Victor Wembanyama aka Wemby aka The Extraterrestrial

to discuss the 7'4" french hooper

Victor Wembanyama just dribbled the ball through Reggie Bullock’s legs 🤯pic.twitter.com/uVSh0k5P8F

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 19, 2023

that's mean

la muscade

Kids these days have no respect.

https://x.com/worldwidewob/status/1715555240748232761?s=46&t=XlsbhgknQH65_CH00_uPqw

out here blocking klay threes

i think his defensive ceiling is to become the most impactful defender since bill russell

just caught up on a bunch of highlights on NBA TV, holy cannoli!

he blocked wiggins three times lol

Kinda wild if you think about it. pic.twitter.com/GIzGNlIUT2

— C.J. Holmes 🚀 (@CjHolmes22) October 21, 2023

That whole 90 seconds is lol

Wemby did all this in 90 seconds 👽 pic.twitter.com/LwKec8Nc4j

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) October 21, 2023

Hot take: he's going to be All-Defense as a rookie.

His 3 point shot is a little shaky but his midrange already looks solid.

curious to see what his offense looks like against full speed nba d, hes def doing some iffy stuff but prob also has some already strong parts to his offense, pop said hes letting him figure it out on his own just letting him do whatever he wants which was surprising but does seem true through the preseason at least, defense is yeah already insane, wouldnt be surprised if he made the allstar game this year, hes a phenomenon

Def interested to see what he looks like once teams start trying and all start to build a scouting report on him.

tbh i think teams have heard of this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_ygGfnFzQc

oh my god

https://x.com/ericsal_7/status/1715916481265799380?s=46&t=XlsbhgknQH65_CH00_uPqw

that looks fake

lol i may have gone to hs with that x poster (according to my friend who insists this is true)

but yeah that picture is bananas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dta2sjy7GRg

TW for those who are afraid of heights.

lol the hand in space

the layup is insane he just…lays it in

They should get him a go pro instead of having him hold his little phone.

He has scored

So "only" 3 blocks in the last game, guys are maybe testing him less now?

he's definitely altering drives and perimeter jumpers even if he isnt getting contact

This guy reached the highest level for his sport on the planet and his highlight reel still looks like when there’s a 5-star recruit in a small high school district https://t.co/kfB8oRY36b

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 3, 2023

love how much the announcers are just chuckling at how insane this dude is

making KD look like Mugsy Durant out there

The question now might be how soon does he become the best player in the league.

when theyre running the throw it up where no one else can get it play they could still be throwing it much higher lol no ones brain can process what hes capable of

Kareem is the only near-analog to Victor in terms of instant impact on the whole league, but Kareem arrived in the league aged 22 and already had three NCAA championships under his belt. Wembanyama just needs to add some muscle and show his body can endure the grind of 82 games plus endless playoff series and he'll unquestionably be in the top three or four. Getting enough separation that everyone agrees who is "the best player in the league" is almost impossible these days.

when theyre running the throw it up where no one else can get it play they could still be throwing it much higher

Yeah I noticed that too, I mean where's this kid's (literal) ceiling?

you know who I feel a little bad for is Pop, I mean the guy was fairly vocal about wanting to hang it up someday soon and suddenly this absolute freak just lands in his lap

lol no way, wemby just added like ten years to pops life. hes set

I mean its a good problem to have but I kinda feel like Pop was finally letting himself think about fucking off for a while and spening all day fishing

I assume pop is having the time of his life with this kid

its his karmic payout for being one of the first nba guys to take european basketball players seriously

most nba coaches are overworked type-A nervous wrecks. pop strikes me as about the most mentally healthy coach out there. he'll quit whenever he wants to.

well yeah he seems like the one dude who might like a life outside of basketball

dont get me wrong when the Spurs got the pick the first thing I thought was that I was happy for Pop, I love when coaches like that can go out on a high note

The question now might be how soon does he become the best player in the league.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, November 3, 2023 1:31 PM (two hours ago)

you have guys like jokic, tatum, luka who are still just into or haven't even entered their prime years so i think i'd peg it at like 3 years until victor is indisputably the best player in the league

i think the more interesting question is how much better will he be than the second best player of his wave of guys? like if you put luka, tatum, shai etc to the side -- they're all 24/25 -- and focus just on the 22/23 year olds and under you have guys like: paolo, ant edwards, cade, halliburton, chet, franz, barnes... it feels like victor could be 2x better than them even as most if not all of those guys will be all NBA players

if hes the best player in the league at 22 well boy howdy, not usually how it works but could happen

hard not to get ahead of ourselves here after witnessing last night... but yeah. please just stay healthy

im sure hell have some injuries as his alien body adjusts to earth life, just hopefully nothing too serious

since we're getting ahead of ourselves in this thread after seeing some of those plays last night my reaction wasn't just "he could be the best player in the league in 3 years" but also "they may have to change the rules for this guy"

will this guy even have to box out? he gumbied a pass last night with his arm bent like 90 degrees over the defenders head lol

