Warriors

In his 27th season as the head coach of one of the most prolific franchises in pro sports, Gregg Popovich has seen a lot of talent come through the San Antonio Spurs&rsquo; doors. But his first impression of 19-year-old rookie Dominick Barlow before the season is one he&rsquo;ll not soon forget.
&ldquo;I look at this guy, I say (to the Spurs staffers), 'Where'd you find this guy? Was he a bag boy at HEB or was he working at the gas station?'&rdquo; Popovich recalled to Basketball News. &ldquo;He looks like he never played basketball before. He's just this long, stick sorta guy. He looks almost uncoordinated in a way.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I said, 'Who is this guy?' And they said, 'Just watch him, just watch him. This guy is raw. It's a blank slate, but he's got really quick feet, he's long, he's eager (and) he's really smart.'&rdquo;
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Signed to a two-way contract on July 11, 2022, Barlow's pro career is in its infancy.
Considering there are players ahead of him in the Spurs' development pecking order, as well as more experienced individuals who are higher on the depth chart, the 6-foot-9, 221-pounder has only recently gotten the chance to get his feet wet at the NBA level. Now, having 10 games under his belt, he&rsquo;s eligible to appear in the rest of the team&rsquo;s 33 contests. Up until the trade deadline, he had played under 40 minutes across six total games.
San Antonio felt more comfortable with a gradual maturation via the G League, where the undrafted two-way forward is averaging 12.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 26.3 minutes a night across 32 games played with the Austin Spurs. Chop that down to the <a href="https://go.nba.com/y5v8t" target="_blank" rel="noopener">last four contests</a> &mdash; &nbsp;25.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals on .603/.571/.929 splits &nbsp;&mdash; and it helps explain why the big club called Barlow's number to see more.
Between Feb. 10-13, Barlow played 17.0 minutes a night over three games on San Antonio&rsquo;s lengthy road trip, including significant stints in the fourth quarter. It was his first real exposure to the NBA level, and there are going to be more opportunities coming his way.
&ldquo;Everything he's doing now is just like a freebie. He's gonna get these minutes and he's gonna play and we're gonna get to take a look at him,&rdquo; Popovich said. &ldquo;But he's been one of the team favorites because of his personality and his sort of wildness on the court. 'Cause he doesn't really know much yet. He's just got these athletic skills and he's like a whirling dervish, so to speak.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Just stay patient and stay with what I'm doing,&rdquo; Barlow told Basketball News when asked what he&rsquo;s learned during his rookie season. &ldquo;Obviously, I think the organization is seeing something &mdash; some of the stuff that I'm doing often and allowing me to play some more minutes when some guys are hurt, which I want to just keep proving myself and proving I can play at this level.&rdquo;
Barlow understands what it&rsquo;s going to take to keep him on the floor at this stage of his career. It&rsquo;s the simple things: Playing hard, running the floor, getting rebounds, finishing at the rim and, most importantly, locking in on <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1631230/head-to-head?dir=D&amp;sort=SECONDS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense</a>.
&ldquo;Everybody wants to become a good offensive player, but I think defensively is the way to get out on the court," Barlow said. "So just trying to read that and understand that certain guys can score. As long as you're keeping them in spots where they're uncomfortable and they have to make tough shots, you kinda sometimes have to limit that. So just trying to learn.
&ldquo;Don't get too frustrated if a guy scores; you know you did what the scouting report says. You kinda just have to trust that sometimes. It's hard playing defense in the NBA. It's hard. There's so many different looks that you see, so you kinda have to just trust your coaches, trust yourself and just give effort. Effort, at the end of the day, will trump some of the other stuff.&rdquo;
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While he has yet to put a stamp on this league, he is already a trailblazer for another.
Barlow is the first player to make it to the NBA from Overtime Elite, a rising professional basketball league focused on preparing the top high-school prospects in hoops around the globe, giving amateur athletes an alternative path to the highest level of competition with proper preparation.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I take pride in representing Overtime Elite. I feel like as a brand and as a group, they helped me a lot [with] just learning how to lock in and work on my game, and [I] became a student of the game,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;So I take those values that they brought me and I try to bring 'em into here and be a pro and do the same thing every day. Regardless of what's gonna happen game-wise, just try to be a professional. So I take a lot of pride in that.&rdquo;
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&ldquo;I loved coaching Dom. He worked hard every day, was dedicated and determined, and it finally paid off,&rdquo; OTE Cold Hearts head coach Ryan Gomes told Basketball News. &ldquo;He's where he always thought he would be, the NBA, and he's a perfect example of what putting in the work can do.&rdquo;
A solid pro in his own right, Gomes spent eight years in the NBA and also had stints in the then-D League, Germany and Spain. He started many games and learned from a lot of great players, and he&rsquo;s passed on his knowledge to Barlow.
&ldquo;Prepare for the daily grind, watch film, study yourself and your opponents, re-watch your games, keep your focus on staying there &mdash; not just making it,&rdquo; Gomes said. &ldquo;Punch the clock every day.&rdquo;
Gomes sees many parts of his student&rsquo;s game translating to the NBA level. Barlow had a 40% clip beyond the arc with OTE. He also put positional versatility on display as a ball-handling playmaker at the 4 and as a two-way defender at the 3.
We&rsquo;ve seen a lot of those tools being used in Barlow&rsquo;s games in Austin, and some of them are coming to the surface with San Antonio. He&rsquo;s a get-down-the-court, lengthy, athletic player with long strides who can feast in transition when given the chance. He'll block shots with either hand and tip a lot of passes too.
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❌ DOM BLOCK ❌<a href="https://twitter.com/Dominickbarlow_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dominickbarlow_</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/austin_spurs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@austin_spurs</a> <a href="https://t.co/bIZmLEWL9F">pic.twitter.com/bIZmLEWL9F</a>
&mdash; San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) <a href="https://twitter.com/spurs/status/1625296715447148544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2023</a></blockquote>

