Spurs won this years draft lottery for the first time since 1997, when San Antonio drafted generational big man Tim Duncan. Once again, the Spurs will have the right to select a generational big man in Victor Wembanyama. It almost seems destined for the Spurs to land the 7'4 French prospect. Starting with the Spurs history of drafting David Robinson and Tim Duncan previously with the #1 pick and the success that brought to the player, organization, and the city of San Antonio. To the ties Wembanyama carries being from France (Spurs have drafted 4 French players since 2001) and after playing on Tony Parker's team in France ASVEL. It just seems meant to be. Wembanyama is considered the best prospect since LeBron James. Why? Wembanyama, with an 8 foot wing span, 10 foot standing reach, the agility and the ability to switch and guard smaller defenders ( at 7'4 isn't everyone smaller) on the perimeter, he figures to have a impact on defense day 1. Now add in the turn around jump shot, ability to shoot 3s, and step back, and we are talking about a player that I used to create on NBA live growing up.
If there is one thing that I'm worried about is Wembanyama's ability to stay healthy. First, I don't think we've seen a player of Wembanyama's build stay healthy. The height and slender build, in my opinion raises the risk of freak accidents and just injuries in general. I would never know, but can imagine the amount of wear and tear of the body when playing in the NBA with Wembanyama's build. Just being honest. Look at Chet in OKC. A freak accident caused him to miss his full rookie season. just the volume of games and travel in the NBA is a huge adjustment for any player coming from overseas, or playing in college. If there's one person who will manage the amount of minutes and games Wembanyama plays its Pop. Coach Pop (who I assume will be back next year) has been a leader in player rest. We've seen in the past pop giving players nights off on back to backs, limiting minutes, and holding players out of games with minor injuries instead of risking further damage. It will be very interesting to see how Spurs approach this season with Wembanyama. If he can stay healthy for the majority of his career, I think he has a great chance to be the generational talent we believe.
I'm most excited for the Spurs opportunity to pick twice early in the 2nd round this year as well. As stated earlier, Spurs have struck gold every time they've had the opportunity to draft #1. But what has kept the Spurs successful and one of the most mentioned things when people talk about the Spurs is; the ability to strike gold late in the first round and well into the 2nd round. If you've come here for a deep breakdown of the 21 year Serbian league player that no one's ever heard of, or the D1 prospect with little fan fare sorry bro. It seems Spurs are able to find these gems almost every year. Look at some of these players over the last 16 years: 2007 Tiago Splitter at 28th, 2008 George Hill 26th and 2016 Euroleague MVP Nando De Colo 53rd (didn't work for San Antonio), 2009 DeJuan Blair 37th, 2011 Corey Joseph 29th, 2014 Kyle Anderson 30th, 2016 Dejounte Murray 29th, 2017 Derrick White 29th, 2018 Lonnie Walker 18th and Chimezie Metu (not a fan, but he was a rotation player for a playoff time this past season), 2019 Keldon Johnson 29th, and 2020 Tre Jones 41st. These guys have all proved to be rotation players in this league while also being looked over in the draft. The Spurs will have picks 33 and 44 (from Toronto).
Lastly, Could the Spurs package veterans and future draft capital to move back up into the first rounds or use cap space to take on unwanted contracts for picks? With the new CBA teams will be looking to trade players to get themselves out of luxury tax and repeat offender penalties, and the cost is almost always draft capital in return. The Spurs being one of the few teams with a large amount of cap space, teams will be reaching out to unload players. But first the Spurs will need to decide what their approach is moving forward. Will they continue to build through the draft and develop their young players, or with drafting Wembanyama is it time to use cap space to bring in veterans and win now? In part II of our offseason primer we will look at what the front office could be thinking and how next season's team will look.
Vinny BE Negro
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