The Penthouse Of Josh Primo

[MultiTroll]

What is Primos status for tonights game?

[KingKev]

And it shows. That's the point. No one should have expected to Spurs to have great talent after not being in position to draft great talent for years. The Spurs do a good job of finding talent later in the draft and a mediocre job of developing that talent. That's why they're not a good team now. The Spurs have some of the worst talent in the NBA despite apparently being the gold standard for development. That means either the Spurs are comparatively great but that development in general sucks or that the Spurs aren't great. No amount of spitball logic that refuses to actually engage with the arguments will change that the Spurs don't have a metric to show they've made their guys better at a rate beyond what an average team would do.

Yeah it’s not easy to disect player development. Kahwi worked his ass off and would have been great no matter where he landed. Coming in and slowly being given responsibikity on a dynasty where his skill-set was in need was luck, timing, development and everything else, but he would have been great regardless.

DJ seems to have an x-factor also where he would have thrived in most environments to outplay his draft position. Coach Pop’s mentoring, probably Parker’s also likely helped but he would still be a solid player anywhere I suspect.

All else equal I’d say history has shown we have pretty good ability for the whole process; scouting, drafting, nurturing and developing. We are definitely above league average.

These next 3-5 years drafting consistently top 10 should make PATFO’s life much easier in this regard.

[Atl Spur]

And it shows. That's the point. No one should have expected to Spurs to have great talent after not being in position to draft great talent for years. The Spurs do a good job of finding talent later in the draft and a mediocre job of developing that talent. That's why they're not a good team now. The Spurs have some of the worst talent in the NBA despite apparently being the gold standard for development. That means either the Spurs are comparatively great but that development in general sucks or that the Spurs aren't great. No amount of spitball logic that refuses to actually engage with the arguments will change that the Spurs don't have a metric to show they've made their guys better at a rate beyond what an average team would do.

So making the playoffs over such a long period time without top flight talent & free agents don’t support the excellence? This is not the hill to die on debating.

[Atl Spur]

Who’s done better with late pick drafting than us? I’ll wait…. In fact our picks have outperformed selections in drafts made before them.

[Atl Spur]

And ugh, for the millionth time: There were theoretical trade packages that were better than what Leonard got, but most teams were completely unwilling to pay anything but pittances for him. Magic (horrendous GM that he was) thought he had the leverage to make the Spurs take Deng AND get Murray in return. Philly didn't want to include ing Saric in the deal. LAC wanted to keep one of their first-rounders that year. The Spurs could have made the DeRozan deal work IF they were willing to go all in and play a bit of hard ball. They should have kept Green. They should have gone ahead and acquired the third guy to put around DMDR and LMA. The Spurs could have made a real run at the West that season while still keeping all of their future picks. They basically could have been like the Bulls this year. They instead decided to take a step back while trying to develop around DeRozan and Aldridge. It turns out that they weren't able to right the ship before those guys left.

It was arguably a poor choice, but that'll depend on what kind of player Murray ends up being for the Spurs going forward. If he's the leader in a new era of winning, keeping him and going through the eventual lean years could be good. If he is meh or leaves the team soon without bringing in a franchise-altering return, I think the Spurs would have been better off burning brightly before going out rather than decaying the way they have over the past year.

Decaying?? Lol. Dude it’s been two or three bad years! Wow, every organization goes through this , we fortunately haven’t as much! We’ll be fine

[emanueldavidginobili]

What is Primos status for tonights game?

Looks like he is available for tonights game, they sent Joe W and Cacok back to Austin and not Josh.

[KobesAchilles]

Even though he got scored on by Bradley Beal that one possession when we played the Wizards I still like the fact that we are playing him real minutes. The kid is going to make a lot of mistakes, but this is the time to do it. On a team that doesn't really care about mistakes since we aren't winning anyway. I just want him to be more selfish and call his number more often. A tall order for a rookie but there aren't really any vets on the team anyways soo he shouldn't be deferring.

[emanueldavidginobili]

[KingKev]

Even though he got scored on by Bradley Beal that one possession when we played the Wizards I still like the fact that we are playing him real minutes. The kid is going to make a lot of mistakes, but this is the time to do it.

Imagine getting scored on, on that one possession by All-NBA Bradley Beal?!? It’s not just kids who get scored on by all NBA talent.

