Spurs select Marcus Denmon with the No. 59 pick

February 29, 2012; Columbia, MO, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Marcus Denmon (12) waits for play to resume during the second half against the Iowa State Cyclones at Mizzou Arena. Missouri won 78-72. Mandatory Credit: Dak Dillon-US PRESSWIRE

The excruciating four hour wait is over, Spurs fans. With the No. 59 overall pick, San Antonio selected Marcus Denmon of Missouri. As the draft waned and the probability of a draft day trade subsequently depreciated so did my interest. I was expecting some sort of minor improvement — ie: trading up to the top of the second-round to take advantage of a couple potential steals — but it did not materialize. I digress.

Denmon, 22, played all four years with Missouri indicating that he’s had sufficient time to develop. Standing at 6’3″ Denmon will be undersized and thus, he’ll be overmatched against other shooting guards in the NBA. Denmon is not a point guard. He did, however, produce a lot of points without handling the ball too much. Denmon converted on 62.1% of his shots (including free throws, 3-pointers and 2-pointers) in his senior season predominately on the strength of his impressive 89.6% shooting from the foul line. Denmon actually made a higher percentage of his shots during his junior year.

Expecting anything other a player with more flaws than strengths at the No. 59 pick is too optimistic. Denmon’s scoring ability is unlikely to translate at the NBA level because the things that worked so successfully in college — beating defenders off the dribble et cetera — won’t work against more agile defenders. His size also isn’t doing him any favors. I’m not going to complain too much but I would have preferred the Spurs to take a gander at Scott Machado of Iona. He was a simlarily efficient player and he assisted on 44.2% of Iona’s possessions.

So what do you think of the Spurs draft? Should they have traded up? Feel free to leave comments below.