Rookie in no rush
» Samanic happy to keep learning in the G League.
Standing on a court with G League alums Dejounte Murray, Derrick White, Bryn Forbes and Lonnie Walker IV, rookie Luka Samanic said he understands playing in the NBA’S developmental league is just a part of the process for a young Spur.
“You have to be patient and just trust what they say, and look at what everybody did before,” Samanic said after Wednesday morning’s shootaround.
“Lonnie, Dejounte and Derrick. So why not me?” he added.
Drafted 19th overall last June, Samanic was called up Tuesday by the Spurs after they ruled Lamarcus Aldridge out for the Dallas game with a shoulder injury.
A 6-foot-11 forward from Croatia, Samanic is averaging 15.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 28.4 minutes over 32 games with the Austin Spurs. He’s shooting 44 percent from the field and 32 percent from 3-point range.
“At the beginning, it was hard,” Samanic, who turned 20 on Jan. 9, said of playing in the G League. “And then, I think, since January things got better. I am focused on being consistent every night.”
In the G League, Samanic is learning to adapt to a more physical game than the one he played last season for Olimpija Ljubljana in the Slovenian League, where he averaged 8.1 points and 4.8 rebounds on 48 percent shooting (37 percent from the 3-point line).
“The G League is a similar game to the NBA,” Samanic said. “(Now it’s about) just being able to translate the European game to the American game.”
White likes what he’s seen from Samanic.
“I watched him a couple of times down in the G League,” White said. “He is getting better each time he is out there, getting more comfortable, finding his way. It is tough coming here from a different country. I like what he has. He has got a lot of different ways that he can score. He’s just got to find his way.”
The Spurs list Samanic as carrying 230 pounds on his 6-foot-11 frame, but he says he now weighs about “235, 236, 237” thanks to a combination of weightlifting and diet. He said it helps that his mother has been in town, cooking his favorite dishes.
“He looks a little bigger,” White said. “More confident. This offseason will be big for him.”
Popovich recalls parting with Boban
With Boban Marjanovic in town with the Mavericks, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich recalled how difficult it was for the Spurs to persuade the amiable 7-foot-4 Serbian to leave San Antonio in summer 2016 to sign with Detroit in free agency.
After averaging 5.5 points on 60 percent shooting and 3.6 rebounds in 54 games during the 2015-16 season, Marjanovich received a three-year, $21 million offer sheet from Detroit.
“We brought him over here, so he felt that loyalty and everything (to the Spurs),” Popovich said. “But we had to explain to him that that loyalty only goes so far, and that you got to take care of your family. The offer he was getting was something we couldn’t match, and I would have felt forever guilty if I would have convinced him to stay and give up all that money.
“In the end, I just had to say, ‘No, you are going to go. You have a family and you have to do it.’ And he begrudgingly went. He’s intelligent. He’s not a dumb guy. This guy is smart as hell. But his agent had to talk to him, and I had to talk to him. He got it pretty quickly and understood it was the logical move for him.
“We told him we will always be here for you, anything you need, and the Mavs feel the same way about him.”
Marjanovic entered Wednesday’s game averaging 5.7 points on 54.7 percent shooting and 3.9 rebounds in 30 games.
“He’s one of the all-time great guys,” Popovich said. “Caring, loving, enjoyable, upbeat guy. And he’s a better player than everybody thinks. You couldn’t ask for a better professional, better teammate.”
Bryant memorial ‘display of courage’
Popovich was asked if one eulogy or performance touched him the most at Kobe Bryant’s public memorial Monday.
“It was an amazing display of courage, especially by his wife, and there were a lot of incisive, touching, emotional moments in the ceremony,” he said. “But I choose not to get into that.”
Popovich attended the tribute in Los Angeles with Spurs chief executive officer R.C. Buford, assistant coach Tim Duncan, former Spurs stars Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, and current players Demar Derozan and Rudy Gay.