SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs boast the youngest roster in the NBA, with the average player at 23.5 years old. It also marks the youngest squad in Gregg Popovich's San Antonio tenure.
And with youth comes inexperience.
This season has yet to get off to a great start, with the team mustering just 10 wins so far.
On the court, the team struggles on both ends with glaring mistakes that a young roster will make.
The good news is the Spurs boast rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama, and so far, he is living up to the hype.
But he is still young (20 years old), and he still needs fine-tuning.
According to Spurs' Gregg Popovich, the team will not skip steps on returning to the top of the NBA nor rushing Wembanyama.
TNT's NBA broadcaster Kevin Harlan spoke about this topic with San Antonio Sports Star's "The Blitz," saying he agrees that the Spurs should not rush the process with Wembanyama and that patience is in order.
"This is a player who is going to be a generational talent and is a generational talent. It is not about winning now," he said. "Right now, it's all about getting him acclimated to the physicality of the NBA. The speed of the NBA. The precision. The skill. It's so different than that little league he was playing in in Europe, France. This is big-time basketball."
Harlan agrees that the Spurs should load-manage him, give him days off on back-to-back nights, and watch his minutes.
"Let's just be patient. Don't tell him we're going to win now," he said. "Let's not rush. We all want to win yesterday but he'll develop. He'll be what we all think he will be."
Harlan also opined that the young players surrounding Wembanyama will move down to make way for better players, and the team will draft well again in the future.
He also sees future big free agents coming to the Spurs because of Wembanyama.
"What free agent would not want to play with Wembanyama," he said. "Let's stick with the process."
The Spurs will be well-positioned at the 2024 NBA Draft and have plenty of capital to make a big splash via a trade to create a great team for Wemby.
Spurs' Peter J. Holt also shared this same sentiment saying the franchise has eyes on creating a juggernaut with Wemby as the cornerstone.
"We don't believe there is a deadline for success. Some people try to take shortcuts to the top, to short-circuit the process. It usually backfires," he said. "Having a generational talent like Victor, with other quality players, while having extended Pop (Gregg Popovich) for five years, building on RC (Buford) who has built championship teams, is the right thing to do."
Holt added: "When we look at the whole picture, we know we are on the right track. We'll find the balance between development and results. We don't want a roller coaster between victories and defeats. We want to build a superpower, ultra-competitive that lasts for a long time."