点击查看原文：Wemby, Spurs give fans reason to cheer
Wemby, Spurs give fans reason to cheer
Columnist Mike Finger and beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the team’s continuing penchant for giving back to the community, holding events like the impromptu practice at Ingram High School to help the Hill Country flood victims.
Suggested reading:
Wemby’s charisma, savvy exactly what Spurs need in social media age
Supporting cast played pivotal role in Spurs’ first championship run
Biyombo returning to Spurs after agreeing to one-year deal
Wemby, Spurs give flood-ravaged Hill Country a reason to cheer
Wembanyama raises commitment to Spurs’ fan group
Here is the transcript of the podcast:
Mike Finger: From a highly secure network of top secret locations across South Texas, this is the Spurs Insider, the last edition before training camp. I’m your host Mike Finger, joined by Express News Spurs beat writers Tom Orsborn and Jeff McDonald, along with sports editor Nick Talbott. We’ve got the full panel back. The Spurs now have a full roster after after some dramatic late summer additions. The team got together, Jeff and I were able to see them in a semi-formal, not formal at all, uh, run through in the Hill Country. We’ve got some injury news. We’ve got some bells and whistles to uh, to take care of before the team reconvenes. Just want to check in with the group, especially with Tom, we haven’t heard from Tom in a while on the Insider podcast. How has your summer been and are you getting amped up and ready for another season of NBA basketball?
Tom Orsborn: Uh, yeah, good to be back with you guys. Um, yeah, it’s been been a good summer, tried to get a lot of rest. Um, I saw one of the Spurs in an informal uh, setting on Sunday.
Mike Finger: That’s that’s what I wanted to get to uh, early in this podcast, because I know Jeff is excited about this, the uh, the big new fan section, like no longer…
Tom Orsborn: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Mike Finger: Not that?
Tom Orsborn: No, no, no. I saw one Jeremy Sochan.
Mike Finger: Oh, okay.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah, in an informal setting, and all all I’ll say about it, we had a brief conversation. I told him we’re off the job, it’s going to get busy, just wanted to say hi. And he he was so nice, he looked so happy, uh, out with his girlfriend, and it was it was a nice exchange. So.
Mike Finger: That was… wow, that’s that’s some news that I did not hear off the air. That’s that’s interesting. I thought you were referring to the big new fan section that’s going to take down the baseline bums.
Tom Orsborn: No, no, no.
Mike Finger: But uh, Tom, Tom Orsborn has a productive uh, uh fruitful, uh, uh interesting life away from Spurs Nation. So that’s good that he saw Jeremy Sochan out in the wild.
Tom Orsborn: Jeremy and I hang out at the same places. That was pretty cool.
Mike Finger: I see. Jeff, have you run into any Spurs away from…
Jeff McDonald: Cracker Barrel? Jeremy Sochan goes to the Cracker Barrel, I guess.
Tom Orsborn: No, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. It was outdoors. We were enjoying the great outdoors.
Mike Finger: All the listeners are going to be guessing where uh, where Tom and and Jeremy cross paths. That’s good.
Jeff McDonald: That could be a new feature. That could be a new feature on this podcast. Where in the world is Jeremy Sochan?
Mike Finger: And Tom Orsborn.
Jeff McDonald: And Tom Orsborn together.
Mike Finger: Um, we do have actual Spurs news. I’m not sure where you want to start. I I also want to thank the great Bill Schoening for for visiting us on the last episode of the Spurs Insider, being a great guest, actually recording his episode twice because of uh, technical difficulties. Great, great to hear from him. He did a good job. But it’s been a while since we’ve talked about the Spurs roster, just the Spurs uh, current form, Jeff. And so in the last, I guess it’s been a month since the last regular episode of the Insider, we have had uh the roster filled out and we have had a a significant bit of injury news with the number two pick overall in the 2025 NBA draft, Dylan Harper is not going to be working out with the Spurs when they start training camp in a couple weeks. What is the status of Dylan and what does that mean for the Spurs as they enter this pivotal season, Jeff?