[MultiTroll]

Even though he got scored on by Bradley Beal that one possession when we played the Wizards I still like the fact that we are playing him real minutes. The kid is going to make a lot of mistakes, but this is the time to do it. On a team that doesn't really care about mistakes since we aren't winning anyway. I just want him to be more selfish and call his number more often. A tall order for a rookie but there aren't really any vets on the team anyways soo he shouldn't be deferring.

Imagine getting scored on, on that one possession by All-NBA Bradley Beal?!? It’s not just kids who get scored on by all NBA talent.

I'm sure glad Bryn Forms minutes are not reduced when he gets scored on by All-NBA players.

[Sugus]

Cho phrasing the question the way he did means that is a valid way of rebutting it. But for obvious reasons, the sidebar allows folks to overstate the extent to which those players played in the d-league. Primo's 12 games are already most than most of the guys on that list. Most people don't have an issue with Primo playing any d-league games at all. Instead, the push-back is mainly against the idea that he NEEDS to go to Austin to get the minutes and focus to develop. The list of players who developed largely away from their teams' big clubs and with their d-league teams is much, much smaller, and the players who might deserve to be on that list were very rarely more than solid rotation players in the league.

Go through the actual d-league stats: https://stats.gleague.nba.com/player...PerMode=Totals

See how many of the points or minutes leaders in that league were actually future NBA players (not to be confused with former). As you go through the years, you might see a couple like Nunn, Caruso and even Christian Wood. But besides Wood (who's basically like a poor man's Cousins), the best true d-league graduates are role-players in the NBA. Most of the other notable ones are fringe players like Quinn Cook or washouts like Ray McCallum. Then the rest are non-NBA players. There's just not the evidence there to suggest that Primo getting a lot of high-usage minutes in Austin is a good developmental pathway. A handful of games or a quick match during a random break? Sure. As a way to get some run instead of being frozen out of a contending rotation? Unideal, but yes. As just a rubber-stamp matter of cause on a rebuilding team? No. The math isn't there. As I said before, defending this decision is attempting to rationalize something that wasn't reasoned into. Primo shouldn't be going back into the d-league. The only forces preventing him for a prominent rotation spot are those Pop is creating.

You can quote me, it's alright

I don't much care how much each player played in the G-L, tbh. It's not a dent in my argument to me. The fact remains that multiple players used the G-L as a training ground, and came out better from it. It's (IMO) extremely foolish to try to "dissect" these numbers and try to come up with some barometer (e.g. players shouldn't play more than X amount of GL games if they want to develop correctly! You should only give them X minutes or X amounts of possessions!), because there's an insane number of factors that start to muddy the picture up. How can you tell me with any certainty that, for example, had FVV played 10 more GL games than he did, he would've been worse for it? It's way too far into the realm of hypothesis to have any sort of significance. The facts, as far as I'm concerned, are what I posted. There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to use the GL because development, at its core, is not linear; and Primo, youngest player in the league, is absolutely an outlier, moreover.

Secondly, I really disagree with your notion that "defending this decision is attempting to rationalize something that wasn't reasoned into". Again, realm of hypothesis trying to pass off as fact - I expect better from you, Chino! How do you know there was no reasoning there? If the Spurs believe the GL is the best path towards development, there's certainly reasoning there. Agree or disagree with their strategy - go show Pop your developmental stats if you want to - it's simply not true, or unknowable at the least. Trying to use that "fact" as dismissive of the Spurs' development strategy is weird.

And lastly, why do you keep saying there's "no evidence" that Primo getting high usage minutes leads to better development, while conflating it with a "he shouldn't be getting those minutes" rhetoric? Again, disingenuous. Facts: Primo played a mostly off-ball role in his lone season in college, a season where he also was supposed to still be in HS (meaning, already unnaturally low amount of in-game reps and experience, for any prospect, AND extremely low on-ball reps of any kind). If, as we see, he gets main handling and offense-running duties in the GL, the level of compe ion is inherently less important than the fact that he's playing an entirely different game than he's used to. Could he play the same game with the Spurs? No - as we've seen, Dejounte is far too dominant a ball-handler (and White too, and most players on our team tbh given that most of them are happy to dribble around) for Primo to get those same reps. He's relegated to, again, more of an off-ball role. I've seen this myself in the games I've watched where he's played.

