2023-06-22 08:17:12
Aged 19, the French basketball prodigy should be chosen overnight from Thursday to Friday in first position in the NBA “draft” by the San Antonio Spurs. According to former French international Boris Diaw, who wore the jersey of this Texas franchise, this club is an ideal destination for Victor Wembanyama. Explanations.
Victor Wembanyama at the San Antonio Spurs. The announcement is not yet official but there is little doubt, as the 19-year-old French phenomenon has set the basketball world on fire this season: by having the first choice of the NBA 2023 “draft”, the Texas franchise should effect select, on the evening of Thursday, June 22, the nugget of French basketball.
The 2.21m player from Boulogne-Levallois, just crowned best player in the French championship and recent unfortunate finalist against Monaco, could not have hoped for a better destination. “San Antonio reminds me of a history and a culture of winning like nowhere else,” he said in mid-May on beIN Sports, about Tony Parker’s former team.
Five-time NBA champions, the San Antonio Spurs have indeed demonstrated over the past thirty years that they were part of the elite of the North American basketball league. But beyond the prize list, it is also a coach and a club accustomed to international players that Victor Wembanyama should join.
San Antonio Spurs ‘winning culture’
In the NBA, the worst teams in the league benefit from the first picks in the draft, thus having the possibility of selecting the best young basketball players. This is what allowed the San Antonio Spurs, the second worst record in the North American basketball league in 2022-23, with only 20 wins and 62 losses, to obtain the first choice by winning the lottery organized on 16 may. But unlike other teams that subscribe to the first places in the draft every year, San Antonio has “the culture of winning”.
From Tony Parker to Victor Wembanyama to all basketball watchers, that’s what always comes first about Spurs. The Texas club won five NBA titles in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 and participated in the playoffs – the final phase of the championship – twenty-two consecutive years between 1998 and 2019, an NBA record (shared with the Philadelphia 76ers of the 1950s and 1960s).
Read also Victor Wembanyama, the nugget of French basketball who makes the NBA dream
“Normally, there are cycles in the NBA with good periods that last a few years, followed by periods of reconstruction, so to stay twenty-two consecutive seasons in the playoffs, with each year having the objective of winning the title, it is incredible”, insists the former captain of the France team Boris Diaw, who played for Spurs from 2012 to 2016 with a league title at stake. “And even though San Antonio has been going through this period of reconstruction for a few seasons, this culture of winning is still present,” he adds.
During all these years, the Spurs have demonstrated expertise in welcoming young promising players who have been able to flourish and become stars of the orange ball: David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard , in particular, marked the history of this club, but also of the NBA. Victor Wembanyama will therefore land in an organization that knows how to put young talents in the best position to succeed at the highest level.
“He may have less pressure than he could have had with other clubs, believes Boris Diaw. Spurs know how to protect their players to help them grow as best as possible.”
Gregg Popovich, “one of the best coaches in history”
One of the keys to this success is Gregg Popovich. The San Antonio Spurs coach has been on the bench for the Texas franchise since 1996, which makes him the longest-serving coach in the NBA, but also among all coaches in the four major northern sports leagues. – American (American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey). This stability allowed him to impose a style and a method that have proven their worth.
“He will have one of the best coaches in NBA history,” Tony Parker simply summed up at the end of May on RTL. The former leader of the France team knows what he owes Gregg Popovich. Always on his back, not letting him miss any mistakes, making him work harder than the others, Gregg Popovich played a decisive role in the progress of Tony Parker, four-time NBA champion, voted best player in the Finals in 2007 and who will become in August the first French inducted into the Hall of Fame, the pantheon of basketball. Victor Wembanyama will in turn benefit from the science of the game and the permanent attention of “Coach Pop”.
“He is a coach who is both tough because he is very demanding, but who is also very close to his players, explains Boris Diaw. I remember a Christmas Eve in 2002 that we spent at his house with Tony [Parker] when I was not yet playing in the NBA. It had already surprised me that a player spent Christmas with his coach. Then, sometime in the evening, I realize that Pop and Tony have disappeared. I search around the house a bit. And there I find them in a room doing a video session with Pop showing Tony what he did wrong in the previous game. Even on a Christmas Eve, he wanted to make Tony progress. That pretty much sums up the character.”
Gregg Popovich also knows how to adapt his style of play according to the basketball culture of his players. The risk, with an exceptional player like Victor Wembanyama, who is the size of a pivot – and therefore a player who in principle evolves near the basket in attack – but who plays like a winger, even a leader – two positions located farther from the basket – would be to come across a coach who would like to force him to get closer to it. Unlikely, a priori, that this happens under the leadership of Gregg Popovich.
At the end of the contract and aged 74, the latter should however extend the adventure for a few more seasons, according to the American media. There is no doubt that the prospect of training the future number 1 in the draft must have weighed in the balance.
The Spurs, a franchise that loves international players
More than any other NBA club, the San Antonio Spurs know how to welcome international players. “In San Antonio there is a certain understanding of the players and the style of play that we can have internationally, underlines Boris Diaw. But their difference in approach is mainly at the personal level. They have an understanding of the different cultures and help players adapt to life in the United States.”
Five Frenchmen have already worn the colors of this Texan club: in addition to Tony Parker (2001-2018) and Boris Diaw (2012-2016), Ian Mahinmi (2007-2010), Nando De Colo (2012-2014) and Joffrey Lauvergne (2017 -2018) have also been there. And beyond the French, many international players have worn the colors of Spurs, like the Argentinians Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto, the Slovenian Rasho Nesterovic, the Brazilian Tiago Splitter, the Australian Patty Mills or the Spaniard Pau Gasol.
Gregg Popovich, who led the United States team to victory at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 by beating France in the final, also sees no problem in letting his players participate in international competitions, when other coaches and NBA clubs are reluctant.
“The desire of international players to play for their country is fully understood by the staff and the management of this franchise”, confirms Boris Diaw. He and Tony Parker have never been under pressure to rest in the summer instead of going to play for the France team. Seeing Victor Wembanyama join San Antonio therefore considerably increases his chances of being available to participate in the World Cup (August 25-September 10 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia) with the Blues.
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