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

[Swish1906]

Read on Twitter

Is anyone else skeptical this string bean is gonna have a similar impact with the NBA big boys?

Probably just the people who thought that Luka is too slow and unathletic and won’t be able to do his thing against “NBA defenses”

[Exp0sed]

it'd be nicer to see him doing it vs better competition
not that the national team or the Scoot games etc. aren't enough and it's not that i think he can't do it vs NBA competition (he can) but the gaudy numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, he is playing against a very weak level of competition

[remi_222]

it'd be nicer to see him doing it vs better competition
not that the national team or the Scoot games etc. aren't enough and it's not that i think he can't do it vs NBA competition (he can) but the gaudy numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, he is playing against a very weak level of competition

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

[Exp0sed]

it'd be nicer to see him doing it vs better competition
not that the national team or the Scoot games etc. aren't enough and it's not that i think he can't do it vs NBA competition (he can) but the gaudy numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, he is playing against a very weak level of competition

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

[KokoKaizer]

it'd be nicer to see him doing it vs better competition
not that the national team or the Scoot games etc. aren't enough and it's not that i think he can't do it vs NBA competition (he can) but the gaudy numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, he is playing against a very weak level of competition

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Yes it is the 1st and his team is actually on top of it

[Exp0sed]

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Yes it is the 1st and his team is actually on top of it

that's good
If he is legit and it certainly looks like he is a legit generational talent, I would expect his ability even at 18 to translate to wins \ championship in France

and that seems to be the case, hope he continues to say healthy
He might be a very impactful rookie as well, the team that's lucky to draft him better be prepared, he might make it very hard to keep tanking even as a rookie

[UcanUwill]

it'd be nicer to see him doing it vs better competition
not that the national team or the Scoot games etc. aren't enough and it's not that i think he can't do it vs NBA competition (he can) but the gaudy numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt, he is playing against a very weak level of competition

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

[Exp0sed]

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

if it was just being 7'5 and agile etc. like he was a year or two ago, that might be true but since he actually learned how to shoot and a has a guard-like faceup game and dribble etc - i don't think it's suprising at all..

even at 18..it makes perfect sense that he is the most impactful player in the French league i.e. just imagine KAJ playing as a teenager over there..he'll def be the best player in the league bt far, and when u have a superstar - ur gonna win games

[remi_222]

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

if it was just being 7'5 and agile etc. like he was a year or two ago, that might be true but since he actually learned how to shoot and a has a guard-like faceup game and dribble etc - i don't think it's suprising at all..

even at 18..it makes perfect sense that he is the most impactful player in the French league i.e. just imagine KAJ playing as a teenager over there..he'll def be the best player in the league bt far, and when u have a superstar - ur gonna win games

I can tell you're not american

[big-shot-ROB]

You are fooling yourself if you say that please stop !!! You probably talk every year abt NCAA players, which is a far less level on average than French Leagu, and have no problem transfering their skills to the NBA ! He'd be scoring 50 pts, 25 reb, 10 bl a game in the NCAA and in this case you'd be wet !

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

[Exp0sed]

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

that's a stretch

which % of NCAA division players go on to be pro players?
forget NBA, i'm talking playing basketball for a living in general

all the top European divisions\leauges are made up out of pro players, not to mention NCAA players being younger

if u think it's just Spain and Russia or whatever that are better than NCAA division 1..i'll have whatever ur smoking

[big-shot-ROB]

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

that's a stretch

which % of NCAA division players go on to be pro players?
forget NBA, i'm talking playing basketball for a living in general

all the top European divisions\leauges are made up out of pro players, not to mention NCAA players being younger

if u think it's just Spain and Russia or whatever that are better than NCAA division 1..i'll have whatever ur smoking

Some of those pro players are just getting by. My hometown has a team in the ACB but outside of the top-5 teams, salaries ain't that great. Yeah, they can live out of playing bball but it's not lime they're going to save enough to retire at 35 like proper pro players.

Not all players that don't make it to the NBA want to go play overseas. Euroleague is dominated by NBA rejects. I'm not saying the basketball isn't better (which it is), but I don't think NCAA players are scrubs compared to Europe.

Mikey Tobey, Kyle Guy, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shane Larkin. This are guys that didn't even sniff the league or were barely hanging by.

You're telling me at least 30%-40% of D1 starting players couldn't give you what they are giving?

If I was an american born player I'd be hesitant to go play overseas to be a starter in the French League. I'm pretty sure most regular jobs in the states pay better or at least the same + being close to home.

