‘This is not random’ – Victor Wembanyama on the Spurs making franchise history | NBA on ESPN

‘This is not random’ – Victor Wembanyama on the Spurs making franchise history | NBA on ESPN

How does it feel to make history tonight? Franchise history. It feels great. I think it’s not um how do you say I say that it’s uh like it’s not it’s not random. We didn’t get those five wins randomly. You know, we’re for it. We started the season strong and we we need to keep that streak going for as long as possible. But, you know, it’s it’s good to see results because we could be playing good and still not getting as many wins as we wish, but it’s good to keep to have results and it it’s pushing us. That moment late in the game when we’re fouled, you’re on the ground, you get up, you’re exhorting the crowd, the crowd’s chanting back at you. Like, what is that moment like for you? What are you feeling in that in that instance? Uh I in that instant I’m feeling like I mean we it’s it’s like the exclamation exclamation point like when we like have 99% chance of winning the game. So it’s just me feeding off the that that energy, you know. It’s it it feels great because it was a hard game and it feels good to have this relief and to live that with these people, you know, uh all around us after all the efforts we did for 48 minutes. When you let out that big scream after the game ended, what were you thinking in that moment? I was thinking about the the the five and0 record, you know, the the the Spurs history and uh I was just being I was just proud of being a Spur in that moment. Talk about those results and over the last couple of years, a lot of these close games haven’t gone y’all’s way, but this is like four out of the five games where y’all have really had to execute in the in the fourth quarter or even in overtime. What’s been And you’ve won all these games. What’s the difference right now between this group and what you have been the last couple of seasons? The difference is already we spend a lot a lot more time together, you know, um in the past seasons, but also in the summer and everybody’s getting better, you It’s uh the you know the all parts of the organization are growing even the fans you know so it’s uh it’s just all coming together slowly it’s by no means it’s easy but it’s all coming together 40 minutes told us you covered a lot of ground especially in the second half is recovery time more important than ever for you yeah for sure because when you you know And this is why uh high usage players get I mean hurt more than low usage you know they have to to take care of recovery even more and um because yeah when you when you do more things there’s more muscles and more parts of your body that get sore you know that get tight so it’s so even more important but we all all of us like the organization we’re getting better at this as well like everything you see every time somebody dunks on you or dunks when you’re near that gets hyped like so and so posters Victor Wman or whatever. A lot of defenders don’t put themselves in that position. It seems like you take more risks or you just kind of okay with that and and uh it seemed like the Zion one the Bam one tonight you had some pretty good back and forth with them. Yeah. What what what’s your mentality on that? No. Getting done is it’s part of the game. It’s until until it’s not the case. I’m going to keep going until I’m getting dunked on more than I block shots. I’m going to keep going, but none of us going to live to this day. So, when you get into it with a guy like either Zion or Bam or whoever early in the game, do you feel that kind of back and forth with them throughout the game? Yeah, of course. Of course. I mean, it’s um it’s one more challenge to stop the uh your matchup’s momentum. You know, it’s hard to stop the the team’s momentum, but it’s important to stop your matchup’s momentum, and that goes that’s on both sides of the floor. Beautiful passes from Devin and and Dylan. You think back to how difficult it was at the start of your career, you know, getting getting it where you needed it and now it’s now it’s happening. Um, yeah, still difficult. Still difficult, but it’s uh because there’s defenders and it’s it happens in one second. But, uh, we’re learning to play together and, uh, I’m learning to position myself better to be available for my teammates. And, um, but it’s, uh, you know, like it’s I could get zero up the whole season and because like it’s the first it’s the only it’s the first thing the defenders think about, you know what I mean? But my teammates will get layups. So, it’s um I trust them in that sense. Evan said you told him to just throw it up to the moon. Do you ever get one all the way up there and you’re like surprising even I was able to reach that one sometimes, but it’s more when with when I have like lots lot of momentum. Uh the one Deon threw was high, but I was like standing. It was like a standing dunk, so I can’t get I didn’t get as high as I could. What did you think of Deon’s night? Apart from the points he scored, but the rebounds, the hustle plays, uh, diving for loose balls, saving the one out of bounds here at the end of the game. Yeah. No, I mean, he was big. He’s big. I’m just thinking about him and Kell, you know, who’s been here who’ve been here a little longer than I have, and they’re just finding their role and what pieces they can bring to the puzzle. And it’s I’m I’m just so happy. I’m so happy and proud of him. Steph tonight. What did you see from him as a as a playmaker with the ball in his hands? I mean, still hard to stop for the defenders. A guy who just you just can’t ignore him because he’s going to you give him even this this much space, he’s going to take off and dunk on you. So, it’s um if like his playm quality, he’s always had that. And this talent you can’t like he do stuff you you can’t you can’t work on you know he just has it. So it’s uh it makes him it makes hard to it makes it hard to guard him. [Music] Treasury. [Music] [Music] the sensitivity etc. Um [Music] First of all, What is [Music] [Music] part of history. