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San Antonio Spurs Employ Overlooked Weapon Against Victor Wembanyama
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- San Antonio Spurs Employ Overlooked Weapon Against Victor Wembanyama
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
In preseason and training camp, the unproven players on the San Antonio Spurs are trying to prove that they deserve bigger roles and bigger contracts.
The best way to show off in San Antonio is to go directly at Victor Wembanyama. That comes with some risk, though, as he can easily make any would-be challenger look foolish. In training camp, getting blocked by him is a rite of passage, but rookie Tarris Reed thinks he's figured it out.
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Wembanyama's quick reflexes and long arms make even the tallest players pause when shooting against him. Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein has mastered the push shot from just inside the paint and is actually a better matchup against Wembanyama than Chet Holmgren.
Reed has taken a page from that book.
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In the regular season, Hartenstein averaged 9.2 points on 62.2 percent shooting from the floor. Against the Spurs, that number improved to 10.3 points, and his field goal percentage only dipped marginally. He's one of only a few players in the NBA who don't seem fazed by Wembanyama.
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In training camp, Reed has exmployed the same mentality.
"He bopped me a million times," Reed said of matching up against Wemby in practice. "That's a given. Going up against him is just, I don't know, everything just falls around him. So he's just, he's so impactful on both sides of the court, both sides of the floor. It's tough getting over him. You got to get that little Hartenstein floater on him. And I've been working on my touch around him. But he's just so, so talented. And guys like that are generational."
Mitch Johnson agreed that Reed has been eager to go up against Wembanyama in practice.
So far, Reed's trials by fire seem to be paying off. He's already one of the very best rebounders on the team and looks like a viable backup center heading into his rookie season.
Hopefully, with Reed going at him, Wembanyama can take note of tactics and strategies that he can employ against OKC, further cementing the Spurs as the best team in the Western Conference.
