NBA: Gregg Popovich compares Wembanyama to Spurs idols: “He does…”

This last Wednesday, 17th, during a press conference after the defeat against Boston Celticsthe legendary coach of San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovichacknowledged that, even with the current season campaign of the Texas being very bad, the beginning of Victor Wembanyama on the team is encouraging. The experienced coach even compared the young Frenchman to other great stars he has coached throughout his long career.

Furthermore, the coach hasn’t seen his press conferences attract so much attention for some time. In the city of Bostonwas surprised by how many journalists were present and asked: “Are we in the playoffs?”. The Wemby effect is also in the media around you. Pop also assured that the player cannot have his game contained and learned this when managing another Spurs legend: Manu Ginobili.

“I can’t take some of the instincts away from his game. That’s what I learned, above all, when I trained Manu. You sometimes lock some players into a system, but both he and Wembanyama go beyond that. Ginobili taught me to shut up and let him play. He does things in the bottle that I could never teach him. Part of this is about his height and how he has a sense of space to take advantage of it. He does incredible things, but he also likes to go out on the perimeter and be versatile. He brings it up quite often. At some point he will be more efficient, but it shows how comprehensive his game is even as a rookie.”said the coach.

The pivot has also been placed in adverse situations by the coach. Wemby was left on the bench at the start of the third quarter alongside three other starters when Spurs were suffering a tough defeat to Atlanta Hawks and shirt 1 had no points in the match. However, when he returned, he scored 26 points and almost commanded a comeback. This made Popovich compare the pivot to the two biggest names in the team’s history: Tim Duncan It is David Robinson.

“I’m very lucky that he’s so mature and has such a strong mentality. This, above all, is the most important thing for someone who plays like him. I’m not just talking about the result, victory or defeat, but also about what actions to take within a game and thinking in favor of the team. In that sense, he reminds me of Tim and David. They were always more concerned about how to make it happen than the end result. Processes are important, and he has his. Ultimately, he knows he can’t skip these steps and has done a great job.”added the coach.