The San Antonio Spurs are viewed as a team with promise and their mixture of youth and experience is entertaining to watch as they continue to build around Victor Wembanyama, the face of the franchise.
Over the summer, the Spurs built camaraderie in a voluntary training camp that included veteran point guard Chris Paul, rookie Stephon Castle and NBA Champion Harrison Barnes.
Spurs Summer Voluntary Training Camp
The voluntary training camp set the tone for this season.
“It was very structured,” Spurs big man Zach Collins tells me.
“Very teaching oriented; a lot of drills, lots of teaching defensively. Working on consistently being good on that end of the ball, so we locked in on that a lot this summer. On top of that, we were all in the gym all summer. San Antonio was a hot spot for us this summer, so it was good.”
Chris Paul & Harrison Barnes Effect in San Antonio
Currently sitting at 19-19 in the NBA’s Western Conference, the Spurs are three wins away from matching their win total from last season. While the team still has many of the same players from last year’s roster on this season’s roster like Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson, Collins who was also on that team says that the differences from last year’s team and this year’s team are evident. “I think defensively, we’ve grown a lot,” he said.
“When you add guys like CP and Harrison Barnes who have playoff pedigree and championship pedigree, it’s like we feel their DNA on this team now and we have a certain level of confidence that I don’t think we had last year and they bring that here.”
Collins’ theory was on full display in last night’s win against the Los Angeles Lakers. San Antonio utilized a 15-5 run to close the third quarter and continued that momentum entering the fourth quarter while ultimately winning the game 126-102. Moreover, the Spurs leveraged on 18 of the Lakers’ turnovers by getting out for 13 fast break points.
Worth noting: San Antonio was plentiful in the interior; scoring 66 of their 126 points in the paint.
Adding Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes to the Spurs’ roster had paid dividends for San Antonio. In last night’s win, Barnes had 17 points and Chris Paul scored 13 points and dished out 10 assists. Zach Collins shared that their presence has given the Spurs quite a polish. “You see how they carry themselves and you see how they go day-to-day, how they take care of their bodies individually and they’re always talking and that’s something ” Collins shared.
“We’re a young team and in this generation of basketball, the perception now is that we don’t talk as much as we should. CP brings that constant voice offensively, defensively and we just know where we need to be on the court more. We’re more locked in those moments and when teams are going on runs, we’re more comfortable and now we’re more calm and we know we can handle it with guys like that. So it’s an adjustment in terms of there’s a sense of urgency now and we want to win.”
Who Does Victor Wembanyama Play Like?
Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama is a swiss army knife on the basketball court. Standing 7 ‘3, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft can post up, has crazy handles, block shots, hits fadeaway jumpers and rebounds the basketball.
He’s a complete player, a guard in a center’s body and the scary part is that he’s barely scratched the surface of his potential.
Some experts have pegged Wemby as a hybrid between Boston Celtics big man, Kristaps Porzingis, Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert and Phoenix Suns All Star, Kevin Durant.
“We haven’t seen anything like Victor,” said Collins.
“I mean, you could say Kevin Durant. You could say Giannis because he can do so many different things… I would say those two because we’ve never seen a dude like Kevin Durant or Giannis before. Obviously, Wemby is different but he reminds me of those guys and they can do things that no one else can do and that’s what Victor does.”
The Evolution of The NBA Center
A product out of Las Vegas, Nevada’s Bishop Gorman High School, Collins was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers out of Gonzaga in 2017 and joined the Spurs in 2021.
When asked what teams he enjoys watching on NBA League Pass when he’s not suiting up for the Spurs, the 6 ’11 big man was honest. “I like to watch the bigs,” he said.
“I love to watch Jokić, Anthony Davis, Vučević in Chicago, Karl Anthony-Towns… all the bigs and just to see what they’re doing and how well they’re adapting.”
Adaptation at the center position is a big deal. In today’s NBA, the standard for big man has required for them to not only be able to rebound and score in the post, but also to hit a consistent jumper and pass efficiently.
But after that, what’s next?
“I don’t know, that’s a good question,” Collins tells me.
“Centers are asked to do a lot of things right now on the perimeter and I think the NBA goes up and down with the ebbs and flows with the types of plays that happen. It’s been very inside oriented to now it’s outside and I think it will be going back and I think guys are going to be more dominant inside and I think that’s what teams are gonna look for.”
