DeRozan perfectly sums up Coach Pop’s importance to Wembanyama

Former Spur DeMar DeRozan recently spoke with Paul George on his podcast, Podcast P, and had some extremely high praise for Spurs' budding superstar Victor Wembanyama and Coach Pop.

A great coach has more ability than just X’s and O’s. He must be able to instill discipline, provide leadership and manage personalities. A great coach knows how to lead but can adjust if the situation needs it, and a great coach manages personalities, especially in today’s NBA.

Gregg Popovich checks all of the boxes and it's why he's the greatest coach of all time

The Spurs organization could not have landed in a better situation with the combination of Victor Wembanyama being able to be coached by Coach Pop. Most casual fans believe this sentiment, but for a player like DeMar DeRozan to state as much is big news—and should scare the rest of the NBA. Because of his experience with San Antonio, he knows exactly what he's talking about.

Many of the qualities that Popovich instills that help players become great Wembanyama already have. He’s disciplined, hungry, motivated and has the desire to be great. Those character qualities don’t just get instilled overnight. He’s developed those through his adolescence.

Coach Popovich will continue to help him develop those traits. The second half of last season and his Olympic performances prove that.

He helped will the French team to silver, losing the gold medal game to the US. Without Wembanyama, the French team would not have been as successful.

DeRozan continued with his praise of not only Coach Pop but the entire organization, highlighting another key aspect of the Spurs offseason that will help the team and Wembanyama specifically thrive this season—Chris Paul.

Chris Paul was acquired in the offseason, and he’ll be the veteran point guard Wemby needs to get to the next level. No disrespect to Tre Jones or any other distributor from last season’s team, but none of them are Chris Paul.

CP3, as he’s more well known by his nickname, can get the ball to Wembanyama in advantageous positions this season. DeRozan believes it’ll get Wemby between three and five easy baskets a night on top of what he produced last season.

Although a small snippet in a conversation, a player with the reputation of DeRozan heaping praise on Wembanyama and the Spurs' direction provides the members of the Silver and Black nation another reason for supreme optimism going into this season.