Victor Wembanyama, Gregg Popovich, Spurs Address Media Attention, Potential Wild Fans

The last time Gregg Popovich coached a No. 1 overall pick, he had not even celebrated his 50th birthday. He was a green new coach heading into his first full season leading the Spurs. He was patient, rolled with the punches and understood the barrage of questions about new franchise star Tim Duncan.

A quarter-century into his tenure in San Antonio with enough rings to cover a whole hand, Popovich isn't being as patient this time around.

The 74-year-old pushed back on questions about top pick Victor Wembanyama during Monday's media day.

"Certainly we want to watch him develop," Popovich told reporters of Wembanyama, "but it's the same with Devin (Vassell) or Keldon (Johnson) or Zach (Collins) or anybody else. We have had two questions so far and both involved Wemby. I understand that, but there is a team out there. He is no different from anybody else. He's got to develop and improve (with) knowledge of the game and his skills just like any other player.

"Fortunately for us, he is very coachable, very intelligent. That's already begun for him, from the first day of practicing in summer league, just getting used to a different kind of game. We will watch him probably for the next couple of weeks without saying too much of anything to him, just so we understand his idiosyncrasies and the way he plays the game, how his body works, all that sort of thing.

"Everybody else, we know their game, we know what they do, so we have to do the same thing with him."

Wembanyama is the most-hyped NBA draft prospect since LeBron James in 2003. The French big man is a never-before-seen combination of size (7'4"), guard-like handles, shooting and defensive prowess in the middle. He's a generational talent, the type who should be able to transform the Spurs franchise in a way similar to Duncan in 1997—provided Wembanyama puts in the work to reach his immense potential.

The amount of hype surrounding Wemby made Spurs media day a bit of a circus, something that's not typically seen in sleepy San Antonio. Even during the height of the Duncan era, the Spurs had a reputation as being "boring" and not getting the type of media attention given to most dynasties.

Wembanyama said he's discussed discussed the immense fan and media attention he's set to receive with teammates and the Spurs coaching staff.

"I think pretty quickly I learned to know my teammates and they learned to know me," Wembanyama said. "They know I don't care about it. I'm here to make sacrifices for them, and I think they're going to make sacrifices for me when it's needed. They know it's different. Of course, there's going to be a lot of attention, but at the end of the day, we're at practice and I'm like, 'Yeah, what can we do today to make this team better?'

"So, it's basketball first."

Popovich joked the team will be fine with all of the attention, provided fans don't start "hanging off buses."

Wembanyama has already been impressing teammates, with guard Devin Vassell saying the young star pulls off plays that don't "make sense."

"Let's just put it this way, I think every game he's going to do something where you turn around and say, 'Huh?'" Vassell said.

"It just doesn't make sense. Sometimes he just makes the hoop look so little. He'll hit a step-back and you'll say, 'Did he really just shoot that?' And then he makes it. Y'all are going to have a great time watching him play this year."