Wemby is the best…

[Ambrose]

Can we just have nice things without people going out of their way to ruin them? Wemby is amazing. We don't need this nonsense to appreciate him.

[BigGargamel]

This board just can't help itself. A bunch of hyperactive hot takes all over the place.

Talent, uniqueness and best are not the same thing. He has a chance to be a top 10 player of all time. Why can't that be enough? Why the constant hyperbole all the time? It's silly.

[SNPA]

There is no prize for being the first to say he's the best ever.

Don't know why people are rushing to say this.

Haha. I said he would be at the start of his rookie year. I’ve watched him recently and think he is now there.

So you made a prediction and are willing it to be true extremely early. I'd say that's a strong bias.

Until a player has been able to be the best in the league for multiple years you can't claim this. Every other best player had to go through teams building their roster and strategy to defend them or score on them.

Until that happens, you won't know how great Wemby is.

I’m making no claim to neutrality.

The push back so far has been essentially he has not won enough yet. That push back was ruled out in the OP. I know he has not won as much as others, we all know that. That’s a boring premise. The premise proposed is different.

[CobraCommander]

I think he has the highest upside possible but becoming the best ever takes a lot more than talent and size...there is a lot of winning and winning in high leverage moments.

Sports isn't a Beauty contest or a talent show...its a meritocracy...and its why MJ is the greatest and Wilt isn't regardless of stats...and why SGA, is ahead of luka when Luka and SGA are as close to even as two players could be....like how giannis and jokic are close...winning matters in competition and Wemby isn't better than SGA, Jokic or Giannis, Curry, Lebron or KD yet...you have to do something like hoist a trophy....and I know people say..ring chasing doesn't matter...but those are people that don't live in the west or understand that sports is about winning not about skills or ability...its about winning period everything else is optional in the debate of greatest ever.

[SkyBill40]

I wonder what people would say if Wilt Chamberlain had stepped foot on a basketball court for the first time in 2025.

Wemby is more skilled though….

According to what, exactly? Chamberlain in this day and age would be so incredibly dominant that Wemby might look like a highly talented bench player. Dude has tremendous skill, no doubt... but the recency bias is STRONG in this conversation. The game as we know it was changed at it's core because of just how dominant Wilt was. They haven't changed anything because of Wemby and the likelihood they do anything of that sort borders on moot.

[prime1time]

The issue is how does one define best. In terms of ability to impact winning? Wemby will certainly be the best imo. I don't know if he's quite there right now since he just started attacking the hoop and teams will try numerous things to stop him but if you just watch him play for a couple of minutes it becomes obvious that he has a chance to end the GOAT debate. That height, that wingspan, that skill level it's laughable. But just as impressive is his mindset. Living in a post Jordan world and knowing what MJ accomplished he has a chance to chase and surpass him. Modern NBA with its crazy luxury taces will find it nearly impossible to build a team that can compete with him.

[SNPA]

The Wilt analogue was sure to come up. I think he is likely the best comparison point. VW is 4-5 inches taller and better with the ball. He’s is a better defender today IMO. His offensive game is more diverse IMO. His passing is really good, of course Wilt led the league one year and Wemby is not at that level. The point isn’t that he is the best at everything across the board though, the point is cumulatively he is the best. I’d take him over Wilt. I don’t write that lightly. Wemby is making grown men look like 9 year olds against their dad in the driveway. None of it is normal, even by all time great standards.

Shaq will come up too. I watched Vlade and Pollard do enough to beat prime Shaq. Wemby will obviously never be the bully ball player Shaq was but outside of that aspect?

[Yoshun]

For any one single game, I'd still take MJ.

I'm a huge Wemby fan, but if it's one game and I need a win, give me MJ.

[prime1time]

I wonder what people would say if Wilt Chamberlain had stepped foot on a basketball court for the first time in 2025.

Wemby is more skilled though….

According to what, exactly? Chamberlain in this day and age would be so incredibly dominant that Wemby might look like a talented bench player. Dude has skill, no doubt... but recency bias is STRONG in this conversation. The game as we know it was changed at it's core because of just how dominant Wilt was. They haven't changed anything because of Wemby and the likelihood they do anything of that sort borders on moot.

