With the Miami Heat taking on the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night on the tail-end of the back-to-back, the main focus will be trying to maintain rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama. It has been said more times than not just how talented the French-born player is, even some going as far as to say that he is a generational talent as Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra spoke before Wednesday's game to speak on the improvement of the first-year star.
While the Miami head coach doesn't watch Wembanyama scout film all day, he mentioned that it is hard to escape the highlights as he is averaging 20.4 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 3.1 blocks per game. Spoelstra said to the media that even as a rookie, he has improved on both sides of the ball.
“Yeah, we don't watch a scout edit of him or the Spurs every day but you certainly see the highlights, it seems like every single day. He's in a an environment and a program where all the fundamentals, those things are being stressed day in and day out,” Spoelstra said before the Heat game. “So you definitely see improvement on both sides of the floor, he can really impact the game defensively, just at the rim…we want to make intelligent decisions when we get in there. We still want to be as aggressive as ever than make the right plays. Offensively, he's probably going to do a handful of things that we never really experienced before and you have to stay the course, we're focused on our defensive identity and committing to making things as tough as possible.”
Spoelstra talks about the mixture of Wembanyama and Gregg Popovich
Better yet for Wembanyama, he has an all-time great head coach in Gregg Popovich so the situation could not have been better for the rookie, despite the team having a 10-40 record so far. Spoelstra said to ClutchPoints before the contest that even with all the hype, he still “has to earn minutes even with all the hype.”
“The intangibles that lead to winning, those things are being emphasized every single day,” Spoelstra said. “I'm sure he has to earn his minutes even with all the all the hype, He also seemed he wanted to be part of that program, that says a lot about him as well.”
Popovich speaks on new Heat addition in Terry Rozier
The Heat and Spurs faced each other earlier in the season on Nov. 12 where Miami picked up the 118-113 win when it was through 10 games in the season. Over 50 games in now and this Heat team looks a bit different since they traded for Terry Rozier before the NBA trade deadline as Popovich said to ClutchPoints that it “adds another tool to the box” that Spoelstra can use.
“Well he is a seasoned pro, he's a known scorer, he can score in a lot of different ways, he plays with a passion,” Popovich said. “He can really heat up and add to the potential and adds another tool to the box that Spo can use. That experience and skill can help them.”
Rozier spoke about San Antonio after Miami's last win to the Orlando Magic and said they don't focus on the wins and losses of the other team as it is hard to win in the association. Miami is 27-24 before the game against the Spurs as they look to close out the four-contest home stand on a good note Wednesday and then Sunday facing the Boston Celtics.
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