Who is the best defender of a hypothetical prime Wemby?

[giordunk]

Don't want to jump the gun on Wemby but he's shown many flashes that show he's going to be a very good player in the NBA.

If/when Wemby hits his prime, which player all-time do you think would be the best player suited to guard him?

The most logical choice would be a big with foot speed. My first choice was Hakeem Olajuwon but I may change to David Robinson for that little added extra height.

Dennis Rodman I think could be interesting.

I'm also curious how a girthy dude like Chuck Hayes would do on Wemby.

[Rishkar]

Nate Thurmond gets my vote

[LukaTheGOAT]

Nate Thurmond

Hakeem Olajuwon

Karl Malone

[70sFan]

Against Wemby, you need length and strength - so Nate Thurmond is the obvious choice.

[dygaction]

Be interesting to see Manute Bol and Wemby matchup.
HM PJ Washington, in the past two games matchups, he did a great job defending Wemby to 19p/4a/3.5to on .38 fg% and .20 3pt%.

[oaktownwarriors87]

JJ Barea would shut him down just like he did to LeBron.

[Ol Roy]

Kevin McHale

[tsherkin]

Kind of depends on how Wemby ends up honing his skills. You're not going to end up doing a lot versus his lob game. On the block, Nate Thurmond and Karl Malone would be about as good as it gets digging into his base and moving him away from his spots. Anyone with good defensive fundamentals and good wingspan would be a reasonable choice to frustrate him as much as he'll get frustrated.

It really comes down to how good his jumper becomes in the middle and from 3, I think. At some point, if that crystallizes, it's just going to be about choosing which bad option you want to deal with, because he can literally shoot over almost everyone. Not that I'm projecting it, but if you think about title-era Dirk and his mid-post game with that rainbow jumper... you pretty much just prayed it wasn't falling and that was that.

[SNPA]

Give me Bill.

[WestGOAT]

Dennis Schröder gave him trouble, Tony Allen would probably do the job

[GSP]

Kevin McHale

Sneaky great choice right here

[tsherkin]

Kevin McHale

Sneaky great choice right here

It really is a good choice. Good ol' Go Go Gadget Arms.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

How has nobody said KG yet? Easily has the length to bother him and can’t be beaten off the dribble. Not to mention we don’t know about Wemby’s mental toughness yet, and if there’s a weakness there KG will exploit it.

[tsherkin]

How has nobody said KG yet? Easily has the length to bother him and can’t be beaten off the dribble. Not to mention we don’t know about Wemby’s mental toughness yet, and if there’s a weakness there KG will exploit it.

Probably because people are mostly looking at guys who can body him more effectively, and KG was never large, nor particularly physical. He was also more of a help defender than a man-on guy, whereas those largely being mentioned had specific reps as man defenders.

[Harry Palmer]

Hakeem. Interestingly, Sampson would also be a good choice, when healthy.

[Heej]

Realistically would need to be someone stronger, more nimble, and with at least adequate length to contest when they corral him away from his best spots. I think in his prime he'd physically overpower the likes of AD and while Thurmond is the GOAT post defender I don't know if he'd have the agility to deal with Wemby on the perimeter.

My best bet would probably be Russell with KG and Olajuwon as HMs. My other wildcard choice is hypothetical in shape Shaq. He put on weight to deal with hacks. If he was properly motivated to spec towards perimeter agility (which he absolutely has the capability for when you look at how insanely fluid his movement patterns were for his size) I think he'd be the best matchup possible. But that's an extreme hypothetical

I like the Healthy Sampson shout-out since that's by far and away Wemby's best historical comparison. He's a meme now but that dude's potential as far as length, skill, and mobility was concerned made the Blazers choosing him somewhat understandable despite Jordan embarrassing NBA all stars as a collegiate athlete.

[70sFan]

Realistically would need to be someone stronger, more nimble, and with at least adequate length to contest when they corral him away from his best spots. I think in his prime he'd physically overpower the likes of AD and while Thurmond is the GOAT post defender I don't know if he'd have the agility to deal with Wemby on the perimeter.

He had, many people imagine Thurmond as a big clumsy bruiser but Nate was exceptionally mobile for his size. We shouldn't forget that Thurmond played next to Wilt at forward position as a rookie and he often guarded perimeter oriented stars like Baylor or Heinsohn.

[giordunk]

Realistically would need to be someone stronger, more nimble, and with at least adequate length to contest when they corral him away from his best spots. I think in his prime he'd physically overpower the likes of AD and while Thurmond is the GOAT post defender I don't know if he'd have the agility to deal with Wemby on the perimeter.

My best bet would probably be Russell with KG and Olajuwon as HMs. My other wildcard choice is hypothetical in shape Shaq. He put on weight to deal with hacks. If he was properly motivated to spec towards perimeter agility (which he absolutely has the capability for when you look at how insanely fluid his movement patterns were for his size) I think he'd be the best matchup possible. But that's an extreme hypothetical

I like the Healthy Sampson shout-out since that's by far and away Wemby's best historical comparison. He's a meme now but that dude's potential as far as length, skill, and mobility was concerned made the Blazers choosing him somewhat understandable despite Jordan embarrassing NBA all stars as a collegiate athlete.

I like the Shaq shoutout. Shaq would adapt to the best he can but will still likely struggle a little on the perimeter compared to a guy like AD, I think if Wemby was forced to guard Shaq, Wemby would get quite worn out from Shaq's physicality.

But honestly Wemby is still an extreme lob threat to a guy like Shaq. His highlights are absolutely insane.

[Heej]

Realistically would need to be someone stronger, more nimble, and with at least adequate length to contest when they corral him away from his best spots. I think in his prime he'd physically overpower the likes of AD and while Thurmond is the GOAT post defender I don't know if he'd have the agility to deal with Wemby on the perimeter.

He had, many people imagine Thurmond as a big clumsy bruiser but Nate was exceptionally mobile for his size. We shouldn't forget that Thurmond played next to Wilt at forward position as a rookie and he often guarded perimeter oriented stars like Baylor or Heinsohn.

I can certainly believe that because in order to be the GOAT post defender he had to have all 3 attributes of being smart, strong, and agile. I'm just not as familiar with his perimeter defense and didn't really find film on it so he's one of the honorable mentions in my book

[D.Brasco]

Dennis Rodman.