“Pop is the master of building it brick by brick”

On Road Trippin’ with RJ and Channing, Richard Jefferson shared how San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will build Victor Wembanyama into a star, but that expectations for Wemby should be tempered as the season begins.

Jefferson compared it to Pop’s benching of Kawhi Leonard for a half in his rookie season to “send a message.”

I've never heard him say so before, but Jefferson, “believes that Coach Pop had the biggest impact on his career, and [Pop’s] track record of nurturing past superstars like David Robinson, Tim Duncan, and Kawhi Leonard leads [Jefferson] to believe that Wembanyama will be built up in that same blueprint.”

Jefferson describes his gratitude for how Popovich extended RJ’s career after he was traded to the Spurs in 2009 for Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas, and Fabricio Oberto.

Since retiring, Jefferson has become a pundit who plays his version of Charles Barkley to Kendrick Perkin’s Shaq, but since 2017 he and fellow Cavaliers teammate Channing Frye have been podcasting with former Cav’s sideline reporter Allie Clifton.

You can hear the entire episode below.

Welcome to the Open Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.