Wembanyama. I'm concerned

[tsherkin]

He can shoot free throws, but not 3s. If you remove his games where he shot over 40 percent, his shooting percentage is well under 28 percent which is abysmal.

That... is how distribution works. So if you ignore 12 of the 30 games he's played (really 13, because he shot 37.5% in one other game), he's bad?

That's not a particularly sensible way to approach the shot, especially at the raw percentages at which 3s are shot, hoss. Nearly half of his games are at 40%+. That's not bad at all, that's just how it works when you shoot at that percentage.

[DusterBuster]

How is this even a thread still?

[hardenASG13]

How is this even a thread still?

It's mainly just to discuss Wembanyama. I assume the concern is gone from everyone.

[zero rings]

If you shoot 60% on 2s and 88% from the line, why on earth are you shooting eleven 3s per game at 35%? It is idiotic basketball and it’s just math. It’s not debatable.

Because you can't just get high percentage 2s everytime you want. Wemby is automatic at the rim (82.4 FG%), as can be expected for a guy his height, but on other two pointers he is shooting below 50% so he's better off taking 3s whuich he makes at 35% clip, if we talking purely about simplistic math.

With his size and skillset he should have no problem generating very high percentage 2 point shots nearly every possession. Heck even just having CP3 with Wemby as a lob threat should be near automatic offense.

If Wemby practiced his baby hook as much as he practiced his three point shot he’d be unstoppable.

You need to get close to the basket to attempt a baby hook, and contrary to popular belief, defenders are allowed to be physical, especially on post ups. He's too tall and gangly to bulldoze his way to the basket on every play. He's not Shaq.

Right now he's shooting a respectable percentage from 3 on huge volume, and he's automatic at the rim when he can get there. That's pretty great! If in a few years he can develop a Porzingis-like turnaround from the mid post, he'll be unstoppable.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Except Wemby can shoot.

People have bad games, it happens.

Yeah he 'can' shoot. Problem is he sucks at it.

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

and distance, he takes tons of very deep threes

[Bergmaniac]

Because you can't just get high percentage 2s everytime you want. Wemby is automatic at the rim (82.4 FG%), as can be expected for a guy his height, but on other two pointers he is shooting below 50% so he's better off taking 3s whuich he makes at 35% clip, if we talking purely about simplistic math.

With his size and skillset he should have no problem generating very high percentage 2 point shots nearly every possession. Heck even just having CP3 with Wemby as a lob threat should be near automatic offense.

If Wemby practiced his baby hook as much as he practiced his three point shot he’d be unstoppable.

You need to get close to the basket to attempt a baby hook, and contrary to popular belief, defenders are allowed to be physical, especially on post ups. He's too tall and gangly to bulldoze his way to the basket on every play. He's not Shaq.

Especially when a big is defended by a smaller player in the post after a switch, the refs allow an incredible amount of contact in such situations. It's one of my pet peeves with NBA reffing.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Yeah he 'can' shoot. Problem is he sucks at it.

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

If you shoot 60% on 2s and 88% from the line, why on earth are you shooting eleven 3s per game at 35%? It is idiotic basketball and it’s just math. It’s not debatable.

"just math"... there's a lot of math in basketball, but the model is not nearly that simple.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Yeah he 'can' shoot. Problem is he sucks at it.

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

He can shoot free throws, but not 3s. If you remove his games where he shot over 40 percent, his shooting percentage is well under 28 percent which is abysmal.

lol

[Ryoga Hibiki]

With his size and skillset he should have no problem generating very high percentage 2 point shots nearly every possession. Heck even just having CP3 with Wemby as a lob threat should be near automatic offense.

If Wemby practiced his baby hook as much as he practiced his three point shot he’d be unstoppable.

You need to get close to the basket to attempt a baby hook, and contrary to popular belief, defenders are allowed to be physical, especially on post ups. He's too tall and gangly to bulldoze his way to the basket on every play. He's not Shaq.

Especially when a big is defended by a smaller player in the post after a switch, the refs allow an incredible amount of contact in such situations. It's one of my pet peeves with NBA reffing.

just look at what defenders are allowed to do against Jokic.
moreover, a baby hook is not necessarily a high percentage shot, unless you're literally at the basket (and Wemby can dunk from there all the time).

