The San Antonio Spurs hit the literal jackpot when they won the NBA Draft Lottery to get the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft.
They will be selecting Victor Wembanyama, who has been termed as perhaps the greatest prospect in the history of team sports. The Spurs were seen as the best destination for the Frenchman due to Gregg Popovich and their former player Danny Green spoke about how Pop will coach Wembanyama.
“I think Pop is the perfect person to coach this young man,” Green said on Inside The Green Room.”… I think he’ll find a way to humble him a little bit, at the same time, let him be himself and be great and how to play with his teammates and know that the game is bigger than him and you need your teammates to win. Certain coaches may not coach that way, they may let star players do whatever they want. But Pop is gonna let him know, you need these guys to be great, and they need you to be great, so you can’t let them down, (and) vice versa. So he’s gonna hold you to a standard of not cutting any corners, not missing any assignments regardless of who you are. He’s the same cuss with everybody so be prepared young fella, you’re in for a great journey but it’s not going to be easy.”
(starts at 14:22 mark):
Popovich is known for showing tough love and as Green said, it isn’t going to be easy for Wembanyama. There are some doubts about how he will react to this kind of coaching as some speculate that Kawhi Leonard wasn’t too happy with Popovich’s style. His methods may have been perfect for the likes of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker, but may not necessarily work on today’s players.
Popovich flew to France to meet Wembanyama after the lottery though and he’s not the type to usually go to those lengths, which makes you wonder whether he might actually treat him a bit differently. We’ll find that out next season, but if Pop doesn’t make an exception for him and Wembanyama embraces his head coach’s way of doing things, he will almost surely have success down the road in the NBA.
Some Big Names Will Be Mentoring Victor Wembanyama
As if having Popovich for guidance wasn’t enough, Wembanyama will also be mentored by Duncan, Ginobili, and Parker. That’s about as good as it can get for any young player entering the NBA and hopefully, the Frenchman will absorb all the knowledge coming his way to have a terrific career.
Wembanyama stated that his goal is to win a championship as soon as possible and those are the kind of expectations being placed on him, as Duncan had won a title in his second season in the league. You doubt Wembanyama can win a title that soon, but if he stays healthy, the Spurs should win multiple titles with him in the future.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