Jeff McDonald: I mean, I don’t want to like, you know, uh, make too big a deal out of it, but it is kind of a significant injury for a guy that that’s a rookie. Um, you know, Dylan Harper with his um, I guess he he uh, damaged or partially tore a ligament in his left thumb, which is important because he’s a left-handed shooter and had to undergo surgery uh, for that. And they’re expecting him to miss pretty much all of camp and the preseason and they haven’t ruled him out for the start of the regular season, but just me personally, I would be surprised if he misses all of camp and the preseason if he’s, you know, good to go and in the rotation game one.
So it is kind of a significant injury because it’s the missing training camp piece that’s that’s kind of the the problem. Uh, especially because he’s a rookie, but really for anybody that’s that’s that’s rough. You know, we talked, we talked last year about like one of the problems Devin Vassell had who was going entering his what, fourth season had, uh, you know, getting started last season was he missed all of training camp in the summer and couldn’t really get, you know, get his development in shape. And now you’re talking about Dylan Harper as a rookie having to hit the ground running. So I I do think it’s a setback for him. Um, I you know, I don’t think it’s a long-term problem, but if but it’s going to take him a while to kind of be what we kind of hoped he would be as a rookie. And the one thing it did do is I, you know, when you asked me in a couple podcasts ago to project the Spurs starting lineup, and I think it’s pretty much it was pretty much, you know, an obvious answer anyway, but the only question I had was would there be a way for them to get Dylan Harper in there? Would they rather start Dylan Harper instead of Steph Castle? And this injury pretty much answers that question. It’s not going to be a question. You know, I think we know what their starting five is going to be and uh, Dylan’s going to have to come along as the season goes along and it’s it’s a tough ask for a rookie. So it’ll be interesting to see how quickly he assimilates once he’s able to get back on the court again.
Mike Finger: There was a scandalous, um, viral clip going around earlier this offseason. I think it all time kind of runs together, but of a Spurs player on some kind of podcast or interview revealing the before unknown, unheard of idea that the Spurs only practiced what, eight or nine times during last season. And people were talking about how crazy, well, that’s the NBA. You know, teams do not practice during the season, whether it’s the Spurs, the Lakers, the Rockets, whoever, it just does not happen in the course of an NBA season. You have your shoot arounds and occasionally when you have more than one day off, you have a full practice. The reason I bring that up is these are the only practices for a long while that Dylan Harper might be able to take part in, are is the preseason. And so that is sort of significant that it’s not like he’s going to be able to catch up in practice once the season starts because teams just don’t practice. And um, I think that, I mean, again, like Jeff said, that’s not going to be a killer in terms of his development, in terms of how much he contributes this year. But that is something to think about, Tom, in that he’s not going to have that time during training camp, during those um non-game reps to kind of get in the flow with his teammates. And we’ll see how much that affects his whole season.
Tom Orsborn: Man, didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t, I missed that, that big scoop. NBA teams don’t practice much during the season? Wow. Yeah, yeah, it was, it’s one of those things where it gets, it goes on all the various, you know, Instagrams and TikToks and what have you, and oh, this, this is an indictment of Pop that he was lazy at the end. He wasn’t have, no one practices during the regular season. It was, it was amusing to me.
Mike Finger: Yeah. Mitch Johnson keeping with the program, didn’t practice either.
Tom Orsborn: Exactly. Wow. No, Harper should should be fine. Um, you know, yeah, it’s something you don’t want to see, but I I think I think he’ll be fine. He’s he’s been working out with them in informal workouts and um, he’ll be there. I mean, he’ll be at the practices, he’ll observe everything, he’ll absorb as much as he can. So I don’t think it’s a major setback.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, it’s it’s not the end of the world, but it it is a setback.
Tom Orsborn: Yep, but not a major one.
Mike Finger: So that that brings up, I don’t know if we want to get into the lineup weeds. What else is there to get into in this September?
Jeff McDonald: Bismack.
Mike Finger: But, well, okay, go ahead, Bismack. How does the signing of Bismack Biyombo affect the NBA championship race this year, Tom?
Tom Orsborn: Hey, how does it affect Victor Wembanyama’s legacy? Uh, to get into like a first take type debate.
Mike Finger: How how how does signing Bismack Biyombo affect Victor…
Jeff McDonald: They don’t trust Victor. That’s a sign they don’t trust Victor.
Mike Finger: …Wembanyama’s legacy?
