Wembanyama. I'm concerned

[Shock Defeat]

I see Wemby as someone good but will not live up to the hype. I am not sure he will even be better than Giannis, ever.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

I see Wemby as someone good but will not live up to the hype. I am not sure he will even be better than Giannis, ever.

He'll be better than Giannis, he's already on a Giannis like trajectory with his body and is way ahead of where Giannis was at 20 from a skill stand point. I think that is really what people are missing with him, it's that the full game doesn't open up until he's strong enough to post up, then he'll be a true inside/outside threat. At 250-260lbs he'll be heavy enough to abuse the wing switches, and entirely too quick / long for most C matchups.

[hauntedcomputer]

It's unsettling how he plays so small. He may as well be 6'10" if little guys are swatting it out of his hands.

Should start with a sky hook and work outwards. That alone would be good for 30,000 career points.

[bledredwine]

Jimmy Butler had an awful sophomore season (or was it third? forgot)

I remember telling our Bulls forum to wait and that he'd be a star.

Wemby will be really really good. Perhaps we jumped the gun with GOAT talk, but at the very least,
he'll be really, really good.

[CBS7]

People crapped on me when I said Ant had a better rookie year.

as they should

[tsherkin]

Jimmy Butler had an awful sophomore season (or was it third? forgot)

I remember telling our Bulls forum to wait and that he'd be a star.

Wemby will be really really good. Perhaps we jumped the gun with GOAT talk, but at the very least,
he'll be really, really good.

Yeah, I mean, if he's able to stay healthy, the D and rebounding alone will make him a star. And he does show signs on offense, he just needs to get himself organized and more consistent, and moved away from this love of the perimeter.

[benhillboy]

Jimmy Butler had an awful sophomore season (or was it third? forgot)

I remember telling our Bulls forum to wait and that he'd be a star.

Wemby will be really really good. Perhaps we jumped the gun with GOAT talk, but at the very least,
he'll be really, really good.

Definately his third season where he posted his lowest win share per 48 at .131. For reference that is Chris Webber’s career mark.

As for Victor W I’ve been rarely impressed outside of the occasional cut through the lane. Balance and IQ leave much to be desired. I don’t care how much weight he adds he doesn’t project anywhere near the dominant two way impact expected.

[NYPiston]

27% in his rookie season

32.5%, but yeah, it wasn't amazing. The framework is there, but he needs to be more selective about those shots.

Sorry, you're right. I was thinking of this years percentage (game).
Regardless, my point stands. He'll need to get that up to 36-37%+ like Chet for instance as a high volume lead guy. He probably will but it's fine to make note of it until he improves to an above average level.

[tsherkin]

27% in his rookie season

32.5%, but yeah, it wasn't amazing. The framework is there, but he needs to be more selective about those shots.

Sorry, you're right. I was thinking of this years percentage (game).

12.5% in his first game this season

Regardless, my point stands. He'll need to get that up to 36-37%+ like Chet for instance as a high volume lead guy. He probably will but it's fine to make note of it until he improves to an above average level.

I think he just needs to work on his shot selection and reduce volume. He shoots far too many of them. He took 2.4 pull-up 3s per game last season, and shot 37.6%... but shot 28.2% on 3.1 catch-and-shoot 3s. And he was 1/7 on catch-and-shoot 3s in his opener this year. Clearly, he has some issues with those kinds of shots, but he just doesn't really adjust his shot selection intelligently yet.

[The Servant]

I see Wemby as someone good but will not live up to the hype. I am not sure he will even be better than Giannis, ever.

I think Wemby is already a better defender...

If you compared year 1 Wemby to year 1 Giannis you'd be shocked:

Year 1 Giannis: 6/2/4.5/0.8
Year 1 Wemby: 21/10.6/4/3.6

Year 2 Giannis: 13/7/2.5/0.9

[Bernman]

My uncle is a custodian at Area 51 & he saw aliens' frail bodies degenerating rapidly. Here's when Wemby 1st emerged.

