Nate Ryan | KENS 5 San Antonio

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One year upgrade requires Go 5G Next plan, financing new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six months with half paid off. Nate Ryan who joins us from San Antonio, KENS channel 5 sports anchor at the game on the court. Man, what was this like, Nate?

Amy, how's it going? I'll tell you what, I was just commenting that I still sort of feel the electricity from the atmosphere inside the Frost Bank Center tonight. It's almost 1 30 in the morning here in the Central Times in San Antonio but it feels like it's much earlier than that. Even though the Spurs lost, the buzz from the build up before the game, it was really was, it felt like just sort of a celebration win or lose tonight for San Antonio. The fact that this player is taking the floor for them in a regular season game.

I mean going back all the way four months ago to the draft, even the draft lottery when they knew they were taking Wambunyama, really just getting him on the floor in an NBA regular season game. It really felt like the Spurs lost the game tonight but it really didn't feel like they had anything to lose in terms of a result just because it really was just sort of an exciting culmination of what's going to be the norm now for San Antonio fans moving forward. What did you see and hear with fans in the building pre-game and then as this first game is unfolding?

Well there was a crowd of 18,500 plus which was a little more than 3,000 more than made it to last year's season opener. I mean if you just look at it, Spurs played the Mavericks tonight. They closed last season against the same Mavericks team in the last game of the regular season last year. That was the season in which the Spurs lost 60 games, the most ever under Greg Popovich. And fast forward to tonight, they're playing probably one of the more hyped season openers in recent NBA memory against this same team on national television. About a quarter of the arena has Wambunyama jerseys. You're attracting a whole new fan base not just from San Antonio but from Europe. It's not just eyes locally here in this community but everywhere you know in the country. I mean you look at you know the Spurs are leading highlight shows on national programs where you know in commercials it's all an excitement that's returning to the city.

You know that's kind of been you know in flux and towards the bottom of the standings the past few years. Well we certainly led with Wenby Fever. It was the first thing out of my mouth on tonight's show before we even said hello.

So we're right there with you. Well what did Greg Popovich have to say about his debut and his 19 year old teenage sensations first game? He literally said quote for quote he said I thought he had a wonder wonderful outing and that's considering the fact that Wambunyama was in foul trouble most of the night. Uh picked up four fouls there pretty early in the ball game and had to had to sit for you know early in the early in the fourth picking up his fifth foul. He only had six points entering the fourth quarter but then once he really got into a rhythm there down the down the stretch I think it was nine straight points he had during a period in the fourth quarter where he you know willed them to the lead.

That is when everybody in the building was sort of on their feet. Uh you listen I mean this is a guy who's you know had the cameras on him for the past year and especially since coming to San Antonio and when you talk about so much hype and so many cameras so many expectations placed on Victor Wambunyama's shoulders on his NBA regular season debut the first half did not go as everybody around you know the league and fans of basketball thought it would go. I mean he had you know six points for uh you know going up at halftime and people were talking about him finishing oh he's going to finish with at least 20 he's going to be dominant because that's what he was in preseason.

