Wembanyama. I'm concerned

[OkcSinceSGA]

Elbow post is what I'd classify Dirk more as with the one legged fade and turn around shot, so yea. He's still a face up guy. I'm not expecting him to purposely go deep post and bang all game necessarily. I'm just more saying that when the outside shots aren't falling he needs another RELIABLE way to generate offense besides put backs or fastbreaks etc. Where in a halfcourt, physical game he has a go to move that's not a 3. Hell at his length it can probably be a hookshot from 15 ft. I'm okay with something like that too.

Yeah, that makes sense. When you started talking about hook shots, I was like "NOPE!" But if you're looking for fades and face-up slashing with the odd up-and-under, then that's something else entirely.

Yea, I know the images of hook shot are more deep post, but not for Wemby lol. He can easily develop a hook shot from 10-15 ft. But a fadeaway would be great too.

[tsherkin]

Yea, I know the images of hook shot are more deep post, but not for Wemby lol. He can easily develop a hook shot from 10-15 ft. But a fadeaway would be great too.

There isn't a lot of incentive to hook from that distance. He can square up and hit a jumper easily enough, and that affords him the opportunity to work up-and-unders, pump fakes, step-throughs and the like. Much better set of options facing up versus T'g off for a hook.

[Rust_Cohle]

Wemby is so far ahead of Bron at 20 it’s not even funny

The only thing funny is you believing that.

2nd year Bron is not even close to this Wemby…numbers wise, skill wise, impact, nothing.

Yeah, in no world is 20 year old LeBron better than wemby even remotely true. Wemby is also a much better shooter than second year LeBron, and once you factor in the defensive side of things it isn’t close at all.

[uncleduck13]

The only thing funny is you believing that.

2nd year Bron is not even close to this Wemby…numbers wise, skill wise, impact, nothing.

Yeah, in no world is 20 year old LeBron better than wemby even remotely true. Wemby is also a much better shooter than second year LeBron, and once you factor in the defensive side of things it isn’t close at all.

Yep, Not close at all. I think when it’s all said and done, Wemby is going to peak much higher than Bron and his only argument is going to be longevity. Just like him vs MJ

[OkcSinceSGA]

Yea, I know the images of hook shot are more deep post, but not for Wemby lol. He can easily develop a hook shot from 10-15 ft. But a fadeaway would be great too.

There isn't a lot of incentive to hook from that distance. He can square up and hit a jumper easily enough, and that affords him the opportunity to work up-and-unders, pump fakes, step-throughs and the like. Much better set of options facing up versus T'g off for a hook.

Stop robbing me of my joy. I'm picturing 15-17 foot running hooks for Wemby with his freakish armspan.

[Rust_Cohle]

2nd year Bron averaged 2 more points while playing 10 more MPG than Wemby. If Wemby played 42 mins a night, he’d be averaging something ridiculous like 32/13/6/5

It doesn't work like that....I mean, I don't think Wemby or any other player would be able to play 42 minutes and 80 games in a season like LBJ did in 2005 in the current NBA...I think Wemby was better than LBJ in 2005 but you can have a much better argument than this....The NBA now is completely different than it was 20 years ago

LeBron was the 3rd best scorer in 2005 in the NBA and he was better and better as the season progressed.He was only 20 too

He also had the second most points in the league for that season at the time, very impressive for sure.

[CIN-C-STAR]

Yea, I know the images of hook shot are more deep post, but not for Wemby lol. He can easily develop a hook shot from 10-15 ft. But a fadeaway would be great too.

There isn't a lot of incentive to hook from that distance. He can square up and hit a jumper easily enough, and that affords him the opportunity to work up-and-unders, pump fakes, step-throughs and the like. Much better set of options facing up versus T'g off for a hook.

And also face up players get all the calls in the modern NBA.
As soon as he puts his back to the basket defenders would just body the crap out of him and he wouldn’t get any calls.
This is a big reason it makes more sense for him to be a face up player that people don’t seem to get. Embiid when healthy is probably the best scorer in the league and it’s largely because he faces up (and flops a lot, hopefully Wemby doesn’t go that route).

[OkcSinceSGA]

Read on Twitter

Really cool story. Pop gave the okay for Jamal Crawford to come work with Wemby on his handles lol. Not a guy I'd expect Wemby to call up, but it seems to have worked out.

Jamal on Wemby: "Stuff that took me years to learn, he would download and learn in 5 minutes. It was incredible"

[Castle Black]

Read on Twitter

[BigGargamel]

Wemby is great but if he wants to become GOAT he needs to be the ball handler like Joker. Otherwise his ceiling is likely KG.

The guy is 7'4, and your concern is he needs to dribble better. This is the ultimate nit picking

[tsherkin]

And also face up players get all the calls in the modern NBA.
As soon as he puts his back to the basket defenders would just body the crap out of him and he wouldn’t get any calls.
This is a big reason it makes more sense for him to be a face up player that people don’t seem to get. Embiid when healthy is probably the best scorer in the league and it’s largely because he faces up (and flops a lot, hopefully Wemby doesn’t go that route).

There is also that, yes. And it's a comfort position for him, facing up. No real reason not to run with it. A good hook shot is like 43-47% anyway, so it's not like he's going to clear percentages better than what you'd expect from drives and short Js and stuff. And because it sets up the slash, it'll probably have better draw rate anyway.

Yea, I know the images of hook shot are more deep post, but not for Wemby lol. He can easily develop a hook shot from 10-15 ft. But a fadeaway would be great too.

There isn't a lot of incentive to hook from that distance. He can square up and hit a jumper easily enough, and that affords him the opportunity to work up-and-unders, pump fakes, step-throughs and the like. Much better set of options facing up versus T'g off for a hook.