[Homer38]

Yeah he 'can' shoot. Problem is he sucks at it.

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

He can shoot free throws, but not 3s. If you remove his games where he shot over 40 percent, his shooting percentage is well under 28 percent which is abysmal.

If you remove the game of Steph Curry he did not shot 40% his % is not too impressive

This is a awful argument since Wemby shot 40% or better in 12 of the 30 games(and 11 in the last 21 games),so he can shoot...He is young and with the time he will be more consistant

[tsherkin]

Yeah he 'can' shoot. Problem is he sucks at it.

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

and distance, he takes tons of very deep threes

Yes, and early-clock 3s, too. Needs to clean up his shot selection from 3 quite a lot, and that would help.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

He doesn't suck at it. He's maintaining roughly league-average 3P% on that volume and he's shooting nearly 88% from the foul line. It's very clear that he CAN shoot. The problem is just specific volume of 3s.

and distance, he takes tons of very deep threes

Yes, and early-clock 3s, too. Needs to clean up his shot selection from 3 quite a lot, and that would help.

agree but, to be honest, I trust the Spurs track record.
As for Sochan last year, they are trying to let him expand his game in all directions and, looking at how much he improved over the last 100 games, I am going to hold my judgement.

[lessthanjake]

I think you could argue that Wembanyama has been the 3rd best player in the NBA this year, behind Jokic and SGA. I don’t think he’s clearly 3rd, but I think Jokic and SGA are the only players that are *definitely* above him.

[tsherkin]

and distance, he takes tons of very deep threes

Yes, and early-clock 3s, too. Needs to clean up his shot selection from 3 quite a lot, and that would help.

agree but, to be honest, I trust the Spurs track record.
As for Sochan last year, they are trying to let him expand his game in all directions and, looking at how much he improved over the last 100 games, I am going to hold my judgement.

I have been trying to be patient with it even without understanding why they're letting him bomb like an idiot, but it is difficult.

Still, he's overall already an excellent player, so there is some degree of "eh, at least he's really good anyway" to the whole thing.

[1993Playoffs]

I think you could argue that Wembanyama has been the 3rd best player in the NBA this year, behind Jokic and SGA. I don’t think he’s clearly 3rd, but I think Jokic and SGA are the only players that are *definitely* above him.

Just asking , but Are we even sure about SGA? He’s a amazing scorer and player but the size and defense is too much to ignore

[CobraCommander]

I am no Lebron fan, and didn't like his offensive game either early on, but you're over-simplying and discounting big parts of his game.

Yes 2005 Lebron was a big-time rim pressure scorer like Giannis. He got to the rim a lot and finished like a center. But Lebron had some amount of pull up game. It wasn't efficient, but he hit his long 2s, and was very efficient from the corners that year. You cant really compare that to Giannis. Lebron was also a way better playmaker and raw passer than Giannis, with more functional handle, and the ability to dime guys up in a variety of scenarios. Giannis is an effective passer, but not a super skilled one.

It was also a different era, right at the dawn of the 3-point era, and the Cavs were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league. They had exactly 1 above average 3-point shooter in their rotation: 13 minutes per game of 2nd year Sasha Pavlovic. So it's not like Lebron was coming into a modern offense and being super limited. This team managed above average offense through size, Lebron drives, and offensive rebounding.

Wemby taking deep pull-ups is cooler, but relative to era, Wemby is a far from perfect offensive player. He's more of an experimental one at this point.

Completely agree - as good as wemby is, year two LeBron was better

ree-Point Percentage (3P%): 35.1%
• Free Throw Percentage (FT%): 75.0%
• Games Played: 80
• Minutes per game (MPG): 42.4
• Team Record: 41-39
• Achievements: Selected to his first All-Star game

Victor Wembanyama (2024-2025 Season, as of January 2, 2025):
• Points per game (PPG): 25.6
• Rebounds per game (RPG): 10.0
• Assists per game (APG): 3.9
• Field Goal Percentage (FG%): 48.0%
• Three-Point Percentage (3P%): 35.5%
• Free Throw Percentage (FT%): 87.9%
• Minutes per game (MPG): 32.9
With more blocks than the millennium falcon LEGO set !


