How Spurs continued some draft trends with intriguing 2nd round picks

The San Antonio Spurs came away with a couple of players in the second round of the NBA Draft that fit models they'd previously followed. In drafting Juan Nunez after a trade, they went with yet another foreign player. In adding Harrison Ingram, San Antonio repeated a path that led them to this year's first round pick, Stephon Castle.

Acquiring Juan Nunez via trade

After taking Johnny Furphy with the 35th pick of this year's draft, the Spurs traded him for the next pick and cash considerations. At 36, the 16th pick of the second round, the Black and Silver selected Nunez, who hails from Spain.

“Really, really talented point guard. Crafty passer,” Spurs GM Brian Wright said of Nunez before he offered quite the descriptive.

“Probably the best pick and roll player in the draft as a passer and creator.”

In continuing to answer questions about the 20-year-old guard, Wright sounded as if he was describing a Spurs legend.

“He's tough. He's got moxie, he's competitive, he's a winner. And he's done it on the highest stage, he's done it on the national team level. He's actually going to play on the national team in the Olympics so at just a young age he's already accomplished a lot in his early career in Europe and we expect more to come.”

Manu Ginobili could be described much the same way, especially early in his Spurs career. Also like Ginobili, who didn't join the Black and Silver right away, the Spurs sound unsure about when Nunez will join them. Because of his commitment to the Spanish National team, they haven't seen much of him recently.

“I think the workout process is just one component of a broader evaluation. We got a chance to spend time with him in person. We've obviously scouted him over the years so we felt confident in our evaluation even though we didn't actually get him in for a workout that we kind of knew who he was and what he was about and how it could potentially fit with us,” Wright stated.

Coming away with Harrison Ingram

“Harrison's been somebody we've known for a long time, was a McDonald's All-American as well,” Wright said of Ingram, repeating the same things he had said about Castle the night before.

“Started at Stanford. I think we saw one of his first college practices and to see the evolution in him. He came into the college game as a ball-handling point forward. You see him at North Carolina this past season and he played more of a three-and-D role that can rebound and steal passes and do some of the play making, but he went from more of a primary to a secondary,” Wright added about the 6-foot-6 forward.

“And, again, you heard me talk about sacrifice for the betterment of the team and with him you saw that as well,” Wright went on, again describing Ingram the way he had Castle on Wednesday. “It's not easy to transition your game the way that he did and he did a great job in adding to that team at Carolina.”

The Spurs plan to have Ingram join Castle for Summer League in July. Nunez won't compete because of his role with the Spanish Olympic team.