Wilt is a fair question but ultimately 2 championships is simply not enough. Imo, Kareem is better than Wilt. Wilt only one 4 MVPs. Kareem won 5 MVPS in 7 seasons. In terms of skill as good as Wilt was he couldn't make free throws. Wilt was a career 51.1% from the free throw line. Wemby doesn't have that weakness. And Wilt was only 7'1 with a 7'8 wingspan. Wemby is 7'6 with an 8 foot wingspan. A vastly better shooter. And overall just a better mentality. Wilt loved basketball for what it did for him. And was known just as much for his off the court activities as for his own the court activities. Wemby simply wants to be the best.

And he works on his game.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10139672-video-wemby-calls-out-some-nba-players-for-not-doing-as-much-work-as-i-thought

"How, in a good way, some of them are really impressive and inspiring in the way they approach the game every night, but others that I used to like and now it's like, nah, I'm not sure that they deserve it. They don't seem like they put in as much work as I thought."

This tells you all you need to know about Wemby. He's just getting started. He wants to dominate and he's willing to put the work in.

[SNPA]

For any one single game, I'd still take MJ.

I'm a huge Wemby fan, but if it's one game and I need a win, give me MJ.

Respectable position. And relevant to the premise.

I was a Bird for a single game person. Now I’m Wemby. It’s just too much.

[KGtabake]

The Wilt analogue was sure to come up. I think he is likely the best comparison point. VW is 4-5 inches taller and better with the ball. He’s is a better defender today IMO. His offensive game is more diverse IMO. His passing is really good, of course Wilt led the league one year and Wemby is not at that level. The point isn’t that he is the best at everything across the board though, the point is cumulatively he is the best. I’d take him over Wilt. I don’t write that lightly. Wemby is make grown men look like 9 year olds against their dad in the driveway. None of it is normal, even by all time great standards.

Shaw will come up too. I watched Vlade and Pollard do enough to beat prime Shaq. Wemby will obviously never be the bully ball player Shaw was but outside of that aspect?

Wilt Chamberlain has a case of being the greatest athlete of all time. Not just the greatest basketball athlete. The greatest athlete in general. He excelled in different sports in an era where sports nutrition was an anecdote.
Wilt Chamberlain in his 3rd year was 265 libres.

If they play one on one Wemby will be forced to shoot only from outside because he will not be able to push Wilt inside. Wilt was a colossal defender as well.
Wilt will post him repeatedly because Wemby outside of some blocks will not have the strength, or the stamina to push him out.

If Wemby adds muscle in the future, this will definitely be more interesting.
As it is now(3rd year vs 3rd year), you're underestimating what kind of athlete Wilt was.

[Johnny Tomala]

If titles are not included in all-time ranking of players then it's Jordan, Wilt for me. Since I rate whole career of player, I have Wilt as 5th all time, but I doubt Wemby will ever come close to Wilt greatness. Wilt is taken for granted on many boards and ESPN (who had Magic over him all time).

[Patches Perry]

Haha. I said he would be at the start of his rookie year. I’ve watched him recently and think he is now there.

So you made a prediction and are willing it to be true extremely early. I'd say that's a strong bias.

Until a player has been able to be the best in the league for multiple years you can't claim this. Every other best player had to go through teams building their roster and strategy to defend them or score on them.

Until that happens, you won't know how great Wemby is.

I’m making no claim to neutrality.

The push back so far has been essentially he has won enough yet. That push back was ruled out in the OP. I know he has not won as much as others, we all know that. That’s a boring premise. The premise proposed is different.

You excluded criteria but didn't establish a positive criteria for what we should actually answer the question against.

If its 1 game of the highest stakes, I'd pick many players over him who have actually played in intense playoff series' and games.

