European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 14, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday March 14,1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 23 Lemons Bloom in Aba Rookie crop i re Randy Riggs a i lost Confidence Early but i be been getting it Back by Randy Riggs Cox news service san Antonio a like All owners of Aba teams can read a Bottom line. Mccombs like mind of his fellow owners this year believes he has yet age this Money a Worth out of his first round draft Choice. Nevertheless he and other officials of the san Antonio spurs insist they Are far from giving up on Sean Liott the spurs struggling first Rounder along with most other current rookies is learning the hard Way lat the sport he s dominated All his life Isnit As easy As thought. Quot ill be honest with you. I did no to think it would be his hard a said the University of arizonans two time All America Forward. That is a common lament this year. Many top picks rom the 1989 draft Are finding it difficult to recapture in form that made them top picks in the first place. Elliott whose Amateur career was so outstanding that the High school gymnasium where he played in Tucson anz., was named after him signed a five year contract Worth about $9 million to play in san Antonio after being the third player chosen in the draft. Spurs officials readily concede he Hasni to returned the investment so far. A certainly we expected More of Sean a said Mccombs who nevertheless counts himself among in rookies biggest fans. Elliott who broke the Pacific 10 conference career scoring Mark of a clan slew Alcindor is averaging 9.1 Points and 3.2 rebounds for the spurs in 22.8 minutes of playing time. Those statistics compare favourably with other rookies but Are hardly Impact numbers or someone expected a and paid a to make an Impact. A if wed picked him at no. 20 and if he had a 450,000 contract wed think wed stolen the world a a Mccombs said. A but the fact is we picked him no. 3, and we expected an Impact player. And Sean has not Een an Impact player. A the fact that the no. 3 spot Calls for such a Treen ious Dollar payment that leaves us at times really expecting More from him. And we did expect such Bottom line concern by owners is the Rule Rath than exception in professional sports. But the a bad a director of scouting believes that attitude is a mistake. A you can to equate Money with Talent a Marty Blake said. A is Elliott Worth 1.8 Mil probably not. Who is Lut did the spurs think they were going to get a 1.8 layer just because they gave it to him they can be unhappy with his attitude or his work habits or whatever but they be unhappy with what he got. Hat my Friend is just the Way it is in this Elliott has alternated at a starting spot with Veteran rank Brickowski. Coach Larry Brown is trying to de de if Elliott is More effective for now As a starter with Tetter personnel around him or As the first or second layer off the Bench with less pressure on him. Tison in s of productivity Isnit unique among pts9-90 rookies. Two pm trs ahead of him a sacrament Jervis Ellison and the los Angeles clippers i Conj i y t Barety have made a Ripple. Ellison has Pidto Playan h i earn our est and ferry decide ire making the biggest Impact probably is but Ftp non let Suard Tim Hardaway who came p of Texas Elpaso As the no. 14 pick. Ose rapid emergence allowed the War tos Ano ii a Rmer starter Winston Garland to the news a pos h a i legged 32 minutes a game. Be s averaged 13.2 Points and 8.1 assists. Ninute<8r?0rp�?Tuhe re okie class is averaging about 16 by not expat n. In und 6,4 pm ints a game. Certain to bad und3ers> but not everyone thinks they re i think this lust mean thev�?T6 Tley Aven t been Cut it tha Ihm now we re Vit ayin do entry you can�?T1 judge he immediate Irr ? m country of what i Call land domit Quot a a Syndra me. Nobody comes i Una unites fcount.0the�snn�?T Doest take David Robinson into cookie of the it Reater is a shoo in As the Aba moved since lie Uia Edlough he a a Rookie twice re fill before he u in year naval commitment to amp a a Robins Quot. Quot of Elliott is one year Tuma,"10 could record the big a an turnaround it a Aba history. ,s�8lest problem has been i a lot of Nrec Irp Wecy Brown said a i think that 1 pressure on Sean. He a putting it on him wooden award Winner Sean Elliott Hasni to won Over 1 of a each Way Cox news service making the transition from College basketball to the ranks of the Aba has t been the easy task Many rookies a or the teams that drafted them a thought it would be. Here s How the first round picks trom the class of 89 Are faring. The number preceding the name is whore players were chosen in the draft. Pick no., Plaver 24. Anthony Cook 27. Kenny Battie 20. Jeff Sanders 23. Roy Marble 7. George Mccloud 19. Kenny Payne 13. Michael Smith 8. Randy White 1. Pervis Ellison 25. John Morton 4. Glen Rice 14. Tim Hardaway 28. Sherman Douglas 5. . Reid 11. Nick Anderson 12. Cookie Blaylock 21. Blue Edwards 30. Cliff Robinson 3. Sean Elliott 26. Vlade Divac the worst 10 pos. Team pts Reb. F Phoenix Cut f Detroit Cut f Chicago 1.1 1.0 g Atlanta 2,1 1 0 g Indiana 25 0.9 f Phi. 2.9 05 f Boston 4.1 1.2 f Dallas 4.3 3 0 f Sacramento 4 6 6.0 g Cleveland 4.9 1.0 the Best 10 g Miami 13.3 4.8 g Goiden St 13,2 4.0 g Miami 12.9 2.5 f Charlotte 11.8 8.9 f Orlando 10.8 3.5 g new Jersey 10.6 3 0 g Utah 9.9 3.4 f Portland 9.5 