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I’m glad the Spurs drafted Primo instead of using a draft and stash pick, which really hasn’t worked out since Manu. I know Splitter helped out but he turned out to be a short term Spur.
^ the fro makes it tough to gauge but he is easily as tall as Keldon from what I’ve seen and Sean Elliott has made some
comments too. He’ll be 6’6 when its all said and done I bet probably see that on NBA.com this fall.
NBA teams have to send in shoeless height requirements measured by a doctor as of 2019. Rookie measurements are always BS. Devin Vassell was advertised as 6’7 lol
I’m glad the Spurs drafted Primo instead of using a draft and stash pick, which really hasn’t worked out since Manu. I know Splitter helped out but he turned out to be a short term Spur.
Chinook: Yeah, playing SF makes sense to me. First off, he's not quick enough to handle many shooting guards, though his defensive instincts appear to be good. He seems to put on muscle well so even if he doesn't grow any taller he should still fill out and that will help him at the SF just as much as getting taller. Now, I'm not sure if the Spurs are trying to make him a point guard specifically or they're enamored by his maturity and confidence and want him to be a star who would naturally dominate the ball. Sort of like a Kobe-lite is what I think they are hoping for. I suppose that's splitting hairs with point guard vs ball dominant scorer, but I don't see the team expecting Jones to be competing with Primo for minutes directly.
My criticism was timvp constantly using Primo's shoeless height as his listing when he's always been listed with shoes -- just as every other NBA player. Lonnie Walker is listed at 6-4. Primo is much taller than Walker. It gives a false impression of Primo's size to use the wrong measurement. Sure, Josh is or was 6-4 in socks, but then guys like Walker are under 6-3 in socks. Johnson is under 6-5 in socks. But they use their listed heights, and Primo's listed height is 6-6, right in line with the average NBA SF.
Also, if the NBA does make teams list players with real shoeless measurements (which I'm pretty sure they don't even though that was supposed to happen), then Primo would be officially listed at 6-6 without shoes, making using his combine shoeless measurement make even less sense.
The most accurate heights are supposed to be listed on NBA.com. That shows Primo at 6-foot-4, Johnson at 6-foot-6, Vassell at 6-foot-5, etc. Hopefully Primo's height is officially changed to 6-foot-6 after a late growth spurt ... but he doesn't look 6-foot-6 to me yet and that official listing doesn't have him at 6-foot-6.
I see that training camp listing you're talking about but that looks like it was just sent by the PR team. That one has Tre Jones as 6-foot-3 and Devin Vassell at 6-foot-7 so I'm not exactly believing that listing, tbh.
Primo looks 6'4 to me at best he could be 6'5 but again he's still undersized. Let's stop being in denial of his height and hope the Spurs somehow find a way to get a legit SF.
Pop is playing him at the 1 and 2 as much as the 3. Honestly, I have no idea where he'll end up and it could very well impact his future if he can't settle into one of those rolls and begin to excel at one of them. I'm inclined to say he's best suited at the 3 despite perhaps being a hair below average size for the position given he shouldn't by a ball handler until he shows he Cando something with it in his hands.
If he doesn't figure out how to be a successful 1 or 2 he will be pretty much useless over the long-term.
I wanted Sengun or Tre Murphy originally over Primo. If either of those 2 kids turn out better this will go down as bad pick.
This is exactly what happened with Samanic.3 years from now when he still sucks, people will be here saying well he’s young
Not worried about his shot. Or his defense long term. It's everything else. Thus the 3 and D tag I'm giving him.People don't give Primo his respect as a prospect because they underrate the things he's great (or projected to be great at), and overrate the things he's bad (or projected to be bad at). His confidence and poise being the main one.
His shot can and will get tweaked. He'll shoot better - his form is much better than it was at the start of the season, his FT shooting is not a problem, he's always been a shooter. I don't pay any mind to percentages, whereas I see posters falling over themselves - can a 19 year old ever possibly get better at shooting?! The answer is yes, of course... Him stagnating or never improving shooting-wise is literally the exception and not the rule. Ben Simmons-type players stagnate in shooting, not Primo's (lifelong shooter-first smaller guards, I mean).
What's tremendously underrated are his poise, his naturality playing the game, his creativity on-the-fly, and his control of the game. Those are things NOT every prospect, or most prospects really, can be relied on to improve. How many times do we see, each year, players who are mentally "too weak" for the playoffs? The big lights? Not Primo. He played a very controlled (though scoringly unremarkable) play-in game; sticked to his defensive assignment, knew he wasn't the one to be relied upon for scoring, just went out there and did his job. That's great for a rookie. Coachable, scalable, repeatable. All things you want in your prospects.
I hardly see people mentioning his passing game when talking about him - further yet, some posters insist he's a Danny-Green kind of player. When ever did Danny ing Green "wow" you with a creative pass or play? Literally never. He could not put the ball on the floor, literally, much less be an offensively flourishing force. Primo is completely different. His entire game is predicated on putting the ball on the floor to create opportunities - whether by ISO'ing his way onto a 3, or driving and kicking out (a staple of this Spurs team, sadly), or trying to get to the hoop (yes, I know he's not finishing well yet, yes he'll get blocked, etc). His passes miss the mark because he doesn't yet have the experience to make them consistently, but the skill is there (Manu, anyone?). His game, even as a rookie, paints a great picture of what player he wants to be. And that's where he'll be headed, as the scout says, one step at a time.
