Victor Wembanyama must fix his biggest flaw to fully unlock the Spurs

Despite having a shortened offseason due to their NBA Finals run, the San Antonio Spurs are likely hoping their young core uses the summer to improve. Especially star Victor Wembanyama.

After coming within three games of winning a championship in just his third season, he'll hopefully be hungry to lead the Spurs back to the NBA Finals. To do that, he'll have to shore up a big area of weakness, post-ups.

Although he showed improvement in that area last season, post-ups weren't a consistent enough part of his game. Perhaps that's for the best with him ranking among the worst post-up players in the NBA over the last 10 years.

The Spurs are still figuring out how to best use Victor Wembanyama

Wembanyama's biggest issue when posting up is that he coughs up the ball on a staggering 18% of those possessions. Part of the problem is that teams double- or triple-team him when he's in the paint, and he is prone to getting the ball stripped.

That isn't likely to change, though even when single-covered in the post, he wasn't all that effective. That forced the Spurs back to the drawing board. Last season, there seemed to be a concerted effort to have Wembanyama shoot fewer threes.

Instead, Wembanyama focused on taking more shots in the paint but not exclusively post-ups. It worked with him averaging three fewer 3-point attempts per game but increasing his scoring and his efficiency.

However, the Spurs seemingly played at their best when Wembanyama was aggressively looking for his shot from outside or putting the ball on the floor and attacking closeouts. On the other hand, their offense bogged down when he passed up open threes and focused on posting up in the paint.

The Spurs must stop treating Wembanyama, like a traditional center

Wembanyama is likely never going to be the post-up powerhouse that many expect him to be. That doesn't mean that he can't eventually become an efficient mid-volume post-threat, but that shouldn't be where most of his offense comes from.

Instead, having him take plenty of threes, attack close-outs, use pin-downs to get open mid-range jumpers, or roll to the basket is the best way to utilize him offensively. Now, if players such as Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle continue to develop as shooters, then Wembanyama will have more space to operate in the post.

He'll still have to get stronger to keep from getting pushed off his spot and tighten his handle. If those things were to happen, then Wembanyama could eventually emerge as a talented post player. However, next season, he should focus on the parts of his game that work rather than trying to force a post game that doesn't.

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