Tom Orsborn: I don’t really care Mike. Just glad to have him back. Good guy.
Jeff McDonald: It’s it’s that they don’t trust Victor. They need as many big men as they can because they don’t trust him to stay healthy. I’m just kidding.
The Bismack thing is very much like the uh, Gorgui Dieng thing from back in the day. He they don’t, you know, he’s a good guy, he’s a good veteran guy to have around, probably not going to play at all, but he’s a very good veteran to have around and if you have the spot, those are the kind of guys you want to fill it with. Last year when they signed Bismack, it was not quite an emergency, but kind of, like they really needed a backup to Victor at the time, or that’s what they thought they were signing him for, because Zach Collins had been traded and they didn’t have any bigs behind Victor. They were having to scramble. So Bismack was going to be like the the basically the backup or at least a backup option, and then like days after they signed Biyombo is when uh, um, Victor went down with the with the blood clot issue and so Bismack became almost the starter at that point. I don’t think he will have either of those roles this year for the Spurs if, you know, everything goes to plan, you know, barring some injuries to people. I think you’re looking at a guy that’s the 15th man on the bench, kind of like that Gorgui Dieng role. But he’ll, he’s a good locker room guy.
Mike Finger: In all seriousness though, the the Spurs did get caught flat-footed, so to speak, with their big man depth last year and I think that they made a a pretty concerted effort to make sure that doesn’t happen again because the games are going to matter more in or should matter more in January, February, March, April. And you don’t want to get caught in that spot where you’re having to give Sandro Mamukelashvili center minutes and you know, just just not being able to have any size at all. Just getting completely pummeled and killed on the boards.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, they put Sochan there a lot last year. I don’t think they really want to do that again.
Mike Finger: They were getting killed on the boards in in game after game, even when Victor was still healthy. Uh, you know, they didn’t have that depth behind him, especially after, after they traded Zach Collins. Like they were they were caught really thin there in the front court. And you know, like Jeff said, they’re not going to expect to play Biyombo regular minutes, maybe not any minutes at all. Um, but this year if something happens to their big men behind Victor Wembanyama, you have seven-footer Luke Kornet, who I want to talk about later in his first public appearance, first public appearance with the Spurs, highly entertaining. Um, Kelly Olynyk, Bismack Biyombo, like that is a they are going to have some depth there in case of emergency. I think that’s that’s sort of significant.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, they have a couple bodies between Victor and Bismack, which is important.
Tom Orsborn: And it’s in keeping with what, one of, one of their goals, it wasn’t a top priority, but they wanted to have the end of the bench filled with veteran, veteran guys this year, you know, rather than, you know, the Blake Wesleys, Malakis and and what not. But anyway…
Mike Finger: Last year you had Jordan McLaughlin.
Tom Orsborn: Yes.
Mike Finger: Bismack.
Jeff McDonald: Waters.
Mike Finger: Waters.
Tom Orsborn: But back to my original point, one of my favorite stories last year was sitting down with Bismack late in the season and talking about his humanitarian work in in the Congo, his homeland, and yeah, just a good guy. Good guy to have on on the roster.
Mike Finger: There you go. Um, what I was going to get into earlier with the lineup thing back on the Dylan Harper deal, let’s say he is not ready game one against Dallas on October the 22nd, followed by a trip to the the Pelicans on October the 24th. That’s a little over a month from now. Let’s say he’s he’s he’s been cleared for basketball activities, but you’re not going to turn him loose yet. How do you manage the point guard position, Jeff, coach Jeff, coach McDonald, you come from a coaching family, a hoops family? Do you start Stefan Castle alongside De’Aaron Fox and just stagger those minutes and make sure that one of them is always out there and and keep Stefan Castle taking those point guard reps and running the offense when when Fox is on the bench? Or do you um, the the other point guard on the roster right now is who? Jordan McLaughlin. Does that mean minutes for him? I I sort of tend to go towards the former, but uh, but how how do you look at it, Coach McDonald?
Jeff McDonald: That’s a that’s a really interesting question because you are going to be, you’re all of you you went from, man, we got way too many ball handlers to we don’t have enough ball handlers in a second. It’s kind of funny. Um, but um, yeah, I don’t I don’t know what you do with that second unit ball handling. I I I don’t know that I don’t know that you want to completely reconfigure what you want to do with your starting lineup. I don’t know. I don’t know. You’ve stumped me.
