Jaylen Brown said Victor Wembanyama made him adjust his two-way player rankings “Hes not even human”
It’s funny seeing all these genetic freaks be like “what the fuck is that” when talking about Wemby
An anomaly amongst anomalies
Now we need Tatum to talk about Wemby.
“He’s just there in the paint, huge, at least 8 feet tall. I coulda ran away from the grind but I went straight at that monster like Kobe would have”*
His shot attempt got sent into the nosebleeds
You mean blocked at just the right angle and power to fall to Wemby’s teammates, turning into a fast break for the Spurs. Wemby would never block a ball into the nosebleeds.
Maybe if it’s chet he’s blocking then I could see that happening
the ‘rivalry’ Wemby apparently feels about it is hilarious to me. In a good way…
Hahaha. I keep Imagining Wemby lifting during the off season even after he has packed on a sufficient amount of muscle just so that he can pop the ball by blocking one of Chet’s shots against the backboard.
Sometimes Wemby volley ball spikes a ball to his team it’s awesome. My favorite block of his was one I think in his rookie or second year in transition defense he ran back against the blazers maybe where he blocked a ball as straight down as possible into the shadow realm as a teammate got the ball.
That’s more of a Dwight Howard move. I could be remembering this wrong but if I remember right there were a lot of complaints about Dwight spiking balls into the fifth row instead of just blocking it to a teammate
Dwight and Ben Wallace both did this. Fuck those people complaining. Blocks into the crowd are fucking awesome.
And that’s why I like Wemby. Forget the pageantry. He just wants to win, ethically.
Wemby and Jarret Allen together would be a dynamic twin tower duo - probably best ever. Admiral and Timmy would have a say for sure.
I do like the idea of Wemby on the Cavs. I don’t care about the financials, I’m no GM.
Ah yes the Bill Russell special
This is good shit, lol
“into the nosebleeds”
Ahh! So a slow Wemby game. Understood.
Lore accurate Wemby would of hit it into outer space
He’ll just say the exact same thing as Jaylen
The anomalous anomaly
because that’s exactly how it has to feel.
i saw a 7’1 human being once irl and he could barely walk. walked around with a cane just trying to enjoy every day life.
Wemby can eastbay at 7’5. he doesn’t make sense
Saw Shawn Bradley at the mall (before the accident). Looked ridiculous bending down to push a stroller
Arvydas Sabonis at the gym, still the biggest human I’ve seen irl.
Damn man haven’t heard it called eastbay in a while, brings a little tear to my eye. Moving to Texas will really make you miss the east bay.
Love Wemby as a spurs fan myself.
He measures 226 cms, or 2 meters and 26 cms by the way.
“That guy’s nuts! Me I’m pretty normal, just 6’6” and hyperathletic, nbd”
Wemby is probably the only equivalent for these guys of what we would feel playing against normal NBA level players in terms of just pure athletic/genetic difference tbh.
And if those NBA level players went at us with the passion and intensity of a Game 7.
6’7 on average + athletic + coordinated is already ridiculous.
Remember when he came to the league and everyone was shocked after shaking his hand?
Now I’m getting a little emotional because I would’ve loved to hear Kobe talk about Wemby. He would’ve been in love with his intensity.
Yeah. I’m sure Wemby would’ve spent part of his offseason working out with Kobe like he did with Hakeem. Shame that’ll never happen. RIP
Wemby working with Wilkins would be a treat. He’s already such an elite cutter, Wilk would make him unreal
I would love to see him work with Kareem just because their body types are so similar, but I have no idea if Kareem would even be able to train him at this point in his life.
the work with Kareem would solely consist of one-to-one convos on navigating life as a giant human being/celebrity.
I’m sure that’s already happened and will probably happen again in the future. I want Wemby to learn the skyhook though lol.
Kareem has such a great skill-set and mine, even with the rapidly developing pace of the game, yeah, that would be incredible insight
Hopefully Wemby would know better than hanging out with Kobe. But probably not
The “Alien” 👽👽👽
or
The “Anomoly” ⚛️⚛️⚛️
❓❓❓
In the land of the blind…
“The sea was angry that day, my friends - like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli. I got about fifty feet out and suddenly, the great beast appeared before me. I tell you, he was ten stories high if he was a foot. As if sensing my presence, he let out a great bellow. I said, “Easy, big fella!””