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While in Atlanta with the program, Barlow admitted not everything in OTE&rsquo;s first year went perfect. What that did, though, was force him to adjust &mdash; which is the biggest lesson he could&rsquo;ve learned.&nbsp;
&ldquo;You're one of like, 30 people, so there's not too many other people that have that experience. So everybody kinda came in there last year not knowing how it was gonna go or what was gonna happen; they told us the plan, but obviously some things had to be changed on the fly,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;You just learned how to be adaptable and, whatever happens, you just kinda come in and really work on your game and just try to keep getting better every day.&rdquo;
Already, Barlow has set an example for the next wave of OTE players &mdash; such as projected high-first-round picks Amen Thompson and Ausar Thompson &mdash; to follow. It's an accolade to especially to be proud of, and Gomes is beaming over that fact.
&ldquo;I think it brings respectability for us as a program and league for a player like Dom (to accomplish this),&rdquo; Gomes shared. &ldquo;More under the radar, but able to apply the daily routine and have a focus and determination to achieve his goals of getting drafted.&nbsp;
&ldquo;And with the daily regimen that all student-athletes are on, him being first gives everyone &mdash; current and those who will come to OTE in the future &mdash; someone to look at and say to themselves, &lsquo;I can get there too.&rsquo;&rdquo;
OTE gave Barlow his first taste of the resources other prospects might have had long before him. Remember, he was only identified as recently as two-and-a-half years ago before entering this tier of pro prospect. Now that he's got access to the best strength training to help him work on his body and on-court guidance to help him work on his skills, it's going to be a game-changer.
"Dominick has an it-factor about him that, when his story is written a few years from now, it's gonna be that much more amazing," a source who's worked with Barlow in the past told Basketball News. "His basketball IQ and his obsession with basketball is at the highest level &mdash; his ability to take in information and apply it very quickly, his knowledge of the game, the way he studies the NBA and the game and other players. He takes in all the coaching advice. He lives it and breathes it and applies it.
"The fact that he's 6-foot-10 and 19 and still growing, he's only gonna get stronger. He's got great feet. He's got good instincts that are getting better. He could be a poster boy for development long-term."
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Every rookie experiences a classic rite of passage in Year 1 &mdash; the welcome-to-the-NBA moment. Coincidentally, it happened in the same city where he made all that noise in OTE.
&ldquo;When I came down the lane in Atlanta, Clint Capela, he blocked my shot. Pretty crazy,&rdquo; Barlow admitted. &ldquo;I was just like, 'In the NBA, naw. I can't lay the ball up like that here.' So that was definitely a moment where I was like, 'Okay, yeah, this is definitely something different.'"
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Barlow made sure to acknowledge and show appreciation to everybody in the Spurs locker room for their encouragement. He also pointed to well-seasoned big man Gorgui Dieng as one of the players who has taken the young forward under their wings.
&ldquo;One of the veteran leaders in here, he's helped me a lot in game moments,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;If we have a timeout, just talking real quick, telling me, 'Hey do this,' or 'You're doing well, just keep doing what you're doing.' So it kinda just gives me confidence to keep playing hard and try to help this team win some games.&rdquo;
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That fact that he's an NBA player is still sinking in for Barlow. Growing up in the early-to-mid 2010s, he was glued to the television watching the Spurs and Miami Heat duke it out in the 2014 Finals. That series featured the superstar trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili completely dominating LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the help of a championship breakout performance from Kawhi Leonard.&nbsp;
Popovich was in charge of the team then, and he&rsquo;s in charge of the team now. Knowing that, and how he&rsquo;ll be taking the same lessons that the Spurs' legend taught Hall-of-Famers, Barlow is grateful.
He won&rsquo;t be taking this for granted.
&ldquo;It's definitely kind of a surreal experience knowing that the man who was coaching in those games is now my coach,&rdquo; Barlow said. &ldquo;The organization has faith in me and I want to keep making them feel like they made a smart investment in taking me in and just treating me with respect and demanding good things from me.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I'm hoping to keep living up to those expectations and trying to go past that.&rdquo;

