Victor Wembanyama Mega-Thread - For all your Wembanyama needs!

[durden_tyler]

Those interviews, he’s already more mature and easily likable relative to his draft peers and some current NBA vets too.

San Antonio picked the best time to tank indeed. Impressive!

[Pachinko_]

His sister tho

[zshawn10]

Well dang

True or False: The San Antonio Spurs will win a championship with Victor Wembanyama

Borzello: True, just because there's a strong possibility Wembanyama is the best player in the NBA at some point and that should theoretically give the Spurs a good chance to win a championship with him leading the way. If he comes anywhere close to living up to expectations, he's going to be a player who lifts up a franchise, and eventually, someone that other players around the league want to play with in an attempt to win a title.

Bontemps: True, because for a player with as much potential upside as Wenbanyama it's no fun to root for them to fail. And, if Wenbanyama stays healthy, he's got a chance to be the third incredibly special No. 1 pick in Spurs franchise history, after David Robinson and Tim Duncan - who led the franchise to all five of its championships.

Givony: True, because I wouldn't bet against Victor's competitiveness. And this Spurs front office has shown they know what it takes to put together a championship-caliber roster.

Woo: True, eventually. If we're not gonna put our chips on this guy, who are we supposed to bet on? It's impossible to know the timeline or what the future holds, but Wembanyama is different from most players. If he has a long, mostly healthy career, I think he makes it happen.

McMenamin: True. What more can you ask for for a face of your franchise than what Wemby brings to the table? It's not just the inside-outside skill set or the equally impressive impact on offense and defense, it's his whole persona. Listening to him speak in the weeks leading up to the draft, you just get the sense destiny is on this kid's side.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/37893062/nba-draft-2023-surprises-winners-losers-first-round

[Pachinko_]

Victor Wentbananas

[Dundalis]

Victor is certainly an exciting prospect.

What we have seen in the past is that skinny giants don't last in the NBA if you play them at power forward or center and try and force them into situations where they have to bang with guys like Jokic, Embiid, & Giannis. What makes Wemba special is he has the skill set to take on a Kevin Durant position and i think he can stay healthy if he plays this style of basketball.

Curious, what skinny giants in the (recent) past didn't work out because they had to bang against two of the only post players in the league? (Not sure why Giannis is in there, he's not really a banger)

I think the whole banging thing is overstated. There are barely any guys that are physical in the post in 2023. Embiid prefers to flop around on the perimeter and doesn't even play in our conference. Jokic is obviously an immaculate post player but he isn't super physical per se, he just has incredible footwork. The only other "big bangers" I can think of are marginal players like Val, Nurk, and Adams. My point is, I am not worried one bit about Wemby banging against the 3-4 actual physical post players who are still in the league. I expect Spurs to start Zach Collins next to him anyway who will likely defend the few Cs that do bang, and play Wemby at PF

Most of the health problems won't necessarily come from impact injuries, it will come from accumulated wear and tear. While there might be less banging around than 20 years ago, there is a LOT more space coverage and lateral movement because of much better athletes. It's a different kind of wear and tear, but it's just as problematic for someone his size who will need to play franchise player type minutes. None of the guys you mentioned are over the height threshold either. Guys around 7'0-7'1 or below have been ok even going back decades, the more you get over that height that it's much more of a problem.

[Mirotic12]

There is so much talk about Wemby's height causing injuries, and how centers 7-3 and over can't stay healthy. But his body type isn't just his height. Plenty of giants played without much injury problems.

NBA:

Shawn Bradley: 7-6
Manute Bol: 7-7
Mark Eaton: 7-4
Kareem: (supposedly 7-4 in shoes)

Europe:

Slavko Vranes: 7-6 (played 21 seasons)
Janis Krumins: 7-3 (played to 39)
Vladimir Tkachenko: 7-3 (played 17 seasons)
Aleksandar Radojevic: 7-3 (played 18 seasons)
Bruno Sundov: 7-3 (played 21 seasons)

Yes, there are the obvious examples of ones that had injury and health issues, like: Yao Ming (7-6), Gheorge Muresan (7-7), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (7-3), Arvydas Sabonis (7-3), Rik Smits (7-4), Ralph Sampson (7-4)......but even among that group, guys like Smits, Ilgauskas, and Sabonis had quite long careers, especially Sabonis, who played until he was 39.

