Wembanyama's rookie season

[Patches Perry]

II'd say LeBron, Shaq and Duncan are the only ones better in the last 30 years.

Wemby's rookie season was better than LeBron's

Statistically I agree. Wemby is headed for all time great status without question but I can't get past the net zero impact on wins in his rookie season.

[KrAzY3]

Robinson is a Christian dude who believes his body is his temple etc. He also came out of the Navy and they're strict.

Don't disagree, but I'm sure he fed his temple with the right supplements in the free wheeling 90s.

I can show a picture of LeBron looking jacked in his late 30s, and LeBron has ties to someone connected to a PED scandal along with playing in a hotbed of PEDs in Miami and having abnormal longevity (Robinson didn't find the fountain of youth late in his career like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens did).

Nevertheless, he's generally not accused of taking PEDs. So which is it? We gonna say everyone with big muscles took steroids or are we going to wait until there's concrete proof? Because if we're going just off assumptions, then quite a few superstars should come up first when it comes to PEDs before we start pointing the finger at Robinson.

[Ein Sof]

Robinson is a Christian dude who believes his body is his temple etc. He also came out of the Navy and they're strict.

Don't disagree, but I'm sure he fed his temple with the right supplements in the free wheeling 90s.

I can show a picture of LeBron looking jacked in his late 30s, and LeBron has ties to someone connected to a PED scandal along with playing in a hotbed of PEDs in Miami and having abnormal longevity (Robinson didn't find the fountain of youth late in his career like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens did).

Nevertheless, he's generally not accused of taking PEDs.

But he is on PEDs, like everyone else.

Also are you joking with that bolded part or what?

[Lalouie]

there is no reason to evaluate wemby any longer until sas actually builds players around him

[docholliday99]

there is no reason to evaluate wemby any longer until sas actually builds players around him

This, was writing a long post about this but deleted it, as this post basically sums it up.

[UglyBugBall]

Most already knew it, but this makes the debate as to who the next face of the NBA is once LeBron and Steph retire so funny. There is a 7'5'', humble, likeable and insanely marketable alien roaming around the league and (some) people are asking whether Tatum and Edwards can fill the void.

Luka is the next face of it. Wemby is way too nice, polite and bland to carry a brand.

Wemby has significantly more engagement with fans on social media than Luka who is obviously amazing. The NBA has been a lot more aggressive with their marketing of wemby than Luka

The single most replayed play of the season was a Luka play... According to the NBA: https://www.instagram.com/nba/reel/C5yOXTrLFOr/

Despite Wemby having a huge advantage as he is a shiny new toy. I watched Wembys replays too because I wanted to see what the hype was about this rookie, but I doubt I'll check them out next season.

[Lalouie]

Don't disagree, but I'm sure he fed his temple with the right supplements in the free wheeling 90s.

I can show a picture of LeBron looking jacked in his late 30s, and LeBron has ties to someone connected to a PED scandal along with playing in a hotbed of PEDs in Miami and having abnormal longevity (Robinson didn't find the fountain of youth late in his career like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens did).

Nevertheless, he's generally not accused of taking PEDs.

But he is on PEDs, like everyone else.

Also are you joking with that bolded part or what?

robinson aint "jacked"

[KrAzY3]

Don't disagree, but I'm sure he fed his temple with the right supplements in the free wheeling 90s.

I can show a picture of LeBron looking jacked in his late 30s, and LeBron has ties to someone connected to a PED scandal along with playing in a hotbed of PEDs in Miami and having abnormal longevity (Robinson didn't find the fountain of youth late in his career like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens did).

Nevertheless, he's generally not accused of taking PEDs.

But he is on PEDs, like everyone else.

Also are you joking with that bolded part or what?

I've seen so many GOAT discussions on this forum, and literally zero have had more the the occasionally vague hint into the notion that LeBron is on PEDs. Zero have made that a meaningful part of the discussion. If most people thought LeBron was on PEDs then all the applause he gets for playing late in to his career and so on would be in the least disingenuous because we all saw what PEDs did to extend the career of known cheats like Bonds and Clemens.

It would dominate the conversation, it doesn't. Also, I find it laughable to accuse everyone, regardless of any indication of being on PEDs. If you are going to start accusing people of PEDs you start by looking for two thing, abnormal career arcs (extreme longevity) and/or abnormal/rapid improvements that coincide with a change in musculature. For instance, Roger Clemens struggled some in his mid 30s (expected), then improved and played some of his best baseball into his mid 40s (unexpected). Barry Bonds basically did the same thing, after hitting .262 and 34 home runs at the age of 36, he suddenly became better than ever. When you look for cheating, look for something abnormal in their production. Just being muscular isn't proof.

Neither of those things apply to David Robinson. He was built like that in college, and by his early 30s he was clearly declining, something PEDs could have help stave off.

[HumbleRen]

Luka is the next face of it. Wemby is way too nice, polite and bland to carry a brand.