Can he bust? Of course. His handles might never develop enough to whitstand a great defense focused on him (the Linsanity special). His lack of explosive athleticism might prove too big a hamper in a league filled with athletic wonders. Injuries, of course, can never be ruled out either. But until then, he'll do the things that he's been doing, because he's that kind of player - he doesn't give a about the pressure and the outside noise. And that - you can't teach. And it separates "the guys" from the "JAGs", like my lil' Lonnie.
Obviously, Primo didn't shrink after the combine. So unless you believe a guy like Danny Green happened to grow an inch in his early 30s to compensate for losing his shoes, I think it's more likely that there's a mixture of reported heights, most of them being legacy listings including shoes but an increasing number being listed without. That's sort of the point of using the team listings -- they tend to give the same height boosts to everyone. I don't care if Primo is 6-6 in shoes, out of them, whatever. What I do care about is if Primo is short enough to where he needs to be a combo-guard to survive in the NBA. That, I don't see, either in the measurements or in the videos. He seems like a guy who's bigger than guards but smaller than PFs. It's why I consider him a wing and think he needs to focus on wing skills rather than guard skills. I don't think it does anyone any good to put him at PG when it's a position that badly needs a new infusion of dedicated talent rather than just be a throwaway position for combo-guards in Pop's "hydra" offense.
Like you, I hope Primo's had a growth spurt that'll bring his listed height up to 6-6. That's just good for everybody. But if that happens, he'll be 6-7 if not 6-8 by conventional NBA standards. Even if the listed heights have changed, the way we've traditionally thought about height requirements for positions hasn't caught up. If 6-6 was the bare minimum for playing the SF position in 2018, then 6-4.5 is the minimum now. If 6-8 was the min for PFs, then 6-6.5 is the min now.
I don't particularly care about Primo or his height. He's not good enough to where it matters yet. I care way more about Pop getting real guards and forwards on the team rather than a bunch of wings though. For a team as consistently undersized as the Spurs are, their lack of smaller, speedy, dynamic scorers is galling. It's a big reason why they can't contain any star PG and why they can't seem to put pressure on a defense even though they have a few guys who can score. A lot of people on this forum constantly complain about the lack of forwards, and it's not without merit, but the bigger issue is the lack of specialization in general.
I wish Primo like Walker, a 6-4 guard in shoes whose draft stock was ballooned by quickness and athleticism. But he's not, he's an average-sized wing who's going to play four positions for most his rookie deal and hopefully figure out something eventually. He's not too small to be a dedicated wing, even if he hasn't and won't grow, but Pop has to play him there and not at PG. He doesn't have the dynamism to make that position work, even if he develops the skills.
ALL of this. Nailed it.
I don't recall him EVER beating a defensive player one-on-one going to the basket. When the defender stayed with him (as they all did) he got trapped in the paint and had to pass out. Totally ineffective. I think he has pretty good defensive instincts despite his lack of speed. Maybe we are looking at him to do things offensively (PG? SG?) that he simply isn't going to do well.
If he can develop into a 3 and D like Bowen, we will be lucky.
……….. classic chicken little’s
He hasn't shown much of anything this year Atl, and I bet you know that in your heart of hearts. Your confidence in him is admirable in spite of that, because he's got electrolytes of course, but you should also prep yourself for disappointment that theres a high liklihood that he won't be a franchise trajectory-changing player when it all shakes out.
And while we're at it, exstatic liking this when he's been early to the disappointment line on multiple other players that had better years than Primo, is quite a thing. But, Brawndo and all, I know.
He’s a #12 pick. It’s like playing with house money.
And when have I ever been down on a FRP during or immediately after their rookie year? I gave Lonnie three ing years before I threw in the towel. I was done with Sammich after his second year, but then, so were the Spurs and pretty much the NBA, so that’s not looking like a bad call.
PTR has to be the worst sports blog ever.
“The reasons for optimism are many. For starters, it would not be surprising to see his official height be listed at an inch or two higher next season — some sites already have him at 6’6” — which should help his defensive versatility. Even people who work within the Spurs’ organization like Matt Bonner and Sean Elliott mentioned that he looked taller during broadcasts.”
They are arguing that an upgrade to his listed height should help his D while also arguing he was ALREADY taller this season than his listed height.
Yeah, I disliked that part also. They trashed his season rather ruthlessly then try to end on a high note of optimism, well because he's got electrolytes, basically.
I'm curious as to where you all would rank Primo among this year's 2 guards, purely valuing him as a prospect given what we know today, and sparing any sour grapes argument such as "he already knows the system" and such. I'm talking about an honest assessment of who's a better NBA prospect than him and who isn't from the perspective of a third party who could have a choice between them, regardless of whether he was a good pick or not last year. This year's class (partial list, obviously):
Jaden Ivey
Shaedon Sharpe
Dyson Daniels
Bennedict Mathurin
Johnny Davis
Malaki Branham
Blake Wesley
Ochai Agbaji
Bryce McGowens
Jaden Hardy
Jalen Williams
MarJon Beauchamp
Christian Braun
Terquavion Smith
Trevor Keels
Ahead of Davis.
And if Mathurin is around #9, then Primo at #12 is ok.
This is stupid and I'd be embarrassed to post it. It was clear when he was playing late in the season that he was concentrating on getting his rotations and sets right. He also was rebuilding his shot, if you paid any attention. He was landing on one foot, which wasn't great, and was working on his stance. He may suck, he may be great, but what we saw was a kid very clearly thinking a lot about what he was doing. It's a push year getting his feet wet. Once he gets acclimated, then we can see his talent.
And NBA.com has Davis as the consensus #10.
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