So.... Disagree pretty heavily with your post, my man. Stats are stats, yes, but they can be interpreted a myriad of different ways, for all sorts of purposes, and here I don't think they tell the story you're painting, simple as that. Not to mention, there can not be evidence for something that hasn't been done before... Primo could perfectly be the first great player ( , the first MVP player, FMVP, why not? Lol) to get heavy GL usage. It's a different discussion, and the fact remains that we simply don't know, but you keep acting as if it's all foregone conclusions.

E: Just to be perfectly clear - I'm extremely happy Primo is getting heavy NBA minutes now, it's very good for him and for the "tanking" Spurs. My point is, I want Primo to get both NBA and GL minutes. He's certainly not old enough to have his body crumble over it, and isn't playing heavy usage enough to have it affect his game.

[Chinook]

Decaying?? Lol. Dude it’s been two or three bad years! Wow, every organization goes through this , we fortunately haven’t as much! We’ll be fine

You're misinterpreting the phrasing to give it a more negative connotation than I meant it. It refers to how the Spurs got into their rebuilding state (by letting guys expire and walk after declining for multiple) rather than a more acute rebuild. In this context, it was referring to them making aggressive trades around DeRozan and then blowing it up if it didn't work rather than allowing the team to get worse and worse over years before finally rebuilding when they were so bad they couldn't win even with modest free-agent signings.

[KobesAchilles]

Secondly, I really disagree with your notion that "defending this decision is attempting to rationalize something that wasn't reasoned into". Again, realm of hypothesis trying to pass off as fact - I expect better from you, Chino! How do you know there was no reasoning there? If the Spurs believe the GL is the best path towards development, there's certainly reasoning there. Agree or disagree with their strategy - go show Pop your developmental stats if you want to - it's simply not true, or unknowable at the least. Trying to use that "fact" as dismissive of the Spurs' development strategy is weird.




.

There is a lot of failures in trying to give young guys minutes right away and those teams developing bad habits throughout the years, think of a player like Towns who somehow sucks at defense bc of lack of effort since nobody held him accountable. But there are almost no success stories of G-League players playing at an all-star level. If we want a role player in Primo then this is about the worst way you can develop him. i do doubt the Spurs in this method.

First off, how is Primo being away from the greatest coach of all time and instead being coached by a second hand one seem smart? Even if Pop does "oversee" him it's not much more than 5 minute reports. Pop has like one maybe two years left. soak up all the knowledge you can straight from the source.

Secondly, it is a bad way of developing bc when we do bring in Primo, we are putting him in a completely new situation. All the posters here claim that Primo learns the system and gets used to the system, but not on offense. On offense in the GL he is the guy as a rookie. His second year he plays situational minutes and basically defers all game long. That stunts his growth by making him learn two new roles. If you want him to go the Kawhi route and slowly become the man then play him like you did Kawhi and have him defer as a rookie and play hard and tough with the big boys. Don't tell him run the offense and then jk jk sit in the corner now for the year.

And lastly, we suck. We aren't contending anyways. There is ZERO reason why Forbes is/was playing over Primo. None. Pop can't justify it and neither can you. Play the kid. Even if he does get scored on by Bradley Beal on a possession.

[Chinook]

You can quote me, it's alright

I hit reply instead of quote and reply, and them someone posted while I was typing.

I don't much care how much each player played in the G-L, tbh. It's not a dent in my argument to me.

The way Cho phrased their post, this is true. But I don't think anyone is seriously making the argument that Primo could never be assigned to Austin at all or that there aren't good players who've played any time in the d-league.

How can you tell me with any certainty that, for example, had FVV played 10 more GL games than he did, he would've been worse for it?

This is having an argument that I don't think anyone else is having. The argument isn't over whether the d-league can help. It's over whether the reasons to assign Primo to the d-league make sense. In that scope, showing that future NBA players aren't the ones playing lots of d-league games in high-usage roles is totally relevant, because that's what some people have literally suggested Primo needs.

There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to use the GL because development, at its core, is not linear; and Primo, youngest player in the league, is absolutely an outlier, moreover.

Okay, so when people say he needs to go there, they're making a claim that there's a right way to use the d-league and that the Spurs have found that way. Your claim runs counter to that. You want to have the argument that people are anti-d-league. Some folks might be. But from what I've seen, the push-back is coming from the assumption that Primo should be in Austin instead of San Antonio because raw players need d-league time to develop. No one's arguing over whether Josh would be ruined if he played five or six games there.

