Wemby needs to workout with LaMarcus Aldridge and Duncan to master his mid range

[peZt]

I know I know, another Wemby thread. Sorry about that.

But look, I love Wemby, he's my #1 on the MVP ranking thus far and there is not much you can criticise about his game. BUT there is one thing where I think he truly is not playing to his best in that regard and that is faceing up from the (high)post and shooting a mid range jumper.

Because what he is doing rn is ALWAYS faceing up and then going for a off the dribble fadeaway. I remember he was posting up Jaime Jacquez who is a foot shorter than him and then made an dribble to the side and a fadeaway and of course missed. I love him and he makes me wake up at 2am to watch all the Spurs games but its soo frustrating to see a 7'5 guy settle for off the dribble fadeaways against guys a foot shorter than him.

Why? He can literally shoot over anybody in the league. There is no need to take 2-3 dribbles and settle for a tough fadeaway in traffic. He literally just needs to faceup and shoot from straight infront of the defender. Something that Duncan was a master off. Something that LaMarcus Aldridge also made a career off. Chris Bosh etc. So many bigs who made a career out of being elite with the mid range jumper and they did not shoot fadeaways, simply shot over the defender.

With Wemby having a high center of gravity and being 7'5 tall he will always a) struggle to back off defenders due to lack of strength, b) be prone to have the ball stripped out of his hands when attempting a dribble inside the paint and c) losing his balance when trying to dribble and being pushed by the defender. So I really think he should focus on minimizing these points of conflict and doing stuff where these weaknesses are not relevant e.g. becoming a master of the midrange like Duncan, where neither his lack of strength nor his excessive length will have any negative impact on this aspect of his game. He can literally shoot over anybody, nobody can block him, no need to settle for off the dribble fadeaways over guys half a foot shorter than him. Establish position in the post, faceup, shoot. Rinse - repeat.

If he can master this, he'll be one of those guys with unstoppable and unblockable shots.

Here at 1:44 is what I am talking about. He made the shot but its so nedlessly tough. He's running into 2 defenders and shooting a massive off the dribble fadeaway when he couldve simply just faced up and shot from infront of the defender. And he had at least 3 attempts like this over guys like Jaqcuez which he didnt make or he got stripped before he could even take the shot

Watch on YouTube

Now these are Aldridge Highlights. Can you imagine a guy half a foot taller than Aldridge doing what he does? I mean look at 00:10. Aldridge faces up, waits and checks if there is an open man he can feed and then just shoots over him. Nothing fancy, nothing crazy. But imagine Wemby doing this. He has better vision and passing than Aldridge and potential to be just as good a shooter off the mid range as well. He can literally be better than Aldridge at this and he was already elite and the best in the league.

Watch on YouTube

Sometimes I just feel like Wemby is still figuring out how to utilize his length and does not always do the things that maximise his potential on offense and this is an area where he should focus on imo. Its literally free points for him with his length and shooting ability.

[The Master]

Duncan? Wemby is already a better shooter than Duncan ever was.

Aldridge - yeah, this is a good comp, I agree that Wemby can still improve his mid-post game. His growth in shot selection has been great this season already, so it's not that big of a concern, Spurs know what they are doing, so does Wemby.

[peZt]

Duncan? Wemby is already a better shooter than Duncan ever was.

Aldridge - yeah, this is a good comp, I agree that Wemby can still improve his mid-post game. His growth in shot selection has been great this season already, so it's not that big of a concern, Spurs know what they are doing, so does Wemby.

Im not saying that Wemby is a worse shooter than Duncan. And that's exactly why I make this point, he is a great shooter but he is nedlessly bringing his shooting percentage down by going for these tough fadeaways off the dribble like in 1:43 of the video in the post. I dont want Wemby to learn to become a better shooter from Duncan or Aldridge but to learn better shot selection. Duncan simply shot over defenders. Aldridge as well. And Wemby is half a foot taller than them. He can be elite and maybe even the GOAT big mid range shooter, but he needs to let go of these super tough fadeaways and simply learn that he can just shoot over the defender lol

[HMFFL]

Knowledge is power and Wemby seems to be a sponge for it and good people.


He is already better than LaMarcus Aldridge

[Ballings7]

Wembanyama already has a reliable mid-range jumper and face-up game, this really has been there consistently since his rookie year. Plenty of examples in a bunch of games to see this. Probably will see it tonight against Phoenix.

I'm sure he got some influence from Duncan when they worked together 1-2 years ago.

[sikma42]

Was Duncan actually a master of the midrange? Just from watching him (big fan) he wasn’t a great midrange shooter using the bank shot or not for the majority of his career.

[dirkdiggler4177]

Was Duncan actually a master of the midrange? Just from watching him (big fan) he wasn’t a great midrange shooter using the bank shot or not for the majority of his career.

I don't think so. I remember Jeff Van Gundy said during commentary that the Duncan bankshot had an awful percentage compared to the rest of his shots, but it sort of became like his thing.