Spencer Davies talks to Spurs two-way rookie Dominick Barlow about his season and being OTE's first NBA representative.

Dominick Barlow proud to be Overtime Elite's NBA trailblazer with Spurs

Josh Giddey and Franz Wagner took home NBA Rookie of the Month honors for December.
Source: <a href="https://twitter.com/nbapr/status/1478441201955180544?s=21">NBA Communications</a>
Josh Giddey shined in a breakout month with 11.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game. The 19 year-old helped the Thunder upset the Grizzlies with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists in a battle against Ja Morant on December 20th.
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This is a stupidly good sequence from Josh Giddey <a href="https://t.co/GMEz0qvOKx">pic.twitter.com/GMEz0qvOKx</a>
&mdash; Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) <a href="https://twitter.com/jackfrank_jjf/status/1478124706750361600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Franz Wagner made the most of an increased role in December, averaging 19.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assist per game. Wagner erupted for 38 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on December 28th.
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You can see Franz Wagner's confidence growing in real time. Every game he busts out something new. Awesome to see <a href="https://t.co/i4O9tqYWsM">pic.twitter.com/i4O9tqYWsM</a>
&mdash; Draft Dummies (@DraftDummies) <a href="https://twitter.com/DraftDummies/status/1476729591939010561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2021</a></blockquote>

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Other nominees:&nbsp;
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<div id="id__t2327g3ij58" class="css-901oao r-1fmj7o5 r-37j5jr r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" lang="en">West: Herbert Jones (NOP), Davion Mitchell (SAC) and Alperen Sengun (HOU) </div>
<div class="css-901oao r-1fmj7o5 r-37j5jr r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" lang="en">&nbsp;</div>
<div class="css-901oao r-1fmj7o5 r-37j5jr r-1blvdjr r-16dba41 r-vrz42v r-bcqeeo r-bnwqim r-qvutc0" dir="auto" lang="en">East: Scottie Barnes (TOR), Cade Cunningham (DET), Chris Duarte (IND), Evan Mobley (CLE) and &Ouml;mer Yurtseven (MIA)</div>
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It was the versatile rookie forwards in Josh Giddey and Franz Wagner taking home Rookie of the Month for December.

