SAN ANTONIO – For the primary time since becoming a member of the Spurs, Mason Plumlee is obtainable to play for San Antonio.
Charlotte waived him after the commerce deadline allowing Plumlee to sign with San Antonio, first on a 10-day contract after which for the remainder of the season. He’s been recovering from a December groin surgical procedure and ramping up for a return to the courtroom, and advised reporters on Tuesday that he is lastly obtainable to make his debut in Silver and Black.
“My body feels great, they had a good plan to get me back to playing shape, and I’m ready to go,” he mentioned. “We’ve been playing pickup, 5-on-5, getting up and down, to me that’s the best way to get in basketball shape.”
Before their marquee matchup towards the Celtics on Tuesday evening, Mitch Johnson spoke about what the the 36-year-old massive man provides to the workforce.
“Mason’s been around the league, very experienced, and we just wanted to add depth at that spot, and thought he was also a different type, I guess you could say, than (Bismack Biyombo and Kelly Oubre) and the guys that we already had,” Johnson mentioned.
Johnson is just three years older, and he met Plumlee when he was a highly-touted highschool recruit.
“I hosted him at Stanford, so I’ve known him for a long time. He was a rookie for KG and Paul Pierce in Brooklyn, so there’s quite a bit of experience and stories,” Johnson mentioned. “He is a guy that has played with high level players and played a few different types of roles, and has seen different levels of success throughout this league, on different teams, and to be able to add someone that we feel like is in addition to our group, that’s something that we felt like we could continue to add depth to, as well as being the type of quality person that he is, is a positive.”
Plumlee has been taking part in at a excessive stage for the final twenty years, and he is impressed with this younger Spurs workforce.
“Right now the way that our team’s playing, the ball’s moving really well they’re playing really fast, it’s an unselfish group. All characteristics of teams I really enjoy playing on,” Plumlee mentioned. “The last couple weeks presented a lot of different challenges in terms of personnel matchups, schedule, whatever, and this group’s met the challenge each time. The talent, the depth, the youth in a good way, I still believe big things for this group.”
Plumlee received three consecutive highschool state championships earlier than 4 years at Duke and an NCAA title. He’s performed in 12 playoff sequence and 71 postseason video games, the identical variety of video games as Harrison Barnes. The Larry O’Brien trophy has eluded Plumlee thus far, and as this particular Spurs season continues he’ll have a shot to be part of a deep run. It’s no shock that he needed to come back to San Antonio.
“Once I knew I was free, I reached out myself to a couple people here and just said, ‘Hey, if there’s a spot, I’d love to be here,’ and it worked out that way,” Plumlee said. “So I feel fortunate that they took a chance on me coming off of injury. It’s a blessing.”
