Can Wemby’s pull make San Antonio a DESTINATION for star talent? 🤔 | The Hoop Collective

Can Wemby’s pull make San Antonio a DESTINATION for star talent? 🤔 | The Hoop Collective

Before we move on I just want to say something about Victor wi minyama we’ve done plenty of Valentine’s on here I’m not going to spend time doing that I watched him go go for 40 and 20 on Friday night tonight Sunday night he had 32 points uh nine rebounds five assists

Four Steals and three blocks pretty good in the first six possessions of this game uh Victor had two blocks of Steel and he broke up a a lob um six possessions the Warriors scored on two the other two times Victor got his hands on the ball

Um we have talked about how the Spurs are going to have the big challenge of building this team around him I really honestly only see one or two of these guys lasting for more than two or two seasons really around him but having been in the Knicks locker

Room Friday night and been in the Warriors locker room tonight the way these players are talking about Victor playing against him um Draymond tonight was like um and Draymond was brilliant in this game arguably one of his best games of the Season he had uh 21 points

And 11 ass six six rebounds six steals blocked out Victor on basically the game clinching play where he just just got M Michigan State style position and he although Victor was not thrilled about that he thought that he he was not and regardless of that Draymond earn that

Rebound he just boxed him out he’s given up 10 or 11 inches boxed him out Draymond used four varies very very very very good these teams not only are they Blown Away by what they’re watching from Victor um when they’re playing against him but where they saw him early in the season

The Knicks for example saw Victor in November nov at game I wasn’t at the game but it was November 8th he was not good he had 14 points or whatever he he just he didn’t impress anybody that game it was a big buildup for his first game

At the Garden and he was very blah he goes for 40 and 20 the next time they see him the Knicks are like whoa I mean they obviously know what he’s doing but they experienced it and so all I’m going to say is this yes the Spurs have a

Responsibility and a challenge to build this roster around him but having spent this weekend here I am going to say that there is going to be a player or two who is going to be Forward Thinking and want to get himself to San Antonio somebody is going to see this

Opportunity and they are this is my prediction I am making a prediction somebody oh man wow stop presses hold on let me get ready stop somebody is going to see this opportunity and say I can get myself to San Antonio I can be this guy’s running

Mate I got to do it and there’s wide open space to do it well I I would say as an just as a brief adim to that because of what we’ talked about before this to me is the challenge for the Spurs that we have laid out which is

Let’s say you are correct right let’s say there are guys who say I want to go play with this 74 Phenom from France 75 whatever 75 sure maybe it’ll be 79 soon uh let’s say that happens right you could say whatever you want about wanting to go play there there has to be

A pathway to you actually getting there right right and that is the challenge and this is what we’ve talked about with the Spurs before there’s going to be an expectation from the average person that the Spurs are in top six next year because of the way this season has ended

Because of how great Victor has been there’s just going to be a general assumption that they’re going to be awesome next year and it’s going to be very difficult to they are not I agree with you I’m saying the general perception is going to be the Spurs

Should be in the playoffs and there’s going to be a pressure to speed this up because of that and what the Spurs have to be careful about is not costing themselves the opportunity to get the kind of player that wants to come there later we understand that we don’t have

To go over that again but I will say it doesn’t necessarily have to be this summer or even next season but at some point somebody’s going to see this in it my guess is this is just a total guess my guess is it’s not going to be a guy

Who’s in his early 20s on his first on the fun Max contract my guess is it’s going to be a guy on his second contract um or maybe at the end of his first you know big contract who realizes I’m not going to be able to because you know you

Know I can sit here and say wow wouldn’t it be amazing If Anne Edwards played with Victor wanyama yeah it would be amazing guess what an Edwards ain’t going anywhere all right I’m talking about somebody who’s maybe Wind Horse colon aunt and Victor to team up see the

Headline already and see the headline already well listen there’s already plenty of there’s already plenty of turmoil in Minnesota as we speak so just add to it sure I’m just there’s gonna somebody is going to recognize they already are recognizing what they see here and well

How about this can I just throw out a name I that’s you’re very dangerous but go ahead aggregated if I’m if I’m thinking of a guy on his second or third contract something like that why not a Donovan Mitchell type well now you’re now you’re going to be never allowed to

Back on the Pod because you’re taking a shot at Northeast Ohio Donovan is not playing well at all right now his his knee doesn’t look right that’s a different conversation um yes that type of player right uh I’m not sure that Donovan isn’t is not is has decided he’s not a

One well and I think go ahead go ahead I think it’s got to be a player who’s like this is I hate saying this word because I lived this for years in Cleveland it’s got to be a guy saying I’m okay being Scotty Pippen which Scotti Pippen wasn’t

