“Joshua has an uncanny maturity about him, kind of a steady demeanor,” Popovich said in January. “He is not awed by the NBA or anything like that. He makes good decisions. He definitely knows how to play. It’s just a matter of getting stronger and aware that these are men and they are coming after your head, so to speak. He just has to get used to that physicality and all that sort of thing.” https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2022/10/spurs-waive-joshua-primo.html Very interesting prospect, do you put in the claim not knowing the reason?
Had to be something serious, really serious...I bet he clears waivers and will have to work his way back into the league...
People talking about waivers like the Spurs waived their 2nd year 19 year old lotto pick in the middle of the season for no reason. Either it’s something awful, or he’s Royce White’ing and doesn’t want to play anymore
Posted this in NBA Dish... “Joshua has an uncanny maturity about him, kind of a steady demeanor,” Popovich said in January. “He is not awed by the NBA or anything like that. He makes good decisions. He definitely knows how to play. It’s just a matter of getting stronger and aware that these are men and they are coming after your head, so to speak. He just has to get used to that physicality and all that sort of thing.” https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2022/10/spurs-waive-joshua-primo.html Very interesting prospect, do you put in the claim not knowing the reason?
It's likely something awful as whatever happened occurred in the last 18 days after the Spurs picked up his option.
If they couldn’t get even a phony second rounder in the 50s, this has to be more serious than just throwing food
Rockets don’t have the roster spot nor playing time. Tell me more about him? Besides being the 12th pick, what’s so impressive about him? At first glance, the “numbers” don’t look great? 37/30/75/47 TS% (From Sam Vecenie’s 2021 draft guide) 34. Joshua Primo G | Alabama | Birthdate: Dec. 24, 2002 (Age: 18) | 6-5 | 190 LBS | Hometown: Toronto, Ontario Background One of the youngest players in the class. Parents are Michael and Nadia. Has two siblings, including a sister, Keshia, who played college basketball at a variety of schools, including Buffalo. Had a bit of a strange high school trajectory. Grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, near Toronto. Started playing in Canada before moving to the United States to attend Huntington Prep, where he played with fellow NBA Draft prospect JT Thor in the summer of 2018. Played there for a year. Was named to Canada’s U19 team as a 16-year-old, the youngest player on the roster. Only played a few minutes there but showed some real flashes. Initially decided to transfer to Compass Prep in Arizona but fractured a finger and missed a portion of the season and instead decided to transfer back home in Canada. Attended Royal Crown and played really well upon returning. Attended the Basketball Without Borders event at All-Star Weekend in Chicago in 2020 and broke out in a big way. Was arguably the best player at the event, putting himself on the radar for NBA scouts. Decided to reclassify from the Class of 2021 to the Class of 2020. Eventually was considered a borderline four-/five-star recruit and committed to Alabama. Had a terrific freshman season for one of the 10 best teams in the country. Averaged eight points per game, but the team was loaded with talent, and he largely just played a strong role and did his job. Made the SEC All-Freshman team. Maintained some of that draft buzz heading into the offseason and declared for the draft to test his stock. Quickly became clear NBA scouts were very interested. Went to the combine and performed well. Decided to stay in the draft and forgo his final four years of collegiate eligibility. Strengths Has very good measurements for what his role is. At 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-9 wingspan and enormous hands, Primo has what NBA teams are looking for from a big secondary ballhandler. Fluid athlete who showed at lower levels that he was comfortable on the ball or off it. Could play out of ball screens with good chance of pace. Was very shifty through his hips. Had some real creativity in the way that he found teammates and handled the ball himself. There was even some live-dribble passing stuff there. A lot of really smooth little Euro step moves into floaters and scoop shots. Had a nice little in-between game. Controlled the ball well. The key skill here is shooting. Very good shooter with smooth mechanics that will translate to high-level shot making by the time he’s in his early 20s. Hit 44.2 percent of such shots. Good shot prep off the catch. Can hit them off the hop or off a 1-2 from the corner. Quick release, and if you give him any time to really load into it, it feels pretty automatic. Ready to fire. Great rhythm throughout the jumper. Pretty good at finding the