Article: Inside Pop's New Contract and Victor Wembanyama's Debut

[tonight...you]

I agree on Manu. That was winning basketball. But with LMA, I think Pop just didn’t want to give up on a big signing. Spurs LMA was nothing compared to when he was a force at Blazers. The guy did not want to engage and settled on jumpshots and eventually long range, then aggravated by a mid-range shooting Demar, and the flawed roster continued, putting more shooters to counter, at the expense of defense (Beli/Patty/Forbes). That was Pop adjusting with the flawed roster. Now he’s building from ground up, shooters, ballhandlers, facilitators, players who could play defense and athletic to switch 1-5. Will see the real Pop again demanding tight defense, and awarding players minutes for their hard work… at least that’s what I’m hoping for.

With you brother.

[Mr. Body]

This "See what works for you" stuff goes only so far. I hope it's an exaggeration. The Spurs know the NBA; they can't simply throw Wembanyama in there and tell him to find what works. I'm a bit miffed at the push to have him put the ball on the floor. Recipe for a disaster - and we saw the poor resuts.

The coaching staff has to guide him into areas of the game to explore. I figure they will do this, but simply throwing the 7'5" baby into the water and shouting at him to swim is not the right approach.

[scott]

Not just with Wemby, but with Chet as well, I think we are going to see some blocks per game stats that are astronomical in the modern era. Mark Eaton averaged 5.6 blocks per game one season in the 80s, and I don't think we'll see that... but we haven't seen anyone put up a 4.0+ since Mutombo in 95-96 (Zo came closed with a 3.91 in 98-99) and I think that may change.

Spurs record is DRob's 4.49 in 91-92, I think that could maybe fall at some point in Wemby's career.

[ChumpDumper]

Meh, 50 minutes of "experimentation" in SL is fine.

[Mr. Body]

Meh, 50 minutes of "experimentation" in SL is fine.

"Let's take our 19 year old and make sure he gets stripped constantly."

[mo7888]

This "See what works for you" stuff goes only so far. I hope it's an exaggeration. The Spurs know the NBA; they can't simply throw Wembanyama in there and tell him to find what works. I'm a bit miffed at the push to have him put the ball on the floor. Recipe for a disaster - and we saw the poor resuts.

The coaching staff has to guide him into areas of the game to explore. I figure they will do this, but simply throwing the 7'5" baby into the water and shouting at him to swim is not the right approach.

They will at some point. This is basic psychology, they're letting him discover things that won't work so they arent swimming upstream trying to convince him later on.

[R. DeMurre]

Multiple unofficial scorekeepers on various sites are saying they counted 8 blocks for Wemby, not 5. Interesting how a nuance like that affects the general public's perception of things. If he'd been credited with 8, the narrative would be a little more about him setting the all time record for blocks in a Summer League game.

[scott]

They will at some point. This is basic psychology, there letting him discover things that won't work so they arent swimming upstream trying to convince him later on.

That's what I'm reading into this. Let Wemby discover now what isn't going to work so he can be already bought in to the gameplan the Spurs will put together for him when the real games start.

[thiste]

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.

They're doing it on purpose, setting him up to fail, be humbled and then be more coachable/agree to tone down his desire to handle the ball.

BTW I'm not saying I disagree with their assessment.

[thiste]

Multiple unofficial scorekeepers on various sites are saying they counted 8 blocks for Wemby, not 5. Interesting how a nuance like that affects the general public's perception of things. If he'd been credited with 8, the narrative would be a little more about him setting the all time record for blocks in a Summer League game.

While defending the perimeter most of the game.

[mo7888]

That's what I'm reading into this. Let Wemby discover now what isn't going to work so he can be already bought in to the gameplan the Spurs will put together for him when the real games start.

100%

[ChumpDumper]

"Let's take our 19 year old and make sure he gets stripped constantly."

"Let's ourselves on a message board in July."

