Been watching a lot of film on Samanic and trying to compare him to previous Spur PF's and SFs in my memory. Of course every player is different with different physiques and skills, so trying to distill Spur big men all the way back to 1976 is hard and inevitably I will overlook some players. Kenon comes to mind as a speedy SF with great ball handling skills but he didn't have Samanic's height. Davis Bertans had the height and great 3pt shooting but even as he worked on developing moves to the basket, he reminded me of the Red Rocket and possibly giraffes driving to the basket. A lumbering animal as an accident in progress. But other posters will make their own comparisons.
I will stick to a few current players that everyone knows for my comparisons. First of course is Tim Duncan, the PF nonpariel. This is not to uprate a untested rookie against an all-time great, but to show what they have in common and where the rookie shows some similarities. It's not a bad thing to model your skills after all time greats who are willing and able to coach you.
First, ball handling and moves. Duncan could make a spin move away from a defender's weight on a shoulder. I think Samanic is faster in that move at this age than Duncan was and like Duncan, also has a great following move to the basket with either hand or as a dunk. I suspect that Duncan has been working with him as well as Aldrich who also has a spin move.
Every player is different with unique physiques and ball handling skills of course, but Samanic has some unusual ball handling ability, great hands in traffic, due in part to great court awareness. If he gets a quick pass from a teammate while in a scrum under the basket, he doesn't fumble the ball and goes up for the quick short dunk or layup. What past Spur forwards have had that ability?
He makes some unusual moves for a big man (eg, stretch in off of a defended drive for a soft shot off the boards a la Tony P) and a willingness to go into traffic. He is fearless going in against multiple defenders in the paint and that is the result of his past orientation against players of lesser stature, especially if he gets switched onto a guard defender at the top of the perimeter arc. He has the moves and ballhandling to get past that first defender and has only a couple of steps to the basket.
Saminic hasn't shown much in short jumpers because if he is inside the perimeter, he prefers to drive for the shorter shot under control. Duncan, on the other hand, came into the league with a beautiful short shot off the backboard. People scoffed, but this old style shot has been proven to be statistically better that the non-banked shot. Somewhere in his career he lost confidence in the short shot off the board and took fewer and fewer. Neither is distinguished by a 3pt shot in the skill set. However, Saminic has a 3pt shot, somewhat like a one-handed push shot of the old days, but he can still be a 3pt threat because he has lots of range and can develop a better shot if practiced and demanded of him.
He has so much upside potential that I would put him ahead of all the youngsters in a conparison of high ceilings. I'd like to see Pop work him in as a SF rather than a PF. He has the speed and height to be outstanding at that position. If you bulk him up to compete against PFs he will lose some of his speed and possibly handling. He may transition to that PF position with age, but right now take advantage of his speed and superiour height at the SF. Move Rudy to PF (it's time Rudy)behind Aldrich and make Lyles at starting SF work to keep Samanic and Keldon on the bench. I think the future is Samanic starting with Keldon the 6th man.
This is longer than I usually post but I would like some good arguments from ST posters.