Spurs Analyst Sean Elliott: Wembanyama Is Kobe Bryant’s Mindset in a 7’4” Body

Rich wanted to put a name to what makes Victor Wembanyama different, and he floated some big ones: not just Tim Duncan and David Robinson, the franchise legends Sean Elliott played alongside, but Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan, for the burning desire that seems to radiate off him.

Elliott did not flinch at the company. "One thousand percent," he said. "He's got Kobe Bryant's drive and determination, motor, heart, killer mentality, and a 7-foot-4-plus frame."

To explain why that combination is so rare, Elliott went back decades. At 58, having played the game since he was nine or ten, he has watched how big men usually arrive in basketball. A tall kid gets spotted in the hallway, gets told he is on the team, and never really falls in love with it. By Elliott's rough accounting, the little guys play with 90 percent of the passion and the big guys with 10.

The exceptions are what make legends. Duncan and Robinson had the passion, he said, which is exactly why they were great. A long list of other big men passed through the league without that motor, and fans can always tell.

Wembanyama, to Elliott, is the anomaly. He has the heart of a little man, the relentless want-to of someone like Avery Johnson, paired with Bryant's hunger to be the best who ever played. He is always in the gym, always working, almost unsettlingly competitive.

"He's got Kobe's makeup in a 7-foot-plus frame," Elliott said.

The other force in the story is Gregg Popovich. Rich brought up the image he cannot shake, Popovich standing on the tarmac waiting for Wembanyama when the team returned from Minnesota, after the big man was ejected for throwing an elbow. Wembanyama has played with more force since.

Rich also played Wembanyama's own words about his coach after the Game 7 win. The young star could barely articulate it. "That's the guy who's got more experience as a coach than almost anybody," Wembanyama said, calling him El Jefe and admitting that Popovich goes through things the players cannot imagine. "I need to call him. I need to see him. I need to talk to him."

Elliott filled in the history. Before Wembanyama was drafted, he said, Popovich was staring into the abyss of retirement. When San Antonio won the lottery, Elliott was one of many former players who urged the coach to stay and give the French teenager a foundation. It did not take much convincing.

What Pop gives, Elliott made clear, is the unvarnished truth. He has seen the coach go right through David, Timmy, Manu and Tony when he was not pleased, and Wembanyama gets the same treatment. The tarmac meeting, Elliott is certain, was not a gentle reminder to watch the elbow.

Popovich also drops into the locker room during the playoffs as a second voice behind Mitch, the coach who took over the bench, telling the team the same hard truths in less friendly terms. Whatever was said on that runway, Wembanyama responded. The message, in the end, was simple: stay on the floor.