Mahinmi was discovered by Sam Presti the 28 y.o. wunderkind Director of Player Personnel who is actually responsible for discovering many of the Spurs draftees. He came back from a juniors tournament in Spain last fall more excited than Buford or Pop had ever seen him regarding a possible draft pick and said he'd found the player they should focus on. They watched Ian throughout the year as he progressed from bench on the B league team to starter on the A league team at 18.
A profile on him reads:
ian Mahinmi
Birthdate: 11/5/86
NBA Position: Power Forward
Ht: 6-10
Wt: 230
Int Team: STB Le Havre
Hometown: Rouen, France
Stats
NBA Comparison: Emeka Okafor
Strengths: Ian is a real monster in the paint, using his good athleticism and long arms to grab tons of boards ... Reads the ball well off the rim, and even when he doesn't read it, his pure athleticism usually leads to the rebound ... Great length, wingspan and reflexes allow him to grab lots of long rebounds that would bounce right over most other player's heads... Defensively he is a beast ... Incredible reach allows him to alter and/or block shots other players wouldn't even think of contesting ... Has very quick hands, leading to lots of steals and tipped balls ... When Ian does score, many of his baskets come off tip ins and offensive rebounds ... This could account for his high shooting percentage (18-30 at 60% in Zaragoza) ... Very good at establishing position in the paint, reads the play very well when making cuts and calling for the ball ... Gets the ball in good position under the basket drawing lots of fouls ... A solid free throw shooter for a post player (70%) ... In fact, many of the points he scores come from free throws ... Runs the floor very well, and is one of those hustle players coaches always want on their team ... Always goes for the loose ball, blocked shot, or hustle rebound ... Has decent court vision when around the basket ... Foot work is good around the basket, but needs to add some moves to his arsenal ... His potential is considerable.
Weaknesses: At this point in his basketball career, he is still very raw and what many would call a "project" ... Still very raw offensively .... Has no shot outside of 8-10 feet ... Limited offensive skills, besides rebounding and dunking ... Strength is his biggest question mark right now. He is very good at establishing position down low, but is rarely strong enough to keep it ... Must pout on weight without losing much agility, but he's such a strong athlete, that shouldn't be a problem ... The same goes for rebounding... Must get better at anticipating shots and not try to block everything ...
-Rob Salvador 10/4/04
He was a soccer player who grew to big for the game and switched to basketball four years ago,
If you're bored for the summer with no basketball this FIBA Europe site shows a couple of complete games he plays in for the French national youth team, France vs Turkey and France vs Italy.
http://www.fibaeurope.com/Default.asp?pageID=%7BEB2F8835-A4D7-4CC8-8E36-4EF5A1FA4C34%7D&cid=%7BA440F8BD-44CB-4159-9FC6-547E93455FE2%7D&compID=%7B2248A846-FA78-40FF-B03C-54B460890F45%7D&season=2004&roundID=3592&
In it you can see that he's fast, quick, agile, jumps really well. Defensivel;y he's very advanced and offensively he's very, very raw. At the level he's playing at he looks to me like a Stromile Swift on one of Stromiles good, focused days. RC Buford said in interview in SA that basically they took him because where the Spurs draft it's extremely difficult, near impossible to get a player of his size and athletic ability. Spurs worked hard to keep him hidden before the draft, I think even getting him not to show for a Nike Hoops game he was scheduled to play in.
A profile on him reads:
ian Mahinmi
Birthdate: 11/5/86
NBA Position: Power Forward
Ht: 6-10
Wt: 230
Int Team: STB Le Havre
Hometown: Rouen, France
Stats
NBA Comparison: Emeka Okafor
Strengths: Ian is a real monster in the paint, using his good athleticism and long arms to grab tons of boards ... Reads the ball well off the rim, and even when he doesn't read it, his pure athleticism usually leads to the rebound ... Great length, wingspan and reflexes allow him to grab lots of long rebounds that would bounce right over most other player's heads... Defensively he is a beast ... Incredible reach allows him to alter and/or block shots other players wouldn't even think of contesting ... Has very quick hands, leading to lots of steals and tipped balls ... When Ian does score, many of his baskets come off tip ins and offensive rebounds ... This could account for his high shooting percentage (18-30 at 60% in Zaragoza) ... Very good at establishing position in the paint, reads the play very well when making cuts and calling for the ball ... Gets the ball in good position under the basket drawing lots of fouls ... A solid free throw shooter for a post player (70%) ... In fact, many of the points he scores come from free throws ... Runs the floor very well, and is one of those hustle players coaches always want on their team ... Always goes for the loose ball, blocked shot, or hustle rebound ... Has decent court vision when around the basket ... Foot work is good around the basket, but needs to add some moves to his arsenal ... His potential is considerable.
Weaknesses: At this point in his basketball career, he is still very raw and what many would call a "project" ... Still very raw offensively .... Has no shot outside of 8-10 feet ... Limited offensive skills, besides rebounding and dunking ... Strength is his biggest question mark right now. He is very good at establishing position down low, but is rarely strong enough to keep it ... Must pout on weight without losing much agility, but he's such a strong athlete, that shouldn't be a problem ... The same goes for rebounding... Must get better at anticipating shots and not try to block everything ...
-Rob Salvador 10/4/04
He was a soccer player who grew to big for the game and switched to basketball four years ago,
If you're bored for the summer with no basketball this FIBA Europe site shows a couple of complete games he plays in for the French national youth team, France vs Turkey and France vs Italy.
http://www.fibaeurope.com/Default.asp?pageID=%7BEB2F8835-A4D7-4CC8-8E36-4EF5A1FA4C34%7D&cid=%7BA440F8BD-44CB-4159-9FC6-547E93455FE2%7D&compID=%7B2248A846-FA78-40FF-B03C-54B460890F45%7D&season=2004&roundID=3592&
In it you can see that he's fast, quick, agile, jumps really well. Defensivel;y he's very advanced and offensively he's very, very raw. At the level he's playing at he looks to me like a Stromile Swift on one of Stromiles good, focused days. RC Buford said in interview in SA that basically they took him because where the Spurs draft it's extremely difficult, near impossible to get a player of his size and athletic ability. Spurs worked hard to keep him hidden before the draft, I think even getting him not to show for a Nike Hoops game he was scheduled to play in.
Those games shown are from over a year ago when he was 17. In an article from L'Equipe he's quoted as saying he expects to reach 210 cm in the coming months which is a little over 6' 10 1/2". I guess he still has open growth plates. Don't know if that measurement is in socks or sneakers. If it's socks that would make him about 7" the way NBA players get listed in sneakers. If he can put on some weight and add strength, at a minimum, he should be a vey solid defender/rebounder. If he can add any kind of offense he could be more. On the plus side his free throw form is pretty smooth, not say a Shaq or Chris Dudley, so it's not impossible he could develop at least a mid-range shot. He established low post posotion pretty well in those game but between not being able to hold the position and the French guards not being able to feed the post he didn't have much low post effectivenss. Time will tell. That's one luxury the Spur have, they can draft for two, three years down the line.
S
The guy reading his "profile" was actually reading another players profile. Ian was such a "Who??" pick that even when they drafted the kid it took them several minutes to get his name on the board. Did you see David Stern looking all "WTF?" when trying to say his name.
Ian played soccer before basketball, not volleyball.
And he's 6'10 now and only 18.
Ian played soccer before basketball, not volleyball.
And he's 6'10 now and only 18.