Free-throw percentage often tells a solid story about how good a big man is at shooting. He had a career of 70%

[CobraCommander]

I would say Wemby work out with Bird and Ray Allen now to improve his midrange.

He isn’t a good shooter for a big man with tools to get better - he is a basketball player that can shoot and should work with the best to get better

What makes him a freak is his ability to do things of a normal man at his size! If it’s not about post play he should work with the best at their respective skill at any size

[threethehardway]

I really don't think these workouts with random NBA players mean anything. It's literally fan-fiction.

Anyway:

Wemby's game is fine. He told you guys he has a developmental plan and to basically leave him alone.

The best change to his game this year is his ball handling and his slashing off to complement his roll man game.

He's unstoppable at the rim right now.

And when he physically matures, he'll probably be a rim monster and mid-post monster.

I think fans are treating him like a Create-A-Player and not realizing that he's going out there and trying stuff because he has the green light.

I think fans put a lot of expectations on him to go out there and be some combination of Kareem-Wilt-KD and Wemby is Wemby. Want him to play in the post, want him to stop shooting 3s, want him to shoot midrange shots like Dirk.

He has a mind of his own and what he wants to play like. He's had is developmental path set by his parents who were good athletes.

He isn't a random prospect that was discovered playing in the park somewhere, he's been trained since a young boy to utilize his unique physiology at each stage of basketball. He's always been exceptionally tall and long.

If he isn't doing something in a game, it's most likely because he was told not to until he has the physical resiliency to handle it.

He was jacking threes all last year because he wasn't strong enough to go into the paint at will. Now he is, and he's bullying teams with his length - his way.

[KokoKaizer]

Knowledge is power and Wemby seems to be a sponge for it and good people.


He is already better than LaMarcus Aldridge

He is a very clever person I can tell you that

[cupcakesnake]

Duncan was a really mediocre scorer outside 10 feet (40% from 10-24 feet, which accounted for 34% of his FGA.). Aldridge was better and absolutely lived in midrange land (42%fg, 50% of his FGA). Aldridge doesn't play much like Wemby though. He wasn't much of a ball handler, so his middy game was bumping with his body to create space and shooting turn arounds. He was great as a pick & pop threat (and as a roll threat, at least when Andre Miller was there).

The better example for Wemby is KG. 45%fg, 54% of his FGA. He was also a skinny big, ill suited for bumping to create space, and had the handles to do it off the dribble. This is the best midrange shooting big ever, and his style is something functionally useful for Wemby.

Right now, Wemby is not shooting much from midrange. Last year he was mostly jacking 3s, this year he's trying to dominate inside 10 feet. I think he'll need the midrange as a counter for playoff basketball, but right now no can stop Wemby from scoring inside, so the rest is a discussion for another day.

[Blame Rasho]

Was Duncan actually a master of the midrange? Just from watching him (big fan) he wasn’t a great midrange shooter using the bank shot or not for the majority of his career.

I don't think so. I remember Jeff Van Gundy said during commentary that the Duncan bankshot had an awful percentage compared to the rest of his shots, but it sort of became like his thing.

Free-throw percentage often tells a solid story about how good a big man is at shooting. He had a career of 70%

This is easily debunked even if you never saw in his prime.

Tim Duncan’s bank shot percentage was 59.1% over his final 13 seasons, when the NBA began tracking this data. His most dominant season was 2006-07, when he shot 70.3% on bank shots.
Overall (2003-2016): 59.1%
Best Season (2006-07): 70.3%
High Volume: Duncan took the most bank shots of any player during the seasons data was tracked.
Decline: His bank shot percentage over 18 seasons (2003-04 to 2020-21) declined from 77% to 55%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/sports/basketball/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame.html#:~:text=The%20Spurs'%20place%20in%20basketball,led%20by%20Davis's%20mere%20seven.

https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/13/nba/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame-san-antonio-spurs

The next season, the first for which the NBA has data available on attempts off the glass (defined as bank jump shots and bank hook shots, but not layups), Duncan canned 70.3 percent of the 111 bank shots he attempted, a ridiculous rate. Between 2003 and 2016, he’d connect on bank shots 60.4 percent of the time.

[MrGoat]

If Wemby wants to master midrange the 7 footer he should ask is Dirk

[nate33]

I think Porzingis is a better, more appropriate comp. Porzingis has developed a pretty reliable mid-post game. And like Wemby, Porzingis does so by leveraging his extraordinary height.

[og15]

Was Duncan actually a master of the midrange? Just from watching him (big fan) he wasn’t a great midrange shooter using the bank shot or not for the majority of his career.

I don't think so. I remember Jeff Van Gundy said during commentary that the Duncan bankshot had an awful percentage compared to the rest of his shots, but it sort of became like his thing.

Free-throw percentage often tells a solid story about how good a big man is at shooting. He had a career of 70%

This is easily debunked even if you never saw in his prime.

