurs would trade for.

Minnesota ended up picking up Bobby Jones and then trading him to Philadelphia for a future second rounder and cash. Jones was probably the best perimeter defender in the draft, and I think he would make for a younger, more athletic replacement for Bruce Bowen in a few years. The Spurs are clearly looking for a younger small forward to groom and take Bowen’s place when he retires and Jones fits that mold pretty well, but the Spurs will have to settle for someone in the free agent market.

Other players that piqued my interest were Guillermo Diaz, Lior Eliyahu, David Noel and Leon Powe.

Comments

2 Comments so far

Lou P. on June 29, 2006 4:44 pm
I found your blog via Technorati… As a Spurs fan, I was pleased to see San Antonio make the trade, as my feeling was that this draft was weak due to the 19-year-old age limit the league put into place. As you mentioned, the Spurs have several guys in training in Europe, and realistically there wasn’t anyone who was on the board there at #59 who had the chance to come in and contribute this season. While it made for a boring night (except for Markota’s surprise appearance in the crowd), overall I think it will turn out for the best for the Spurs.
jgarcia on July 8, 2006 2:32 am
Hey Lou!

Thansk for the comment.

I agree with your take. The Spurs knew no one was avaiable at 59 spot.

However they need to find a center, and get younger.

Keep the comments coming.

–Jeff
Co-Host the Spurscast