“I’m the best human player” lmfao I love JB man
He has irrational confidence but I don’t knock him for it because that can actually make you better. But it’s still funny:
“I’m the best two-way player.”
“Bro. What about Wemby?”
“Wemby don’t count. I’m the best.”
“Alright, JB. OK.”
Reminds me of when Harden was talking about who the best shooter is
“I’m the best shooter among mortals. Curry don’t count”
Honestly I think this is the best way to look at these things. Curry is just the GOAT shooter to an extent that’s virtually indisputable across the sport. We’ve all accepted it. Now if you wanna talk about shooters/shooting in general you kind of have to just exclude him. Everyone knows who #1 is, it’s not really worth discussing, so people start focusing on who #2 is as the new “best” because it’s more interesting to discuss.
My hope is Victor becomes that for defense.
Knueppel might take that title one day from him if he has a healthy career. The guy is the only person since Curry who I have watched that I think won’t miss when he shoots. That kid will be a problem for a long time.
There are going to be a bunch of dudes passing curry’s 3pt record, because curry changed the game. Doesn’t mean they are the goat shooter.
Curry didn’t take more than 7 3s a year til his 4th season. And he led the league in attempts at 7.7. No one else was even at 7.
AJ green takes 7 3s a game this year. AJ GREEN. Ray Allen averaged 2 seasons taking 8 or more 3s a game in his 18 year career.
7+ 3pt attempts hardly gets you into the top 30 for 3pt attenpts per game this year.
Knueppel? You mean 2K?
Is that his nickname? I usually hate using nicknames but the guy has the worst name to type out hahaha. I need something easier to call him.
It is as of a week or two back. It works well.
It only is if you watch the Bill Simmons podcast
Doesn’t get any easier than Kon. The only other guy close to that name is Koncak and nobody is mixing them up.
The Kon man is pretty good and easy to type
I call him the Nip or Nippy
Nippy Hustle
I’m emailing bill because how was triple nueppel not even mentioned nor considered?
2k is lame when triple nueppel is an option.
2K feels weird when his thing is the 3.
I think Kon might secure 2nd, but passing Curry might be impossible
Only way Kon can surpass Curry in my eyes isn’t by the numbers themselves, but if he starts hitting some bullshit like Steph…
France ignored KD and Bron to double Steph just for him to hit a fadeaway 3 in their face to ice a gold medal 🤦🏻♂️
Yea, exactly. Someone is going to beat Curry’s 3 point record eventually by jumping into the league younger and shooting high volume from an earlier age. Doesn’t mean that guy will be a better shooter.
I think it’s going to be a while before we see an actual better shooter than Steph. Even guys who are Steph-like such as Klay, Maxey, Lillard, and Harden are still vastly inferior shooters. He’s in his own tier in terms of range, accuracy, and the degree of difficulty.
someone needs to come up with like shot-quality adjusted efg% to account for this
He’s 20 y/o on track to hit 300 3s in his rookie season. If anyone has a shot it’s him
It isn’t impossible. When you watch him play you can see it. He gets the ball and you instantly think fuck that shit is going in. He seems like the real deal.
Kon will very likely pass Curry in 3PM but that won’t necessarily mean he is the best shooter of all time. Kon will have to significantly progress on movement and double/triple team shooting for him to get on Currys tier, let alone surpass it. Plus Curry will always have 38 Feet Deep | The Greatest Regular-Season Game in NBA History to his credit.
Curry’s record is incredible but definitely not unbreakable. He came into the league older than Kon, and didn’t start hitting absurd numbers of 3s until his 4th season.
If Kon has a healthy and lengthy career, he has a chance to catch Steph.
I wasn’t talking about the record, the record is easily breakable. I was talking about Kon as the GOAT shooter.
Beating his record isn’t the same as surpassing Steph. Kon shoots normal shots, à la Klay, not Steph ridiculous ones.
I think this is what makes NHL historical player rankings discourse so much less toxic than other sport’s discourse. When everyone is fighting for second place behind The Great One, it seems to let everyone say “this is my #2 for these reasons, but I can see your reasons why this other player could be #2 for you” instead of the constant bickering the NBA goes through for the GOAT debate..