Need E-40 to say victor wembanyama one time

— no bells (@nobellsblog) November 3, 2023

lmao

haha id be surprised if he wasnt working up a song right now

Mr Wembanyama Mr Vic Wembanyama

Victor Wembayama during his on-court interview after the win “I missed this shit” pic.twitter.com/GBQQw3A4xO

— Noah Magaro-George (@N_Magaro) March 1, 2024

i cannot express how much ppl in sa love this young man

lol that block got the ball before it left his hands

him vs. Chet has been really fun to watch

its crazy how good they both are

he said NOOOOOO! pic.twitter.com/5IYmqu4E9B

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) March 1, 2024

Wemby on his penchant for live-TV bleeps:

“I’m still not used to the, uh, standards here. I’m adjusting.” https://t.co/QyDaJYSUEP

— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) March 1, 2024

wemby is currently -10000 to win ROY

I mean what can you say really

pic.twitter.com/kM97Vzcp64

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 23, 2024

not only did he not jump on that block he was off balance going backwards with one leg off the ground

important to learn from your mistakes

Wemby got players making a lot of business decisions pic.twitter.com/uHNHMbpgVw

— Lang Whitaker (@langwhitaker) March 23, 2024

I think there’s going to be an extremely compelling case for third team all-NBA by the time the season’s over. and it’s hard to envision a world where he’s not the best player in the league by the middle of the 2026 season. maybe even sooner

Is he not a top ten player right *now*?

if hes a top ten player then the rest of the spurs are insanely maybe even impossibly bad

his shooting percentages arent good he doesnt score a ton offensively hes not close to a star right now

tho if they just ran pick and rolls with him every play it would be interesting to see what happened

That block and dunk are insane, but the running the floor like a giant deer/Magic Johnson is what makes him so unique.

will be interesting to see how his game develops what kind of player he ends up being right now seems like hes just doing whatever

if his shooting never comes around then maybe he plays a giannis sort of game except less power more being eight feet tall, does he have giannises handle is it possible with those longest limbs, tho tbf giannis also has very long limbs, wemby also never going to be that strong which makes dribbling operating in tight spaces harder because you get bumped off yr spots

when you watch him the talent is so insane its easy to assume hes just gonna be able to do everything good, and honestly maybe he will but its not guaranteed, feel very comfortable saying hell be the best defender in the game and maybe the best defender ever, offensively i think hell find a way to score a ton of points but im not sure what itll look like and if its like all time great scorer or more all star level scorer

can little scooty guys not just blow past him?

even if theyre by him he can still block their shots lol but regardless thats just a normal big man problem

if he has good floater range touch i guess they could just put him in the post and let him shoot over people, even if he gets pushed out a little being inherently wide open all the time is a strong advantage

Every time this thread gets bumped I think of the guy I used to talk hoops with who really bought into the "he's just tall" "take," and that all a defender had to do against Wemby was to put a hand in his face to make him miss jumpers. I really wish I asked him if he thought if KD would be a good as he's been if he were 6' 4" instead.

being tall in basketball is good

if hes a top ten player then the rest of the spurs are insanely maybe even impossibly bad

― lag∞n, Saturday, March 23, 2024 10:39 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don’t think he’s top 10 but he’s obviously top 25 and really that’s just the average of the whole year, he’s rising fast. to your question specifically there was this chyron I can’t find now that was like team net ratings with their best player off the floor and iirc the spurs were 30th

I mean let’s not be silly just look at the guy he’s very close to being all the way there

his offense just isnt that good, defense is insane but prob unsound in some ways

like the spurs are very bad and he’s a positive in raw +/- since january or something, there’s no sense denying reality he’s taking over very soon

when you watch him the talent is so insane its easy to assume hes just gonna be able to do everything good, and honestly maybe he will but its not guaranteed, feel very comfortable saying hell be the best defender in the game and maybe the best defender ever, offensively i think hell find a way to score a ton of points but im not sure what itll look like and if its like all time great scorer or more all star level scorer

― lag∞n, Saturday, March 23, 2024 10:56 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I agree with all of this but imagine what best defender of all time plus all star level scorer is going to look like!

yeah with that youre in the running for best player ever

people do tend to underestimate how long it takes for young players to develop tho, almost every player who has a popular rookie season has a disappointing second year

if you look at seasonal averages, it really obfuscates how good wemby has been since they changed the starting lineup bc the sochan (pg) and collins (c) were just so bad and dysfunctional. moving sochan to pf, collins to the bench, and tre jones to the starting lineup gave them something useful. the spurs are so bad bc outside of wemby and vassell (and probably tre jones and sochan and keldon), they just don't have players who'd be at minimum rotation guys on good teams. they are very young and make lots of young dumb mistakes in close games. they get thrashed when the bench plays typically.