It’s close but I think it’s still Lebron cause LBJ was closer to being the best guy in the world than Wemby is right now… if everyone healthy wemby still behind jokic, giannis, embiid, SGA, Luka and Tatum… pretty much in the Kat, Brunson, Jalen Brown, Kyrie. tier - that is above the Edwards tier -

Not saying wemby not better than the guys in his tier - wemby just not better than the guys in the top tier -

But no one in year two other than LeBron in recent memory compares- pre injury rose?

LeBron in year 2 wasn't better than current Jokic/SGA/Giannis either. He didn't hit this tier of MVP impact of those 3 until year 5 realistically. So I think it's a faulty premise to begin with. The reason for it is the league right now is WAY more talented top to bottom. In 08 to 09 area LeBron took the leap from top 5 player to best in league/MVP/first ballot HOF level. Which was his 5th or 6th season depending on which year you consider to be that true leap. 09 was his first MVP, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt for 08.

Long story short? Wemby is on track. LeBron was far ahead of him as an offensive player due to court vision, playmaking.... but he also wasn't DPOY worthy like Wemby so it's hard to compare them directly.

I don’t say this often - but i did some looking and while I emotionally I think you may have a point- LBJ wasn’t the mvp in his second year - but I do think 1- Nash wouldn’t win MVP in todays environment scoring 15 and getting 11 assist while losing 20 games - lol Shaq would have won the mvp if it happened this year cause stats get even more value than just being a great leader… like Nash was. I also think LeBron was CLOSER to Shaq and Nash level than Wemby is to Jokic and the top tier… but honestly I think you have a great point about wemby so… thanks for the thoughtful response.

Wemby is just such a weird player- he is shooting 38% from 3 which is like the best version of Luka - and shooting as many as him.:. Which is great BUT his shooting in the paint could be a 90%… so I don’t like his shot selection but it’s working!!! I literally watch him being better than Rudy in defense and being a shooter like Luka from 3 and he is a baby… the first guy since LBJ that could challenge MJ for the throne - seriously - if he gets a post game why isn’t he gonna be the best ever

[TheProfessor]

I think you could argue that Wembanyama has been the 3rd best player in the NBA this year, behind Jokic and SGA. I don’t think he’s clearly 3rd, but I think Jokic and SGA are the only players that are *definitely* above him.

Just asking , but Are we even sure about SGA? He’s a amazing scorer and player but the size and defense is too much to ignore

SGA is head and shoulders better than Wemby. Wemby might be GOAT-level defensively, which is true. SGA is also an elite defender in his own right. Wemby is a great Finisher offensively, but his playmaking is not that great. SGA is the complete package offensively. Wemby is currently a rich man's Jaren Jackson; SGA is a high-end Chinese knock-off of MJ currently.

[BigGargamel]

I think you could argue that Wembanyama has been the 3rd best player in the NBA this year, behind Jokic and SGA. I don’t think he’s clearly 3rd, but I think Jokic and SGA are the only players that are *definitely* above him.

Just asking , but Are we even sure about SGA? He’s a amazing scorer and player but the size and defense is too much to ignore

Wembanyama is coming but not yet. Joker and SGA are currently the two best players in the NBA, and I would put Giannis up there as well. After that though, you could make a case for Wemby.

[Kobe187]

Wembanyama is a top 5 player at the age of 21, this kid is going to be amazing by the time he’s 24. More points in his first 100 games played than LeBron, KD & Carmelo.

[UglyBugBall]

I think you could argue that Wembanyama has been the 3rd best player in the NBA this year, behind Jokic and SGA. I don’t think he’s clearly 3rd, but I think Jokic and SGA are the only players that are *definitely* above him.

Just asking , but Are we even sure about SGA? He’s a amazing scorer and player but the size and defense is too much to ignore

Wembanyama is coming but not yet. Joker and SGA are currently the two best players in the NBA, and I would put Giannis up there as well. After that though, you could make a case for Wemby.

Huh? You're seriously saying you'd take SGA for a playoff run over Luka?