Coming into the preseason the San Antonio Spurs seemed to have their roster pretty much set with the exception of a few back end of the roster guys fighting for one or two spots. Jonathon Simmons was somewhat of an afterthought in the beginning of the preseason but he is not anymore as he has caught Gregg Popovich's eye after showing vast improvement, according to Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express News.
Simmons is a 26 year old who has yet to play a single NBA game in his career but he has spent some time in the D-League and with the Spurs summer league team where he also was able to impress. The Spurs' summer league team won the championship and Simmons was the MVP of that game scoring 23 points.
Simmons is known as a scorer first as he also averaged 36.5 points per game while playing in the American Basketball League but that's not what got him noticed by Popovich. Popovich was actually surprised to see how good Simmons was at passing the ball and that's what really caught his eye because Simmons' reputation is that of a guy who can score and that's basically it.
If Simmons was just a really good scorer his chances of making the Spurs would have been slim to none because San Antonio has plenty of scoring, but the fact that he can also distrubute and play some solid defense certainly helps his cause. The Spurs have one, maybe two spots open on their roster and Simmons is competing with Reggie Williams, Jimmer Fredette and Rasual Butler for one of those spots.
Although Popovich has really liked what he has seen from Simmons he is far from guaranteeing him a spot on the roster saying "he's still got to earn a spot," meaning he wants to see this kind of play over an extended period of time. The 6 foot-6 guard has spent the past two seasons with the Spurs' D-League affiliate and isn't sure if he will go back should he not make the team because he is just focused on trying to earn a spot.
It's not often you hear this kind of praise from Popovich so that has to say something but Simmons is likely still somewhat of a long shot to make the final roster. Despite his play you would have to think that the veteran Butler and Fredette, who is on a guaranteed contract, would be ahead of him for a spot.
