Sean Elliott on Tim Duncan, David Robinson and Victor Wembanyama: 'Victor alone this year has more threes than those two have their whole careers combined'

Basketball-Reference: Rookies with 250+ blocks (since 1973-74): — Victor Wembanyama (2023-24) — Alonzo Mourning (1992-93) — Shaquille O’Neal (1992-93) — David Robinson (1989-90) — Manute Bol (1985-86) — Mark Eaton (1982-83) pic.twitter.com/0kMUWaqFuN -via Twitter @bball_ref / April 12, 2024

NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal is widely recognized for his tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, but he is also a two-time Olympic Gold medalist. O’Neal recounted the time he tossed his Olympic Gold medal out of a car window in frustration because he had played restricted minutes in the game via a recent episode of “The BIG Podcast.” “The Olympic Games ‘96, I played throughout helped them come back, win games. In the gold medal game, Lenny Wilkens says hey this is probably David Robinson’s last game so he’s going to get more minutes. I say cool, I want to play, but he didn’t play me at all until like the last two minutes. So I got put in the last two minutes, I was so pissed off after the ceremony, I drove home in my uniform and I threw the goddamn medal out the window on I-75,” said the Big Diesel. -via Clutch Points / April 4, 2024

The Spurs’ 13-29 record since New Year’s Day is nothing to crow about. Nevertheless, it should be enough to prove to voters that they should ignore the wins differential that informed the way-too-early belief that the Thunder rookie was on his way to being the top rookie. Might Wembanyama be a unanimous selection? There have been only five in the history of the award. Ralph Sampson (1983-84), David Robinson (1989-90), Blake Griffin (2010-11), Damian Lillard (2012-13) and Karl-Anthony Towns (2015-16). -via The Athletic / March 30, 2024

NBA on ESPN: Wemby is the first rookie with 200 blocks in a season since Tim Duncan in 1997-98 👏 pic.twitter.com/xbEhpRmmR7 -via Twitter @ESPNNBA / March 15, 2024

Tom Orsborn: Another quote from Gregg Popovich on how Victor Wembanyama maintains his poise on the court: “He will make a step-back three and he won’t act like it is the first step-back three that has ever been made. He is just got more or less the Tim Duncan sort of attitude on things. That’s just who he is.” -via Twitter @tom_orsborn / March 12, 2024

Mike Finger: Gregg Popovich reports that his 5-year-old grandson, a teammate of Tim Duncan’s daughter, just received his first career technical foul. “I don’t know if it’s in the blood, but it’s true. … The guy stole the ball from him, and he tackled him.” -via Twitter @mikefinger / March 9, 2024

Sean Elliott on Victor Wembanyama: ‘When you talk about away from the court and their personalities, that’s where you could compare him and Timmy where they’re just kinda comfortable in their own skin. They don’t really care about the noise or hear the noise that other people are talking about, which is so unusual. You have a lot of NBA players right now that are so worried about what’s going on with them on social media and what people say. Timmy didn’t care and Victor’s got the same type of attitude where he just doesn’t care. They just block all the noise out. Everybody can debate all the stuff, all they want, but those two guys are above it.’ -via HoopsHype / April 12, 2024

You had a front row seat to Victor Wembanyama all season. What improvements have you seen with his game that some of us from a distance can’t really see? Sean Elliott: There have been subtle changes for sure to his game. I think for one, he’s learning how to play in the post area a lot more. He’s adapting to the physicality of the game. We had a play last week against the Warriors where he made two power dribbles in the low block and dunked it over his defender and he really got physical and backed his guy up. At the beginning of the year, it was just different, like he would catch the ball in the low block or if he didn’t, if he posted up in the low block and he didn’t get the ball, he kind of gravitated out to the wing. He’d give up position and so he doesn’t do that anymore. -via HoopsHype / April 12, 2024

Sean Elliott: He’s doing a lot better job establishing position, posting up, learning how to score in the low block. He’s also already a really good passer with great court vision and high basketball. But now he’s starting to see double teams, which is unusual for a rookie, but he does a phenomenal job of getting the ball out and making great passes. He’s more careful with the ball. His ballhandling ability was already good to begin with, but I think it’s gotten better and he’s becoming more aware of how NBA defenses are gonna play him, so he’s not turning it over as much. -via HoopsHype / April 12, 2024