Narrator: James Harden is the best shooter of this generation.
Narrator: Except for Satoru Gojo, of course.
Harden was specifically talking about making 3s. He’s #2 on the list, #1 in his mind
reminds me of “other than Wilt Chamberlain” when talking about some insane record being broken
Or Harden when he became the player with the second most threes. “Curry don’t count” lmao
Those posts are always so funny.
“Player is the first one to have X and Y stats since Wilt Chamberlain, who has done it 87 times.”
During hardens unguardable tour he was setting all kinds of records*
*when you exclude wilt
about some insane regular season record being broken
Bro didn’t take that crazy level of performances into the post season. Went from 30ppg to 22ppg then dropped again to 18ppg in his Finals appearances. Imagine your performances taking big hits each and every time the level of competition increases? It’s something most people don’t appreciate, or even know, about Wilt’s career. Contrast that to Jordan’s progression of scoring as the stakes got higher - from 30ppg to 33.4ppg to 33.6ppg. He upped his own performance to match the stage he was on. LeBron did the same, albeit only very slightly for the Finals but he still did it, from 26.9ppg to 28.38ppg to 28.40ppg. Now compare that to Wilt. People say he became more of a facilitator but that’s not really reflected in stats either, from 4.4apg in the regular season to 4.2apg in the playoffs to 3.8apg in the Finals. Btw, MJ also increased his apg at every stage, despite also scoring more, from 5.3apg to 5.7apg to 6.0apg. The dude just stepped up in every respect.
“Except for Satoru Gojo” vibes
Just wait until MJ puts his soul in bonny JR and reincarnates to beat wemby in the 2028 finals
Not exactly irrational. Think it’s tough to come up with 5 better two way players who are available on a nightly basis than JB. Plus he has a ring and was def finals MVP in 2024
Seriously! He’s grown on me so much in the past few years. His charisma is hilarious and his game is pretty fun to watch. I typically tune into the Celtics to watch him and White. Bc white is lowkey a sleeper.
Scottie Barnes is my favorite turtle player.
Every elite sportsperson has to believe they are the best at what they do, it is an arrogance that is essential to being that level of player. You can’t go out in front of 20k people, who are watching your every move, and perform if you have even the slightest doubts about your abilities.
It’s always been weird to me how “two-way pride” isn’t universal amongst the top players in the league. If you don’t play both ends you’re essentially playing only half the time no?
A lot of stars don’t have the endurance to do both
Jaylen Brown doesn’t even have the endurance to do both as a number 1. He’s been noticeably tired the past month or two carrying the load with no JT. We are blessed that he’s taken us this far and I love that he hasn’t sacrificed that side of his game, but I really think Tatum came back just in time. Now JB can ease up a bit and get rested before the playoffs.
I hear you, but we have examples of two way players. So it comes down to effort, whether it’s conditioning or wanting to be better defensively. Some players will never be good to great defenders but they should at least try to not be a cone (Yeah you, Luka).
What good defender is carrying as large of an offensive burden as Luka?
And I’m not defending Luka because he needs to give more effort on defense, but when you talk about examples of two way players there simply aren’t any that carry an offense like Luka or Jokic.
Cade. Has one of the top 5 lowest FG %’s at the rim this year when being the defender. Lower than Wemby Stew and Chet only. Carries the entirety of our offense.
Yeah I think this is probably the best example. He has to do a ton for their offense with scoring and playmaking. Playing good defense on top of that may be the reason he’s not particularly efficient and a bit turnover prone though.
100%. Its a double edged sword and I still wouldn’t trade it away.
Also the reason he used to always be gassed by the fourth quarter in previous seasons
Yeah. All respect to Brown, but Cade is the best two way player aside from Wemby imo.
SGA is a tremendous defensive player and carries OKC offense
He’s a good defender, but this is a good example too especially because he’s so efficient on offense.
The burden isn’t by default forced on him, it’s his style. He just doesn’t want to play off ball or pass more lol.
Literally JB, the dude in the video.
JB is good, but isn’t the same tier of offensive player as Luka. SGA is a better comp.
Embiid for most of his career!