Among current players, Kristaps Porzingis at 7-3 has had some injury issues in the NBA, but then there are in EuroLeague 7-3 Walter Tavares, 7-3 Tibor Pleiss, and 7-3 Georgios Papagiannis, that have had almost no injuries at all. And then there is Boban Marjanovic at 7-4, that has had almost no injuries at all in EuroLeague / NBA.

So actually, there are plenty of guys in that height range that had no injury issues really, or that did, but still managed to have very long careers like Sabonis.

[DCasey91]

It doesn't matter what he did in Europe, because the people who make the draft decisions don't understand Europe anyway, hence Luka didn't go #1 even though he was the most obvious #1 since Lebron.
Wemby's team came to America for exhibition games to show off their prospect, Luka's team didn't, that's what made the difference and none of it matters anyway. What matters is how much butt he can kick in the future, and in that regard he is in the same tier as Luka.

If we go by age 16, age 17, age 18, and age 19 performance (so far at least for age 19), all things considered, Luka was clearly the better player at all of those ages. However, if we go by the obvious talent level at said time, then at age 19, Wemby is above Luka.

And yeah, the NBA draft process and evaluation of players in Europe is absolutely ridiculous and it's basically childlike. Wemby played as a solid role player in EuroLeague at age 18, and he was being viewed as an "interesting prospect". Wemby plays as probably like one of the three best players in the top level French League (Nando De Colo and Mike James James would still be better players in EuroLeague), at age 19, and honestly, the NBA isn't even really interested in that at all - it's focus is mainly in the background and secondary to a couple of G-League games.

Which leads to, on the other hand, Wemby plays two games against the G-League, and the NBA goes wild, and also so does US sports media. Wemby was barely even discussed or mentioned in US sports media before those G-League games, and then all of a sudden, after just two G-League games, he's the most talked about and hyped prospect probably ever, or maybe at least since Kareem. All from playing two games against a G-League team that would lose every game in EuroLeague if it played there, going 0-34, and getting blown out probably in every single game.

That combined with Luka going 3rd in the draft is all the proof we need that the NBA is incredibly incompetent and totally ignorant when it comes to anything at all related to European basketball. They have absolutely no clue about it whatsoever.

And the US sports media is even worse. US sports media covers European basketball like it's something taking place on another planet. It's actually totally bizarre how they can't even get the most basic concepts and facts about it right. Like how for many years we heard at the NBA draft, at every single draft, how they thought the EuroLeague was the same exact league as the Spanish League and vice versa, and how they couldn't understand that the EuroLeague was a separate competition, and that it was a clearly better and higher level than the Spanish League. They couldn't even get that right for years and years and years, and then finally, just in like the last couple drafts, someone at the network (maybe an ex player from Europe) must have told them to stop saying that stuff, because of how absurd, clownish, and childish it made them look in Europe.

Or how in NBA games the announcers will often talk about how almost every single player that came from Europe was the EuroLeague MVP, including guys that never won EuroLeague MVP, and even including guys that never even played in EuroLeague. If you go by what is said in NBA games, then there must have been like 150 different players win EuroLeague MVP. Or how they are almost always claiming that every single draft pick from Europe "dominated" in Europe or "EuroLeague". They will make such claims for draft picks that were average role players in junior level high school and college age competitions, or in 3rd tier, 4th tier, or even lower level club competitions in Europe. Or maybe the best one of all, that is so very commonly claimed, the whole "NCAA players or G-League players that weren't good enough to make the NBA, go to EuroLeague and totally dominate." When the reality is, that no such player ever even existed - an American player from the NCAA/G-League that couldn't make an NBA roster if they really wanted to, and that "totally dominated EuroLeague". There are a grand total of zero such examples in history of that ever actually happening. Some of the stuff is just bizarre and like a parody.

