Hips to feet you say? Time for crippling back pain

As soon as the Spurs got #1 I made a bet with my friend (winner’s choice of a nice liquor bottle) that he’d win a title within 5 years. His only limitation to this day is health and the Spurs are too well-run to fail him.

Eh people (including me) thought this was a kinda hot take. No one has been this good this young. LeBron had a case as he just led the Cavs the finals, but I think LeBron was more one of a few contested choices, whereas Wemby is consensus best now. Duncan probably was in 99 but he was a year older than Wemby is.

I saw the footage and obviously thought Wemby would be an all time great player. But I thought his growth especially on offense wasn’t guaranteed, and he could end up being “only” a rich man’s AD. As much as Wemby’s size, speed, and skills are amazing the fact that he has a top tier competitive nature and growth rate is what is putting him over the top of being a GOAT candidate. And I just wasn’t sure that was going to be the case before he was drafted.

My opinion at draft was injuries or GOAT convo. I still maintain.

I watched him play Scoot Henderson’s team in Vegas in 2022 and my jaw was on the ground the entire time.

props to the spurs lifting/calisthenics team for getting wemby’s knees and ankles right

Sooner or later he’ll give us a 2K stat line for a game which we’ll never see again.

Something ridiculous like 60 points 30 rebounds 15 blocks 10 assist.

I think he the only one who has the potential to be what Wilt was to the people during his era.

He seems so locked in that I would be shocked if he isn’t on a strict protocol meant to protect his body. As for his mind… respect ✊

Wembys only if has always been health.

We said this about Zion a few years ago and look where that ended up.

Tbf if Kings had that pick they would hqve selected somebody else. (Still remember when they had the chance they still ignored Luka when it was the most obvious decision ever because it was not as if Luka was an unknown prospect)

they put Zion on the cover of 2k

Honestly I think it’ll be hard for him to ever be the best offensive player in the league unless he just gets a Dirk-like jumper. He’s already good and can be great but I don’t ever see him being able to score as well as the best scorers. I imagine he doesn’t want to put on too much weight so his post game won’t ever be like Jokic, which is why I said he’d need a GREAT jumper. Obviously his off-ball gravity is great but I don’t think that along with his current offense is enough.

But that’s just scoring. His passing is probably the area I’m most interested in. Again, don’t think he’ll ever be Jokic-good but even getting to a level like iHart or Draymond would put him in the conversation of best offensive player if his jumper keeps improving.

Agree 100%. I think stamina is going to he his greatest challenge as well. He has the potential to be the best defensive player in the game and one of its biggest offensive weapons but doubt he can maintain both for 30mpg.

I think he should focus on developing an elite post fadeaway over all else tbh

Face up game is cool but at 7’6”, you’re always so vulnerable to getting plucked. Hook shots are harder to be consistent with out to 15+ feet. He’s a solid shooter and will get to being a good/bordering on great one, but chucking 10 threes a game is inconsistent and feels like a bit of a waste

If he gets a Wilt/Dirk type fade, it opens up more spins/slips to the rim and playmaking opportunities out of the high post. It’s also impossible to block cause he’s shooting down on the basket lol

I’m not saying Wemby is the best offensive player in the league, but I think this is flawed analysis. Wemby as an offensive player is more Steph Curry than he is Jokic or Doncic or SGA

Where Wemby has absurd values in ways none of those guys do is that he’s already an all-time off-ball player. His gravity both in the paint and on the perimeter absolutely shatters defenses, and it’s these same principles that made Steph Curry arguably the greatest offensive engine in history

We’ve grown accustomed to the best offensive players being heliocentric or helio-esque but there’s many ways to get the job done, and Wemby’s way is significantly more compatible with other ball handlers and great players

But Wemby allows way more ball handling/good passing wings and guards next to him to get him the ball. Why does he need a ball dominant streak to be elite on offense? He’s a 7’5 center do we expect him to be Giannis? That shouldn’t be his main go to. He typically only does perimeter ball handling in transition offense or if a team is focusing a center or slower wing on him. 