Josh Giddey, Franz Wagner named Rookies of the Month for December

With just 16 days to go until the academy's <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/overtime-elite-announces-opening-schedule-will-take-on-mikey-williams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">grand opening at its brand new arena in Atlanta</a> on Oct. 29, Overtime Elite has revealed <a href="https://www.overtimeelite.com/schedule" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its full schedule</a>, as well as the three rosters it will send out in its inaugural 2021-22 campaign.
(Editor's Note: Read our Spencer Davies' exclusive interview with Aaron Ryan and Brandon Williams, and an extensive profile on Overtime Elite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/high-school-basketball-former-nba-execs-aaron-ryan-brandon-williams-kevin-ollie-overtime-elite-seek-to-revolutionize-amateur-to-pro-preparation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.)
The three coaches and their rosters, under the direction of Kevin Ollie, are as follows:
Coach Ryan Gomes: Dominick Barlow, Malik Bowman, Lewis Duarte, Jazian Gortman, Nathan Missia-Dio, Jean Montero, Alexandre Sarr, Jai Smith, Tudor Somacescu
Coach Tim Fanning: Izan Almansa, Matt Bewley, TJ Clark, De'Vontes Cobbs, Francis "LeBron" Lopez, Tyler Smith, Amen Thompson, Johned Walker, Kok Yat
Coach Dave Leitao: Ryan Bewley, Bryce Griggs, Jazhare Jackson, Jalen Lewis, Davion Mace, Emmanuel Maldonado, Jaylen Martin, Ausar Thompson, Bryson Warren
In addition to this, OTE announced that it added three players to its talent pool over the weekend:
"We added three talented athletes to our rosters over the weekend. We&rsquo;ve scouted and tracked these young men over the Fall, and as we worked our way through training camp for the last few weeks, and further evaluated needs, we decided that adding Davion, Johned and Lewis to our inaugural rosters would provide complimentary skills and depth to our league," said OTE head of basketball operations Brandon Williams.
"Davion Mace is a 6-foot-7 power forward from Cincinnati who played for Woodward High School. Davion brings a physical presence as a tough-nosed hybrid forward. He plays with a high motor, and tenacity as a defender and finisher around the paint.
"Johned Walker is a 5-10 guard originally from Puerto Rico that most recently lived in Miami attending Central Point Christian Academy. At the U16 Americas Championship in 2019, he averaged 12.8 points per game, 6.7 rebounds per game and 3.3 assists per game in guiding Puerto Rico to a sixth place finish.
"Lewis Duarte is a 6-5 guard from the Dominican Republic, who moved to the states before high school. He most recently played for Victory Christian Center School in Charlotte. Duarte, a versatile wing with size, length and a good shooting touch, was starting to see his recruitment pick up from some top schools across the country. His cousin, Chris Duarte, currently plays for the Indiana Pacers."
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For more information on the OTE schedule and the league's structure, Williams answered the following via a press release Q&amp;A:
How did you start thinking about the schedule and how it would be set up?&nbsp;
"Health and performance was at the center of our scheduling concept. We want to maximize exposure to high-level talent whether individual players or teams, create the highest level showcase opportunities for scouting purposes, and give our athletes unique exposure to challenges like back-to-back game prep and execution, while reducing the stress on their bodies over the course of a season. With that in mind, we built a schedule made up of what we call league series competition within our three teams, prep challenges against external competition, simulated professional formatted games, takeovers, and playoffs to cap off our season."
How is this different from other prep high schools and colleges?&nbsp;
"Our schedule is dynamic, providing multiple ways for learning and preparing for competition - including games within our league, &ldquo;out of conference&rdquo; games with prep schools, and one of the biggest differences is that we get to explore pro-simulation games. This allows our athletes the opportunity to prepare in a real way for concepts that are critical to the next level both mentally and physically."
How long will the season last? How many games will you play?&nbsp;
"During the October 29-March 25 period, our players will partake in 37 competitive events made up of Prep Challenges, OTE League Series, Pro Sim Games, Takeovers and OTE Playoffs."
What do Pro-Sim games mean?&nbsp;
"For these simulated professional-style games, (Pro Sim) OTE players will be divided into 2 rosters with the format and structure modeled after the NBA. These games won&rsquo;t count towards league standings, but will be a key part of player development as we prepare them for the next level."
How will the OTE League Series be played?&nbsp;
"The OTE League Series amongst our three teams will be executed at a much faster pace. Each team will play a 20 minute game against each of the others, so every team plays two 20-minute games, 40 minutes of basketball per game night."
Will the Prep Challenges format differ from a regular high school or college game?&nbsp;
"Prep Challenges will be played as 40-minute games where three external teams will compete against our three OTE teams over two days." 
