“It’s weird to play in France again, but honestly, there is nothing easier than to return and play games like this. The atmosphere in Orleans was great, it was really beautiful to play,” Wembanyama said during a post-game media scrum.

The San Antonio Spurs star started at center, having previously played significant minutes at power forward in Belgrade.

“I felt more comfortable on the court [as a center] from the start. We are a new team, and we don’t know each other so well yet, so it was important to start from the basics. I think that we have made a step forward.”

“My words before the game were that we shouldn’t take anything for granted. It is an exhibition game, but we have to learn how to win. Today we learnt a few lessons.”

Wemby’s honest take about matchups with Jokic

Speaking about the lessons learned, Wembanyama admitted that he gains insight from every matchup against Nikola Jokic.

“Of course you always learn when you play against Jokic. You always catch some stuff and smarter moves on the court in those duels with him.”

“Our plan is simple: we are going to Paris in a day or two, continue with our preparations, and then we play the Qualifiers games,” he concluded.

Source

sanjit8103 | Nuggets

67 | a day ago

Wemby’s gonna be unstoppable if he gets even a little bit of Jokic’s playmaking abilities.

siphillis | Spurs

4 | 6 hours ago

He’s got really fantastic vision and creativity as a passer, among the best after Joker. But the timing and touch isn’t anywhere near what Nikola makes look natural

Otherwise-Formal-220 | Heat

-22 | a day ago

Or you know, works a bit closer to the basket as a big and not a guard

fetuswut | Bucks

41 | a day ago

Don’t think Wemby will ever have the build to be a full on post player

Otherwise-Formal-220 | Heat

1 | a day ago

True but he’s got to do something to get higher percentage shots

HowBen

4 | 12 hours ago

he needs a big-booty PF next to him that can act as a release valve. Someone that Wemby can dump it off to if opponents overplay him in the paint.

If such a guy can also take up a greater share of dirty work like rebounding / banging in the post / etc., it would reduce the wear and tear on Wemby and allow him to be more of a roamer on defense.

this is why I was actually hoping Spurs would pick up Derik Queen in the 2025 draft, i thought he could be his Boris Diaw. But they missed him by one pick.

TimothyN | Pelicans

1 | 10 hours ago

Big brain Joe Dumars stopping the Spurs from getting the perfect running mate for Wemby.

Novel-Wait328

0 | 10 hours ago

wasnt derik queen playing quite badly(especially on defense) besides few games?

a_moniker | Hornets

1 | 8 hours ago

Yeah, he’s been bad

Laggo | TOR

2 | a day ago

All he has to be able to do is put pressure on the rim and get a triple threat package and he could be a ‘post’ player, just not in the traditional way someone like Carmelo would do it.

Wemby can extend to the rim in a similar fashion that a normal post player would bump w/ strength to get the extra 2-3 feet necessary to be in spin hook or up-and-under or whatever range.

In the post right now they just push him out because they know that’s his only move. He needs to be able to just rise up sometimes at that range to threaten a foul and make defenders give him some space.

He can definitely still improve in that area. Wemby should be watching a fuck ton of Rasheed Wallace post footage. There is a ton he could lift immediately from him.

Limp_Screen7405

9 | a day ago

All he has to be able to do is put pressure on the rim and get a triple threat package

Love Wemby but he literally just can’t do it. Too tall and thin.

He’s quick but he doesn’t have burst, guys can stay in front.

He’s also so tall that the ball is almost always exposed.

He’s not strong so guys can push him off his catch-spots and wall off his drives. It’s easy to say “add muscle” but he’d have to eat 10K+ calories a day to do fuel that regimen. Not feasible.

Hopsalong | Nuggets

9 | a day ago

All he has to be able to do is put pressure on the rim and get a triple threat package.

Love Wemby but he literally just can’t do it. Too tall and thin.

He already does it by being a roll threat for alley oops. His lob catching ability terrifies other teams into terrible rotations. Wemby doesn’t need a post game - he needs to just become an excellent decision maker at the nail with some finisher moves and pick an pop ability. He’s most of the way there.

He’s going to have multiple all star guards with him his whole career to get him the ball, turning him into an iso scorer is a waste of the roster and his skills.

Limp_Screen7405

3 | a day ago

I hear you but I was referring to his own creation abilities, I know he’s amazing as a playfinisher which is something he should lean into

Hopsalong | Nuggets

2 | 14 hours ago

I’m still in the camp that he doesn’t need play creation. He’s a walking top 5 defense alone, and you can afford to put a creation guard on the floor for him even if they suck at defense. He’s also got 4 guards on his roster now.

Posting him up for isos on offense is only going to wear him out and what you want him doing is defense and rim running/pick and pop.

Laggo | TOR

1 | 13 hours ago

In the playoffs people are not going to play him fair, he’s going to be guarded like Curry where they have a smaller guy grab him, scratch him, and otherwise prevent him from getting to his spot. Offball it’s going to be incredibly hard for him to get calls out of that, you need the ball to force something against the defense. Can you think of one first option offensive player that lived off rim running in the playoffs?

Unless you are content with 14 ppg from Wemby he’s going to have to solidify his play creation further because that’s how he’s sitting around ~25 already. He takes a third of his shots from distance as it is, you don’t want him taking half or more of his shots from three. His length already makes him a tough shot creator even though he doesn’t really have the toolset to match yet. You’re basically saying he should regress and focus entirely on defense, which is a thought, but defensive rim runners don’t get paid like Wemby wants to get paid.