Wemby has significantly more engagement with fans on social media than Luka who is obviously amazing. The NBA has been a lot more aggressive with their marketing of wemby than Luka

The single most replayed play of the season was a Luka play... According to the NBA: https://www.instagram.com/nba/reel/C5yOXTrLFOr/

Despite Wemby having a huge advantage as he is a shiny new toy. I watched Wembys replays too because I wanted to see what the hype was about this rookie, but I doubt I'll check them out next season.

Wemby is cold hearted lol, you must not of watched too many Wemby games.

He’s ruthless, especially for a rookie.

[CIN-C-STAR]

It’s not even the best rookie season in his franchise’s history. That would be David Robinson (a 24-year old Robinson, but still) Fun fact, guess who averaged more blocks their rookie year?

That was one of the best rookie seasons ever though.
I don't see how it being the same franchise diminishes what Wemby is doing.

Is Robinson top 10 all time? Top 5? If wemby isn't even on his level why the hell we talking about him as a future goat?

The Admiral is roughly top-20 all time, and was 24 years old his rookie season.
Wemby was 19-20 years old during this season.
Hope that helps.

[jbsays]

He's pretty good, but I think others have had better rookie seasons. Spurs won the same amount of games the year before he arrived. I was told the Spurs were "tanking", but 4 of their top 7 scorers played over 70 games and the other 3 played 68, 69, and 69 games. Wembanyama played 71 games.

I won't argue against best rookie season at 19-20 years old. Don't forget Magic was 19-20 his rookie year and there are bunch of all time greats who in their rookie years the teams they played on increased their win total. I think Durant was actually younger his rookie year than Wemby.

Also, off the top of my head Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans also had great rookie seasons at 19-20 years old. Things happen and careers aren't written in stone.

[FarBeyondDriven]

imagine believing David Robinson didn't do steroids. jfc

[Rust_Cohle]

II'd say LeBron, Shaq and Duncan are the only ones better in the last 30 years.

Wemby's rookie season was better than LeBron's

Statistically I agree. Wemby is headed for all time great status without question but I can't get past the net zero impact on wins in his rookie season.

Well you may need to my friend as the league is SIGNIFICANTLY more competitive this season. Lakers with a 53% win percentage last season had the 7th seed, this year with a 57% win percentage are the 8th seed. Nobody would say last year’s lakers were the better team despite them having a worse seeding this year.

This year’s spurs annihilate last years as bad as most of the supporting cast is.

[durden_tyler]

Once in a generation numbers... So yeah, the LeBron-level expectations were spot on.

[Tottery]

I can show a picture of LeBron looking jacked in his late 30s, and LeBron has ties to someone connected to a PED scandal along with playing in a hotbed of PEDs in Miami and having abnormal longevity (Robinson didn't find the fountain of youth late in his career like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens did).

Nevertheless, he's generally not accused of taking PEDs.

But he is on PEDs, like everyone else.

Also are you joking with that bolded part or what?

I've seen so many GOAT discussions on this forum, and literally zero have had more the the occasionally vague hint into the notion that LeBron is on PEDs. Zero have made that a meaningful part of the discussion. If most people thought LeBron was on PEDs then all the applause he gets for playing late in to his career and so on would be in the least disingenuous because we all saw what PEDs did to extend the career of known cheats like Bonds and Clemens.

It would dominate the conversation, it doesn't. Also, I find it laughable to accuse everyone, regardless of any indication of being on PEDs. If you are going to start accusing people of PEDs you start by looking for two thing, abnormal career arcs (extreme longevity) and/or abnormal/rapid improvements that coincide with a change in musculature. For instance, Roger Clemens struggled some in his mid 30s (expected), then improved and played some of his best baseball into his mid 40s (unexpected). Barry Bonds basically did the same thing, after hitting .262 and 34 home runs at the age of 36, he suddenly became better than ever. When you look for cheating, look for something abnormal in their production. Just being muscular isn't proof.

Neither of those things apply to David Robinson. He was built like that in college, and by his early 30s he was clearly declining, something PEDs could have help stave off.

Also, he was in the Navy, they are pretty strict about that stuff. I don't believe he was taking PED's at all. If he looked like Ronnie Coleman or was dominating into his later years, maybe. However, that's not the case.

[KrAzY3]

Also, he was in the Navy, they are pretty strict about that stuff. I don't believe he was taking PED's at all. If he looked like Ronnie Coleman or was dominating into his later years, maybe. However, that's not the case.

Right, if for instance he was 38 and averaging near career highs in scoring or something at least there would be a basis for saying he was cheating, but he was out of the NBA by then! He only played 14 seasons. His career if anything was a bit abrupt. Ages 35, 36, and 37 each saw new career lows in scoring, which is somewhat expected and certainly not indicative of cheating.

[Time for Change]

Chris Paul's rookie season is often overlooked, because it wasn't 20/10, but he was also a monster. 5.2 BPM (14th in league), and 5.1 VORP (16th), top 20 in Win Shares, and 20 win improvement in team record. Wemby was 5.2 BPM (11th) and 3.8 VORP (17th).