[TD 21]

Not just with Wemby, but with Chet as well, I think we are going to see some blocks per game stats that are astronomical in the modern era. Mark Eaton averaged 5.6 blocks per game one season in the 80s, and I don't think we'll see that... but we haven't seen anyone put up a 4.0+ since Mutombo in 95-96 (Zo came closed with a 3.91 in 98-99) and I think that may change.

Spurs record is DRob's 4.49 in 91-92, I think that could maybe fall at some point in Wemby's career.

Those were set when the best players played significantly more minutes and the 3 was basically still in its infancy, which meant playing in congestion.

It's virtually impossible to do now, which is why it hasn't been done since. Block % is the best way to determine caliber anyway.

[scott]

Those were set when the best players played significantly more minutes and the 3 was basically still in its infancy, which meant playing in congestion.

It's virtually impossible to do now, which is why it hasn't been done since. Block % is the best way to determine caliber anyway.

Understood, but I also think with Wemby and Chet we're going to see premier shotblockers guarding on the perimeter more than they have in the past. Wemby's block on Miller's long 3 is an example. We've never seen players with this length be able to be relevant perimeter defenders like this.

[Spurs Homer]

Free wemby!

yes!

[scott]

And yes, Robinson, Hakeem and Mutombo were putting up huge MPG numbers while posting 4.0+ BPG numbers, but Mark Eaton's MPG weren't out of line with what we would expect a modern star to play (his career high was 34 the year he posted 5.6 bpg, but the year before he put up 4.3 bpg on only 26 mpg). Maybe the PER36 stats will be a better judge, but I think Wemby and Chet are going to take block #s to places we haven't seen in a long time.

It's unfortunate that Wemby doesn't get to play against Blake Wesley, that's good for an extra dozen blocks over a 4 game series.

[thiste]

The better stat to watch is how many shots in the paint does the opponent even attempts when Wemby's in there as opposed to when he's not. If people won't even try to shoot, Wemby can't block them.

[ducks]

If the spurs want him to figure it out playing against nba players he should play all the summer league games left

[tonight...you]

If the spurs want him to figure it out playing against nba players he should play all the summer league games left

You do independent work on the privy, or are you contracted with businesses?

[r0drig0lac]

Interesting to see that he has been asked to dribble a lot, while everyone was blaming him for that.

it seemed obvious looking at his behavior on court since the start.

[Knoxxx]

As was stated, the sooner Wemby sees what will work or not in the NBA that he relied on before the better.

Also Wemby has been outspoken about being himself and not changing his game. That is ridiculous, only a dumb ass would say that and actually mean it. I think that was just code for he didn’t want to just be a post up player aka the traditional center position. The second part would be that he expects to get plenty of touches and be a facilitator on offense. That all makes sense. Beyond that, we are pretty much just hearing player and coach speak, and of course with such a bright media spotlight they need some material for the monotonous repe ive press questions.

In the NBA, the defenses are expert at collapsing a couple of off ball defenders into the lane and they will strip you more often than not in traffic. Even a guard with expert handles can’t just drive into the lane with impunity in the NBA. And this isn’t even the ACTUAL NBA yet.

[ducks]

Spurs will let him try his way if it fails it is his fault And be more open to learn what to do
He wants to win

[PhantomDashCam]

I love what the Spurs are doing here.
The modern NBA is as much about space as it is one to one matchup advantages on the fly.

Wemby can get to his shot on the perimeter seemingly at will. He uses a series of size up moves not so much to befuddle defenders but to create a rhythm going into his shot.

It’ll take him awhile to figure out when and where he can drive into traffic, but his playmaking is so advanced for his age and height that you can live with high-ish turnovers initially.

[Pauleta14]

Nice insights, thx!

[tonight...you]

I love what the Spurs are doing here.
The modern NBA is as much about space as it is one to one matchup advantages on the fly.

Wemby can get to his shot on the perimeter seemingly at will. He uses a series of size up moves not so much to befuddle defenders but to create a rhythm going into his shot.

It’ll take him awhile to figure out when and where he can drive into traffic, but his playmaking is so advanced for his age and height that you can live with high-ish turnovers initially.

I'm with you on this.