Tim Duncan’s bank shot percentage was 59.1% over his final 13 seasons, when the NBA began tracking this data. His most dominant season was 2006-07, when he shot 70.3% on bank shots.
Overall (2003-2016): 59.1%
Best Season (2006-07): 70.3%
High Volume: Duncan took the most bank shots of any player during the seasons data was tracked.
Decline: His bank shot percentage over 18 seasons (2003-04 to 2020-21) declined from 77% to 55%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/sports/basketball/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame.html#:~:text=The%20Spurs'%20place%20in%20basketball,led%20by%20Davis's%20mere%20seven.

https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/13/nba/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame-san-antonio-spurs

The next season, the first for which the NBA has data available on attempts off the glass (defined as bank jump shots and bank hook shots, but not layups), Duncan canned 70.3 percent of the 111 bank shots he attempted, a ridiculous rate. Between 2003 and 2016, he’d connect on bank shots 60.4 percent of the time.

I wonder what the percentage is on mid-range bank shots, but I don't think we have that breakdown. Obviously 60-70% would be quite crazy on mid range bank shots, but this is all banked shots that aren't layups.

[Ol Roy]

Dirk, KG, and Bosh would be the best guys for him to work with on midrange.

[sikma42]

Was Duncan actually a master of the midrange? Just from watching him (big fan) he wasn’t a great midrange shooter using the bank shot or not for the majority of his career.

I don't think so. I remember Jeff Van Gundy said during commentary that the Duncan bankshot had an awful percentage compared to the rest of his shots, but it sort of became like his thing.

Free-throw percentage often tells a solid story about how good a big man is at shooting. He had a career of 70%

This is easily debunked even if you never saw in his prime.

Tim Duncan’s bank shot percentage was 59.1% over his final 13 seasons, when the NBA began tracking this data. His most dominant season was 2006-07, when he shot 70.3% on bank shots.
Overall (2003-2016): 59.1%
Best Season (2006-07): 70.3%
High Volume: Duncan took the most bank shots of any player during the seasons data was tracked.
Decline: His bank shot percentage over 18 seasons (2003-04 to 2020-21) declined from 77% to 55%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/sports/basketball/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame.html#:~:text=The%20Spurs'%20place%20in%20basketball,led%20by%20Davis's%20mere%20seven.

https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/13/nba/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame-san-antonio-spurs

The next season, the first for which the NBA has data available on attempts off the glass (defined as bank jump shots and bank hook shots, but not layups), Duncan canned 70.3 percent of the 111 bank shots he attempted, a ridiculous rate. Between 2003 and 2016, he’d connect on bank shots 60.4 percent of the time.

I don’t think those numbers are very clean. It counts bank hook shots and bank jump shots. When we’re talking about bank jump shots from at least 12 feet away but often a couple steps further.

I don’t think he was super efficient on those shots.

[dirkdiggler4177]

I don't think so. I remember Jeff Van Gundy said during commentary that the Duncan bankshot had an awful percentage compared to the rest of his shots, but it sort of became like his thing.

Free-throw percentage often tells a solid story about how good a big man is at shooting. He had a career of 70%

This is easily debunked even if you never saw in his prime.

Tim Duncan’s bank shot percentage was 59.1% over his final 13 seasons, when the NBA began tracking this data. His most dominant season was 2006-07, when he shot 70.3% on bank shots.
Overall (2003-2016): 59.1%
Best Season (2006-07): 70.3%
High Volume: Duncan took the most bank shots of any player during the seasons data was tracked.
Decline: His bank shot percentage over 18 seasons (2003-04 to 2020-21) declined from 77% to 55%.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/sports/basketball/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame.html#:~:text=The%20Spurs'%20place%20in%20basketball,led%20by%20Davis's%20mere%20seven.

https://www.theringer.com/2021/05/13/nba/tim-duncan-hall-of-fame-san-antonio-spurs

The next season, the first for which the NBA has data available on attempts off the glass (defined as bank jump shots and bank hook shots, but not layups), Duncan canned 70.3 percent of the 111 bank shots he attempted, a ridiculous rate. Between 2003 and 2016, he’d connect on bank shots 60.4 percent of the time.

I don’t think those numbers are very clean. It counts bank hook shots and bank jump shots. When we’re talking about bank jump shots from at least 12 feet away but often a couple steps further.

I don’t think he was super efficient on those shots.

70% can't be right. Those are God numbers.

[ThunderBolt]

The idea that a player needs to workout with a specific player to emulate his game is silly. Wemby will be fine if he never works out with either of those two players.

[Amare_1_Knicks]

I agree that he should work with someone on improving the ‘ease’ of his game, maybe particularly in the midrange. Aldridge was a master getting the ball in the high post. Duncan may not have been as efficient jumpshooting in the midrange but he operated that space well and consistently.

There’s a lot of off the dribble maneuvers from Wemby just to get to the post or mid range to get a shot off. Which he’s fully capable of making, but really isn’t the point here — if there’s an easier way to do it, a better way, that can influence the offense more positively then yes, do that.