How do you know there was no reasoning there? If the Spurs believe the GL is the best path towards development, there's certainly reasoning there.

We aren't arguing over what the Spurs think. They can think whatever, and it won't be affected by us. What I'm talking about is what posters think. You know this, hence why you (mis)quote me saying "defending this decision" rather than "making this decision". I don't think posters have rationally worked their way into defending the decision to send Primo back to Austin. Why I said that has been the content of basically all of my subsequent contributions to this thread. What I'm not doing is "realm of hypothesis trying to pass off as fact" -- that's just a lame attempt to cry for a whistle. I led the post off by saying "I think...", and thusly did not try to pass it off like it's anything other than my interpretation. More importantly, though, even if I hadn't said explicitly that it was my opinion, that doesn't mean that I'm saying it's a fact. That's not how English works. That kind of statement cannot be a fact -- it can only be a belief. So no matter how strongly I stated it, it's not going to be a fact. I know this. I assume you know this. So we don't have to keep wasting time on that type of rebuttal.

And lastly, why do you keep saying there's "no evidence" that Primo getting high usage minutes leads to better development, while conflating it with a "he shouldn't be getting those minutes" rhetoric?

I'm going to go ahead and try to work this into the form I think you meant it to be. I said there isn't evidence that high-usage roles in the d-league is a necessary or at least more ideal method to develop players than getting lower-usage minutes in the NBA. So I think that you're asking why am I saying that and then asserting he shouldn't be getting high-usage minutes in the d-league. I rephrased it because I wasn't making a case that there's no evidence about Primo specifically, because we don't have any alternative data to look at. I can't make a comparative claim between d-league and NBA minutes on one player's development, because we don't have the other scenario to judge. In your science analog, we don't have the control case.

I assume you're not trying to frame what I'm saying disingenuously and just got tangled up in your words. However, it's also possible that you have been misunderstanding what I've been saying.

Facts: Primo played a mostly off-ball role in his lone season in college, a season where he also was supposed to still be in HS (meaning, already unnaturally low amount of in-game reps and experience, for any prospect, AND extremely low on-ball reps of any kind). If, as we see, he gets main handling and offense-running duties in the GL, the level of compe ion is inherently less important than the fact that he's playing an entirely different game than he's used to. Could he play the same game with the Spurs? No - as we've seen, Dejounte is far too dominant a ball-handler (and White too, and most players on our team tbh given that most of them are happy to dribble around) for Primo to get those same reps. He's relegated to, again, more of an off-ball role. I've seen this myself in the games I've watched where he's played.

So I've definitely addressed this multiple times. The idea that Primo is getting on-ball minutes in Austin and would not likely see that role in SA is not contested ground. I don't know if you've skipped over most of what I wrote, but in the post that you literally (mis)quote, I talk about that. I really think you should go back and read what I actually write before trying to come in here and pick it apart.

So.... Disagree pretty heavily with your post, my man.

From what I can tell? You don't actually disagree with it in substance. You rather strawmaned it and them disagreed with that. There's no better evidence for it than you assuming I've said Primo shouldn't go to the d-league when that hasn't been the point of my posts.

Not to mention, there can not be evidence for something that hasn't been done before... Primo could perfectly be the first great player ( , the first MVP player, FMVP, why not? Lol) to get heavy GL usage. Stats are stats, yes, but they can be interpreted a myriad of different ways, for all sorts of purposes, and here I don't think they tell the story you're painting, simple as that.

However, this IS an irrational position, and it's exactly why I made that first post. You can believe whatever you want, but you can't argue that belief is coming from evidence. When you try to start stacking arguments to justify that position, then you'll actually run into the meat of what I posts were addressing.

[Chinook]

There is a lot of failures in trying to give young guys minutes right away and those teams developing bad habits throughout the years, think of a player like Towns who somehow sucks at defense bc of lack of effort since nobody held him accountable. But there are almost no success stories of G-League players playing at an all-star level. If we want a role player in Primo then this is about the worst way you can develop him. i do doubt the Spurs in this method.

First off, how is Primo being away from the greatest coach of all time and instead being coached by a second hand one seem smart? Even if Pop does "oversee" him it's not much more than 5 minute reports. Pop has like one maybe two years left. soak up all the knowledge you can straight from the source.

