The NBA’s All-Star Game has suffered from a lack of intensity over the past few years, but Victor Wembanyama plans to change that, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Speaking to reporters during today’s interview sessions, the Spurs star outlined what he expects to bring to Sunday’s contest.
“Exclamation-point plays, playing in a solid manner and sharing the ball with energy,” Wembanyama said. “If you share that energy, people feel like they have a responsibility to share it back to you.”
This is the second straight All-Star appearance for Wembanyama, who will be part of the World team in the game’s new format. There will be a round robin competition with four 12-minute games and the top two teams meeting in the finals. It’s the fourth different All-Star format in the last four years, and Wembanyama is optimistic that it will be successful.
“I’m confident in the way it’s going to go,” he said.
There’s more on the Spurs:
- Carter Bryant had a chance to win Saturday’s Slam Dunk Contest, but he couldn’t connect on his final attempt — a reverse slam off the backboard — and had to settle for a safer dunk just before time expired. It was a disappointment for the rookie forward, who got 50s from all the judges on his first dunk of the finals, a between-the-legs slam off the bounce. “If I put that dunk down, I win it,” Bryant told Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “That’s probably the dunk I’ve made the most out of all the dunks I did today in my life. I’ve been doing that dunk since I’ve been 14. Just didn’t get the ball. Didn’t roll my way.”
- Ron Harper Sr.who teamed with his sons, Ron Harper Jr. and Dylan Harperin the Shooting Stars event, is happy that Dylan wound up in San Antonio, Orsborn relays (Twitter link). As the No. 2 pick in the draft, Dylan might have been given a larger role elsewhere, but his father believes he’s in a good environment. “I think the Spurs are a first-class place,” Harper Sr. said. “He has a chance to learn the ball game and play with some very good basketball players there. And if they keep continuing to build as a basketball club, they will have a chance.”
- In a full story (subscription required), Orsborn examines the bond that Mitch Johnson has been able to create with his players. In his first full season as head coach, Johnson earned a spot in the All-Star Game and will coach the Stripes team on Sunday. “We’d run through walls for him the same way he’d run through walls for us,” Julian Champagnie said.
Comments are closed.