dead zone off relocation movement too. Always hunting the shot. Sets feet quickly to get the shot up. Keeps his body square to the hoop instead of turning away from it. Primo will be a high-level shooter. Showed some of that Euro step game this past season attacking closeouts. Loves to go to it as his main counter. Not super explosive but uses that shiftiness well. Did a great job getting out into transition with it too. Runs the floor well and always makes himself available. Seems to have a strong sense of when to space to the wing/corner and when to dive to the rim. And plays an unselfish brand of basketball. Seems really sharp with making extra ball reversals. Couple flashy cross-corner kickouts that were off-target, showcasing some upside there. Defensively, pretty good rotational defender. Always engaged in the play. Moves around the court well. Navigates actions well. Reactive in terms of what he sees on the court and knows where he needs to be. There are issues on the ball right now, but his team defense shouldn’t be a negative. Not quite Tyrese Haliburton or anything in terms of positive reactivity on that end and disruption but should be able to play within a scheme reasonably well. Weaknesses All that skill mentioned about on-ball prowess? He hasn’t proven any of it at the college level because it just wasn’t his role at Alabama. Playing next to Jahvon Quinerly, Herb Jones and an All-SEC player in Jaden Shackelford, Primo just didn’t get many self-creation chances unless he was out on the break. Took four shots from the midrange the whole year. Only took 15 shots off the bounce. Everything was off the catch. Only scored 48 of his 244 points inside the arc in half-court settings. Plus, drew under two free throws per game. Was an extremely perimeter-oriented player this past season. Wasn’t asked to make plays for teammates. Was just spotting up and hitting shots. But the distinctly negative assist-to-turnover ratio was not great. Nor was the lack of vision he displayed at times. His handle is still a bit loose, albeit with room for upside given the clear shiftiness he possesses every time he touches it and drives. As an 18-year-old playing college hoops a year before he was supposed to, it did look like the game was moving a bit fast for him at times. But this is to be expected for a young player. Primo’s on-ball defense is a bit rough at this stage, which is to be expected for a player this skinny. Guys pretty consistently go through his chest to get to the rim. Has good feet, but just doesn’t yet have the contact balance to be able to withstand a power drive toward the basket. Speaking of contact balance, Primo is still working through his finishing package a bit. He has craft around the rim but often has to lean away. Not a terrible finisher right now but should really improve as he gets stronger throughout the next four years. Summary The idea with Primo is that you are getting an awesome, high-upside player a year early as a draft pick, before he might be totally ready to play in the NBA. If he had stayed in school, he likely would have been seen as a lottery pick entering the 2022 process. But by taking him late in the first round or early in the second this year, a franchise might be getting a good asset at a much lower price due to the uncertainty surrounding parts of his game that he hasn’t proven at the college level. Primo’s role and youth simply didn’t allow him to break out this past season on a team that was loaded with talent. But he’s had a strong pre-draft process away from Alabama and showcased that he has a real shot to become a valuable player in today’s NBA. These are the kind of prospects worth betting on: guys who can space the floor and potentially attack off the bounce and make decisions. Primo has shown enough at lower levels to where there is upside with his handle, and it’s clear the jumper is going to be a weapon. I wouldn’t even be totally opposed to one of the league’s elite developmental teams taking a flier on him in Round 1. But he still has a ways to go here and won’t be a rookie rotation player. He could use some time in the G League to keep developing his skill level. But a patient team that is willing to take the time and doesn’t need him to contribute until 2023 will likely reap real rewards by taking Primo. There is downside here, and if the wrong team takes him, it could end poorly. But in the right spot, Primo has a real chance to be a very effective player who will fill needs that every team across the NBA is looking for.
whoa he got waived !? yeah I’d take a flyer on him . But I’d be curious what he did . There are some things I’d need to wait on more
Lol dude has to have done something like murder for this to happen all of a sudden. Even if it was as bad as a DUI charge they would just suspend and wait it out. This is sudden. Like he severely ****ed up. He's 19. He showed some promise at 18. No point in waiving like this all of a sudden.