Secondly, it is a bad way of developing bc when we do bring in Primo, we are putting him in a completely new situation. All the posters here claim that Primo learns the system and gets used to the system, but not on offense. On offense in the GL he is the guy as a rookie. His second year he plays situational minutes and basically defers all game long. That stunts his growth by making him learn two new roles. If you want him to go the Kawhi route and slowly become the man then play him like you did Kawhi and have him defer as a rookie and play hard and tough with the big boys. Don't tell him run the offense and then jk jk sit in the corner now for the year.

And lastly, we suck. We aren't contending anyways. There is ZERO reason why Forbes is/was playing over Primo. None. Pop can't justify it and neither can you. Play the kid. Even if he does get scored on by Bradley Beal on a possession.

Yeah, this whole, "You don't know this for sure, so stop giving your opinion on it" line of argument is bunk. Also Pop not liking stats or an interpretation of stats doesn't mean . Obviously he think he's doing the right thing and isn't going to listen to some chode telling him he's wrong. That doesn't make him right, and it doesn't give him evidence that he's right if he did want to make that argument.

[TD 21]

The luck part wasn't making the trade, it was being able to make that trade. In a more sane world where Number Two doesn't go full wad, he stays with the Spurs and the Raptors never even get a chance at him.

The Raptors were in the right place at the right time, with the right assets to offer (still a sandwich, but more than anyone else was offering). That's luck.

Thank you for having common sense. Hard to believe this needs to be explained to supposed Spurs fans of all people, but some people are apparently that dense.

I'll just add, even had he wanted out, if he didn't intentionally destroy his value and the Raptors wanted in the conversation, one of Siakam/Anunoby and at least another 1st would have been prerequisites. That's why, even though it's not their fault, I refer to their championship as tainted.

They should have kept Green.

Yeah, as I've said umpteen times, even considering the cir stances, they should have been forced to take Gasol instead of being handed Green.

[Sugus]

1. There is a lot of failures in trying to give young guys minutes right away and those teams developing bad habits throughout the years, think of a player like Towns who somehow sucks at defense bc of lack of effort since nobody held him accountable. But there are almost no success stories of G-League players playing at an all-star level. If we want a role player in Primo then this is about the worst way you can develop him. i do doubt the Spurs in this method.

2. First off, how is Primo being away from the greatest coach of all time and instead being coached by a second hand one seem smart? Even if Pop does "oversee" him it's not much more than 5 minute reports. Pop has like one maybe two years left. soak up all the knowledge you can straight from the source.

3. Secondly, it is a bad way of developing bc when we do bring in Primo, we are putting him in a completely new situation. All the posters here claim that Primo learns the system and gets used to the system, but not on offense. On offense in the GL he is the guy as a rookie. His second year he plays situational minutes and basically defers all game long. That stunts his growth by making him learn two new roles. If you want him to go the Kawhi route and slowly become the man then play him like you did Kawhi and have him defer as a rookie and play hard and tough with the big boys. Don't tell him run the offense and then jk jk sit in the corner now for the year.

4. And lastly, we suck. We aren't contending anyways. There is ZERO reason why Forbes is/was playing over Primo. None. Pop can't justify it and neither can you. Play the kid. Even if he does get scored on by Bradley Beal on a possession.

1. There's almost no "success stories" regarding star players and the GL because top draft picks, who by a WIDE margin are the ones who end up becoming stars, simply skip the GL altogether. This is because they come into the league with a sufficiently high floor and physical development to contribute, and bang, straight away (think LeBron, Luka, et al, they don't need to "grow into" their bodies nor develop basic aspects of their games; if they did, they wouldn't get picked top 3). Primo isn't that. And while I'm fully aboard the Primo wagon and think he can be a significant contributor to the league... LeBron, Luka level? Yeah, not quite. As you said, there's many players like KAT who were hindered by getting thrown into the fire - why is the argument not made that the GL could've helped them instead? I wonder...

2. I don't think Primo playing in Austin means he's too far away from Pop to get coached, TBQH. Firstly, now more than ever, everyone's connected - a Zoom away. Secondly, Primo both attends Spurs practices and Spurs games now, so he's getting coached alright. There's also developmental staff following him throughout practices and into Austin games, it's not like Pop is the be-all, end-all of coaching/development. Thirdly, well, I'm of the opinion that the modern NBA has passed Pop by a bit... Not sure I want him telling Primo that 3's are overrated too much . But that's beside the point.