I don't think the reasons you don't see more NCAA 4-Y players go play overseas is cause they're not good enough

[big-shot-ROB]

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

that's a stretch

which % of NCAA division players go on to be pro players?
forget NBA, i'm talking playing basketball for a living in general

all the top European divisions\leauges are made up out of pro players, not to mention NCAA players being younger

if u think it's just Spain and Russia or whatever that are better than NCAA division 1..i'll have whatever ur smoking

Some of those pro players are just getting by. My hometown has a team in the ACB but outside of the top-5 teams, salaries ain't that great. Yeah, they can live out of playing bball but it's not lime they're going to save enough to retire at 35 like proper pro players.

Not all players that don't make it to the NBA want to go play overseas. Euroleague is dominated by NBA rejects. I'm not saying the basketball isn't better (which it is), but I don't think NCAA players are scrubs compared to Europe.

Mikey Tobey, Kyle Guy, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shane Larkin. This are guys that didn't even sniff the league or were barely hanging by.

You're telling me at least 30%-40% of D1 starting players couldn't give you what they are giving?

If I was an american born player I'd be hesitant to go play overseas to be a starter in the French League. I'm pretty sure most regular jobs in the states pay better or at least the same + being close to home.

I don't think the reasons you don't see more NCAA 4-Y players go play overseas is cause they're not good enough

All the European competitions are leagues above, but at least in Spain quality drops a hell of a lot outside the top-10, and it's clearly regarded as the top country-based league in Europe

[Exp0sed]

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

that's a stretch

which % of NCAA division players go on to be pro players?
forget NBA, i'm talking playing basketball for a living in general

all the top European divisions\leauges are made up out of pro players, not to mention NCAA players being younger

if u think it's just Spain and Russia or whatever that are better than NCAA division 1..i'll have whatever ur smoking

Some of those pro players are just getting by. My hometown has a team in the ACB but outside of the top-5 teams, salaries ain't that great. Yeah, they can live out of playing bball but it's not lime they're going to save enough to retire at 35 like proper pro players.

Not all players that don't make it to the NBA want to go play overseas. Euroleague is dominated by NBA rejects. I'm not saying the basketball isn't better (which it is), but I don't think NCAA players are scrubs compared to Europe.

Mikey Tobey, Kyle Guy, Rodrigue Beaubois, Shane Larkin. This are guys that didn't even sniff the league or were barely hanging by.

You're telling me at least 30%-40% of D1 starting players couldn't give you what they are giving?

If I was an american born player I'd be hesitant to go play overseas to be a starter in the French League. I'm pretty sure most regular jobs in the states pay better or at least the same + being close to home.

I don't think the reasons you don't see more NCAA 4-Y players go play overseas is cause they're not good enough

I agree that not every player that could be passable in Europe desires to go there, relocating ur entire life and being a foreigner, away from ur mamma's cooking is not for everyone, and u like u say- some of these guys can find different athletic careers or non athletic careers that would pay similar money in the states

but ur way off regarding 30/40% of D1 starters

moreover guys who couldn't make it as young guys (such as Roddy, Larkin etc.) are in their primes now (or past those primes but that's besides the point)

when they were 20 they wouldn't be able to give u what guys in their prime give u in the ACB or elsewhere

anyway I won't derail this thread further but ur way off

[LamarMatic7]

:banghead: We truly live in a backwards world where up is down left is right and movies play like Momento backwards, and the only real winner in the NBA will be the ones who lose the most and have a chance at the greatest prize the NBA draft has ever offered.

Is Wemby worth all this suffering!? Absolutely, he will be the most incredible combination of KD and Wilt, Lebron and Kareem, or perhaps if we're not so lucky Michael Olowokandi and LaRue Martin.

Without further crying, here is the list. Thanks for ESPN for now posting the league standings in reverse order by default for us. They get it.



We can now see things starting to fall in place. LA is finally moving out the list and the Thunder are moving down. Probably the Jazz will eventually join them to create an hopelessly stinky eight. Remember for this contest, we really only need to look at the WIN column and it's really very close there. Magic, Rockets and Pistons are in a deadlock for first. Was there ever any doubt they would be here?

Watch for these three teams to start having more and more injured players and start to trade any decent vets that might have value. Bojan will be gone from Detroit no doubt along with Burks probably. Magic I expect will trade off Bol Bol since they should be able to get some valuable picks for him. "Sell high!" says trader Danny. Maybe Bamba too. A twofur! Rockets well they got nothing, the perfect team for this competition! It's like they were built for this race!

