[專欄] Joshua Primo goes to the San Antonio

來源：The Athletic
作者：By Kyle Tucker Jul 30, 2021
網址：

https://theathletic.com/2730551/2021/07/29/joshua-primo-goes-to-the-san-antonio-spurs-heres-what-theyre-getting/?article_source=search&search_query=Primo

Title:

Joshua Primo goes to the San Antonio Spurs: Here’s what they’re getting

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So you’re a San Antonio Spurs fan and you just heard they took an Alabama player 12th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. That sounds pretty good, right? The Crimson Tide won the SEC, after all. Maybe it’s Heisman winner DeVonta … wait, nope, wrong sport. OK, but that basketball team was crazy loaded too.

馬刺隊的球迷們，聽說他們在 2021 年的 NBA 選秀中以第 12 順位選中了一名阿拉巴馬州球員。這聽起來不錯，對吧？畢竟，Crimson Tide 贏得了 SEC。也許是海斯曼獎得主DeVonta……不，搞錯了這是籃球，馬刺真的太瘋狂了！

There was Herb Jones, SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. And John Petty, who led the league in made 3-pointers and smashed the school record for 3s in a career. Former McDonald’s All-American Jahvon Quinerly led the conference in 3-point percentage and won SEC tournament MVP. And Jaden Shackelford, an All-SEC guard who led Alabama in scoring. So many stars to choose from.

Alabama 可是有Herb Jones，SEC 年度最佳球員和年度最佳防守球員。而John Petty則是全聯盟投進最多三分球的球員，並打破了校史紀錄。以及前麥當勞最佳球員 Jahvon Quinerly ，他的 3 分命中率為分區領跑者，並贏得了 SEC 錦標賽 MVP。最後還有Jaden Shackelford，SEC 的全明星後衛，全隊的得分王，一切任君挑選。

“But as it turns out, Josh Primo might be the best pro of them all,” Tide coach Nate Oats says. “He sacrificed a little bit of himself for us. His numbers could’ve been a lot higher if he went somewhere else. He could’ve thrown a fit when he wasn’t getting a ton of shots or wasn’t starting. But he just kept doing whatever it took for us to win, and it ended up working out for him too. It just goes to show that when you play your role and contribute to team success, you prove your own value in the process. Without him, we don’t win the SEC. Without us doing that, he probably doesn’t get drafted as high.”

“不過呢，Josh Primo 也許才是是他們陣中最好的球員呢， Nate Oats 說。 “他確實為我們犧牲了某些東西，假如他去其他地方，他的數據絕不僅僅於此。他大可在沒有得到大量出手甚至僅做為替補時大發脾氣。但他做的僅是竭盡全力為我們贏得勝利，而這也讓他成長了不少。
就像我們一直在說的，當你扮演好自己的角色並為團隊取得成功時，你同時也證明了自己的價值。沒有他，我們走不出SEC。也正因如此，他才被馬刺看見了。”

The Spurs took Primo, a 6-foot-6 wing from Toronto who reclassified to play college basketball a year early and does not turn 19 until Christmas Eve, less for what he is now than for what he can be down the road. He started 19 games in college, averaged 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds, sank a respectable 38.1 percent from3-point range. But the stroke looks pure, and he’s a good athlete who shows promise as a switchable defender and has a little wiggle as a secondary ball-handler.

馬刺選擇了這位來自多倫多，今年底才滿 19 歲，跳級NCAA的側翼，Primo。他在大學的19場比賽，場均得到 8.1 分和 3.4 個籃板，且三分球命中率高達 38.1%，雖然技巧層面還很稚嫩，但他是一名可靠的轉換防守者，並且能作為球隊第二持球點。

Primo made Canada’s U19 World Cup team as a 16-year-old in 2019, blew up as a prospect at the Basketball Without Borders camp in February of 2020, made the SEC All-Freshman team at Alabama last season and then turned heads at the NBA Combine in June.

Primo在 2019 年 16 歲入選了加拿大 U19 ，並且在 2020 年 2月的籃球無疆界中展露頭角，上賽季入選了SEC的新秀第一隊。然後，他在今年六月投入了NBA 選秀聯合試訓。

“We knew he wanted to play in the NBA and believed he was good enough to do that someday, but we thought he was more like a two-and-done,” Oats says. “It was a win-win situation for us, though. If he stays, that’s great for our team. If he goes, that’s great for him that he reached his dream in just one year — and helps us in recruiting. I think he’s the youngest player in this class, and when you talk about drafting on upside, he’s that. But a lot of times when those guys don’t end up reaching their potential, it’s because they’re low-character kids with a bad work ethic. He’s the opposite of that. He’s the guy you’re drafting with the hope that he’ll be great in a couple years who’ll be doingeverything he possibly can to make sure he is great in a couple years.”

