Unsurprisingly, Victor Wembanyama did not have enjoyable during the Spurs’ opening-season loss to the Thunder. He began the recreation by lacking his first 12 pictures, and while he had six blocked pictures and impacted the recreation in other methods, he was the key cause San Antonio began the season 0-1.
After the recreation, the introspective Wembanyama basically said he has to stop pondering so much.
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“I need to go back to playing the basketball I like. This is not the sport I like, right here,” Wembanyama said. “I got no reason to be hesitant, no reason to not be myself. For me, it’s as simple as that. I’m good when I have fun…
“I missed heaps of heaps of pictures, which I often do not miss. But after that, I did not go back to these pictures. I wasn’t decisive. I might be overthinking it, and I really feel like it’s a probability for me. What I have to do is actually let go. I do not need to do more. I need to think less, most likely.”
Was part of his overthinking it the adjustment to new spacing — less of it — with the three-guard De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper lineups?
“I would say we have not been good enough to discover that out,” Wembanyama said.
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Part of that also is that the Spurs were playing the Thunder, the best defensive team in the NBA last season and one of the few teams with the depth and size to throw multiple 7-footers at Wembanyama to be physical with him. OKC is also loaded with quality perimeter defenders who made life tough for the Spurs trio of guards.
Wembanyama still made his presence felt with six blocks, fantastic overall defense and 13 rebounds.
Wembanyama, at 22, is a thoughtful, high-IQ player, but he would be far from the first great player to suffer “paralysis through evaluation.” When Wembanyama is enjoying his best, there is a circulation to what he is doing, it occurs naturally, instinctively.
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If the Spurs are going back to the NBA Finals, they need more out of Wembanyama — and particularly more against the Thunder. This was just one of 82, there is a long street forward, but Wemby understands he has to get back to being himself, to having enjoyable, or that street will appear even longer.
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