From this article: https://www.spurstalk.com/inside-victor-wembanyama-gregg-popovich-contract/
-Heading into Wembanyama’s summer league debut against the Charlotte Hornets, San Antonio’s coaches (including Popovich himself, I’m told) gave the No. 1 overall pick one simple mandate: experiment. The coaches want Wembanyama to use his time in summer league to begin to learn what he can and can’t do against NBA caliber athletes.
Specifically, the Spurs coaches told him to handle the ball as much as possible — particularly in traffic.
“There’s no blueprint for him to follow,” a Spurs source told me about the conversations the Spurs have had with Wembanyama so far. “He’s gotta figure it all out on his own. Step by step.”
by TimDunkinDonut
27 Comments
Fair enough. See what the big guy can do.
I think he needs to give ‘missing shots’ and ‘losing the ball while you dribble’ experiments another go. He might be onto something.
And that he did
You mean *this is the time* to make mistakes and learn what you have to work on between now and November? Insane!
They gave Josh Primo one mandate: Expose.
Don’t forget to play random
I’m confused on how a guy who’s seen as generational and played in a professional league last year has to experiment and “figure it out” like he’s never played basketball before
So it’s unlikely they shut him down
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This makes a lot of sense.
There’s no real road map for how you build a team around a seven foot four inch player who can dribble and shoot but also has an 8 foot wingspan. Give him the freedom to try different things in summer league and see what works and what doesn’t work, and then you can take what works and start to build around it.
Like, sexually?
Play random
Explore the space
I’d like to see him play as many SL games as possible. That first game looked real rusty from him. I don’t want to see the Spurs baby him and give him the benefit of the doubt. Let’s see what this kid can do and let him fuck around and make mistakes to learn from
It’s almost like he’s been criticized for practicing. Big if true.
This is what good coaches do. This is what Spoelstra does as well.
They’ll push the boundaries of players and grow their games through the bumps and bruises of the regular season results will suffer a bit, but if the ultimate goal is to win a championship you want the most fleshed out set of players you can get by the time the playoffs roll around.
I thought this was the playoffs where the end result mattered
Fuck around, THEN find out.
You can see that that’s what they’re doing, and that’s what they’ll do this entire season. They’re not winning anything now. But there are some flaws in basic fundamentals that you have to ask is this an nba ready player or a project. Because Projects are not this hyped. His dribble is not as tight as was advertised. It’s high and loose, and will lead to turnovers. His shot does not look fluid. His lateral movement looks awful (although one step gets him far) and does not look like he’ll be able to keep up with nba perimeter players. It’s a lot of work that’s needed, and he’s in the right organization to help him with that. But he’s not the freakish, ultra skilled, multi positional player that we were hearing about. He’s a really long, athletic player that needs some work and has the potential to be great.
Well he is definitely learning what he can’t do. In all seriousness though anyone judging a player off of their summer league struggles is embarrassing themselves.
People like really think this man’s first game in america is going to tank bud legacy
Experiment huh 😏
Jalen green way ahead of him on this front
Give him the ball and get out of the way. Let him do w/e he wants this season and see if he figures out what he can and cannot do
Already putting out pr spins for him
I love that Pop learns from past mistakes. Looking at this, the first names that came to mind were Diaw and Aldridge.
Back in 2013, we played Diaw in a pretty standard role. But after we lost the finals, Boris and Tony went to go play in the EuroBasket championships and lead France to a Gold medal. Boris was excellent to the point where Pop called Tony and said “I didnt know he could play like that”
Similar with Aldridge. After 2 seasons with us, LaMarcus walked into Pop’s office and requested a trade. After talking it out, Pop realized they were trying to play Aldridge in a way that didn’t fit him.
It’s important that whatever role Wemby ends up in is a role he’s comfortable playing in. And on top of that, with freedom, someone as freakish as him may showcase something that will make all of us go “how is that even possible?” Letting him play freely will show us how to get the most out of him.
Giannis, Joker and even Adebayo are going to wash this scrub. Can’t wait to see it.