“我們知道他想在 NBA 打球，也相信他足以做到這一點，但我們原先認為他至少會待到大二球季”Oats說。 “不過，這對我們來說是一個雙贏的局面。如果他留下來，那對我們的球隊來說很棒。如果他投入選秀，不僅對他來說是夢想成真，並能幫助我們打響招牌，以招募更多潛力新秀入隊。

我想他應該是這梯最年輕的球員吧，你談到本屆選秀最有潛力的幾個，他就是其中之一，我知道很多時候，這些璞玉最後沒有發揮出他們的潛力。但我可要說一句，那些流星們通常是因為他們的心態、職業道德不夠健全。而他正恰恰相反。他是你們（我刺？）正在尋找的人，他能完美的融入團隊，同時，他也會盡其所能的步向偉大之路。”

If you want to envision Peak Primo, go watch the first nine minutes of Alabama’s game at Auburn on Jan. 9. On his way to 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, Primo scored 14 of the Tigers’ first 16. He splashed four 3-pointers in that opening blitz. It was just his 12th college game.

Primo的極限在哪裡？去看看 1 月 9 日阿拉巴馬州在奧本的比賽的前 9 分鐘吧 他在9分鐘內得到 22 分、5 個籃板、3 次助攻、2 次抄截以及一個火鍋，他得到了老虎隊開局16分中的14分，開場4記三分球。而這只是他的第 12 場大學比賽而已。

“On the road against our biggest rival, a freshman comes out totally locked inand ready to go and takes over the game,” Oats says. “I know a couple of things about Josh at the next level: He definitely won’t be afraid, and he’s goingto make shots.”

“每次對陣我們最強大的那些對手時，這名新生總會跳出來並接管比賽，”Oats說。 “至
少Josh在下一個級別的征途中絕對不會害怕，而且他會（投籃）。”

Oats actually knows a third thing about the San Antonio’s latest draft pick: Primo is tough as hell. He sprained his MCL — it looked much worse than that — when his left knee buckled during the SEC tournament quarterfinals in March. He sat out the next three games but returned to play 40 total minutes against Maryland and UCLA in the NCAA Tournament, producing 16 points and six rebounds duringthe Tide’s first Sweet 16 run in almost 20 years.

“There was already a lot of NBA buzz about him. He could’ve easily just said,‘I’m done. I’m going to make sure my stock stays high. I’m not coming back a
nd risking it,’” Oats says. “There was some talk from his camp about shutting him down. But he just did not want to do it. He fought it. He wanted to help his team, and he went all-in with the trainer to get back and play. The fact thathe wanted to be part of that run, to be out there with his teammates instead ofprotecting his own interests, kind of reminds me of Jaylen Waddle for our football team.”

Oats教練能確定關於這位馬刺新秀的第三件事情就是：Primo他非常堅韌，在 3 月份的 SEC 錦標賽四強賽中，當他的左膝扭傷了內側副韌帶（事實上看起來比那要糟糕得多）。在接下來他缺席了三場比賽，但在 NCAA 錦標賽中對陣馬里蘭州大和UCLA的比賽中，他總共上場了 40 分鐘，在Tide近 20 年來的第一場甜蜜 16 強中得到 16 分和 6 個籃板。

“（受傷）那時候已經有些關於他選秀的討論。他本可以輕鬆地說，我仁至義盡了，接下來我還要投入選秀，不可能回來冒險。’”Oats 說。 “學校已經在討論是否就讓他關機，但他就是不想這麼做。他決定站起來奮戰，正因他想幫助他的球隊，他與訓練師全力以赴想回到比賽中，他想成為那些征途的一部分，和他的隊友站在一起，而不是確保自己的選秀價值，這讓我想起了Jaylen Waddle為他的球隊所做的事。”

Waddle, a star wide receiver and eventual No. 6 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, broke his ankle on Oct. 24 last season. He returned to play for the Tide in the national championship game in January.

(關於Waddle, 是一名明星外接手，並最終在 2021 年 NFL 選秀中排名第 6，上賽季於 10月 24 日腳踝骨折。而他在1月份的冠軍賽中回到了比賽。)

“Those guys didn’t have to come back after their injuries,” Oats says, “but
they both did because they care about winning.”

So your team drafted a guy from Alabama. That sounds pretty good, right?

那些孩子大可不必在受傷後還趕著回到賽場，但他們最終都回來了，因為他們是真的在乎比賽。

所以我要說，馬刺你選了一個來自阿拉巴馬的孩子，聽起來挺不錯的不是嗎！？（還第12順位）

心得：

希望這隻真的是馬刺未來的解，不然估計就再選一個更猛的嚇嚇刺迷們

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謝大大 我修一下

我改一下～