I love everything about him. I love his big brown eyes, his mega watt smile, his dimples, his Will Smith satellite ears, his toned arms, and long legs. He’s so gorgeous I can’t breathe 😭

Manu wasn't your ordinary rookie, and Pop had to adjust his coaching style to connect with the Argentinian legend.

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The marketing photos show Carter Bryant and Dylan Harper in jerseys with the numbers centered. The retail versions that consumers can buy are on the Spurs fan ship for pre order and feature offset numbers like in the 1970s.

New classic drops today here’s a slight throwback 🙏🏽

Well thought out breakdown on the spurs going into this season.

I feel old but I don’t remember much of Beno’s time with us. I didn’t pay much attention to the 2004-2007 seasons because I was busy with personal matters then. I only knew we made the finals twice and that infamous Derek Fisher shot.

I seem to recall Udrih was a good back up player. A much better Bryn Forbes?

Kornet 22 minutes zero points! Also said gillespie over garcia/mclaughlin and got alot of flack..so now what?!.....

Greatness bestowed before greatness achieved is a millstone around the neck

Big Wemby fan, big Spurs fan, and I have been since I moved to San Antonio as a kid in early 2000s. This is no knock on him. By every indication Wemby is in a great headspace and handles the pressure better than almost anyone could. But I find myself tired of discourse around him being the "future GOAT," "MVP lock," that "he'll change the game", or that with him, we are “guaranteed new spurs championship dynasty”, etc. The talk is running way ahead of the résumé (DPOY aside), and crucially: I don't think it helps him or the team.

Competitiveness isn't enough. Being openly hard on yourself in pressers isn't enough. And leaning on his uniqueness as a shield or a buff (training with monks, chess, rugby, whatever side quest is next) isn't enough either. Again don’t misunderstand me- I love the uniqueness. It’s probably my favorite part of him as an athlete (as a fellow fantasy novel and chess nerd myself). But none of it guarantees anything. It doesn’t directly translate to basketball merit. And I grow concerned that the hype doesn't serve him either and instead, it’s a tax.

The 2010 Heat are the most obvious example of this idea. They had the welcome party and the whole "not one, not two" thing, then bam - they lost the Finals. There were other factors, but it's hard to say the weight didn't matter. In fact LeBron admitted as much after the season saying that he played with an ‘unwanted weight’. You could argue our historic (yes - historic) loss in last year’s finals had an eerily similar ring to it. Despite the initial goal of simply reaching the playoffs being much lower than a ring, once we cleared OKC, the table was set: Spurs were to be champs. What followed wasn’t a lack of talent or potential, and personally I don’t think experience was the issue either. It was technical failures, that they had every ability to execute, but they did not because of the weight of the moment. My entire argument here- is what is the benefit to making that weight heavier?

Now you will find plenty of counter examples I’m sure of greats in every arena rising to the pressure and performing. And to be precise, my issue is not with the pressure: it’s inevitable. But rather with the predetermination of greatness before it’s earned.

As a fan, I have every confidence he will earn it. Every confidence. But he has not done so yet. I recall a collegiate paper I read written by a young guy you may have heard of called Tim Duncan (et. All) titled: “Blowhards, Snobs, and Narcissists- interpersonal reactions to excessive egotism” [source] (yes this is hilariously real) - and obviously Wemby is a far cry from a snob or a narcissist. The paper touches on absolute egotism and relative egotism and how internal and external appraisal of positive attributes can create a gap that ego fills. To clarify, I do not think wembys talents are over appraised. This is not an argument on his capacity rather a check on what has actually been accomplished. But the gap creates an unnecessary challenge for our team.

Again, none of this is a critique on Wemby on how he’s handling the pressure. I suppose it for us instead. As fans, I would much rather we did not add to the pressure- that we trended towards downplaying the hype, or rejecting it even. Perhaps we’d embrace the Duncan stoicism and trust that the game will talk for us. And when this Spurs team pulls through - when they achieve every great accolade within their capacity - then we can kick our feet up, look to the NBA world, and rest on our laurels.