Stop robbing me of my joy. I'm picturing 15-17 foot running hooks for Wemby with his freakish armspan.

That's legit, haha.

[og15]

2nd year Bron averaged 2 more points while playing 10 more MPG than Wemby. If Wemby played 42 mins a night, he’d be averaging something ridiculous like 32/13/6/5

It doesn't work like that....I mean, I don't think Wemby or any other player would be able to play 42 minutes and 80 games in a season like LBJ did in 2005 in the current NBA...I think Wemby was better than LBJ in 2005 but you can have a much better argument than this....The NBA now is completely different than it was 20 years ago

LeBron was the 3rd best scorer in 2005 in the NBA and he was better and better as the season progressed.He was only 20 too

Bron was built different. That's why he's still leading a team to a 4th seed over 20 years later. People really act like just anyone can play 40 minutes per game. They don't make players like that anymore. Wemby isn't excluded.

For sure, playing 40 mpg over a season in the current NBA is a different beast from doing so in 2005. In 04-05, there were 8 guys doing it, LBJ, AI, Metta, RJ, Arenas, Kobe, TMac, Marbury and the 9th guy Joe Johnson at 39.5 mpg.

If we just look at the comments from guys like Pierce, KG, Rasheed about how it was playing against the mid 00's Suns, and their pace compared to now isn't even that wild, then it makes a lot of sense why it wouldn't be the most reasonable thing to put most guys.out there for 40 mpg these days for the whole season.

Mikal is doing 39.3 mpg though, so right there.

[ijspeelman]

I'm concerned he's too good.

All joking aside when the thread was created I was not concerned because Wemby's crazy shot selection seemed to be by design (similar to the Sochan PG stuff last year). However, I did not expect him to just start making those crazy shots only a month or so later.

Somehow Wemby went from league average efficiency in his rookie season to +12 rTS% in a year... while simultaneously increasing his 3P volume to +4 per 100 possessions as a sophomore. He's been looking like a young KD, but is 7'3/7'4 and I haven't talked about his defense.

Edit: Said +12 rTS%. I meant to reference rTS+ where I also messed up and cited his rFT+. He's actually at +7.

[Milenkovic]

Read on Twitter

Really cool story. Pop gave the okay for Jamal Crawford to come work with Wemby on his handles lol. Not a guy I'd expect Wemby to call up, but it seems to have worked out.

Jamal on Wemby: "Stuff that took me years to learn, he would download and learn in 5 minutes. It was incredible"

Jamal always came across as a great guy

[tsherkin]

Somehow Wemby went from league average efficiency in his rookie season to +12 rTS% in a year

Meow? +3.8% rTS.

But yes, he's been fantastic. He's shooting almost 88% at the line (albeit drawing much less effectively than last year due to his 3PAr), and he's shooting 7% better inside the arc (albeit on reduced volume), over 60%. He's also up a hair above league average on 3P% (+0.3% atm) despite the massive volume increase. He's also fallen off a bit as an offensive rebounder, spending more time above the arc.

I'm still not thrilled with him taking so many 3s and think he is undercutting his ability to score with consistency, but he's looking great overall and remains a MONSTER on D.

[ijspeelman]

Somehow Wemby went from league average efficiency in his rookie season to +12 rTS% in a year

Meow? +3.8% rTS.

But yes, he's been fantastic. He's shooting almost 88% at the line (albeit drawing much less effectively than last year due to his 3PAr), and he's shooting 7% better inside the arc (albeit on reduced volume), over 60%. He's also up a hair above league average on 3P% (+0.3% atm) despite the massive volume increase. He's also fallen off a bit as an offensive rebounder, spending more time above the arc.

I'm still not thrilled with him taking so many 3s and think he is undercutting his ability to score with consistency, but he's looking great overall and remains a MONSTER on D.

Sorry I was referring to his his rTS+ not rTS% and also I accidentally cited his rFT+ instead of rTS+ which is actually +7 lol

Added an edit to my original post lol

[tsherkin]

Sorry I was referring to his his rTS+ not rTS% and also I accidentally cited his rFT+ instead of rTS+ which is actually +7 lol

Added an edit to my original post lol

Yeah, his TS+ is 107, that's correct. And his FT+ is 112, he's smashing it at the line. He is only at .230 FTr, though, which is a little below league average (.247). Unsurprising with a 3PAr of .481, of course. Same same with his reduced offensive rebounding. There are consequences to bombing away from 3, even at average percentages. Especially for a big man. Obviously, there's benefit to some degree of 3pt shooting from Wemby, but it does come at a cost.

[RRR3]

Wemby could get up to 40% from 3 and tsherkin will still be whining about it

As it is he's shooting at prime James Harden levels and he's still complaining

[ijspeelman]

Yeah, his TS+ is 107, that's correct. And his FT+ is 112, he's smashing it at the line. He is only at .230 FTr, though, which is a little below league average (.247). Unsurprising with a 3PAr of .481, of course. Same same with his reduced offensive rebounding. There are consequences to bombing away from 3, even at average percentages. Especially for a big man. Obviously, there's benefit to some degree of 3pt shooting from Wemby, but it does come at a cost.

Its probs popped up earlier, but these two Nuggets games have shown why he's bombing away. Nuggets have to respect him and their coverages are getting blown when he pops bc two have gone to him leaving a man wide open in the lane. Its old Curry stuff. Obviously, he isn't at Curry-level gravity from behind the arc and a team should have a better defensive plan to not allow that to happen multiple times, buuut it just shows what it unlocks if players cannot leave him out there

[HotRocks34]

2/12 on threes tonight in the loss to Denver. 5/7 on twos.

Live by the three, die by the three.