Gregg Popovich slows things down on Victor Wembanyama's development: "It took Michael Jordan 7 years to win his first ring."

The San Antonio Spurs selected French phenomenon Victor Wembanyama with the first pick of the 2023 NBA Draft. Wemby is considered a future generational talent and the Spurs fan base is filled with excitement. In this context, Spurs' legendary coach Gregg Popovich remains calm and respects the development process.

Popp asks for patience and explains why this will be a long-term thing for San Antonio. He mentioned Michael Jordan and reigning champion Nikola Jokic as examples. The legendary coach told the French newspaper L'Equipe, via NBA Reddit:

"You know, people's opinions? They don't know, they don't understand. When they see us select someone like Victor, everyone knows he has talent. But it's not just about talent. Michael Jordan's first title came in his seventh year. Nikola Jokic just won his first ring and it took him eight years."

"We have every right to expect things to go faster for Victor, but you can't skip stages. It takes time to build a team. If it were that easy, we'd have a different champion every year. For the last twenty years, we've had the same organizations. Our cycle of success has been long, spanning three decades. At some point, you have to start from scratch. And here we are today."

Gregg Popovich is set to remain with the Spurs for a few more years after signing a five-year contract extension with San Antonio in 2023.

On the other hand, Victor Wembanyama has performed very well in his rookie season with the San Antonio Spurs, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
The 5-time-champion head coach spoke about the difficulties in recruiting the French center prior to his arrival in San Antonio and how it took an 'observation' period for the franchise to understand what he could do on the court. He stated:

"He does it all, which is precisely what I expect of him. He also wants to do it and has an aptitude for it. This observation time was necessary. We didn't know him that well. Video highlights are not enough. We needed twenty or thirty games to see where he was most comfortable and what were the obvious things to correct. He had to adjust to the toughness of the game because he has a target on his back and everyone wants to take him on physically."

Wembanyama has appeared in 44 of the Spurs' first 50 games, averaging 20.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.1 blocks. He is the favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award.