During the playoffs a lot of these stars get way better defensively. LeBron later in his career was always ranked pretty low defensively during the regular season. Then the playoffs start and he is all of sudden a great defender again.
The thing is, a star carrying the offense is more valuable than any defense he can provide (with the exception of Wemby). Even if Luka could defend better spending more energy on that end, the team might just think it’s not worth it and would rather lose a few points here if it means you can get them back on attack (while also being more efficient to limit fast break opportunities for the other team which are the real killer).
Depends what you mean by pride. Despite what people say there’s a lot more to defense than effort
Some players just aren’t good defenders but more than make up for it on the other end
It’s a lot more to being a good defender you can be an average defender just by trying to
In a league as good as the NBA you think you can be average just by trying?
Yes because you’re in the NBA
The large majority of players in the NBA are giving effort on D, especially role players who make up the majority of the league
So just putting in effort obviously doesn’t automatically make you an average nba level defender
I might qualify with “if you have the athleticism to dominate on offense, you are at worst a small minus defender with effort”.
Think Steph: he’s not a + on D. But he’s only a small minus defender. Not a turnstile. Most stars can be Steph on D—not great, not terrible.
Among non-stars…well, then effort alone is not always enough.
You have to remember that even nba players don’t have unlimited stamina. Guys like Westbrook and Donovan were drafted primarily for their defensive chops in college.
When drafted, they were supposed to be high end role players that would never get hunted during high stakes games.
That equation changes when you become the primary ball handler with other responsibilities.
So in other words they stop doing what on defense?
Trying?
What’s a word for trying effort.
If you’re too tired where you can’t try on defense I’d say that’s an indictment on your conditioning.
I’m not asking you to sit in the chair and guard the other team best player 90% of the time but rotating being where you supposed to be and closes outs that’s bullshit.
Especially in Westbrook case if give maximum effort for the rebound he ain’t too tired then is he?
Even guys like Jordan and Kobe were more opportunistic defenders as opposed to just one on one lockdown defenders like a Tony Allen or an Avery Bradley were. That shit takes a ton of energy.
That’s what I said.
Steph curry is an average defender just by way of effort
He’s not big he’s not fast he doesn’t have particularly long arms he just tries.
James harden defense fluctuates literally by how much he tries same with Luka
That’s a crazy simplistic take lol. Curry has goat level endurance and stamina.
Harden and Luka are often the punching bag because they’re stars but plenty of players just aren’t that good on defense at the nba level for whatever reason. That includes athletic wings who looks like they should be good defenders but aren’t
If Trae Young were reduced to a spot-up shooter on offense and put almost all his energy/effort into defense he would still be a bad defender because he is tiny and doesn’t move very well, by NBA standards.
I just said that.
He’s one player the league is 450+
So Magic Johnson was playing only half the time in the 80s? He was not a two way player by any means
Magic’s defense is better than most people think though.
He wasn’t good, but he was super versatile and very willing to play his role. He was a switchable big wing that could handle bigs and wings and sort of stay with guards
He was smart and made plays on defense and was a great rebounder.
he wasn’t a great defender but he wasn’t dragging his team down either and showing shit effort very much at all.
if anything Magic should be the posterchild for this discussion. Instead of being a complete liability and not trying, he put the effort in and managed to contribute despite his shortcomings on that end
His era allowed for a lot more standing around and less being involved in every single action with PnR that stretched the entire length of the court
If magic was playing today his defense would’ve been a liability.
You could at least count on Magic to make an effort, particularly in crunch time.
Some player compensate bad defense with insane offense (Jokic, Doncic). It doesnt make them less essential to win games.
I think in Luka’s case it has hurt him at times in the playoffs
I still think Luka was a net positive to the Mavs
Obviously a one man offensive engine is a net positive. But with just how bad he is defensively it puts a ceiling on his teams. He has the size and strength to be good. But his effort is dogshit.
