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Spurs’ shot doctor earns Joseph’s attention













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By Mike Monroe

When Spurs guard Cory Joseph showed up at the practice facility a week after the team’s elimination by the Thunder last season, there to greet him was shooting coach Chip Engelland.

When the former Longhorns’ star hit the gym in Austin with some of his pals from his University of Texas days, Engelland was there, too.

When the Spurs’ summer-league team walked into the Thomas and Mack Arena in Las Vegas for its first game, Engelland pulled Joseph aside for additional one-on-one shot doctoring.

So when Joseph opened the preseason against Montepaschi Siena by making 4 of 6 shots, including 1 of 2 from 3-point range, it was hard to tell who was happier: Joseph or Engelland.

“Man, I worked on my shot a lot this summer, countless hours,” Joseph said after scoring 10 points in the Spurs’ 106-77 victory Saturday night. “Chip and I spent a whole lot of time together, and I can’t tell you how much he helped my shot. Wherever I went, Chip found me or sent somebody to work with me. Here in San Antonio, in Austin, in Las Vegas. It didn’t matter, he was there, one way or the other.”

Joseph said Engelland’s message was simple: Find a way to get properly balanced before you attempt your shot and repeat that several thousand times.

“There was a specific workout we did every day,” Joseph said. “He’d change it up a little bit from time to time with different challenges as I’d progress from day to day. But it was mostly a lot of shots. I didn’t keep track but it was a lot.”

Joseph spent most of his 2011-12 rookie season with the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ Development League team. He appeared in only 29 NBA games, during which he shot just 31 percent. He figures he will have to earn time as one of point guard Tony Parker’s backups through his work at the defensive end, and his three steals in just under 15 minutes on Saturday did not escape coach Gregg Popovich’s notice.

“I was just trying to keep my head in the game defensively,” Joseph said. “I know that’s what Coach Pop looks for.

“That’s what this whole organization is about. So I just tried to key in defensively and make stops and help my team as much as possible.”

Day of rest: After four hard days of training camp and Saturday’s game, the Spurs got their first off day of the season Sunday. Popovich used the break to visit his friend and mentor, former Spurs coach Larry Brown, in Dallas, where Brown now coaches SMU. Popovich participated in a coaching clinic Brown sponsored on the SMU campus.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA

Jackson: De Colo ‘another Manu Ginobili’

By Mike Monroe

In just 14 minutes and 36 seconds of his first preseason game with the Spurs, rookie guard Nando De Colo established himself as a fan favorite Saturday with some of the slickest passing seen at the ATT Center since Manu Ginobili’s rookie season 10 years ago.

He also impressed some teammates.

According to Stephen Jackson, De Colo is reminiscent of another fan favorite.

“Nando,” Jackson said, “is another Manu Ginobili.”

Officially, De Colo had only three assists in the Spurs’ 106-77 victory over Italian team Montepaschi Siena, but he was denied at least three more because his teammates weren’t prepared for some of his best passes.

“We must just need to practice together and to know each other,” De Colo said. “All the team knows what they must do. I am the only new one on the team so I must do my job with respect for the team and we will see.”

The highlight of De Colo’s NBA preseason debut was a no-look wraparound to forward Derrick Brown for a fourth-quarter dunk. He made only one of three shots, but also had three steals in little more than a quarter’s worth of court time.

“It was the first time, preseason game, and it was great,” De Colo said. “Everybody played. I’m very happy to be here and working to do something this season.”

Splitter sits: Center Tiago Splitter missed the preseason opener with an injury. The 27-year-old from Brazil has been battling back spasms for the last three days.

The third-year big man missed much of his rookie training camp in 2009-10 with a calf injury.

“Tiago’s getting better, but he’s going to miss the beginning of training camp again, unfortunately,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s been a habit for him. (Head athletic trainer) Will (Sevening) thinks he’ll practice on Monday.”

Splitter’s absence was an opportunity for backup big men Josh Powell — a 6-foot-9 veteran of 315 games over six NBA seasons with the Mavericks, Pacers, Warriors, Clippers, Lakers and Hawks — and 10-year veteran Eddy Curry.

Powell scored seven points and grabbed seven rebounds in 17 minutes. Curry also had seven points, with two rebounds, in the final 9:18 of the game.

Still Spurs property: If Montepaschi big man Viktor Sanikidze’s name sounds vaguely familiar to Spurs fans, it’s because the team acquired his NBA rights in a draft-day trade in 2004. Chosen by Atlanta in the second round (42nd overall), the Spurs still own the rights the 26-year-old from the Republic of Georgia.

Sanikidze, a 6-7 forward, scored five points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA

Spurs’ renewed defensive effort takes shape

By Mike Monroe

There are some strange new markings guiding the Spurs’ renewed emphasis on defense, reminders to the team’s interior defenders about how to approach certain defensive matchups.

At each end of the three full courts inside the team’s practice facility, magenta-colored lines mark the sides of trapezoids that delineate an area in which defenders are reminded to play traditional post defense — squared-up and keeping their bodies between offensive players and the basket.

The baseline and free-throw line form two sides of the trapezoid. The magenta lines run from the corner of each baseline and sideline diagonally to the sides of the free-throw line.

Curiously, the magenta markings are inscribed with the letters K and M because the club is calling the area inside the trapezoid the Karl Malone zone, homage to the Hall of Fame Utah Jazz power forward who did the bulk of his scoring inside the delineated area.

“If you’re on the line or closer, you play post defense,” Spurs forward Matt Bonner explained. “If you’re on the other side, you play perimeter defense. It determines how you position your feet.”

How did Bonner know that the shape of the Karl Malone zone was a trapezoid?

“I learned that from my daughter’s Sesame Street shape book,” he said.

Jazzy influences: In addition to having a daily reminder of Malone, the Spurs last week were under the observation of another Jazz Hall of Famer, retired coach Jerry Sloan.

Long a favorite of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Sloan spent several days at camp and sat in R.C. Buford’s box in the stands at ATT Center to observe Wednesday’s intra-squad scrimmage.

“Having Coach Sloan here was really special, not just for me, but our players,” Popovich said. “They all respect him so much. Being able to just talk basketball and be around the guy was really special for me, because every time the season begins everybody is doing their own thing with their own team and you don’t get to do that. Being able to go to dinner with him, to have him in our coaches meetings and add to what we’re doing is really a win for us. I think he enjoyed it, too.”

First cut: The Spurs waived point guard Sherron Collins, the former Kansas star who played 20 games for the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010-11.

With a backcourt that includes five other players with guaranteed contracts who are either point guards or combination guards — Tony Parker, Gary Neal, Patrick Mills, Cory Joseph and Nando De Colo — the odds were stacked against him.

Nineteen players remain on the training camp roster.

mikemonroe@express-news.net
Twitter: @Monroe_SA