3.9 f san Antonio 9.1 3 2 c . Lakers 8.9 6.5 Mccombs said the Lack of Overall Rookie productivity throughout the league does no to excuse Elliott. A that still does no to change the fact that in this business those top choices and the Money they command mean they re being paid to be Impact players a the owner said. A a there a not a nicer person in the world than Sean or anyone who tries harder. But you can to change the fact that he a still a no. 3 pick and a no. 3 should be an Impact player. The fact that some others Arentt there does no to make any difference As far As in a Blake however thinks it should make a difference. A take that word a Impact and throw it out of your vocabulary just Bury it because you wont Ever use it much in this league about rookies a he said. A you might use it on a Robinson if you want to argue semantics. Id Call him a first year player before id Call him a Rookie because he had two years to mature before he got Elliott says he does no to feel inferior because of the Success Robinson has enjoyed. But Elliott does admit that his ego and Confidence have been been bruised by his slow Start. A i lost Confidence Early but in be been getting it Back slowly a he said. A everyone goes through periods when they lose finding it after losing it has been the hard part especially with expectations so High. A a Larry a been All Over him. I mean All Over him a said Bob Bass the spurs assistant to the president. A a Sean a world has come crashing Down because for the last six or seven years he a always been the Best player on the court. A sure his Confidence is Clown. He goes out and shoots 2 for 9, gives up about five hoops and gets no rebounds and some Guy like James worthy is kicking his butt. That has a tendency to make you look around and say a what a going on Here a a after averaging 22.3 Points As a senior on a balanced Arizona team Elliott a Best offensive game As a Spur was 22 Points against the los Angeles clippers on nov. 24. Elliott made 51.2 percent of his shots in College but in san Antonio that has dropped to 44.9 percent. As disturbing As anything to the spurs who desperately need an outside scoring threat to take the heat off Robinson and Terry Cummings inside Elliott a three Point game is virtually non exist Cut. At Arizona Elliott made 66 of 151 from the College distance of 19 feet 9 inches. From the professional distance of 23 feet 9 inches lies Only 1 of 7. A in College everything was run for him and we re not running a lot of things for him Here a Brown said. A a Sean a had trouble adjusting to the physical Ness of the pro game the holding and banging. He a had a hard time realizing lies a Rookie and Isnit getting any Calls. He a just got to fight his Way through it like everyone Elliott believes he a beginning to adjust to the Aba. A my shooting and my court savvy Haven to been where i want them a he said. A a in a not playing that much so its really hard to get your rhythm Down. But i think in a starting to do fairly Well. In a the kind of person who likes Tough situations like How Long the Tough situation lasts varies. Willie Anderson of the spurs said it took him More than a year to feel at Home in the Aba. Anderson appeared to have an easier adjustment than Many. He was the first spurs Rookie in history to Lead the team in scoring 18.6and he made All the Aba All Rookie teams. But appearances were deceiving. Anderson said he did not Start feeling like he belonged until Early this season. A and being on a winning team was a big reason for that a he said. A having better players around you can Only make you better. That a what Sean needs to remember. I Tell him All the time to just keep playing hard. I say a Sean Man keep going at it. Its going to be there for i keep telling him he a going to get in the flow that hell get the there were reports circulating in february that if Elliott got the feeling he would get it elsewhere. Elliott a name was linked to Trade rumours with the new York kicks Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings. The kicks reportedly wanted him for Rod Strickland who became a Spur anyway in the to Cheeks Deal. Other rumoured trades had Elliott going to Milwaukee for Ricky Pierce and Paul Prescy or to Sacramento for Rodney Mccray Harold Pressley and Ralph Sampson. The spurs deny they were shopping Elliott a a a we re going to wait on him a Bass said a but did no to deny his name came up in conversations with other teams As the feb. 22 trading deadline neared. A we could have traded him on a number of instances a Mccombs said a but from our Side of things he was not in consideration for being Elliott said the Trade rumours did no to bother him. A coach Brown and i were actually laughing about that one Day in practice a he said. A i think everyone expects to be traded at one time or another in their career so it really did no to faze me. I tried to look at the positive aspects of it. I did no to look at it As somebody not wanting me Here. I looked at it As someone wanting me somewhere else. A if i really thought the spurs did no to want me maybe id be depressed. But i done to feel that a the spurs officials agree even if they have yet to be satisfied with the return on their investment. A a he a still a Guy we re very fortunate to have and we re glad he a Here a Mccombs said. A a we re just hoping to see him grow into the Impact player that we envisioned head
