Victor Wembanyama will receive an overwhelming amount of attention during his rookie season with the Spurs. He doesn’t believe it will be a major distraction for his teammates, ESPN’s Andrew Lopez writes.
“They know I don’t care about it (the attention),” Wembanyama said. “I’m here to make sacrifices for them and I think when it’s needed, they’re also going to make sacrifices for me. And they know it’s different. They know it’s going to happen. Of course, there’s going to be a lot of attention, but it’s at the end of the day when everything is done and we’re at practice and I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, what do we do to get this thing better?’ So it’s really stuff we don’t care about. It’s basketball first.”
We have more from the Spurs:
- Center Zach Collins marveled after Wembanyama’s first day of camp how the rookie can dunk from odd angles, Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News writes. “He does a lot of stuff you don’t really see too often,” Collins said. “The way he can dunk the ball, he is so close to the rim and it looks so easy for him. And he is doing it from weird angles and his body is contorted in certain ways, but his arm still gets to the rim. … It’s a weapon we haven’t had before.”
- Jeremy Sochan spent most of his rookie year playing power forward but he can play any position, Gregg Popovich told Kelly Iko of The Athletic and other media members. “He can play one through four,” Popovich said. “And depending on circumstances — who we’re playing, injuries — I could see him going to the five and us playing small. He’s like a utility infielder in baseball; maybe they don’t have that anymore. The sky’s the limit for him. He’s so competitive. He handles the ball. He’s one of our best passers. He’s really important in creating pace for us, that up-tempo style that we did so much better with last year. Very, very fun to watch.”
- Devin Vassell‘s five-year rookie scale extension has an unusual structure, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Vassell will make $29,347,826 in 2024/25 and $27MM in each of the next two seasons. He’ll get $24,692,174 in 2027/28, when a potential Wembanyama extension could kick in, and $27MM in the final year of the contract. The deal also includes $11MM in unlikely bonuses.
- Collins, Wembanyama and Vassell seem like locks for the starting five. Tre Jones is the logical choice at point guard, so if Sochan gets the other lineup spot, that would leave last year’s leading scorer — Keldon Johnson — on the bench, McDonald notes.
PG – Tre Jones
SG – Devin Vassell
SF – Keldon Johnson
PF – Jeremy Sochan
C – Victor Wembanyama
* I would prefer this starting lineup for Spurs
That is exactly what I think it should be too
PG – Tre Jones
SG – Devin Vassell
SF – Keldon Johnson
PF – Victor Wembanyama
C – Zach Collins
* I would prefer this starting lineup for Spurs.
I think Jeremy Sochan will be better as the 6th man and Power Forward this season. Let Victor Wembanyama body mature his rookie season and play Power Forward and then next year he can play Center and then Jeremy Sochan take over the starting Power Forward position.
I think they should play a 10 man rotation this season. 5 guys off the bench rotation.
PF – Jeremy Sochan
SG – Malaki Branham
PG – Blake Wesley
SF – Doug McDermott
SF – Cedi Osman
Ok …again ..for millionth time ..wemby will not be the starting 5
Wemby isn’t going to start at the 5, at least not right away, nor should he. Assuming you do start Tre, it should be:
PG – Tre Jones
SG – Devin Vassell
SF – Jeremy Sochan
PF – Victor Wembanyama
C – Zach Collins
Keldon is best suited as our 6th man atm. Sochan could fill that role too, but his passing, defense, and connective nature is more valuable with the starters imo.
I like Tre, but is a
Wing Vassell
Wing Johnson
Point Forward Sochan
Stretch 4 Wemby
Centre Collins
Lineup doable in today’s game?
I feel like James Harden could and should get traded to the Pelicans. They’re a somewhat big market, and I feel like they have the picks and young guys to make a harden trade with giving up Zion or BI a trade could look like this:
76ers get:
Dyson Daniels
2 1st round picks
1 pick swap
Larry Nance Jr
Marcus Morris Sr
2 2nds
Jose Alvarado
Clippers get:
CJ McCollum
EJ Liddell
1 2nd
Pelicans get:
Mason Plumlee
James Harden
BJ Boston
Patrick Beverley
I appreciate it but it’s a one sided trade for the pelicans. Should just cut out the clippers
Who’s giving up the picks in this scenario? Harden’s market is very low, he won’t fetch more than one unprotected 1st round pick, let alone 2 1sts, three rotation players, and more picks. Plus any trade involving the Pelicans will have Kira Lewis in the deal.
A more realistic trade would be McCollum for Harden because Embiid is going to want to play with a starting-level veteran if he has to move on from Harden. I don’t understand why the Clippers are involved in this deal at all, or why McCollum is only getting them a backup big and trash unless Clips are sending firsts.
76ers get:
Lakers 2024/2025 unprotected 1st
Pelicans 2028 Pick Swap
CJ McCollum
Kira Lewis
Pelicans get:
James Harden
Furkan Korkmaz
This beats the only other offer on the table which is from the Clippers – likely only one first and RoCo/Batum/Morris poopoo platter
Really the 76ers don’t want to take on any long-term money because they want to sign Siakam for the max next offseason. They won’t even extend Maxey in order to keep maximum cap space.
Why are you are practice at the end of the day when everything is done?
Shouldn’t practice be over by then? Nobody does more at the end of the day then athletes. I’m beginning to believe that absolutely nothing ever happens til the end of the day.
We are talking about practice here. Not the game but practice
Zach Collins shouldn’t sub, let alone start.
If pop is open to sochan playing 5, wemby is definitely our starting center.
Zach Collins improved tremendously and learned how to stop jumping and giving away easy and ones. He is no longer a great starting center for a tanking team that wants to lose!
Kudos to Zach for giving high praise to wemby and not confusing himself as potential competition for meaningful minutes. He can contribute by being selfless and grateful to have a job, given his lack of skill set.
Same goes for tre jones after next years draft. Although tre could be a quality backup pg, and Zach should backup the backup imo.
I’d honestly rather try out Sochan as a versatility guy than start him. If he shows anywhere near the tenacity and adaptability he did in his rookie year, he could become a true piece for the future Spurs. Give him time and space to work out his jumper and defensive identity, and he can be special.