[dc]

I see Wemby as someone good but will not live up to the hype. I am not sure he will even be better than Giannis, ever.

This is your typical Game 1 of the season overreaction.

There were times last year when the guy looked 8 feet tall and was like a grown adult playing in the driveway vs toddlers. 1st team all defense as a 19/20 year old rookie.

It's only a mater of time before people start calling this guy unfair and it's gonna look like Wilt in the 60s playing vs. a bunch of car salesman.

[ItsDanger]

Wemby is super talented but is he actually improving the overall team performance? Year 2 should be about expanding your game. It's the 3rd season when the excuses should decline and valid criticism begins.

[tsherkin]

Wemby is super talented but is he actually improving the overall team performance? Year 2 should be about expanding your game. It's the 3rd season when the excuses should decline and valid criticism begins.

I think we have to also wait and see what exactly Pops is doing, because he surely isn't putting the clamps to Wemby and trying to optimize his approach in-game. Which is interesting.

[sikma42]

Wemby is super talented but is he actually improving the overall team performance? Year 2 should be about expanding your game. It's the 3rd season when the excuses should decline and valid criticism begins.

I think we have to also wait and see what exactly Pops is doing, because he surely isn't putting the clamps to Wemby and trying to optimize his approach in-game. Which is interesting.

This. I've been wondering since last year...is there goal to win games? Last year it wasn't. Not sure if that has changed. If so, Zach Collins wouldn't be playing and they'd find a suitable complement to Wemby.

[tsherkin]

Wemby is super talented but is he actually improving the overall team performance? Year 2 should be about expanding your game. It's the 3rd season when the excuses should decline and valid criticism begins.

I think we have to also wait and see what exactly Pops is doing, because he surely isn't putting the clamps to Wemby and trying to optimize his approach in-game. Which is interesting.

This. I've been wondering since last year...is there goal to win games? Last year it wasn't. Not sure if that has changed. If so, Zach Collins wouldn't be playing and they'd find a suitable complement to Wemby.

It's hard to imagine them being particularly good this year, so I don't imagine they're going to be looking at chasing wins too hard this year.

[Bornstellar]

We're doing this hot take after 1 game ish again this season? Did y'all not learn after this thread originally got made and Vic made the OP look silly? Guess we're gonna be bumping this thread all year again

[User9992]

I see Wemby as someone good but will not live up to the hype. I am not sure he will even be better than Giannis, ever.

I think Wemby is already a better defender...

If you compared year 1 Wemby to year 1 Giannis you'd be shocked:

Year 1 Giannis: 6/2/4.5/0.8
Year 1 Wemby: 21/10.6/4/3.6

Year 2 Giannis: 13/7/2.5/0.9

Current Wemby is nowhere near Luka when he was in his age... Like nowhere near. Luka was far, far ahead of Wemby.

[Duke4life831]

I do think his size is completely wasted on the offensive side.

The issue is, too often he tries to play like he’s KD. The issue with this is, he’s not KD and he will never come close to KD. KD has been an elite shooter since he was at Oak Hills in HS. Wemby has never even been a good shooter.

Teams can just throw their 4 on him and let him coast out on the perimeter.

While if he decided that say 85% of his shots were to come at the rim, while tossing in a few perimeter plays as a change up. Opposing teams would be screwed. If he were to get 1-2 go to moves close within in it basket, with his natural skill and touch. Even a team with a long defensive ace like Dallas has with Lively, they would still struggle with that match up.

The good news is with his defense, he’s always going to have a huge impact. And his size alone will keep him pretty efficient on offense, so he’s not ever going to be some offensive limitation. So basically baseline for him if he stays healthy is All NBA team level of impact. Just feel like he could truly be a freak two way guy if he decided for his offense to primarily be a down low guy taking advantage of his size and skill.

[Bad Bart]

He plays like KD because he's built like an even more extreme version of KD. I think Wemby wants to post more but he doesn't have the strength to establish good position and ends up getting pushed off the block.