Wemby maintains patience despite desire for greatness
INDIANAPOLIS — Spurs rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama hasn’t hidden his desire to quickly achieve greatness.
“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP, so be ready,” he told ESPN on draft night.
The Spurs obviously want to help him get there and add to the five titles they harvested when Tim Duncan was their cornerstone player.
Gregg Popovich, though, favors a patient, methodical approach when it comes to Wembanyama’s development.
“The talent is there,” the Spurs coach said, “but the experience, the habits, the consistency, that takes time for every young player. He just turned 20 a couple of weeks ago. We’re in no rush. We don’t want to skip any steps with him. And he’s a willing learner, which is good.”
Speaking at the media availability for participants in Friday night’s NBA Rising Stars tournament, Wembanyama suggested he might be in more of a hurry.
“I have been told never skip steps my whole life, but it didn’t stop me from running up the stairs,” he said Thursday.
Wembanyama was responding to a question about whether he allows himself to look ahead — even as he adheres to Popovich’s skip-no-steps mantra — to what the Spurs can become after completion of their rebuild.
The French star also said something that could be interpreted as an expression of his desire to someday be involved in the club’s decision-making process.
“For now, I am just a student of this league,” Wembanyama said. “I don’t really know how everything works, but, of course, it is something I want to be highly involved in in the future.”
The Spurs selected Wembanyama No. 1 overall last June after winning the lottery a month earlier. He entered the All-star break as the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors after averaging 20.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, an Nba-best 3.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 46.8% from the field and 32.0% from the 3-point range in 49 outings.
Holmgren praises fellow rookie star
Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren, Wembanyama’s top competitor for the Rookie of the Year award, heaped praise on the 7-foot-3 center when asked about their two matchups this season and the possibility of them facing each other again in the Rising Stars tournament.
“He’s a high-level competitor,” Holmgren said. “You see that it in how hard he plays and the emotion he plays with. And he is a really good basketball player too, so it’s always fun to go against players who are not only really good but who play really hard. It really brings the best out of you.”
Holmgren is averaging 16.8 points on 53.6% shooting and 39.4% from 3point range, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals and 2.6 blocks through 54 games.
The Thunder won both of their outings against the Spurs — by 36 and 26 points — on their way to a 37-17 record that ranks second only to Minnesota (39-16) in the Western Conference.
Center soaks up NBA tech summit
Wembanyama said earlier this week he wouldn’t be making the rounds when it comes to attending parties at Allstar weekend, but he made sure to carve out time to attend the NBA All-star Tech Summit on Friday morning.
“The tech summit was a lot of fun,” he said. “I actually learned a lot from these people who made the internet world what it is today.”
Wembanyama helped NBA commissioner Adam Silver unveil NB-AI at the conference, which will allow fans to activate “movie mode” and watch live games animated like popular films.