I do think though…
Mike Finger: That’s something that you hadn’t even considered before I brought it up?
Jeff McDonald: I do I do think, however it washes out, you’re probably are…
Mike Finger: You were running your fantasy football team all summer.
Jeff McDonald: I do think however it washes out, you are going to see more Jordan McLaughlin minutes to start the season than you you might have expected, either way. I mean, if you think about it last year, what they would have done was they would have let Malaki play more or Blake play more. Um…
Mike Finger: You also have Tre Jones last year.
Jeff McDonald: They’re not here anymore. Yeah, yeah. If you think of all of… it is kind of interesting because, you know, a month ago we would have thought, how are they going to get all these guards on the floor? They just have too many of them. It’s going to be it’s a good problem to have, but it’s a it’s a thing to address. And now it’s just like, well, they’ve lost like five ball handlers from last year and Dylan Harbor, and so you are kind of short there.
Mike Finger: And I don’t think that De’Aaron Fox is any kind of, there’s no real injury situation with him, but he has had some bumps and bruises over the past year and you don’t know for sure. I guess you don’t know with anybody for sure. But like if something happens there, you’re you’re kind of up against it. Like you said, gone from too many point guards, point guard galore to being sort of short there.
Jeff McDonald: I mean, fans are going to love it because you could get to the point where it’s David Jones-Garcia time.
Mike Finger: Hey, hey. We’re not going to get into that again.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, we stepped in at that day. Everybody hated us.
Mike Finger: The the Spurs two-way allotment is full now too, right?
Jeff McDonald: Yes, they’re full of everything.
Mike Finger: That’s good. That’s good.
Jeff McDonald: We’re done. Yeah, we’re done. We got training camp and we’re done. I don’t think any cuts in training camp will be surprising. I think all the guys you think are going to make the roster and the two-way spots are going to make the roster and the two-way spots. So there’s not a lot of battles there.
Mike Finger: No extensions coming up. The uh, Jeremy Sochan is is eligible, correct?
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, that’ll be interesting to see how that goes. But I don’t have any intel there.
Mike Finger: The um, the Spurs made a public appearance as a group in the in uniform on the basketball court last week. That was a fun, I think genuinely nice story to cover that Jeff and I went out to Ingram, Texas, small town near Kerrville, affected by the summer floods. Spurs had donated money as part of the relief efforts, much needed. Decided, Jeff, uh, as you wrote, they wanted to do more than sign a check and went out and held a surprise sort of walk through uh exhibition, dunkfest, three-man weave, um, all kinds of fun stuff, throwing stuff, selfies with the kids for the for the students in Ingram and it was very well received and I am not exaggerating, the loudest basketball arena/gym that I have been in in years. And I’ve covered like NBA finals. I’ve not had my my ears ringing like that. Those kids just shrieking for an hour seeing the Spurs in the gym. Jeff, what what what were your impressions of that?
Jeff McDonald: Oh yeah. Hearing all those teenagers shriek, it was like being at a a Backstreet Boys concert. No, not Backstreet Boys. Who would be the uh equivalent of the uh Backstreet Boys nowadays?
Mike Finger: Menudo?
Jeff McDonald: Menudo. It would be like at the Menudo concerts. Yeah.
Mike Finger: Uh-huh.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, it was like basically a Menudo concert in Ingram.
Mike Finger: Jeez.
Jeff McDonald: No, there was, yeah, I mean to go further back, it it kind of reminded me of some of those videos of everyone shrieking at the Beatles when they came over.
Mike Finger: I think I this is terrible comedy, but it was a, it I am not joking about how loud it was in that little place. It’s a little gym. All of our listeners know what a high school gym is like in Texas, in small town Texas. It’s a little band box and I’m I’m serious, it is louder there because of how small the the the gym is and how loud the kids are shrieking. It’s louder there, you can’t hear who’s talking next to you than in an NBA arena. It was just those those kids loved it. talked to students and the principal there and and the coaches there, genuinely moved and touched and and talking about what a great thing this was for these kids who were not all, not all of them necessarily had a relative affected or or or displaced or killed by the flooding, but all of them dealt with just the the the weight of the devastation in their community all summer long. And to give them just a day to have fun and experience some joy and to feel like, you know, there are there are people in their community who care about them. That was a that was a really cool deal.
