The 19-year-old Frenchman was on his …

The 19-year-old Frenchman was on his way to starting for 16 seasons. “During training camp, and then the first couple of games, I was really tough on him, gave him a lot of things to think about, a lot of things to do,” Popovich said “(I) put him on the best players on the other team whenever I could. And he showed that he had the fortitude and the courage to do this and the challenge of taking over a team that’s supposed to be successful wasn’t going to matter to him. He was just going to play. “I just gave him the ball and said, “This is yours. Figure it out, and I am going to love you and dump on you, both at the same time.’