Photo by Ron Hoskins/NBAE via Getty Images We conclude our snake draft with the most important round to complete or teams. Or is it? The Spurs have a well-earned reputation for being great drafters. From superstars to elite role players, San Antonio has traditionally gotten contributors even without high picks in the Gregg Popovich era. The question is, just how deep is the talent pool, really? The PtR staff set out to find the answer. Jacob Douglas, Jesus Gomez, J.R. Wilco and I participated in a snake draft to build teams from the pool of Spurs’ first-round draft picks of the Pop era — maybe it’s too overly-specific but you’ve got to start somewhere. (And if we have a lot of fun — hint, we are — maybe we’ll do it again with a much wider pool to choose from.) The pool begins with Tim Duncan through Stephon Castle for a total of 22 players, including draft night acquisition Kawhi Leonard but not picks who never played for the Spurs. Below are the players drafted so far: Team Jacob Dejounte Murray, PG (29th, 2016) Stephon Castle, SG (4th, 2024) Kyle Anderson, SF (30th, 2014) Victor Wembanyama, C (1st, 2023) Team J.R. Cory Joseph, PG (29th, 2011) George Hill, SG (26th, 2008) Tim Duncan, PF (1st, 1997) Tiago Splitter, C (28th, 2007) Team Marilyn Tony Parker, PG (28th, 2001) Derrick White, SG (29th, 2017) Lonnie Walker, SF (18th, 2018) Jeremy Sochan, PF (9th, 2022) Team Jesus Devin Vassell, SG (11th, 2020) Keldon Johnson, SF (29th, 2019) Kawhi Leonard, PF (15th, 2011) Ian Mahinmi, C (28th, 2005) And here are the players still waiting to be drafted: Beno Udrih, PG (28th, 2004) James Anderson, SG (20th, 2009) Luka Samanic, PF (19th, 2019) Josh Primo, PG (12th, 2021) Malaki Branham, SG (20th, 2022) Blake Wesley, SG (24th, 2022) We are down to our final picks of this exercise, and at this point it’s a matter of filling the final slot with a player that either best compliments or at least doesn’t hurt the line-up as a whole. There’s still some talent left, but can we find the right final piece, or is it all just desperation at this point? Time to find out! (Reminder, because this is a snake draft, the order of choosing is the reverse of the previous round.) 17. Jacob Douglas: Beno Udrih (28th, 2004) My only goal with this final selection was to get a bit of shooting. I briefly considered James Anderson to give us some size on the wing, but he didn’t shoot well from deep outside of his rookie season. Malaki Branham showed signs of deep shooting ability, but his defense turned me away. So I land on the 13-year veteran in Beno Udrih to provide some floor spacing (35% career three-point shooter who hit 39% of his threes in the 2007-2008 season) and the ability to guard ball-handlers. Look, I know I technically have three “point guards.” I view Dejounte Murray as my primary initiator, Udrih as an off-ball shooter who can handle the ball in spurts and Stephon Castle as a slashing, defensive wing that can handle secondary playmaking. With Udrih in place, I have a team with five players who can dribble, pass, defend and shoot from deep (for the most part.) I really like the team’s versatility and defensive potential. 18. J.R. Wilco: Malaki Branham (20th, 2022) Branham fell to me at 18? I’m living a charmed life! Ok, maybe I’m not being 100% serious, but I’m more than halfway there. With my defense set, and my offense established around the Big Fundamental, all I really need with my fifth player is someone who can clean up the scraps — and with the opponent’s defense focused on keeping Duncan from eating them alive, there will be plenty of plays where a guy Branham can take advantage of a recovering defender. He’s shown flashes over the last couple of seasons, but it’s in an established system with everyone knowing their role and no easy holes to attack that I can see Malaki thriving. And by thriving, I mean not messing anything up too bad, because the rest of team knows what to do. Is this team built to play ball in the 2020’s, not at all. This is a squad that’ll play through Tim at the height of his powers: shutting teams down with an interior defense that will rarely give up points, and an offense that might be old-school, but is capable of excellent ball movement and will be incredibly efficient. 19. Marilyn Dubinski: Luka Samanic (19th, 2019) Well, I already know I’ve lost because I made the mistake of filling out my backcourt first despite size being a premium in this pool. At this point, all I can think to do to help my team is add what little size is left, and that’s the infamous Luka Samanic, who, as Jesus so nicely pointed out to me, just got waived by Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul to make room for none other than a former Spur who saw no time on the floor: Khem Birch. Ugh. Samanic seemingly has plenty of untapped potential but lacks the work ethic to fulfill it. Regardless, all I’m asking of Tall Luka is to defend, grab rebounds and just pass it out to Parker or White so they can initiate a fast break since speed will be my team’s one and only advantage against everyone else. Is that really too much to ask? 20. Jesus Gomez: Blake Wesley (24th, 2022) I just want to say for the record that I have not bullied Marilyn (too much) for picking Tall Luka as her center. This late in the draft you get what you can get, which is why I picked Blake Wesley. Is he an NBA player? Not if his shot doesn’t improve. But he’s just 21 years old and he has amazing physical tools that have translated on the defensive end. With the scoring I’m getting from Kawhi, Devin and Keldon all I needed were two defensive-minded role players, and that’s what I got to round out my team. If Wesley can be more disciplined and give me great point-of-attack defense in the way Mahinmi can provide rim protection, I’m confident in my starting five against anyone. And with that, here are the final teams: Team Jacob Dejounte Murray Beno Udrih Stephon Castle Kyle Anderson Victor Wembanyama Team J.R. Cory Joseph Malaki Branham George Hill Tim Duncan Tiago Splitter Team Marilyn Tony Parker Derrick White Lonnie Walker Luka Samanic Jeremy Sochan Team Jesus Blake Wesley Devin Vassell Keldon Johnson Kawhi Leonard Ian Mahinmi So, to answer the question in the headline: no, no one drafted Josh Primo. The other player left out was James Anderson, who came into the league with so much promise, and he looked the part in his first few games with the Spurs, but unfortunately a foot injury after just six games derailed his season and ultimately his career, as he never looked the same after that and was out of the league after six seasons. But of course, the most important question of all is who drafted the winning team? You can answer in the poll and comments, and once again we thank you for sticking around through another offseason! We had a lot of fun with this project and very well may do it again next summer but with a much wider field (that way Marilyn can’t fail so badly). Training camp is just over a week away!