Hopsalong | Nuggets

1 | 5 hours ago

Wemby “creating” is how he can only be out there 30 mins a game. You want him out there 40+ min in the playoffs, and he’s got to rest sometimes. He’s not like other offensive stars who can afford to just coast on defense.

He’s such a great defender, you can just outsource some of his weaknesses on offense (playmaking) and tell him to focus on his strengths. Wasting time developing a skill he’s not going to use on the court is just a waste of energy and time.

Soul0103 | ORL

2 | a day ago

You make some good points but how exactly is increasing his calories not feasible? That’s not that hard. He can look into how Steven Adams does it.

Limp_Screen7405

3 | a day ago

Wemby’s like half a foot taller than Adams, his daily maintenance level for his size/activity is like 10K calories…and that’s just to maintain. If he wants to add muscle, it’d be even more.

Between the constant eating, lifting, and recovering, it’d just be too much. At least if you’re expecting him to have a Giannis-esque transformation.

Laggo | TOR

2 | 13 hours ago

i mean if phelps could do it why couldnt he if he really wanted

a_moniker | Hornets

1 | 8 hours ago

He’s also a way bigger injury risk. A 7’6” player with the lbs/inch of Adams is a walking injury. We basically already saw it with Yao Ming.

Passing out of the nail really does seem like the way to maximize his offense. His height allows him to see the whole floor at all times and pass over anyone. He already has a good shot, so he could basically become a better version of Bam. The threat of the pass would also open tons of driving/cutting lanes.

Willing-Criticism-36

-1 | a day ago

Everything with him should be an at max one dribble move out of a face up. Either one dribble pull-up, or gather and bully for a dunk/layup. Trying to break guys down and chain a bunch of moves together is a fool’s errand.

analyzingnothing | Nuggets

1 | a day ago

The issue is that he doesn’t have the tools to do that. He can’t bully because he’s so thin, so contact breaks his balance and makes it difficult to reliably finish. He can’t really face up from mid-range either because he’s just not efficient from there.

TheCalvinator | Spurs

1 | 21 hours ago

He actually can bully a bit, but mostly against your average post player. He’s added weight and is decently strong. His biggest struggle point in the post is usually against shorter strong guys where the leverage of him being so tall tends to cause problems. But honestly bully ball should not be the goal for him, because that leverage issue is always going to be there. He needs to learn to work in the post using footwork, which I believe he is continuing to work with Hakeem this off-season and that should help.

Maverick_1991 | Hawks

-1 | 21 hours ago

Hes 7’5.

Thats enough build to work in the post.

You don’t need Steven Adams strength or Hakeem post moves at that height

Limp_Screen7405

11 | a day ago

Last year, 1/3rd of his FGA came within 3ft of the basket, he had a .417 FTr, and 1/6th of his possessions were in transition; he’s definitely more rim-oriented than people think.

The idea that he thinks he’s a guard is a bit overblown, honestly.

Frosty-Roof3124

41 | a day ago

it’s kind of remarkable how good jokic’s numbers are always against wemby

_19911118 | Raptors

23 | a day ago

Wemby’s numbers against Jokic/nuggets are also quite good

Jordan-Pushed-Off | Nuggets

9 | 18 hours ago

Nuggets not known for defense tho

LurkerFailsLurking | Nuggets

1 | 12 hours ago

Those aren’t the Nuggets, but putting Jokic at center you’re defense insise is going to suffer.

Resident_Durian_478 | Spurs

5 | 10 hours ago

Best player in the world, he’s going to get his

vrilro

2 | a day ago

Occasionally larger bigs give Wemby trouble (though not always)

Vucien

26 | a day ago

Wemby would probably benefit from looking at some of Dirks work in the midpost. Dirk was a much better shooter, but given time some of dirks tools would really suit wemby.

Wemby cant back to the basket bang with bigs. He needs to spin off, use faceup and work through lobs and off of movement and screens to get good low position.

When sealing and posting traditionally, is always going to be forced off his spots before the catch by stronger players and due to him having a higher center of gravity than ANYONE.

Motion through the key, in the pinch post and off curls crossing to the mid and low post get him good interior looks. He needs dirks tools for when he is making a trandition seal and catch, becauzd its usually pushed out to the high/pinch post, or wide on the baseline. This is the prime spot for face up.

We will never see wemby play a back to the basket style like jokic, and we shouldnt. The weight required to do it would ruin his joints

Candid-Recover6822

2 | 9 hours ago

In one possession in this game, he received the ball in iso at the short corner, and just went for a classic face up swipe through jumper. This is the type of stuff he needs to do tbh. Just mix it with jab steps and one dribble if needed and shoot over the top. Be patient and always be ready to kick out to open shooters. Then he has his viability in inverted PnRs as a ballhandler and his spacing value from both being a streaky 3pt shooter (hopefully his percentages get better on that end) and the best finisher in the game.

What do you think about him developing a jumphook btw?

siphillis | Spurs

1 | 6 hours ago

Wemby is working with Dirk’s old shooting coach, and he’s been seen doing the Dirk fader in practice

laz10 | DEN

5 | 17 hours ago

We are a new team, and we don’t know each other so well yet

The Ghost of Evan Fournier gets trotted out for the millionth time

waffle-winner | Spurs

2 | 16 hours ago

The shriveled husk.

Expensive-Yak-402

1 | 5 hours ago

What are they playing for? Is this a European thing? Forgive my ignorance

[BasketNews] Victor Wembanyama: “Of course you always learn when you play against Jokic. You always catch some stuff and smarter moves on the court in those duels with him.”