Wembanyama taking the 'Tim Duncan' approach to growing his game

It's the final hours of the NBA off-season, and Spurs fans finally get to hear from Victor Wembanyama after what was an eventful summer for former Rookie of the Year.

One of the juiciest bits from Spurs media day on Monday morning is that Wembanyama added 25 pounds to his frame. NBA.com listed him at 210 pounds last season, and the Spurs training camp roster lists him at 235 pounds. But it's not only his weight transformation that fans should be excited to see.

Fundamentals were 'big emphasis' of Wembanyama's off-season training

Wembanyama is one-of-one, and there's no doubt about it. "There isn't anything that he can't do," newly acquired Spur Harrison Barnes said Monday." Last season, the Alien put together one of the league's top highlight reels, and every night, you could expect him to do something you haven't seen before.

While Wembanyama is one of the flashiest players in the game, he took the approach of improving his fundamentals over the summer. "The more I grow into my career, the more I realize it's important to work on the fundamentals," Wembanyama said. "There's a big emphasis that's been put on my game this summer that was making an advantage out of simple situations."

From one superstar to another, the trend of fundamentals continue

It's not often that an organization lands a hall-of-fame projected franchise player, let alone finds the next one with the same work ethic as the previous one. Tim Duncan was famously known as "The Big Fundamental" due to his perfecting the little things about his game.

Duncan was never the flashiest player, but even as he aged, he would give teams the most quiet and efficient 19 points and 10 rebounds while hitting nothing but fadeaway jumpers off the glass.

Now, Wembanyama is different from Duncan. The Spurs have never had a star with the type of flashiness and fame that the French native could reach one day.

But to have someone as young as Wemby come into this organization with the same mindset that the franchise's greatest player once had shows that his willingness to become a legend is going to lead this team to great places during his career.

On top of his astounding work ethic, he's getting to learn from the all-time wins leader coach Gregg Popovich and former Spur Manu Ginobili, who specializes in player development. When you add in free agent acquisition guard Chris Paul, who is known for elevating the play of young teams, Victor has all the resources around him to be great.

Spurs training camp begins Tuesday, Oct. 1, and the Silver and Black are only a week away from tipping off the preseason when the Spurs will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in Frost Bank Center on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. (CDT). The regular season begins on Oct. 24 at 6:30 p.m. (CDT) when Wembanyama and the Spurs enter Dallas for an in-state showdown with the Dallas Mavericks.