Curry has always taken pride in playing defense. Don’t get me wrong, he has his lapses and is a limited defensive player because of his physical abilities and generally the worst defensive player on the team of good defenders but he tries and executes defensive schemes. CP3 recently gave him credit for it and he hilariously loves being called a “two way player.” Teams have typically targeted him as part of the game plan to tire him out but they’ve generally had poor efficiency numbers going at him. Kerr has always been selective about how they send help and switching up how the team reacts to Curry in iso so he’ll end up on the wrong end of highlights. There’s a lot of nuance to the discussion of basketball that a lot of people are unwilling or unable to have, it’s easier to post a highlight and say Curry is a bad defender even though he’s been a productive part of elite defenses for all of the Warriors runs. Is he the main reason for their elite defenses? No, but he certainly takes pride in doing his part as the weakest link. I’m obviously biased, everyone know what Curry’s carrying attributes are but his defense has always been an underrated reason why the Warriors run has worked. Given how having the smallest player as your best player is a pretty big outlier when it comes to NBA success.
Every player seriously considered for GOAT status was a two way demon in their prime. MJ was insane on defense, Wilt went bonkers on defense, Kobe, Bron, nuff said. The entire top 10 guys were massive factors on defense in addition to being offensive forces (hell Tim Duncan was probably better known for his D)
thing is individual offense is way more impactful than individual defense
Individual defense is not nearly as impactful as offense
Lowe talked about it on I think his last pod, with wing apex defenders or guards you can kind of scheme away from them. It’s not nothing, but it isn’t half the game from a value added standpoint. But big guys you have to deal with them a lot more, and Wemby is a freak who I feel like will somehow become he retires somehow block a corner 3 attempt while he is guarding a player in the other corner.
this is like Harden laughing saying he is the best 3pt shooter of all time cause Steph doesnt count lol
Sam Hauser exists
Finals Xavier Tillman
It’s a bit different bc of wemby’s absolutely ridiculous proportions, the man is a 1 of 1 build and therefore not human that other humans can reasonably compare themselves too. There’s thousands (maybe hundreds?) of dudes across america built like jaylen brown, but only one built like wemby
Man JB is cool lmao, I don’t care what anyone says.
He’s said some dumb stuff but overall he’s a very good person.
Everyone says dumb shit, its called being human.
this is why wemby always saying some smart shit
Yeah agreed. People latch on to it too much and treat JB as some moron when in reality the only difference between him and ordinary people is he’s famous so everyone just hears his dumb takes.
JB is also exceptionally intelligent though. You could say he’s arrogant or not particularly wise, but as far as star athletes go he’s an Einstein.
I love JB and I do think he’s intelligent, but suggesting he’s an Einstein among professional athletes is a joke. We don’t talk about Pau Gasol that way, and he was literally in med school. JB is a smart social activist and entrepreneur, but I’m not sure he’s even the smartest guy in the NBA today, let alone in NBA history or all of professional sports.
I’ve never said anything dumb. Ever.
Anyway… wanna see my stick collection?
Okay, that’s pretty funny. lol
What separates Wemby and makes him special is the brain and his desire and his maturity. . He’s 22 but mentally he thinks more like a 32 year old. Thats rare. Thats why I think he has a shot at being the best to ever do it. He never rests on his laurels. He won’t get lazy like Shaq did. He isn’t someone that is going to get complacent
personally i think what separates him is that he is 7 foot 5 athletic and coordinated
The worst part is the hypocrisy.
lol literally the first thing that came to my mind.
“Hey at least he wasn’t a hypocrite”
They mean what separates him from other players with particularly exceptional bodies for basketball
That’s the joke.
I see so much of this shit where we get spurs flairs saying “honestly it’s not even his physical traits it’s really his mentality and…”
Guys. It’s okay. Nobody thinks lebron would be lebron or jordan would be jordan without being 99.9999 percentile genetic outliers. Just how it is. We can admit the same about wemby lol
You’re right, Cooper Flagg has a lot of the same qualities
Not taking anything away from him, but what separates him is his height and athletic ability. There has literally never been a player that tall who can move that well. Obviously, his mentality will help him reach his full potential. Using Shaq as an example underscores the point. He is one of the best players of all time, despite not being the most dedicated player, because of his incredible athletic ability.
Also helps when you can get help from Tim and Tony
While i despise the celtics as a franchise and fanbase, i find myself rooting for them more often than not just cause the actual players are so likeable
Unselfish basketball is always Beautiful.
lol I get what JB meant. Wemby is just built different. Dude moves like a guard but he’s like 7’5 with that wingspan, it’s honestly ridiculous.