Tom Orsborn: Yeah. And it should be it should be noted they did the same after the tragic, tragic shooting in Uvalde.
Jeff McDonald: They they did indeed. It was the same situation. Speaking of the… you know, speaking of the Hill country, like it doesn’t, obviously it doesn’t bring anyone’s loved one back, it doesn’t repair the property damage, but for those kids, it was a a really welcome distraction and just you could see the joy on all the kids’ faces and they, you know, it wasn’t a free for all, but they did have some free run of the place. Like you could get on the court and go talk to Victor and take a picture with him. Like I I I just like, I mean, everyone had a good time. And when you talk to the uh, um, I talked to a coach out there and and you know, he he said basically what I just said, you know, these kids have been through a lot. It’s a small win. It’s a small, that day was a small win for our community, just to uh have that day of distraction, of joy, of um, you know, just just feeling like they’re not just some small town that everyone’s forgotten about.
And so that was a good thing. And it got me, it got me thinking, it’s this is that’s, it’s kind of, I don’t maybe I don’t want to overstate this too much, but that’s part of the uh, the that that do-gooding community service thing is part of the uh Gregg Popovich legacy, I think, that that is going to live on even though he’s not, you know, the coach anymore. Um, from talking to people, the first seeds for this kind of came about in uh, August when uh, Mitch Johnson and uh, RC Buford and Brian Wright and a bunch of other staffers went out to Ingram, um, you know, after the flood waters had kind of receded, but there’s still a lot to do, and they went on kind of a community service sort of, um, mission out there just to kind of survey the damage and help out how they could. I think they served meals and stuff out there that that time. And it was Mitch who said, we need to bring the players here. You know, when the players get back from, you know, being scattered across the earth for the summer, we need to bring the players here, we need to come back, we need to bring the players. And so it was his idea. And I don’t, I don’t, I can’t speak for Mitch Johnson, but I I believe that’s a, that’s that’s got to be a Pop influence there just having worked for Pop and seeing how, how…
Mike Finger: He reacted. He did the same thing in Uvalde, basically. Yeah, yeah. I think that’s that’s part of it is Mitch remembered the impact that the Uvalde trip had and and remembered, hey, we can do that again and have the same impact here.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah. And so I think you’re right about the the Pop influence there. I I I do think that’s a part of his legacy that’s going to continue with the Spurs long after he’s, you know, not not even around the Spurs anymore. And so I guess that’s the point I wanted to make too that that Pop’s uh, you know, his DNA is still running, it’s another sign that his DNA is still running strong in this organization.
Mike Finger: to get back to the volume, um, this is how loud it was. Keldon Johnson was given a microphone and you couldn’t hear him because the screaming was so loud. Keldon Johnson doesn’t need a microphone ever to be heard. He’s screaming into a microphone and he’s not the loudest person in that gym. He’s not one of the loudest 200 people in that gym. Uh, he really enjoyed it. Keldon kind of lives out not in the Hill Country but Hill Country adjacent, you know, on his farm with his chickens and his pigs and his cows and whatnot. And he he came over and talked to us about wanting to uh, just like Jeff said, wanting to to be there and to be part of the community and to carry on what what they had done in Uvalde and you could tell that meant a lot to him. Uh, Victor seemed to really enjoy it. You know, he was very…
Jeff McDonald: Oh yeah.
Mike Finger: with open arms, literally and figuratively, um, embracing all those kids and letting them come up and signing shoes and and posing for selfies and so many kids had signed that just took the sneakers off their feet and and were going up to teachers saying I’m never going to wash these shoes, I’m never going to wear these shoes again. Uh, the Victor loved it, the the whole team loved it. One of the highlights I wanted to get to and I’ll ask Jeff for his his favorite moments from that, but there were there were trick dunks, you know, in a high school gym, you can pull off the dunks that you can’t pull off in an NBA arena because there’s a wall behind the backboard. So you had the athletic players, the guys who were going to be in dunk contests one day and have been in dunk contests before in the case of Stefan Castle. Uh, Carter Bryant just dazzling the the masses with shots that where you throw the ball high off the off the wall behind the backboard and catch it off the carom and dunk between your legs. It was a really cool thing. But uh, but my favorite moment was newcomer Luke Kornet grabs the ball at the top of the key and he holds his arms out and he starts that that clap over the head where he wants the whole arena to just start clapping in unison, you know, the you you you can picture it. We’re not a video podcast, but he’s…
Jeff McDonald: Oh, he really set it up, man.
