San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama just finished a fantastic rookie season in the NBA, managing to not disappoint the enormous expectations generated by his previous years in France.
Coach Gregg Popovich expressed words of praise toward his young player before the game with the Pistons.
“He was much more malleable and accepting of expanding his role, expanding his game, both defensively and offensively. I’m sure you’ll have to ask him if he was planning on leading the league in blocks when he came in, but that was like a requirement. We wanted him at the basket, and we wanted rebounding and blocking shots. He likes to shoot that three, so that was probably not exactly what he was expecting from me off the bat.”
Popovich likened some of Wembanyama’s characteristics to those of another big man who made Spurs and league history, a certain Tim Duncan…
“He’s a competitor. He wants to win…Obviously he’s gifted, but I needed to show him that he’s gifted in a whole lot more ways than he knows. Expanding his game was really a priority. He’s made me understand that he has those Tim Duncan qualities of innate basketball IQ and a fire that he wants to be the best.”
Wembanyama ended his first year at the Spurs with spectacular numbers: 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3.6 blocks, first in the league by a wide margin…
"[Victor Wembanyama is] a competitor, he wants to win… He has those Tim Duncan qualities of innate basketball IQ with a fire that he wants to be the best."
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich praises Wemby's mentality 🗣
(via @HectorLedesmaTV) pic.twitter.com/32cOExigZi
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 15, 2024
The NBA shared a video with all the highlights of his rookie season, two hours full of never-before-seen plays:
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