He necessar okay with being Scotty Pippen but like and that that makes a Jordan comparison but like that’s the they got to be a guy who says I’m okay with that is at a point in his career where he wants that that’s what I think they need but if Donovan

Mitchell um I mean there was a time that he allegedly wanted to play with bam and Jimmy he wasn’t going to be the number one there I mean maybe not in a playoff in the regular season he would have been sure okay I mean I I I think if if if that let’s just let’s not say that that it would happen in miam let’s just say that there’s a new team was created and Bam

Jimmy and uh Donovan were together I think Donovan would be regarded as the one maybe not in playoff Jimmy land but right that’s fair yeah so look i i w back away from the Donovan thing I just that that’s my big by the way that that was me that don’t aggregate Brian don’t

Agregate I’m sure you’ll get and I’ll say something else yeah make fun of me all you want I’ve lived in Miami I’ve lived in New York City I spend 50 days a year in Los Angeles you can say whatever you want about what I’m about to say okay San Antonio is a growing

City lots and lots of people have moved to San Antonio in the last four or five years I drove from Austin to San Antonio the other day there is no difference between the cities now are grown together I35 it is one giant megalopolis from Austin to San Antonio they’re playing games in Austin

Now they have the number one practice facility in the NBA this if you want to think of it as a Cow Town like it was the turn of the century fine and is and is it New York Ora of course not but there’s a whole bunch of people moving

To Texas and they’re moving to Texas for a lot of reasons and there’s a lot of people moving to San Antonio so it ain’t Cleveland and I say that as somebody from Cleveland okay so say whatever you want about nobody ever wanting to be in San Antonio go ahead and say it I’m

Telling you that’s not necessarily true it may be true for a lot of guys somebody’s going to be like you know what that’s not a bad place they have a great practice facility there’s no state income tax and I can play with Victor wanyama for the rest of my career make a

Ton of money organization right good organization of course that goes without saying yeah that’s what I’m walking away I’m leaving San Antonio now but that’s what I’m walking away saying well and that’s the Challen that’s the challenge that the Spurs have is to give they have

To have the ability to get that kind of player when they become available and not box themselves out of it by rushing into other stuff I agree and they have all the assets to do that right now and the other thing I want to say really quick just to your point about

Victor the the comparison with the first game against against the Knicks and the second one is an apt one because we have had a lot of discussions especially ear in the year about Victor Victor was not the Rookie of the Year for the first

Half of the Season he was not he was not good for much of the first half of the Season he’s going to win Rookie of the Year in a Runway because he has taken massive steps forward over the second half of the season and I think he

Deserves a lot of credit not only for shifting over to play center but for the ways he has improved and the ways he has gotten better over the course of these 82 games and he’s made sizable improvements in a lot of different areas of his game which is why he’s doing

Insane stuff now and he was having a lot of games like that game against the Knicks in November and December and I I just think it’s easy to forget because of how ridiculous some of these box scores are but the guy has had some remarkable improvement over the course

Of these few months and it’s pretty exciting to think about what that could mean going forward do to your point real quick Brian to your point Tim the the growth he’s made in a span of six seven months whatever it’s been is the stuff that some guys don’t

Do over five years okay orever ever right but I’m talking about Star level play yes in three to five years necessarily yes uh so by the way while the Knicks were very complimentary of Victor they were pretty much demanding that he get fined because at the at the end of the game

In celebration of that big win for the Spurs he threw the ball into the STS which was a the Jaylen brunson’s 61 Point ball which I don’t think he really wanted um I think he’ll want it later because it was you know mellow jayen a

Wins and losses guy he is he is not happy about that I mean if it was Giannis we know that he would have wanted the ball but Al that’s right but also um Dante dant Cheno set the Knicks record for threes in a season with it not that that’s going into the

Springfield but like you know the ball had some some real value and um there’s a ball boy working the Nicks bench he’s a Spurs ball boy working the Nick bench he like sprinted up into the stands and somehow got the ball back I have no idea how he did but he got it

Back and the Nick got taken care of the Knicks were very pleased about that and were in possession of the ball but they were like look uh you’re getting 25k buddy and Victor did not like that as George mentioned he was like no I’ve seen people throw the ball into the

Stands in anger many times but I was throwing it out of happiness I was trying to make a guy’s day he would made the guy’s pocketbook um he’s like I shouldn’t have gotten you know 525 grand for that so welcome to the [Applause] [Applause] NBA

Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps and Jorge Sedano join The Hoop Collective to discuss how rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama will impact the San Antonio Spurs’ future as a destination city for big names like an Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell type.

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