By: Gabe Maturo
Of every team in TBT, it’s quite possible that the PrimeTime Players have come the furthest since their debut in 2015.
Just last week, GM Chris Thomas received a commitment from eight-year NBA veteran Trevor Booker to play for his team this summer.
In addition to this impressive new signing, guard Christian Keeling is back for another year with PrimeTime. Last summer, the UNC alum scored 25 points in the team’s lone game.
Dating back to 2015, the level of competition on PrimeTime’s roster has continued to rise year after year.
In TBT 2015, most of the players that Thomas assembled on his roster were semi-pro guys who were looking for new opportunities.
“In 2015 we were a minor league team and we brought our entire ECBL roster into TBT,” said Thomas.
“None of the guys on my team had really played overseas. They were working 9-5 jobs just like me.”
Now, he’s pulling players from the NBA, G League, Overseas, and premier Division I programs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🚨SIGNED🚨: Eight-year NBA vet <a href="https://twitter.com/35_Fitz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@35_Fitz</a> signs with <a href="https://twitter.com/PTPlayersECBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PTPlayersECBL</a> for TBT 2021!<br><br>Rumor is PrimeTime has another longtime NBA big man on the way 👀 <a href="https://t.co/W9r50U4Iw2">pic.twitter.com/W9r50U4Iw2</a></p>— TBT (@thetournament) <a href="https://twitter.com/thetournament/status/1395437347420966914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>“It’s a process where every single year you want to get better,” said Thomas. “We’ve had some struggles starting out great but then losing the next round. We came to the realization that if we stay where we’re at, we won’t be able to compete unless we evolve the roster.”
“The guys we have now have the pedigree and the experience to play in TBT.”
However, Thomas still credits the foundation for PrimeTime’s evolution and success to the guys who were on the original squad in 2015.
“In 2015, the talent level on my team was not nearly as good as our talent in 2021. But the hunger was there,” said Thomas.
“The reason we have been so successful in the semi-pro leagues and in getting guys to play with us for TBT is the stability in our organization.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Not Done Just Yet 8 Straight <br>2012-2019<br>3X TRBL Champions<br>5X ECBL Champions <br>118-8 <a href="https://t.co/NGFlj1P0n4">pic.twitter.com/NGFlj1P0n4</a></p>— PrimeTime Players (@PTPlayersECBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/PTPlayersECBL/status/1215707172664938502?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>“I don’t have any problems saying that it’s not me as a coach that has made us successful but our players. I bring in guys that are high quality characters and players.”
PrimeTime Players is a family, and it’s one that is centered around hunger and opportunity. The players that are on this team are hungry to compete and prove that they can play at the next level.
For guys that play on the semi-pro circuit, PrimeTime provides them with an experience that no other program can provide.
Thomas brings a select few of his semi-pro players – who are inexperienced professionally – to the tournament every year.
By bringing them along to witness and play against some of the competition at basketball’s highest level, the young players leave motivated to keep grinding so they can earn a contract to play professionally.
For some guys, playing with PrimeTime was the opportunity they needed to make it to the next level.
“Christian Keeling thought he wasn’t gonna play professionally anywhere but you saw what happened last year,” said Thomas.
In last year’s tournament, Keeling scored 25 points in a 76-74 loss against a stacked Team CP3. The 6’3” guard single-handedly kept them in the game, hitting 5 threes while shooting nearly 67% from the field.
“People all over saw that he could play. He went from having little to no pro offers to G League scouts looking at him and getting interest from overseas.”
“It helped me personally to show everybody that I can still play,” said Keeling. “I showed everybody that I still got it and that I can contribute to a team. I got to show the world and show myself that that’s the type of player that I am.”
Keeling now plays overseas for the Radisson Red Glasgow Rocks in Scotland. He currently averages 17.2 points (4th best in the league) and 5.1 rebounds per game.
In addition to Keeling, 6’8” forward Chris Wray used PrimeTime Players to make a name for himself on the professional stage.
Wray played collegiately at Mount St. Mary’s University for 4 seasons (2014-2018) before getting drafted by the Manchester Knicks in the first round of the NBA G League.
“Last year, Christopher Wray blew out his knee after getting drafted in the first round of the G League,” said Thomas.
“At the last minute, I called him and asked if he wanted to come to PrimeTime and be a part of the TBT atmosphere. He broke down and cried because it had been the first time since his injury that he had played under the whistle.”
“He’s now playing overseas in Georgia.”
In addition to some of the new signings, Thomas will be bringing back a few players from recent years.
The returnees include Keeling, Wray, Chris Moore, Sean Barnette, Odell Turner, and Ricardo Glenn.
The guys who come back year after year contribute to the winning culture that has been established at PrimeTime.
“The loyalty and culture is so healthy and so uplifting at PrimeTime,” said Keeling. “Guys that have been there so long show such loyalty. We play very unselfish, it doesn’t matter who takes the shot.”
Trevor Booker played in the NBA for eight seasons with the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Indiana Pacers. Over the course of his career, Booker saw plenty of winning and losing cultures throughout the many locker rooms he was a part of.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lCIAgDLRDgY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>“I found a great group of guys,” said forward Trevor Booker. “These guys welcomed me with open arms from the start. I don’t know if I’ve ever had this much chemistry with a group of guys.”
“A bunch of goofy funny guys that love the game of basketball and always want to win. Everybody puts their ego aside and goes out there and competes for each other. That’s a winning culture.”
Not only has PrimeTime Players found success in TBT, but they’ve had even better success in the semi-pro scene.
They’re winners of the last eight TRBL/ECBL circuit championships.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">2019 ECBL Champions <a href="https://t.co/7rtpGJuKZK">pic.twitter.com/7rtpGJuKZK</a></p>— PrimeTime Players (@PTPlayersECBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/PTPlayersECBL/status/1142981183829139456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>PrimeTime brings a strong chemistry to TBT that is unlike any other. This chemistry provides them with an advantage that not many other teams have.
“A lot of teams pay guys or target guys to play for their team. I work in a mill everyday and I don’t make enough money to pay guys to do that,” said GM Chris Thomas
“I get these guys off the relationships I make at open gyms that I run and in the semi-pro league that I run too. All of the guys that we get have played with us during the summer in our pro-am or in other tournaments.”
“I think the biggest thing that Chris and PrimeTime do well is loyalty. He is really loyal to his guys,” said Keeling. “He has been loyal to the PrimeTime guys and I always will be.”
PrimeTime hopes to combine their competitive culture and a revamped roster to go on a run for the TBT title.
“The only expectation I have is for us to go out there, play hard, have fun, and compete,” said Booker.
“We’re gonna win the money,” said Keeling. “Nothing less.”