Look at the shooting splits for the WCF how he was better on offense than the two time MVP. Because he can do the best Anthony Davis impression yet scarier as the roll man, is a respectable pop threat and shooting threat overall, and can mix in seals and post ups. He can also attack closeouts well when teams bite on his shot fakes when his jumper is going.

In the WCF series alone he dominated offensively in different ways showing his variety. He dominated inside in game 1 when the Thunder had either Jdub or Caruso on him in the post, then adjusted to Hartenstein throughout the series had his best transition offensive game while hitting jumpers in game 4. Game 6 was his best overall shooting game, and game 7 was the point Wemby focus to start the first few minutes due to Hartenstein guarding him. He also arguably had his best passing game then. 

He has room to grow but he’s already drawing double teams/roll help at the level of Jokic/Shai/Luka. His roll gravity alone is way more valuable than a slightly more polished self-creation ability

Wemby can create at-will by standing next to the rim and being a lob threat, like how he played game 1. He just can’t bang down low all game and run full throttle on defense. If he played like Jokic on defense and just focused on offense who knows what he’d be capable of already.

Looking at teams’ results, teams’ offensive efficiency, it seems to me the main skill of the NBA star that really impacts the game offensively is how they handle being doubled. The players who really bring the wins are really good at it. There were some players that were not big scorers, but if they could playmake for the team, the results were amazing, and vice versa.

Spurs definitely are trying to develop that in Wemby. For a guy that tall, he’s relatively adept, but of course he’s far from a LeBron, Jokic, Shai level of that.

And just in general, you’re not gonna be THE best offensive player in the world when 2-3 players in your own team just plainly have the ball more than you lol. It’s not 1986. But they’re trying to force him to develop his guard skills as much as possible during the seasons.

Yep. If he hadn’t “somehow” been drafted by one of the best orgs and gotten Castle, Fox, Harper, Champagnie, Vassell, Johnson etc as teammates, instead playing for the Wizards or the Kings, he wouldn’t even be making playoffs by now.

I think that Jokic stands on his own right now offensively. But even then we just saw Gobert made is rough for him when his 3s isnt falling. I think the biggest difference with Wemby is that his existence changes everything on offense. Watch game 7 and while Wemby wasn’t ‘great’, him literally running hard to the basket on every play is creating wide open shots for everyone. Most of the Spurs 3s were wide open.

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What the fuck is this shit? In the entire 7-games of WCF, Wemby has more points per game, with way better efficiency, than the league’s best offensive player in SGA.

Sure he can improve but you are looking at things the WRONG effing way. You are looking for self-creation like Wemby plays 3-on-3 at rucker park LMAO. Sure, he ain’t Kobe in the isos, but he doesn’t need to.

Given with the right matchups, he can shoot over anyone at the 3, catch and shoot, pull ups, or off the dribble. He can also shoot over anyone at the midrange, and he can jump and dunk over anyone in the post. That’s self-creation my guy. He’s not as efficient YET as we want him to be. And don’t expect him to be creating his own shots like Kobe or Kyrie dribbling the ball 50 times for fuck sake the dude is 7’6”.

agreed that he still has some room for improvement but to me the biggest question was gonna be how well he can actually shoot. And while he could become more consistent, it’s looking decent enough for me to be very scared

Hell. He still has room for improvements on the defensive end too. As scary as that sounds.

just consistency. He gets really hot and cold, he didnt have 2 good effort games in a row until games 6 and 7. Right now he’s not really a pure scorer, he’s mainly a finisher which really limits him offensively.

If he can develop a go-to unstoppable move to get a bucket he will be a much larger problem

The spurs could do much more with him on offense. Dude is a guaranteed bucket down low.

if he can improve his gas tank the league is cooked

I actually don’t even think he’s amazing on offense, which is crazy cause he’s not bad at all for being so young.

Flair up homie

LOL I don’t remember anyone arguing anything other than LeBron as number 1. It was such a sure thing, their owner pulled out a Cleveland LeBron jersey when they won the lottery.