Mike Finger: He’s really set it up. He’s got the whole arena…
Jeff McDonald: Arena’s clap, clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.
Mike Finger: and and he grabs the ball and you know, and the and the Spurs his teammates are already cracking up because they know where this is heading. But the arena is at a fever pitch with the slow clap and he throws the ball off the backboard and like maybe tries to go between the legs but doesn’t even get close and stumbles to the floor. It was uh, the whole place erupts in laughter, but I think we’re going to really enjoy having Luke Kornet around. He he he…
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, he actually he was trying to throw it off the backboard and he airballed it. He missed the entire backboard. So it was so anticlimactic. Keldon fell over. He was laughing so hard. He was literally on the ground laughing so hard.
What I noticed, you asked my favorite moments or whatever, one thing that I noticed going back to Victor, and it wasn’t the first time I’ve noticed him this way in these certain situations, just how savvy he is with all this stuff and how he always seems to realize uh, you know, the eyes that are on him and how, how how to work it to his advantage, to everyone’s advantage. I pointed this out to you uh, while it was happening, you know, the Spurs have their own staff photographers around, uh, just taking candid shots of things that are going on.
Mike Finger: Shout out to Taylor Hare.
Jeff McDonald: There you go. And at one point…
Mike Finger: It’s her birthday today.
Jeff McDonald: At one point, at one point, Victor grabs Taylor Hare and like motions him over here, and he is setting up, Victor is now setting up the shot. I’m going to I’m going to stand here in front of the bleachers like this, I’m going to hold my arms like this, you stand right here. No, no, not there, not there, no, this way, this way, a little more this way, over my shoulder so you get all the kids in the background. Like he’s basically setting up his own publicity shot. I thought that was just amazing, like just the stuff that he thinks of. And I saw that when uh, I I you know, when we were in Paris and he went out to La Chanée and when and it was another similar event with a bunch of kids and he was kind of the same way that that day. Um, I think this thing we kind of alluded to earlier where he has uh, come up with the idea for the fan section in uh, that was his idea. Like it’s his idea to have this soccer style fan section. I mean, that’s just another example of uh, he’s he’s got a little, he he he’s got a little promotional gene in him. He knows how to promote stuff. He has ideas and he wants to…
Mike Finger: And there’s there’s a cynical view of that, but…
Jeff McDonald: Right.
Mike Finger: which is which is obvious that people hear that and think, oh, he’s just doing it for the photo and he’s just doing it to go viral and what have you. But my reply to that is like, what’s necessarily the harm in that? And isn’t that a good thing? If the promotion, if the promotion leads to more attention for the Hill Country, if you’re trying to raise money for the Hill Country, or if you’re trying to say, generate more interest in the San Antonio Spurs basketball team, if you’re trying to make the arena experience better, if you if you understand how to work social media and you understand how to attract eyeballs, then I guess what I’m trying to say, like you you can be cynical about it but also realize it’s a good thing.
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, it’s just it’s the way kids these days are, to use an old man phrase.
Mike Finger: It’s the way kids these days are. And if he understands that better than the the the the people who’ve run the Spurs for 30 years understand it, then he’d be foolish not to add his generation’s spin on things. And uh, you know, I think that’s really cool.
Jeff McDonald: I also think with some of this stuff, you can look at it as this is how much he cares about, I mean, even the, you know, being a part of the Spurs and the community and stuff. Like he cares a lot about it. I mean, he I know we don’t have this discussion because it was always ridiculous, but there was that strain of fan that was always like, well if we don’t trade for this guy or we don’t win a lot more games, or we don’t sign the right free agents, Victor’s just going to leave. He’s just going to leave. He he doesn’t want to be in San Antonio. He’s going to leave. But then you look at him, what he’s doing a lot to be a part of this team and this community, even so much as to, uh, you know, change the game day experience. Like to have that kind of hands-on sort of, um, idea and wanted to be implemented. I I I think at least for now that should give people an idea of how committed he is to this team and this town.