vassell looks like at least a middleton type scorer who can play some decent d. champagnie is not gonna be the starter forever, but he at least provides some reliable floor-spreading. the rest of the lineup is truly atrocious, just such a huge drop off going from wemby to collins who is an absolute turnstile on D and not enough of a 3pt threat to do much meaningfully on offense. the rest of rotation: project players (branham, wesley, and barlow who've shown some strides of growth but are not impactful players right now); keldon who i love but is a non-entity on defense and is more of a heart and soul microwave guy now; and cedi osman (ok).

they traded nearly everyone who could help you win games in order to get wemby, but i didnt expect they'd lose this many games this year. i have to wonder a little if the issue is down to their scouting taking a dive or if pop has maybe fallen behind the times last few years after being out of playoff contention for so long.

vic's splits before and after the collins benching:

before: (19 games) 18.9/9.7/2.5 with 2.6b and 1.3spg on .432/.265/.817
after: (43 games) 21.7/10.8/4.0 with 3.9b and 1.3spg on .478/.344/.791

should note that the spurs are the worst 3pt shooting team, a little bit of that is vic falling too much in love with that shot, but other part is the rest of the rotation ranges from above average-at-best (vassell, osman, champagnie all ~37%) to truly awful (wesley .135, collins .307). jones and sochan have shot almost respectably (34 and 32% respectively) but need to be wide open to be that accurate.

they traded nearly everyone who could help you win games in order to get wemby, but i didnt expect they'd lose this many games this year. i have to wonder a little if the issue is down to their scouting taking a dive or if pop has maybe fallen behind the times last few years after being out of playoff contention for so long.

― polyamerie "it's more than this 1 thing" (m bison), Saturday, March 23, 2024 2:39 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I’ve mentioned this before, and you’ve definitely watched more games than me, but I feel like there’s a very intentional process here: play spurs basketball (first in assist rate in the league!), let wemby play his way through the different lineup iterations, see what sticks, then reload via the draft next year. the west is just too stacked to have any real expectations. the team has been god-awful over the course of the year but they’ve been merely bad the past several weeks (most of which is probably attributable to wemby evolving). god willing he’s got 15-20 years in the league, who cares if they suck this year

4 assists a game for a 19 year old 7-4 guy is insane. we’re not ready

here's a pretty incredible passer too, like not jokic obv but hes got vision

xp i think thats mostly true, it was an experimental year to see who fits around wemby and how they would fit best, but i think i'm still disappointed in how inconsistently some of these guys look like ball players. i dont know how collins has disappointed me bc i had p low expectations for him, but his play last year post-poeltl trade suggested that he'd at least be a good stretch 5, and hes been shitty! i was mad that the spurs drafted two combo guards in branham and wesley bc they already had a bunch of those, but branham's things was that he was at least a good shooter and he has also been shitty! wesley is becoming a point-of-attack defender but he can't shoot to save his life. keldon isnt exactly regressing, but his development feels like it's stalled out.

A lot of the best free agents are likely to receive max deals and are in pretty good situations. I'm curious who they'll be able to add. I'm sure there are one or two who would take less to play with wemby... probably a vet like derozan or maybe klay thompson? bruce brown?

I don't think paul george wants to move to san antone

i loved demar when he played here, and i think he would work as a game-closer/6th man at the end of his career and help them rack up a few regular season wins. the spurs will need 3pt shooters around wemby, though. klay is the archetype of guy they need on the wing, but he's already 34. i can't see them doing anything more than 1-year mle type deals with vets that deep into their careers. bruce is a good rotation guy, but they can't afford to flesh out the bench when the starting lineup has such glaring holes. also bruce belongs in denver.

its gonna have to be a draft-built team just as it was with duncan (and the warriors with curry mostly). thankfully they've got a lot to build with there, but it does mean they'll need to land an all-star (assuming vassell is what he is right now as a borderline all-star on a 60-win team type player).

just get four more wembys, what i would do

sarr incoming

The total eclipse has just begun. 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑 pic.twitter.com/ihGr5mFzai

— Nike Basketball (@nikebasketball) April 8, 2024

The Shammgod. 😱
The Spin. 🌪️
Prime Wemby. 👽 https://t.co/8XcAkJxSLo pic.twitter.com/EPdbIiEWfv

— NBA (@NBA) April 10, 2024

even though they havent won a lot this year, wemby has been a joy to watch every night

that’s such a casually sick move

hes improving at a crazy rate

7-5 guy who can do high level dribbling in traffic ok

lol at Nike using the classic 90s alien, they need to put a joint in his mouth and recreate the "take me to your dealer" poster

shd do a 90s rave flyer aesthetic for all of wembys stuff

KG is so funny pic.twitter.com/Hga5CrUnQA

— Dom2K 🎅 (@Dom_2k) April 12, 2024

WEMBY 17 PTS IN 3 MIN 😱 pic.twitter.com/ig4dvRxNn8

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 13, 2024