3. Disagree. Matter-of-fact, when we bring in Primo to the Spurs, we're playing him in exactly the role he's been accustomed his whole life, which is a major part of my argument. His lone season of college was spent playing off-ball, C&S style behind "more talented" on-ball players, which is exactly what he does when he spots up in the corner as DJ does his midrange pullups. On the contrary, down in Austin, he develops into an entirely different, ball-dominant game, which he's shown much potential and adeption for, so these reps are meaningful; I'd actually wager that, given these cir stances, Primo can make better use of Austin than most assignees, who mostly go down to work on just a specific part of their game. Above all, Primo needs reps... Which is why I'm very glad that he's playing both Austin AND Spurs. Lastly, Kawhi was an entirely different bodytype, player type, and previous-experience-to-the-NBA type, not very comparable. Had Primo been Mr California twice or some like that, he might've been brought up differently, who knows?

4. Ahh, this one I agree on. Zero reason for Forbes to play, especially if he's not gonna get traded (as we all know). Definitely blame Pop for this one. But still, it's not exactly like Primo is the only other option at SG... Lonnie or Devin or whomever could soak up those minutes, too, just saying. But yeah, less Forbes por favor. But also - you do know Primo played like 40 minutes two games ago, right? Lol. That's exactly what I'm saying.... Austin and Spurs, please!

[exstatic]

Yeah, this whole, "You don't know this for sure, so stop giving your opinion on it" line of argument is bunk. Also Pop not liking stats or an interpretation of stats doesn't mean . Obviously he think he's doing the right thing and isn't going to listen to some chode telling him he's wrong. That doesn't make him right, and it doesn't give him evidence that he's right if he did want to make that argument.

This from a guy who thinks the popularity contest known as the MIP vote is a valid way of judging player improvement year over year…

[Chinook]

This from a guy who thinks the popularity contest known as the MIP vote is a valid way of judging player improvement year over year…

It should be given that you think the people who vote on it believe the Spurs are a great developmental staff. It'd be weird to think that but never seem to think any of their players are among the most improved. Also, of all the major awards, MIP is probably the least political. Historically, the winners come from small-market teams. You could just look at the list instead of assuming you're right and don't have to support your argument.

[KobesAchilles]

1. There's almost no "success stories" regarding star players and the GL because top draft picks, who by a WIDE margin are the ones who end up becoming stars, simply skip the GL altogether. This is because they come into the league with a sufficiently high floor and physical development to contribute, and bang, straight away (think LeBron, Luka, et al, they don't need to "grow into" their bodies nor develop basic aspects of their games; if they did, they wouldn't get picked top 3). Primo isn't that. And while I'm fully aboard the Primo wagon and think he can be a significant contributor to the league... LeBron, Luka level? Yeah, not quite. As you said, there's many players like KAT who were hindered by getting thrown into the fire - why is the argument not made that the GL could've helped them instead? I wonder...

2. I don't think Primo playing in Austin means he's too far away from Pop to get coached, TBQH. Firstly, now more than ever, everyone's connected - a Zoom away. Secondly, Primo both attends Spurs practices and Spurs games now, so he's getting coached alright. There's also developmental staff following him throughout practices and into Austin games, it's not like Pop is the be-all, end-all of coaching/development. Thirdly, well, I'm of the opinion that the modern NBA has passed Pop by a bit... Not sure I want him telling Primo that 3's are overrated too much . But that's beside the point.

3. Disagree. Matter-of-fact, when we bring in Primo to the Spurs, we're playing him in exactly the role he's been accustomed his whole life, which is a major part of my argument. His lone season of college was spent playing off-ball, C&S style behind "more talented" on-ball players, which is exactly what he does when he spots up in the corner as DJ does his midrange pullups. On the contrary, down in Austin, he develops into an entirely different, ball-dominant game, which he's shown much potential and adeption for, so these reps are meaningful; I'd actually wager that, given these cir stances, Primo can make better use of Austin than most assignees, who mostly go down to work on just a specific part of their game. Above all, Primo needs reps... Which is why I'm very glad that he's playing both Austin AND Spurs. Lastly, Kawhi was an entirely different bodytype, player type, and previous-experience-to-the-NBA type, not very comparable. Had Primo been Mr California twice or some like that, he might've been brought up differently, who knows?