With only three teams, how will standings work?&nbsp;
"In our OTE League Series, winning a 20-minute game counts as two points towards the league standings and teams can win up to four points each night. For Prep Challenges, winning these games count as one point towards the league standings. We will also have &ldquo;Takeovers&rdquo; - think marquee individual showcases, dunk contests, 3-point shootouts, etc. Winning a takeover will count as two points towards your team's league standings. All competition crescendos with our inaugural OTE Playoffs to determine the Season 1 champion."
How did you determine the rosters?&nbsp;
"Our Basketball Operations team, inclusive of scouting, coaching and strategy, collaborated through the recruiting, signing, then in-camp evaluations of each player. Over the weeks of training camp the group studied the effectiveness of combinations of players, along with the rhythm and chemistry they demonstrated to create three equally competitive teams."
How did you make sure all the teams were evenly distributed?&nbsp;
"As we constantly drilled on key attributes and skills, measurables, performance data and other factors, we created buckets (or pods) of comparable players - as closely as reasonably possible. Throughout camp, we created drills and competitions that allowed us to draw from each of these pods, assembling teams for our evaluation. Before final team selections, our coaches had the opportunity to test combinations and analyze matchups to provide more certainty that the teams were reasonably balanced."
How will each team be coached?&nbsp;
"Each of our three teams will have a head coach, and Coach Ollie will oversee the development of all three as the overall head coach. Dave Leitao, who spent 37 years in college coaching, was a head coach twice at DePaul, and is the former ACC coach of the year at Virginia will lead one team. Ryan Gomes who played 8 years in the NBA, coached in the G-League and is highly-respected in basketball circles will coach one team, and Tim Fanning, who spent the past 5 years as an assistant for the Euroleague powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv will lead the third team."
What were the challenges in setting this up?&nbsp;
"There are always challenges when you&rsquo;re doing something that&rsquo;s never been done before, especially on an accelerated timeline. We simultaneously had to recruit some of the best young players in the world to a program without history, to a culture that hadn&rsquo;t been established, to play with teammates they couldn&rsquo;t see. We continued to pursue talent first, but tried to build with an idea toward roster balance from the outset. All players want to play in games of consequence, so as we assembled what we anticipated would be extraordinary talent, and we wanted the highest level programs to face off with our talented groups. Because this came together into the fall, there were many schools that were fully committed and we couldn&rsquo;t find a date that worked. However, with broad options throughout the country, we found the right game opportunities that will be fun, energizing, and keep our players motivated to compete both at home and on the road."
Will this always be the style for the schedule or will it evolve into something else?&nbsp;
"Right now, we&rsquo;re focusing on our first season and developing our players for the next level. The great thing about what we are doing is the freedom we have to explore and try things. We will evolve as we establish what works well and what doesn&rsquo;t and will continue to provide the experience that the Gen Z elite athlete requires to prepare for his future. Our plan is to keep our athletes and their well-being at core of all considerations, that will lead our decision-making and any adjustments."
In this first year, what was the main goal for the schedule?&nbsp;
"The main goal was to create a schedule that allowed our players to compete at a high level, inside and outside of OTE. The best players want to play against the best players, and we sought them out. We wanted the best opportunities for our athletes to showcase their abilities with and against each other showing the growth and maturity that will be happening every day in practice, skill development, and performance training. We wanted to give them a robust schedule, inclusive of travel, back-to-backs, late nights, afternoons, all factors to professional play. We wanted to do this, while also being mindful and cautious as to rest and recovery. Creating a schedule where they are not underexposed, but also not overused, so finding the appropriate middle ground was our intent."
In the league, will teams change or remain the same?&nbsp;
"These three teams have been solidified for the season. However, we are prepared to make adjustments during the season. Ultimately competitive balance will be best for the development of our players and league."
Will all of the players travel to each game?&nbsp;
"Yes. All three teams will make the away game trips."

Overtime Elite has shared its three team rosters, revealed their schedule and answered questions regarding the league's structure.

Gabe

Dominick Barlow proud to be Overtime Elite's NBA trailblazer with Spurs

Josh Giddey, Franz Wagner named Rookies of the Month for December

Overtime Elite announces 2021-22 schedule, three rosters