Mike Finger: Right. We’ve in in the sports media business, we’ve had this conversation with people over the years, like with college football coaches, NBA players, what have you, where some coaches, players, you get the feeling that are they’re they’re being cooperative and nice and and helpful to the sports writers because they feel like they’re going to get something out of it. And there are certain people who are cynical about that and think, well, you know, that guy’s just being a great quote and uh, uh helpful and cooperative because uh, he wants to get something out of it. My my answer to that is like, wouldn’t you be stupid not to do that if if like like why why be why be difficult and have like ethics and have stand and have standards and say, oh no, I’m not going to be nice to the media because they can help me. I’m not I’m not presenting this in the clearest way, but I think that some of you understand me. Like even if you’re doing it just, just in a transactionary, transactional way where I’m going to be nice and I’m going to be outgoing because it’ll get me more attention. Like what’s the harm in that? Um, maybe I’m on an island here. Maybe I’m not making any sense. But I think that more people should do that.
Jeff McDonald: It’s nice to be nice.
Mike Finger: Like why not be nice? Why not be nice? Why not be helpful? Why not set up the perfect social media photo when you’re at an event like that to make more people see that you’ve been to to Ingram and you’ve been hanging out with these kids? Like that’s a good thing. Um, anyway. I guess the silence here…
Jeff McDonald: No, Mike, you’re, enough Mike, you’re exactly right.
Tom Orsborn: I don’t know, it just got me, it got me to thinking about some of the players I’ve covered, not not maybe including some Spurs, but not necessarily Spurs, just over the years, over the decades, about how you’re like, that guy’s so fake. Like he’s being nice to me now, but you know, as soon as the camera…
Mike Finger: Have you ever heard that I I I came up with a phrase once that uh, that might sound a little crazy, but uh, I I I think there’s some uh, some truth to it. I call it fake it 'til you make it.
Jeff McDonald: It’s a phrase you came up with?
Mike Finger: Yeah, I came up with that.
Jeff McDonald: Are you, that’s a 12 step…
Tom Orsborn: That’s a long held 12 step phrase.
Jeff McDonald: Are you faking it till you make it right now? Is that what you’re doing?
Mike Finger: I I I came up with that phrase shortly after I came up with the phrase, I need a vacation from this vacation. I also came up with that one. Um, but the point is, if you fake being helpful long enough, you’re actually helpful. If you fake being nice long enough, you’re actually nice. Um, like Tom said, it’s it’s a 12 step deal. I did not actually come up with it. But uh, here’s the thing. There’s a gentleman in the news this summer and I know you guys have been on vacation, you may not have heard about it, but you might remember him. He used to live in San Antonio. It’s a it’s a fellow by the name of uh, Kawhi Leonard. And I don’t want to dogpile on Kawhi Leonard, but and and and and Kawhi Leonard just didn’t let us know him. He he might be the nicest guy in the world. He just didn’t open up. There’s, I’m sure there’s various reasons for that. I’m not judging his character. He just did not let people in.
Um, but there’s no way that he would have gotten into that kind of visit, you know, that we’re talking about in in Ingram just because he did not have that personality. There’s no way that he would have done the Spurs fan thing like Victor is doing, you know, with the section there. That just wasn’t his deal. Um, he did not talk to the media. People did not get to know him and that’s his certainly his right. But how much more beloved would he have been if he had let more people in? How how how much more would he had have had fans on his side if he had just been a little more into these types of things. Um, it’s a choice he made. He’s he’s a successful player. Um, he won a championship after he left the Spurs. I’m sure he’s donated a lot and and been great in his community in in other ways. But I my point is he never did fake it until he made it in terms of being like a guy who’s out there doing community stuff, uh, letting people get to know him personally. And I think that his brand probably suffered a bit because of that.
Jeff McDonald: I mean just in the in the interest of fairness, a guy called, you know, Tim Duncan wasn’t exactly…
Mike Finger: That’s true. That’s true.