[SNPA]

The Wilt analogue was sure to come up. I think he is likely the best comparison point. VW is 4-5 inches taller and better with the ball. He’s is a better defender today IMO. His offensive game is more diverse IMO. His passing is really good, of course Wilt led the league one year and Wemby is not at that level. The point isn’t that he is the best at everything across the board though, the point is cumulatively he is the best. I’d take him over Wilt. I don’t write that lightly. Wemby is make grown men look like 9 year olds against their dad in the driveway. None of it is normal, even by all time great standards.

Shaw will come up too. I watched Vlade and Pollard do enough to beat prime Shaq. Wemby will obviously never be the bully ball player Shaw was but outside of that aspect?

Wilt Chamberlain has a case of being the greatest athlete of all time. Not just the greatest basketball athlete. The greatest athlete in general. He excelled in different sports in an era where sports nutrition was an anecdote.
Wilt Chamberlain in his 3rd year was 265 libres.

If they play one on one Wemby will be forced to shoot only from outside because he will not be able to push Wilt inside. Wilt was a colossal defender as well.
Wilt will post him repeatedly because Wemby outside of some blocks will not have the strength, or the stamina to push him out.

If Wemby adds muscle in the future, this will definitely be more interesting.
As it is now(3rd year vs 3rd year), you're underestimating what kind of athlete Wilt was.

I agree Wilt is the best athlete and likely best ever. But the question is about basketball player. I see more basketball abilities from Wemby.

[SNPA]

So you made a prediction and are willing it to be true extremely early. I'd say that's a strong bias.

Until a player has been able to be the best in the league for multiple years you can't claim this. Every other best player had to go through teams building their roster and strategy to defend them or score on them.

Until that happens, you won't know how great Wemby is.

I’m making no claim to neutrality.

The push back so far has been essentially he has won enough yet. That push back was ruled out in the OP. I know he has not won as much as others, we all know that. That’s a boring premise. The premise proposed is different.

You excluded criteria but didn't establish a positive criteria for what we should actually answer the question against.

If its 1 game of the highest stakes, I'd pick many players over him who have actually played in intense playoff series' and games.

When I watch a game at any level I can spot the best player. It doesn’t need a specific definition for me to know it.

[NyKnicks1714]

I think he has the highest upside

That's all OP needed to say.

[SkyHook]

I've been on RealGM for nearly a quarter century and this is right up there among the dumbest [expletive redacted] things I've ever seen on here.

[Capn'O]

He's not the best player yet but I'm comfortable saying he's the best prospect I've ever seen including MJ and LeBron. His ceiling is bananas and he's well on his way towards reaching it.

I think he has the highest upside possible but becoming the best ever takes a lot more than talent and size...there is a lot of winning and winning in high leverage moments.

Sports isn't a Beauty contest or a talent show...its a meritocracy...and its why MJ is the greatest and Wilt isn't regardless of stats...and why SGA, is ahead of luka when Luka and SGA are as close to even as two players could be....like how giannis and jokic are close...winning matters in competition and Wemby isn't better than SGA, Jokic or Giannis, Curry, Lebron or KD yet...you have to do something like hoist a trophy....and I know people say..ring chasing doesn't matter...but those are people that don't live in the west or understand that sports is about winning not about skills or ability...its about winning period everything else is optional in the debate of greatest ever.

This is a big reason why though I think of it as performance in big moments. With that, I might still have Luka over SGA if his finals performance substantially outshone SGA's, even in a loss, but it didn't really.

[Optms]

Anyway he has a higher ceiling than MJ and LeBron. He’s already a much better defender than those guys can ever dream of. Plus his offense is crazy too.

Wemby has a higher ceiling than anyone in history. That isn't even debatable at this point and I say that as an old head.

[Patches Perry]

I’m making no claim to neutrality.

The push back so far has been essentially he has won enough yet. That push back was ruled out in the OP. I know he has not won as much as others, we all know that. That’s a boring premise. The premise proposed is different.

You excluded criteria but didn't establish a positive criteria for what we should actually answer the question against.

If its 1 game of the highest stakes, I'd pick many players over him who have actually played in intense playoff series' and games.

When I watch a game at any level I can spot the best player. It doesn’t need a specific definition for me to know it.

There's no shortage of people who know things that aren't actually true. Thats why some metric or criteria is useful for discussion.