From being a prime general decide and potential savior of the Spurs franchise, to a team-first and unselfish angle, rookie Victor Wembanyama and legend Tim Duncan have loads in widespread. Now, yet one more widespread denominator between the 2 has come to gentle: coaching with boxing legend Jesse James Leija.
Whereas Leija has labored out with many extra Spurs through the years (he lists Manu Ginobili as the perfect boxer of the bunch and Matt Bonner the toughest puncher — go determine), it’s at all times encouraging seeing prime tier gamers who prepared to place within the time to get higher. Boxing specifically is nice for Wemby since he must strengthen his core, and Leija was not solely impressed with how shortly he picked it up, but in addition what a genuinely nice man he’s. (Once more, this seems like almost all of the Spurs legends.)
Maybe the most important problem this offseason has been managing our personal expectations. On one hand, it’s onerous not dream of the leaps the crew skilled after buying the highest two earlier occasions and hoping it will possibly occur once more, however when trying on the schedule, the age of the crew, and different components that ought to trigger a little bit pause, it’s straightforward to fall again to different finish of the spectrum and get too involved.
Nonetheless, what isn’t onerous is seeing what a enjoyable group of gamers this 12 months’s crew can be and the way a lot comradery there may be, each on and off the courtroom, and that may be a big step in direction of constructing a contending crew. Certainly one of my every day habits has turn out to be checking the Spurs’ official Twitter X account (I’ll by no means get used to that) for footage from the follow facility, and it warms the guts each time. The 2023-24 season can’t get right here quickly sufficient.
(Facet be aware: Sidy Cissoko is beefed and appears like he may problem Bonner for the title of hardest puncher on the crew — in boxing, in fact.)
