Chris Paul loves sharing his knowledge with younger players, and he has found an attentive group of students in his new Spurs teammates, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. According to Orsborn, Paul started his lessons shortly after signing with San Antonio this summer. He rounded up some teammates in Las Vegas and offered instructions throughout the five-on-five scrimmage.
“He’s like a player-coach,” Sandro Mamukelashvili said. “He is always so encouraging. Having him is such an advantage. He never says something that doesn’t make sense.”
The 39-year-old point guard has been around the NBA long enough to know that there are various ways to get through to different players. For instance, Orsborn relays that Paul didn’t offer any advice to Victor Wembanyama after he was held to six points in Wednesday’s loss at Oklahoma City. Wembanyama responded with one of the best games of his career the next night at Utah.
“Everyone you see in the league is always learning more,” Paul said. “(Wembanyama) has already been a pro for a long time. You give advice here and there, but he is going to be one of the greats.”
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama’s line against the Jazz included 25 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals and five blocks, making it the 23rd 5×5 performance in league history, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. He joined Hakeem Olajuwon and Andrei Kirilenko as the only players to accomplish the feat twice. “It tells me that I need to get my standards up,” Wembanyama said afterward. “It tells me that I’m able to help my team in all of those areas and that this should be a consistent thing. As I’ve said before, I thought this was a game that we must have. So I was glad that I was able to help my team in every area.”
- The Spurs are responding to coach Gregg Popovich‘s training camp emphasis on improving the defense, Orsborn adds in a separate story. They forced 25 turnovers against Utah, the highest total for the franchise in nine years, and recorded nine steals in the third quarter while holding the Jazz to 14 points. “We’re not ready to be a top-five defensive team by any stretch of the imagination, but we know that is the focus and we have played good defense throughout the season,” Popovich said. “We picked up where we left off from last year. I am really impressed with their understanding and enjoying what the defense can do for them.”
- Popovich is missing tonight’s game with Minnesota due to an illness, tweets Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News. Assistant coach Mitch Johnson is taking his place on the sidelines.
When does Pop reign in Wemby’s 3 point shooting – 0-3, 4-14 (started 2-12) and 1-7 in last 3 games. 5-24 overall and of the 19 misses most are not close. Every time he launches one he does a favor for the defense.
Well I agree with you you probably needs to be shooting less threes He should still be shooting them. A slow start to perimeter shooting doesn’t mean that you stop shooting from the perimeter It just means you got off to a slow start. You need to be able to space the floor there are very few centers that are going to get away with not being able to space the floor