25/10/2023
The Wemby era begins tonight, and it’s time we talk about it.
Because he is going to break basketball…
With defense.
Forget the offense - we’re not even gonna talk about all the things he can do with the ball.
When other guys have the ball, they are going to have to completely change what they do because of Wemby.
Let’s do the math.
Victor Wembanyama has an 8-foot wingspan. He’s the lightest and quickest player at his size that we’ve ever seen. He can literally cover 20 feet of space around him, 10 feet in every direction.
To make that block on Andrew Wiggins in the preseason, Wemby traveled from the paint to the wing. That’s a 10-foot gap that he closed in the time it took for Wiggins to shoot.
The most dangerous offensive weapons- Jokic, Curry, Luka -- all of them specialize in making you make impossible decisions. They put you in 4 on 3s. 3 on 2s. 2 on 1s.
When you’re that last defender, you’re often either giving up a bucket or a dime that leads to a bucket. These scorers blend alley oops into floaters, and it’s just not humanly possible to stop it 90% of the time.
But Wemby isn’t a human. And he plays a different game entirely. One where he forces the scorer to make the impossible decision.
Andrew Wiggins had to shoot that shot. He was so open and Wemby was so far - in today’s NBA if you don’t shoot that shot you are hurting your team.
Wemby makes you think you have the shot. And when you commit to it, he closes the gap so fast, that now it’s too hard to score and too late to pass.
Wemby actually has the advantage in a 2 on 1. And it’s almost like watching the discovery channel when you watch him make these plays.
He watches you away from the ball with a side eye, like a squirrel who won’t let you get too close, convincing you that shot, layup or dunk is so open that any other play is the wrong play. And then, when you go for the “right” play, he comes out of nowhere - like a great white shark from under the sea - and swallows it.
If the NBA is a jungle, Wemby is far from being its King. But he is the most threatening species we’ve seen in decades.
And there very well could be a change in the food chain one day…🤷🏽♂️