4. Ahh, this one I agree on. Zero reason for Forbes to play, especially if he's not gonna get traded (as we all know). Definitely blame Pop for this one. But still, it's not exactly like Primo is the only other option at SG... Lonnie or Devin or whomever could soak up those minutes, too, just saying. But yeah, less Forbes por favor. But also - you do know Primo played like 40 minutes two games ago, right? Lol. That's exactly what I'm saying.... Austin and Spurs, please!

1. Primo is our second highest draft pick so he is a top draft pick. he might not be a #1 guy but a lotto pick nonetheless. If we truly believe in our player development it should be with the big boys not the YMCA crew. Also Primo isn't on a contender. It's fine to send our top pick when its White and he's the 29th pick and we have Kawhi and are beasting. But on a bad team, you play your players even if they are young. The GL route is for role players. If that's the ceiling you think Primo is at then this is the perfect route for him. He doesn't need to be Lebron, but if you want him at an allstar level or believe he has that type of potential then you don't go the route of full time GL

2. Pop gives him zero coaching when he's in Austin. He has 15 other players, 7 other assistant coaches, and basketball operations to run. The dude isn't facetiming Primo. He does a short, once a week meeting with his Austin coaches, and they probably facetime him and that's the extent of it. Also as far as practice goes it's almost guratneed thee same thing. Primo works with different assistants while Pop works with the actual team.

3. I know he was the 4th option in Bama. That's what I would like for him to start off as with us. Play hard and defer in the beginning. The thing is that it takes waay longer to play as the man than just a one year stint in the GL. He's not gonna go oh I remember this one time in the GL I did this. He has to practice on actual pros to be the man not buncha YMCA stiffs. I mean Sammich puts up 28 and 12 so don't tell me there's a high quality of players there. So yes this is a waste of time in this regard. If you're gonna play him in both then I can argue that it's not a waste, but this whole year in Austin thing while barely playing in the pros isn't a good development strategy.

[Chomag]

If you truly want player development on a higher level talent then you put them up against that said high level talent. Playing against scrubs teaches nothing that advances his skills. I see people bringing up the game against Bradley Beal, I garente Primo learned allot more from that 1 night then he ever did in a full month of G League.

If the player is good and really has high talent then he will learn just as many other big time players have throughout the years

[Dejounte]

If any Joe Schmo knows the proper way to develop NBA players, anybody would be hired. It’s so funny to watch the back and forth in this thread and all the “WELL IF THEY DID IT THIS WAY, IT WOULD WORK! DUH” Yeah, the answer is so obvious. Sure… y’all crack me up. Leave it to ST to think they know best.

[objective]

If you truly want player development on a higher level talent then you put them up against that said high level talent. Playing against scrubs teaches nothing that advances his skills. I see people bringing up the game against Bradley Beal, I garente Primo learned allot more from that 1 night then he ever did in a full month of G League.

If the player is good and really has high talent then he will learn just as many other big time players have throughout the years

I agree.

Being the man in the g-league can be fool's gold as far as preparing him for the NBA as the man.

Tuning his game to dominate the g-league against smaller players, slower players, dumber players, less lengthy players, poor rim protecting bigs, players who don't help, teams with bad defensive teamwork because people rotate on and off the roster nonstop .... He's going to have to adjust to the real thing anyway eventually.

Start him adjusting to NBA speed, length, and iq earlier than later.

[B1gduff]

Damn i thought people would have learned from the lonnie alker experience.....Guess not. Most of St closes there eats and eyes and ignore that facts.

[BackHome]

I agree.

Being the man in the g-league can be fool's gold as far as preparing him for the NBA as the man.

Tuning his game to dominate the g-league against smaller players, slower players, dumber players, less lengthy players, poor rim protecting bigs, players who don't help, teams with bad defensive teamwork because people rotate on and off the roster nonstop .... He's going to have to adjust to the real thing anyway eventually.

Start him adjusting to NBA speed, length, and iq earlier than later.

He is getting minutes he needs at a position he can’t play yet in the NBA which is PG/SG. If you had him playing this role as a starter in the big team he would get killed. His whole college career was run to corner and shoot the 3 ball yeah he was drafted caused he showed he has some handles and could be more then a 3 and D player but that takes work and a lot of reps. I like he is getting minutes with both teams and think in the long road it will help him out

I think if you look at Vassell he clearly would have benefited from playin G League I think him not being able to get that opportunity has hurt his development.