By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
He came, he saw – well, he didn’t conquer, but he absolutely dominated the NBA League in his rookie season.
Victor Wembanyama played 71 games in his first campaign, averaging 21.4 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. He also led the league with 3.6 blocks. That’s why San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich had nothing but praise for him before the season’s final match.
“He was much more malleable and accepting of expanding his role and his game, both defensively and offensively,” Popovich admitted. Wemby exceeded my expectations. You’ll have to ask him if he was planning on leading the league in blocks when he came in, but that was like a requirement. We wanted him at the basket and rebounding and blocking shots. He likes to shoot that three, so that was probably not exactly what he was expecting from me off the bat.”
The Frenchman didn’t suit up for the last game against the Detroit Pistons, which the Spurs won comfortably. That was their 22nd win of the season, putting them in the 14th spot in the Western Conference Standings. Surely, Wembanyama will do his best to ensure that doesn’t happen again.
“He’s a competitor. He wants to win. Obviously he’s gifted, but I needed to show him that he’s gifted in a whole lot more ways than he knows. Expanding his game was really a priority. He’s made me understand that he has those Tim Duncan qualities of innate basketball IQ and a fire to be the best,” Popovich gave one of the biggest compliments he could give Victor Wembanyama.