Way more talented is a big stretch. If you watched Eurocup 2017 Luka was special. Euroleague nothing more needs to be said, he played like an all star his rookie season in the back half.

If Luka takes one season seriously on his conditioning then watch out.

Wemby for me is in the same ballpark just came from further back

If you put pre draft Luka with his class in summit meets then he would have run circles around everybody. Highly advanced was an understatement back then.

[Mirotic12]

Way more talented is a big stretch. If you watched Eurocup 2017 Luka was special. Euroleague nothing more needs to be said, he played like an all star his rookie season in the back half.

If Luka takes one season seriously on his conditioning then watch out.

Wemby for me is in the same ballpark just came from further back

If you put pre draft Luka with his class in summit meets then he would have run circles around everybody. Highly advanced was an understatement back then.

Luka was clearly a better player at age 19. Their two age 19 seasons in Europe are not even in the same discussion. Winning the French Pro A MVP (and doing so largely off stat padding), barely beating the worst EuroLeague team, that was also injury depleted in the playoff semis, then getting swept by a legit EuroLeague team in the playoff finals (Wemby), is obviously miles away from Luka's age 19 season.

But as much as I love Luka, yeah, Wemby definitely looks more talented to me. Luka will keep the title of best ever age 19 season in Europe, but he's not keeping the title of biggest age 19 prospect coming from Europe.

[Woodsanity]

Wemby is very fortunate to join the Spurs if there is a franchise that can maximize his talent and prevent injury its the Spurs.

[Bornstellar]

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[G R E Y]

Presser tomorrow!

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[manou]

Wemby is very fortunate to join the Spurs if there is a franchise that can maximize his talent and prevent injury its the Spurs.

Right ? I can't think of a better combo.
Pop + Timmy + french connection, they even drafted another french player in the second round. Parker had Wemby on his own pro team one year ago.
I'm not so sure Wemby will be a HoF player (injuries, stamina...), but it's just the perfect fit today, for him, for the team, and even for the league.

Sent from my SM-A146P using RealGM mobile app

[penggemar]

What I love about him beside the physicality and skill is his maturity and deliberation. He said he doesnt like to do halfway and it seems like he's businesslike in a sense that every year he has an objective to achieve and he and his supporting team will make a program to achieve it and he has a discipline and rigour to execute on it.

[G R E Y]

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[G R E Y]

Watch on YouTube

[cam24thomas]

[Luka was clearly a better player at age 19. Their two age 19 seasons in Europe are not even in the same discussion. Winning the French Pro A MVP (and doing so largely off stat padding), barely beating the worst EuroLeague team, that was also injury depleted in the playoff semis, then getting swept by a legit EuroLeague team in the playoff finals (Wemby), is obviously miles away from Luka's age 19 season.

But as much as I love Luka, yeah, Wemby definitely looks more talented to me. Luka will keep the title of best ever age 19 season in Europe, but he's not keeping the title of biggest age 19 prospect coming from Europe.

And Luka's not a 2-way player, so that's where Wemby might have a better rookie NBA season than Luka did.

[Castle Black]

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I was there! It was hot as hell (102°) and we had to wait like 2 hours cause his flight kept getting delayed, but it was worth it in the end. Got to meet Jeremy Sochan too, who came out and signed some autographs for the fans and what not. Overall was pretty dope. Welcome home Wemby.

[clyde21]

man I love this kid...pretty damn close to what I'd have lol

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[hardenASG13]

To those fearing injuries, which can happen to any player, because of his height. How many guys his height have you ever seen that move as fluidly as him? I've seen 0.

[cam24thomas]

He has a very clear voice for a French person, it was like he was speaking his 1st language