Victor Wembanyama believes San Antonio’s ability to adjust during games has improved significantly, crediting the coaching staff and lessons from the team’s deep playoff run.
“We’re better at it,” Wembanyama said after the Spurs defeated the Sacramento Kings 124-109 in NBA Cup group play on Friday. “And I find two explanations. I find one the deep playoff run and two the coaching staff what they’ve taught us.”
The Spurs have changed how they approach games over the past 16 months, according to Wembanyama. He explained how players and coaches have learned to recognize problems and apply those lessons quickly.
“We’ve changed in the past couple years or really in the past 16 months maybe we’ve changed the way how we approach games and as an organization as a whole like staff and players we learn some things we apply them and we’re able to flip to something else in the next game,” he said.
“This is a great ability.”
Wembanyama also explained that the team does not need to avoid every mistake immediately. Instead, the priority is making sure the same mistake does not happen twice.
“It’s got to happen,” he said when asked whether those adjustments occur during games. “There was one time tonight where we messed up completely on the press break. It didn’t happen again.”
“It’s okay to make a mistake once. We want to avoid but it’s okay to make notes as long as you don’t repeat it.”
The Spurs center acknowledged that head coach Mitch Johnson’s direct communication contributes to the team’s development, but stressed that improvement comes from the entire organization.
“It does. It does, but it’s not summarized just by this. It’s a whole organization thing,” Wembanyama said.
His comments came after another productive performance against Sacramento. Wembanyama finished with 30 points, 14 rebounds and four three-pointers, shooting 10-for-18 from the field in 26 minutes.
He followed Wednesday’s 52-point, 24-rebound performance against Dallas with his seventh double-double of the season. San Antonio improved to 7-2 after building a 19-point halftime advantage against the Kings.
Wembanyama also addressed the impact of his three-point shooting when asked how much it opens up his offensive game.
“As much as you can imagine,” he said.
The Spurs will look to carry their momentum into Saturday’s road game against Portland, while Sacramento will host Miami on Sunday.