Calling himself the best “human” player is kinda funny but also… yeah I see the point.
Wemby is basically create-a-player so yeah that makes sense
Could you even create him in 2k before he joined the league?
Yeah, he’s not human, he’s French.
Frenchman here:
There’s a quote I read once that says something along these lines:
“Nobody copies the French, and the French copy nobody”.
So I guess, understandable, have a nice day. 🤝🏻
I think Ant is better than him but JB has a right to claim that title for sure. The amount effort they give on both ends of the floor is so fun to watch every game
I think he’s chasing the greatest non-ball dominant player of all time. If he can stay healthy.
This has to be Jaylen Brown’s Reddit account.
The Michael Jordan of Scottie Pippens, if you will
Better believe it. I’ve been watching the game for decades. And I’ve never seen anything like him. He’s the ONLY player I’ve seen next to Shaq, where I thought he will give Jordan a serious run for his money for GOAT in terms of potentially doing so.. Will he? Well probably not but if he stays healthy, I think he will come damn close
LeBron? I mean LeBron is near universally considered above Shaq in all time rankings
The shaq effect was real
LeBron felt like a legitimate threat to mj until the 2011 finals. That’s when his goat case ended for many people
Absolutely. The young guns on this sub were in diapers or not born yet. 2011, the immaturity for laughing/mocking and making it seem like Dirk wasn’t really sick. I remember that quote when he said something like “you all talk shit but yall go back to your shitty corporate jobs so stfu”. Something like that im paraphrasing. lebron is NOT the goat.
Wemby’s great but can we let him win a playoff series before we start comparing him to MJ?
MJ was compared to god before he won a single playoff series.
I feel confident the goat torch will be passed from Jordan to Wemby
He is a sentient tree
I am Groot?
No you are Harold
Victir ENTreeyama
He makes David Robinson look like a freaking midget lol
That loss the la clippers took almost made me fucc some shit up lol
The only times I can recall hearing other players talk about another player like this was MJ, LeBron and Shaq. Wemby really is destined for that upper tier, crazy to live to see all of these guys one after the other
If Giannis leaves this offseason, I hope he goes to the Spurs so he and Wemby burn the NBA to the ground.
That dude would be the a defensive nightmare the NBA has never seen before. Even better than Duncan and the Admiral.
Wemby Giannis Castle Harper and Bryant on defense is actually insane lmao. You gonna score 90 and be happy with that.
I think it’s universally accepted in the league if Wemby could get healthy enough where he can maintain a 32-35min a game workload with 70 games played a year it would all be over.
I mean he played 71 games his rookie year and only missed last year cuz of a bloodclot its looking good
these are the types of quotes Wemby stans will be using in 20 years in whatever GOAT debate is happening at the time
I’m sorry but as long as Kawhi Leonard is doing what he’s doing, JB is not the best 2 way player on the league
why is everybody streaming?
JB is a twitch streamer. Others do podcasts
my question remains unanswered. why?
You know those media posts on instagram, twitter, etc where they take what a star says out of context and everyone ends up having a skewed perception of said star thinking they’re some asshole or dumbass.
People didn’t really LOVE JB like that until he started streaming and talking to the fans. Now everyone loves his humour, humility, confidence, etc.
Basically my point is that Brown wants to interact with the fans and control his own narrative.
I like JB. He’s a likable person. I unlike DRaymond Greene. Him hating on Gobert really ticked me off. I’m not even a Gobert fan
The stuff Wemby does really defies normal human abilities. Like this is one in a lifetime type genetic and skill
lol I get what he means. Wemby is just built different. Calling himself the best “human” player is kinda funny but also fair.
Reminds me of James Harden saying he’s actually the record holder for most 3’s made ever.
“Curry doesn’t count.”
Ok….
That’s hilarious
Wemby makes regular 6’6” and above players feel like we do next to them.
For real. I was one of the people doubting all the hype saying hes the biggest draft prospect since Lebron; and maybe of all time. I understand now. Dude has become my favorite non cavs player to watch play. Its unbelievable watching this guy move around like a fuckin point guard out there
Bro’s playing a nephilim
aliens watching this like they would agree
Is it bad that I’m worried about him I’m just worried you know he’s really tall and he already grew if he keeps growing that’s the problem in itself