San Antonio Spurs: 3 reasons Victor Wembanyama is in the perfect spot to succeed

Gregg Popovich’s influence on Victor Wembanyama

Gregg Popovich was an assistant coach with the Spurs during Robinson’s rookie season. He was a second-year head coach when Duncan joined the Spurs in 1997. Twenty-six years later, “Pop” is a Hall-of-Famer who is the NBA’s all-time leader in coaching wins.

The five championships he has won as head coach of the Spurs are pretty nice too.

Popovich is still one of the NBA’s best head coaches. He’s been successful in coaching talented big men like Robinson and Duncan. “Pop” has also been successful in coaching and developing international players into stars. The Spurs would not have won four of their championships without Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

Victor Wembanyama is both a talented big man AND an international player.

The talented rookie from France could not have chosen a better NBA organization to join. Popovich will teach “Wemby” how to play “The Spurs Way.” He will put Wembanyama in positions where he can succeed by utilizing his strengths for the good of his team’s success.

Popovich will also have to play Wembanyama. That sounds odd but the Spurs have been the “poster-child” of load management in the NBA in recent years. “Pop” once sat Tim Duncan for a game giving him the injury designation of “DNP-OLD.”

The NBA recently instituted new rules making it tough for the Spurs and other teams to sit star players when healthy. In other words, the league is making it tougher for teams to practice load management. That’s bad news for Popovich but good news for Wembanyama.

The Spurs rookie reportedly made a request to the team to allow him to play in every game, assuming he is healthy. We will see whether or not that actually happens. The more “Wemby” plays, the greater the chances of the Spurs winning are.