Author: katadmin

Draft prospect: Jeremy Tyler

The Spurs own the 29th pick in the June 23 draft, one of the lowest slots of the Tim Duncan era. This year’s draft pool is considered to be uncommonly shallow, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Spurs either deal the pick or select a future prospect to stash overseas. Over the next few weeks, the Courtside blog will profile selected players who could be wearing silver and black, should the Spurs decide to keep their pick.

In the summer of 2009, Jeremy Tyler announced he would forgo his senior season to turn pro. Happens every year, right?

Except, in Tyler’s case, he gave up his senior season of high school, instead opting to play professionally in Israel for $140,000. He lasted just 10 games with Maccabi Haifa before returning home to San Diego.

After spending last season in Japan with the Tokyo Apaches, and at least completing a full season, Tyler is now eligible for the NBA draft. That’s where the Spurs, possibly, could come in.

Tyler is big, listed at 6-foot-11 (though he measured just 6-9 shoeless at last month’s combine), athletic and certainly fills the Spurs’ most glaring position of need in this year’s draft. He is also young — he turned 20 on June 1 — and has demonstrated hints of immaturity throughout his professional career. Most notably, in 2009, he was suspended for a game in Israel for head-butting an opponent. This didn’t help his stock, either.

Tyler averaged 9.9 points and 6.4 rebounds for the Apaches last season, but also averaged just 15.4 minutes. Those numbers don’t exactly scream “immediate NBA contributor.”

Still, size is at a premium in the NBA, as evidenced by the amount of money Eddy Curry has accumulated throughout his career. Someone will take a chance on Tyler, though for now he has been projected as a high second-round pick. At No. 29, the Spurs would have to reach to take him.

There  is some precedent for a player skipping college to play overseas, then making a quick impact in the NBA. In 2009-10, Milwaukee’s Brandon Jennings went from the Italian Leagues to third in NBA Rookie of the Year balloting.

Some observers at last month’s draft combine compared Tyler to Ryan Richards, the teenage center from England the Spurs grabbed in the second round last season. With Richards already in the pipeline, and still likely a few years away from NBA consideration,  the Spurs might not be in the mood to take on another big, young project.

Then again, there are worse things than owning the draft rights to multiple big, young projects.

In all likelihood, Tyler will be available when the Spurs hit the clock at No. 29. If other names on their list have already been selected, they could take a look at him.

Mike Monroe: For Spurs fans, Finals offer no good choice

It’s hard to imagine a more compelling 2011 NBA Finals matchup than Mavericks vs. Heat, but most Spurs fans find the prospect of watching it more distasteful than guzzling a gallon of water straight from the San Antonio River.

In San Antonio, these finalists are easy to despise.

This is because one team is owned by a guy who tweaked civic pride by calling The River Walk “that ugly-ass, muddy-watered thing,” and the other is led by a player who ruined his image by letting his entourage hijack it on TV.

Nobody outside South Florida wants to see the Heat succeed, especially not in the very first season after LeBron James made “The Decision” to take his talents to South Beach.

But at least the Heat aren’t the Mavericks, and to Spurs fans, that means they aren’t owned by Mark Cuban.

Cuban never has played one second of a single NBA game, but many Spurs fans deem him evil incarnate.

This proves his marketing genius. As provocateur, the NBA never has seen his like.

This is why some Spurs fans swear they won’t watch a minute of the Finals. They can’t stomach the notion that either James or Cuban will get to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

This attitude is foolish.

This is a matchup with players who someday will be recalled among the game’s best ever.

And storylines? There are plenty.

Can the Mavericks gain redemption five years after the 2006 collapse that followed their 2-0 Finals lead over the Heat?

If James wins his very first title, will he or his sycophants lay claim to Michael Jordan’s widely accepted status as the greatest player in basketball history?

Will 38-year-old Jason Kidd and 33-year-old Dirk Nowitzki finally get the championship rings that will make their Hall of Fame careers complete?

Can Cuban really keep his mouth shut through the entire Finals?

The most compelling reason for fans from San Antonio to Timbuktu to watch the 2011 Finals: They are likely the last NBA games any of us will see for a very long time.

Even with viewership numbers for this playoff run breaking records and worldwide interest in NBA basketball surpassing even David Stern’s fondest imaginings, the league and its players’ union remain miles apart in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that would prevent a work stoppage.

The owners presented a second proposal to the National Basketball Players Association a few weeks ago, but players to whom I’ve spoken recently are unanimous in their distaste for what they say remains an utterly unreasonable demand that the players give back most of the past 20 years’ gains of collective bargaining.

This is reflected in the recent complaint of unfair labor practices the NBPA filed with the National Labor Relations Board.

With another round of negotiations tentatively scheduled for sometime during the Dallas portion of the Finals, the complaint was clear indication the union does not intend to give in without a fight, even if it means enduring a lockout most players are convinced is coming on July 1.

Small-market owners such as the Spurs’ Peter Holt, who chairs the owners’ negotiating committee, will point out that between them, the Mavericks and Heat will pay their players more than $151 million this season. They contend this proves that liberal salary cap exceptions must be replaced.

Should Cuban’s Mavericks win the title, how will he feel about the prospect his team may not get a chance to defend it before Kidd turns 40?

Even Cuban might be willing to sip from that ugly-ass, muddy-watered thing if it meant that wouldn’t happen.

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Trust us: Harden’s series-changing sixth foul doesn’t hold a candle to this

Oklahoma City guard James Harden fouled out with 4:34 remaining in the fourth quarter of Monday’s Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against Dallas. His team was safely ahead by 11 points with a change at a series split an almost foregone conclusion.

But his absence was too much for the Thunder couldn’t overcome — even with the big late lead.   

The young Thunder collapsed one of their top offensive threats as Dallas clamped down on Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and escaped with a wild 112-105 overtime victory over the Thunder.

But it wasn’t the only thing that happened to Harden Monday night.

Oklahoma City fan Meghan Dailey took her devotion for Harden to great lengths, wearing a wedding dress with the second-year forward’s cutout face stenciled into the pleat of her dress below the knee.

She also carried a cutout head of Harden with “Harden My Heart” scrawled below it. For good measure, her veil was constructed of basketball netting.

Needless to say, Dailey caught a lot of attention, both outside the Oklahoma City Arena and inside it once the game began about her favorite player. It even got her some national television time during Monday’s game broadcast on ESPN.

Her picture has already on dozens of blog sites, although I haven’t read any comments specifically from her about her upcoming nuptuals. 

Or if she was merely advertising to marry Harden.  

But after last night, it might appear that there is a curse involving teams whose fans wear wedding dresses to the game that far outreaches not wearing something borrowed or blue in a wedding ceremony.

The Thunder never trailed when Harden was in the lineup. As soon as he fouled out, the Thunder collapsed as Dallas claimed a series-changing victory in one of the most remarkable comebacks in NBA playoff history.

We can only hope that similar problems don’t follow Dailey if and when she ever walks down the ais

Oklahoma City fan Meghan Dailey walks into the Oklahoma City Arena before Monday’s playoff game against Dallas. (Photo by Getty Images).

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