There were as many Scoot truthers as Melo truthers

I remember somebody bet \(60,000 that Wemby would go first overall, and they only net a \)300 extra

Eh there is definitely some recency bias here. There was absolutely no debate about AD, Duncan, Shaq, Robinson or Kareem going #1 either. Generational big men are pretty easy to spot–it’s guards/SF who are typically harder to judge. No one had any doubts about about these HoF centers/PFs.

Hell Robinson was so clearly the favorite that he was drafted #1 despite Spurs knowing they would have to wait 2 years before he could play with them (since he had to finish his Navy service first)

it was decided long before the draft. the Spurs rep pounding the table and yelling at the draft lottery wasn’t so they could draft Scoot Henderson. that was very openly a Wemby Sweepstakes event.

Charley Rosen was a LeBron truther. “He’ll never learn to shoot!”

Lol. Lmao even.

“Paradigm shifter”

I don’t think they could come up with a better descriptor than that.

I agree but he’s also only 22 which means he has a lot of time to grow offensively.

We’ve seen flashes already, give him a couple of off seasons in the lab and a go to midrange shot and you will get a monster.

He outperformed SGA on offense in this series overall. I think he went above his regular season efficiency shooting splits for the series overall on 27 points on 48/40/89 shooting splits in 38 minutes. 62 ts%. SGA was the better playmaker but he was also getting way more obvious helps and doubles outside until game 4 when they dialed back the doubles up high a lot and were more stunting and recovering. Plugging up gaps here and there. 

After game 1 the Thunder made it a mission to tag at least 3 defenders in the paint whenever Wemby rolled inside they tried their hardest to take away half court Wemby lobs and also preferred centers on him instead of him posting up their wings or guards since he dominated in game 1 whenever he got a clean catch. 

I agree he’s not the best offensive player or even top 3  but I think he is arguably a top 5 offensive player in the playoffs due to the floor of his offense. He isn’t ball dominant and he allows way more potential ball handling/good passing players on the floor due to his two way game and dominance on defense. He is the most dangerous lob threat in the league that leads to wide open 3s look at Champaigne’s shots in game 7 as an example if teams want to take that away the most. He is also a respectable shooter and if his shooting is going well it unlocks so many things. He’s a very good passer for his position as well. Still the worse passer of the top offensive players but again Wemby is not ball dominant for that to be a big hole in his game. He’s an elite off ball movement player too. When he chooses to roll or pop I agree 90% of the time on his reads. 

In the regular season I thought he was a top 10-8 offensive player. And his offensive peak in a single game is the most dangerous of any player due to how different he can flow on offense. 

Yeah, he is not that one-man offensive juggernaut yet.

But being top 10 offensive wise is good enough to make him MVP tier with his top 1 defense.

Ya even if Wemby stopped improving (which is unlikely), he is already primed to be up there with the all-time greats.

Health/longevity is the biggest factor, as it tends to be with guys like this. If he can play at this level for 10 years even he will have had an insane career.

He’s not top 10 offensively I don’t think.

Not that crazy. He averages 31 points per 36 on 63% true shooting. He’s not the best offensive player, but he’s not far off.

While I agree he’s not the best offensive player he was really good at getting shots every single time OKC was coming back on G7. Whenever it felt they could come back he hit hard 3s and such. Not just in G1

Portland probably would have picked someone else #1 anyway….. :D

I ain’t a coward. I’ll admit I was one of those people. I was so wrong.

guy can barely finish alley-oops

Are you watching a different player?

Too scrawny?

Did you miss the past 19 years of Kevin Durant?

Offensively you should take way more than those two. Defensively he’s so good that if he stays healthy he may even get people to get over voter fatigue and give him several in a row (though I wouldn’t put it past voters to go with 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33….)

And Wemby has a history of missing time

Where is this narrative coming from? He’s had 2 healthy seasons out of 3. And the one season he missed a good amount of time was a freak injury, not related to his body type or bones.