Tom Orsborn: What’s cool, what’s cool is when you see guys uh doing stuff when the camera’s not there. And I think of uh Trey Jones. We had mentioned uh Uvalde. Uh, Trey kept doing stuff um, you know, uh, kept contributing to that community when the cameras uh weren’t away, which which was really cool.
Mike Finger: Yeah. There’s there’s shades of gray here. I’m not uh trying to create villains. Jeff brought up a very intelligent… that’s that’s a new phrase in this podcast.
Jeff McDonald: Can we can we clip this for the for the promo?
Mike Finger: Jeff made a very intelligent, uh, insightful reply there when it came to Tim Duncan. I think Tim Duncan also though, um, when you talk about, wasn’t there uh hurricane relief in his home…
Jeff McDonald: Yeah, yeah. And to be clear, and and Kawhi did too.
Mike Finger: I’m just, I’m just saying that for people who may be cynical about the Victor Wembanyama, uh, playing to the camera and understanding social media and understanding that type of thing, I think, um, you have to sort of take the good with the bad. Like in a way to get anything noticed these days, you have to have that type of uh uh social media awareness or awareness of publicity. It’s just the way the world works.
Jeff McDonald: I think it again, it’s just a product of his age. Like if you ever go on vacation, you see those like millennials or not millennials are old now. Gen Z looking couples that are taking 15,000 pictures and poses and you know it’s just for the Instagram.
Mike Finger: Yeah.
Jeff McDonald: That’s just that’s just how kids are these days. If you’re going to take a picture, you might as well take the best picture you can.
Tom Orsborn: Um, back to back to Tim Duncan, I remember uh one thing that he did a lot was um trying to raise money for cancer prevention. And he had that bowling for dollars. I don’t know if you guys remember that, but you know, his his mother had died of breast cancer and he was very active.
Mike Finger: And here’s the thing, if he had grown up in Victor’s generation, he might have made more, he he might have, he might have understood how to make more money for that bowling deal. Like Victor would have had it all over the he he he would have had all kinds of ideas on how to promote that thing. And uh…
Jeff McDonald: I feel like if Tim were 22 right now, he’d still be an old man.
Tom Orsborn: Some people are just introverted, some people are extroverted.
Mike Finger: That’s true. That’s true. Well, practice practice will begin in a couple of weeks. There’s media day on September 29th, that’s a Monday, Tuesday morning, bright and early, the first workout. What are, what if anything uh, do you think you’re most looking forward to when we when we meet the group for media day on Monday morning, Jeff, on the 29th?
Jeff McDonald: What am I looking forward to from media day?
Mike Finger: Getting to know who have we not heard from that you want to hear from?
Jeff McDonald: Uh, Mike Monroe. I’m sure he’ll be there. He better not be. I don’t think he’s going to be there for the first time in 70 years since the George Mikan media day. I don’t know what I’m looking forward to from media day. What I’m looking forward to from camp and preseason and early is I want to see how Victor looks because, you know, he’s been off for a long time. I want to see how long it takes for him to shake the rust and see if he gets back to, how quickly he gets back to on that that path to uh, superstardom that he was flirting with when he went down last year. That’s the one thing I’m going to be interested in seeing.
Tom Orsborn: I’m I’m I’m looking forward this season to Castle. I want to see Stefan Castle, what, how he follows up last year’s rookie of the year performance. I think it’s going to be pretty impressive if they can work out the, you know, X’s and O’s, but I think, you know, I’m I’m thinking he’s going to be pretty darn good.
Mike Finger: That’s something to look forward to. We will talk to you shortly after media day. We’ll we’ll run down the whole event. Jeff’s enthusiasm for being back at a press conference again. I know he’s missed it the past few months.
Jeff McDonald: It’s going to be weird without Pop. It’s going to be weird without Pop. I’ll say that.
Mike Finger: It’ll be the first one without…
Jeff McDonald: …around his fellow reporters. It’s going to be weird without Mike Monroe, who I still think might turn up even though he has announced his retirement. Long time friend of the podcast.
Mike Finger: He he might just show up on accident. Thought he was going to Starbucks and ended up there. But we we will run it all down for you next time. And until then, take care of each other and keep it real.