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we was talking about it all day. We got to get it done. So, I’m happy we came through with it. Is there something particularly rewarding about winning a game like this? It’s physical experienced teams rather than maybe winning a game that’s not quite as physical, a little more free flowing. Is there something sort of rewarding about getting one of these like grinded out type of games? Yeah, definitely. Uh I mean I mean you know when we play against Miami, it’s going to be a tough game uh no matter what part of the season it’s in. So um I thought we wouldn’t want it any other way uh for us to have to grind out and figure out how to win games. I mean we had a lead in the in the second half, a big lead, like a convincing lead and they came back and took the lead. So, uh, you can never give up in games like this. So, I’m just happy we was able to show our grit and toughness and pull through. Does this sort of serve as a reference point? Like maybe later on in the season, you can kind of point back to a game like this and be like, “Look, this is how you got to get this stuff done if it gets ugly.” Yeah, definitely. Um, especially to have that kind of experience this early in the season with those kind of games. I feel like it’s it’s only going to help us down the road. So, um, I mean, when we’ll see them again, I’m sure it’ll be another dog fight. There were games last season where you lost a lead and then weren’t able to get it back. What’s What’s the difference between this year’s club and maybe say last year’s? Um, I feel like we have a roster full of guys that could get it done. So, um, I mean, coach, he does a great job with showing other teams a lot of different lineups based on how they’re playing, how guarding us. So, uh, I mean, just being able to adjust to how teams are playing us and and figure it out. Uh, eight assists tonight, only two turnovers. Turnovers had kind of been a issue for you in the first few games. Has that been like a film study thing? Uh, what was working for you tonight? Yeah, I mean, I’ve definitely watched it. Um, I mean, I haven’t had really problems with turnover all camp, so um, it’s not something that I was too like worried about, but yeah, I mean, definitely just watching it. Uh, you know, not not getting lazy turnovers. um you know just being smarter with the ball especially in close games like this where we need that those extra possessions. So um and then yeah and then just my teammates uh coming up making big shots uh just being in the right spots doing what our coach has been preaching. So I mean our guards having a easy time finding them Miami’s sort of run nothing just run offense. What was that like uh for you guys uh doing that? Um, I mean, I feel like it played right into our defensive principles. Uh, uh, get back in transition defense. We know that they like to play super fast and then just guard one-on-one. Um, try not to give up any driving lanes. U, guard the line. And, I mean, yeah, they they run a a pretty specific offense, I would say. Um, I mean, they come down, try and beat you going one way, swing it to the other side, try and beat you. So, it’s really just comes down to who’s going to guard, who’s going to who’s going to man up and play one-on-one defense. Mitch was talking about just particularly in the second half all the ground that Victor was covering uh and just sort of the relentless energy. He was on the court for almost 40 minutes. Uh can you speak to just the conditioning level that he’s at this year and just his ability to wreck a game by being all over the court in that way? Yeah, I mean he’s I mean he’s been working his butt off all all summer for that. So, um I mean, yeah, just his presence being in the paint helps us so much to be more aggressive on the ball, especially with teams like this that are not really running too many sets, kind of more one-on-one trying to get to the paint, you know, draw two. So, being able to have him as as our low man is definitely a big help. What was the adjustment like for defending the Heat as the game went along because they do do kind of some different stuff than other teams, too. Really being able to stop their transition defense, uh I mean transition offense. Um, we feel like that’s a a big thing for theirs, that’s how they get most of their points. So, uh, trying to take that away and then just sticking to our defensive principles. Uh, I mean, like I said, the way that they play, they don’t run too many sets, uh, every time down. So, just being able to not give up those easy buckets was definitely a big emphasis for us coming in here. Are you getting more comfortable jumping passing lanes? It seems like you’re more aggressive there. Yeah. Yeah. Um I mean with with the team that we played watching their scout uh I mean I know once they drive to one side they’re trying to get it to the other side. So I was kind of trying to read that. So a lot of that came with film but but yeah definitely um being able to talk to our coach about that just being able to anticipate more off the ball. Um I mean they talk highly of my on ball defense but pretty pretty lowly of my off ball. So um I’ve been trying to I’ve been trying to work on that. Does Vic give you that freedom where like if y’all funnel it down to him, y’all can kind of peel off and get into passing lanes for kickouts and things like that? Definitely. Um I mean especially with guys that when we were considered cold guys, uh being able to jump those passing lanes and having them drive right into Vic is is definitely a big help. So uh it helps us be more aggressive on perimeter for sure. Thank you. Y appreciate y’all. [Music]

Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle field questions from the media following the San Antonio Spurs’ 107-101 win over the Miami Heat to put the team at 5-0 start to the season, for the first time in franchise history.

0:00 Victor Wembanyama on Spurs being 5-0
4:25 Wembanyama on the progress he’s made as a player
8:40 Stephon Castle on the rewarding feeling of winning against the Heat
11:45 Castle on Wembanyama’s condition level
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