One quarter of the season is done but it feels like an eternity god help us.

If the teams are close enough, the last week might turn into a circus. Given how Silver sort of warned everybody, I wonder whether somebody goes as far as topping moments like this one.

Read on Twitter

[UcanUwill]

i'm not American lol

but tbh i thought he was playing in the French 2nd division for some reason
if it's the first division as I have just discovered that it's def enough and certainly better than NCAA

Good you admitted your mistake. Yes, France league is ok, It is better than G league or D1 or many other European leagues, and his team surprisingly doing very well. He is also playing for coach Collet, who is France National team coach. No one in EUrope is doubting his talent, but people looked skeptical at how his team started the season, playing against Ignite and all, lots of people said that team is just a VW vanity project, and thats why his stats are this stupid, but his team winning games, so that argument goes out the window now, he legit turned his average team to title contenders in France.

Would have been nice to see him in Euroleague, but oh well. He still looks like he might be best player in Europe already, its either Victor or Sasha Vazenkov, and Victor is 18, he is arguably better than Luka was, and I would never even imagine saying that 6 months ago.

I think I'll have to disagree on the french league being better than D1 basketball, I think only ACB, Süper and VTB are clearly better

I am not expert, but I find that hard to believe. Isn't D1 very wide, meaning there are lots of teams, most of being not even close to any pro level? Like we can argue top D1 teams like Gonzaga, Duke etc being better, but on average, I dont know about that? We have lots of really relevant college seniors who become complete nobodies in Europe, like Karnowski or Mockevicius come to mind. Of course lots of former college players become euro stars, usually AMerican guards, so I am not really sure. As I said, I am not expert, but college always seemed comparable to me with FIBA U19, and FIBA U19 is stratospheres behind top Euro pro leagues.

[JXL]

He's gonna look good in a Spurs jersey.

[sfernald]

:banghead: We truly live in a backwards world where up is down left is right and movies play like Momento backwards, and the only real winner in the NBA will be the ones who lose the most and have a chance at the greatest prize the NBA draft has ever offered.

Is Wemby worth all this suffering!? Absolutely, he will be the most incredible combination of KD and Wilt, Lebron and Kareem, or perhaps if we're not so lucky Michael Olowokandi and LaRue Martin.

Without further crying, here is the list. Thanks for ESPN for now posting the league standings in reverse order by default for us. They get it.



We can now see things starting to fall in place. LA is finally moving out the list and the Thunder are moving down. Probably the Jazz will eventually join them to create an hopelessly stinky eight. Remember for this contest, we really only need to look at the WIN column and it's really very close there. Magic, Rockets and Pistons are in a deadlock for first. Was there ever any doubt they would be here?

Watch for these three teams to start having more and more injured players and start to trade any decent vets that might have value. Bojan will be gone from Detroit no doubt along with Burks probably. Magic I expect will trade off Bol Bol since they should be able to get some valuable picks for him. "Sell high!" says trader Danny. Maybe Bamba too. A twofur! Rockets well they got nothing, the perfect team for this competition! It's like they were built for this race!

One quarter of the season is done but it feels like an eternity god help us.

If the teams are close enough, the last week might turn into a circus. Given how Silver sort of warned everybody, I wonder whether somebody goes as far as topping moments like this one.

Read on Twitter

I expect it will! The greatest circus on earth is coming!

[Marcus]

He's absolutely destroying his competition.

The improvement he has had from 1 year ago is very noticiable (and he was already quite good before).

he seems to have finally become fully aware of the fact that he can't really have his shot challenged so you see him taking his time and making sure his mechanics are in order before he shoots now. it's making a world of difference via confidence and results. There's still some basketball there to learn but he looks as impressive as advertised and number 1 is his to lose.

[Marcus]

Read on Twitter

Is anyone else skeptical this string bean is gonna have a similar impact with the NBA big boys?

Obviously he'll need to get stronger and the coaching staff will need to yell at him in any and every language he speaks to NOT BRING THE BALL DOWN AFTER A REBOUND. Other than that the kid should be good. the gifts are the gifts. the fluidity is nutty. he wants to be great and he's becoming a better basketball player as the season goes on. He looks like a difference maker out there and there's enough shot making variance to get him buckets until the weight gets put on.

The future of the league looks to be in excellent hands.