In preseason he played four preseason games not one of those games that Victor Wambunyama see the floor in the fourth quarter. Tonight was his first action in crunch time so it really was his welcome to the NBA moment and for a period there about three four minutes down the stretch he really did take the game over he took one out from beyond the arc he hit a wing three to you know pull them within two points 110 108 and then the n1 dunk where you know Trey Jones threw a full court pass to him that's just something where the tallest guy on the floor go up and get it uh in a three-point play that was probably the most exciting point of the game but for Greg Popovich he said word for word I thought he had a wonderful outing uh because despite the foul trouble he didn't let his rhythm get affected. It did seem as though Popovich was less than perturbed about the loss in fact he seemed very mellow to me maybe it's just because it's game one but he didn't seem annoyed as usual no no he kind of was a little zen doubt about it uh you know he just sort of accepted the fact that you know Luca Doncic and Kyrie Irving took over down the stretch but again too I mean it's game one of 82 and Greg Popovich and you know the time that I've been here covering him and sort of his constant throughout his 28 years as coaches he's never put preseason expectations on a team he's always gone out and let his squad go out and play he's not a guy who sinks too far down the line in terms of you know putting expectations record on a season I think that's one of the things that makes him so so kind of gruff and unique at the podium he's a little bit dismissive but he really he he almost puts things too simply in a sense when he when he talks about you know his team and his performances there's there's not a whole lot more uh to meet the eye at the podium maybe it's something where you know I'm sure it's been befuddling journalists for a long time as far as as far as what he you know goes into his press conferences sometimes people don't know if he's being serious or if he's joking but here tonight I mean I think he's proud of the team's effort now he's you know he's on to on to game two of 82. Nate Ryan is with us from San Antonio after the Wemenyama debut and in an arena that was lit up from the very beginning it's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio just before we move on I do love about Greg Popovich that he is always all in on his people for instance when Becky Hammond's aces won their second consecutive WNBA title he was beaming he was there he was beaming he was talking about drinking celebratory beverages I mean he definitely will light up for the people he cares about yeah the night that the aces won the WNBA title that was last week he had just finished his own preseason game they had just beaten the Rockets on a Wednesday night but the team he wanted to talk about to start his press conference was was the Las Vegas aces and he's long been a supporter of Becky Hammond would you think about the tree of coaches that he's had in the NBA uh you know Steve Kerr played for him in San Antonio Mike Brown was a former assistant and the list goes on and on with uh Will Hardy now with the Utah Jazz it's an extensive with Monty Williams is another guy it's hard-pressed to find a coaching staff where at least somebody on the bench has not either played for or coached under Greg Popovich where uh it was kind of funny last week Steve Kerr um first played in Golden State and Steve Kerr said oh he senses Greg Popovich is rejuvenated now with a player of Wembanyama's caliber in year 28 and he was asked about that and Popovich says rejuvenated you know he kind of threw it back at Steve Kerr he's like rejuvenated what was I you know was I not rejuvenated before that it's kind of a kind of a funny thing there are there any limitations on Wembanyama in terms of minutes anything like that I think you're going to see the limitations come in not necessarily in minutes in a ball game but it's more going to be on games that are played on back-to-back nights um you know the Spurs have a history they were one of the first teams to uh institute load management if you will if you remember you know Parker Duncan Ginobili sitting a game against Miami 10 or some years ago but I think it's mostly going to come on those back-to-back nights and long term you look closer to the you know you hate to get looked too far down the line but if the Spurs are contending for a playoff spot towards the end of the season if they're looking to get into the play-in for the playoffs it's going to be tough to sit Victor Wembanyama considering he'll be one of your most productive players on the back-to-back nights and he's you know going to help you win ball games but if it's a case where the Spurs aren't contending for a playoff spot with say a month left in the season if it looks a little bit out of reach I think then is when you might start to see San Antonio take it a little easier with him but uh it's it's left about minutes in game because if he's cooking you're not going to look to you know turn off the stove by any means it's more on more on games with back-to-backs which is going to be worth monitoring. Producer Jay and I were joking about this earlier that we're pretty sure the average NBA fan out there maybe even just the average sports fan couldn't name more than two other guys on the Spurs roster and maybe not even two. So what else do fans need to know about the Spurs around Wembanyama? Oh that's an excellent point too because I mean this is a team again lost 60 games a season ago and you know this is the youngest roster in the NBA a little under 24 years of an average age this is on average per pay scale this is the team like the Spurs average about seven million dollars per player this season that's the lowest of any team in the NBA they're also one of the tallest teams in the NBA they've got an average height of six foot six they're starting five that they're going to trot out this season it looks like they're not going to have a natural point guard you're going to have times where you know second year six seven forward Jeremy Sohan is going to be bringing up the basketball Devin Vissel might be bringing up the ball Victor Wembanyama himself if he clears a rebound on the outlet he'll dribble the ball up himself um but Devin Vissel is a guy just signed a five-year contract extension he's only 23 years old he's a sharp-shooting swingman out of Florida State last season you didn't hear a lot of them because he missed half the year with knee surgery but he led the preseason in three-point shooting percentage he's a guy who I think takes a big leap this year particularly just because he's going to be on the floor he's a lot healthier uh Keldon Johnson has a ton of energy he was mic'd up if you're watching the ESPN broadcast bringing a lot of bounce to the locker room Zach Collins is is another guy who's kind of like a Wembanyama protector I look at him and you know if you're one of the older basketball fans he's kind of like a Bill Lambier kind of guy where you know he's really in there as sort of an enforcer role but he can step out and knock down a mid-range jump shot don't be surprised if you see him get a you know get involved in a scuffle he might you know you might lead the team in technical fouls but uh no this is a team that's very very young uh and very very versatile in terms of positions Luca Doncic now a grizzled veteran into his fifth season at the ripe old age of 24.

Seriously right the guy's like you guys almost my age here and he's one of these guys but cool to see him and Wembanyama on the floor together uh there could be hope then for this renewed rivalry between Spurs and Mavericks it'd be fun to see these two guys both international stars both you know players who are generational maybe renew the excitement in the area around those two but also around you know them in the same building together. Yeah it kind of goes back to you know all throughout the the 2000s it was Dirk Nowitzki going up against Tim Duncan who were two relatively international big men I mean Tim Duncan obviously from the Virgin Islands but these teams used to have battles in the 2000s in the western conference playoffs and now possibly looking to move back to that obviously the Houston Rockets adding some pieces in the off season um Fred Van Vliet and adding a guy like Dylan Brooks who's always looking to stir the pot Dylan Brooks and Zach Collins had to be separated in the preseason last week I mean they got into a little bit of a scuffle those guys will be a storyline worth monitoring here in the Lone Star State but uh across the board here in Texas I mean obviously the the influence of the international game in the league as a whole you could make the argument that you know looking at international players you've got Wembanyama, Luka Doncic, Nicole Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo this is turning into a more international you know players game than it is uh you know here on the home front but uh it certainly is going to be and obviously Doncic's contract and what he decides to do in the coming years but it's certainly shaping up to be where uh these two guys are going to be are going to be ruling the hardwood especially here in the Lone Star State. Before I let you go Nate would you and this is a guesstimation on your part but would you say fans in San Antonio root for the Rangers or the Astros? That is a great question uh I not being from Texas myself and being an impartial guy I would probably say here in San Antonio I'd go 75-25 it would lean Astros.

Really? It would lean Astros but I would I would say that a lot of that stems from more recent baseball fans just because it's a what have you done for me lately and the Astros have been you know doing particularly well in the last you know five to seven years but uh I would say 75-25 Astros to Rangers. Rangers do have a local tie here in San Antonio they're starting third baseman Josh Young he's from right here in San Antonio he went to high school at one of the local high schools out here so that'll be that'll be a rooting point here for for folks in San Antonio but that last series was a fun one. Okay so it's not actually 9 30 at night Nate it's after 1 30 central time so maybe your adrenaline will start to wane here in a little bit but we appreciate a couple of minutes you can find Nate on twitter at nate ryan sports from kens channel five in San Antonio caught up in wimby fever it sounds like it's a lot of fun though Nate thank you. Yeah the only prescription there is an advil pm for me thanks thanks so much and we appreciate it.

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