LOS ANGELES — It’s a challenge to adjust to the NBA, even if you are a phenom such as Victor Wembanyama.
The last postgame question Wembanyama got from the media — after his Spurs were blown out by the Clippers 123-83 to fall to 1-2 on the season — was in French, and it was if this was the first time he felt so overwhelmed in an NBA game.
No, the third time, Wembanyama said.
Wembanyama finished with 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting with five rebounds and a block in his third NBA game, in Los Angeles Sunday night. What follows are 10 observations and quotes from and about Wembanyama out of that third game.
1) “Everybody’s gonna be physical with him, try to knock him off balance and that sort of thing and he’s got to get used to that,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of Wembanyama’s adjustment to the NBA. “That’s probably the biggest difference for him, all that physicality, and valuing the basketball. Turnover wise, that was an important night for everybody.”
The Spurs turned the ball over 25 times against the length, physicality and aggressiveness of the Clippers. That works out to 24% of the Spurs possessions (according to NBA.com), or basically one every four trips down the court.
2) Along those lines, on their first possession of the game, the Spurs tried to get the ball into Wembanyama who had sealed off his defender deep in the paint, but Paul George and Kawhi Leonard quickly doubled him before he could make a move they had stripped the ball and were off in transition. That’s the physicality and aggressiveness that is still an adjustment for Wembanyama and the young Spurs.
3) There were bright spots that reminded everyone why Wembanyama is such an insane prospect.
In the first quarter alone Wembanyama poked the ball away from Westbrook on a drive (when Wemby wasn’t even covering Westbrook, he just dug down, reached out and knocked it away), he contested a Paul George 3 that had to be higher-arcing than he wanted (and missed), and forced Ivica Zubac to pass out under the basket rather than go up and try and dunk over him. He stole an inbounds pass Kawhi Leonard tried to lob over his head.
4) There were also head-shaking, “did I just see that” moments. Such as Wembanyama with the finger-roll alley-oop finish.
He did something similar a couple of times.
5) The Spurs are not a good team, but they also played much worse against the Clippers than they did against the Rockets or Mavericks earlier in the week. Credit the Clippers length and defensive chops for some of that. Also, not so coincidentally, the Spurs struggled after a Saturday night off in Los Angeles — the L.A. nightlife remains undefeated.
6) Thanks to Wembanyama, the Spurs are not going to fly under any team’s radar this season. That’s something that takes good teams time to adjust to.
7) Wembanyama on his relationship with Popovich: “You know, he’s everything I expected and even more. It’s just as a human being first, it’s certain things that are really important for me my relations and he’s just present at all times, and it’s comforting.”
8) Wembanyama looks better playing next to Tre Jones — a pure point guard — than Jeremy Sochan, who is learning on the job. In Sunday’s
game, when Wembanyama was -14 on the night, but he was +7 in the minutes with Young (boosted by a +8 early in the fourth quarter against the Clippers reserves at the start of garbage time).
It’s easy to see why Popovich wants to give Sochan a chance to learn the point guard role and see if he can do it — his size and athleticism would make him a force — but there is a long way for Sochan to go and are moments you can feel Wembanyama’s frustration.
9) As we move into the season, there is starting to be a scouting book on Wembanyama. What is it teams want to stop?
“Just him catching into mid-post area, turn and shoot a turn-around jump shot. We gotta just try to push him off the block because once he goes into his shot, nobody’s gonna block it,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said with a laugh. “So just trying to push him off his spot. Not let him catch it as easy, make sure he’s not comfortable.”
Lue also had nothing but praise for Wembanyama.
“He’s
a problem. Offensive rebounds, he gets behind the defense, his ability to handle the basketball… he’s a super talent,” Lue said postgame.
10) For a few possessions the Spurs ran a 3-2 zone, almost a 1-2-2, with Wembanyama out top, using his length and mobility to disrupt the ball handler. It’s an interesting change of pace.
