Victor Wembanyama- basketball's NEXT next unicorn?

[chainsaw 9656]

18 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

IMO that is straight up cope. He's billed as the best since Lebron...

 

He's one of 6 active players who are averaging 20/10 and he wasn't an all-star because he's being held back by Pops and the Spurs. They're quite literally wasting his rookie season. 

Do you know how many 7'3+ guys made it without health problems?

[BurntOrange&White 38877]

6 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

Do you know how many 7'3+ guys made it without health problems?

Victor has a whole team specialized in his care. Are they going to babysit him on minutes in year 2? Year 3?  Pops is absolutely wasting him this year and this team should be a lot better. Pops should have never received that new contract.

Edited February 19 by BurntOrange&White

[chainsaw 9656]

1 minute ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Victor has a whole team specialized in his care. Are they going to babysit him on minutes in year 2? Year 3?  Pops is absolutely wasting him this year and this team should be a lot better. Pops should have never received that new contract.

There's nothing Wemby has that Yao didn't also have. There's only so much a team of doctors and trainers can do with a frame of that length. What I expect is that he will build musculature gradually over time and that the increased strength will reduce his proneness to injuries and increase his stamina. But remember Yao also bulked up during his NBA career and that wasn't enough to salvage it past age 30.

Pop used to manage Kawhi's minutes. Other than the Fuck Zaza incident, he was noticeably healthier in SA than he was at his other stops. I really can't blame him for sacrificing present day minutes if it means avoiding risks to Wemby's future.

[Braff Zacklin 13298]

7 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

Pop used to manage Kawhi's minutes. Other than the Fuck Zaza incident, he was noticeably healthier in SA than he was at his other stops. I really can't blame him for sacrificing present day minutes if it means avoiding risks to Wemby's future.

As an extension, Kawhi began managing his own minutes late in his Spurs tenure and has continued to do so. He does so by feigning injury and/or refusing to play the majority of the season**.

 

** Current one excluded, apparently.

[chainsaw 9656]

1 hour ago, Braff Zacklin said:

As an extension, Kawhi began managing his own minutes late in his Spurs tenure and has continued to do so. He does so by feigning injury and/or refusing to play the majority of the season**.

 

** Current one excluded, apparently.

That's true, the Uncle Dennis bullshit was also a factor and we will never truly know when that began. However, I'm pretty sure Pop's philosophy on managing minutes applied to more than the Big 3, Lamarcus, and the other journeymen. For example, DeJounte averaged something like 26 minutes in the bubble season, which is less than what Wemby's currently playing.

[shadow_operative 15931]

 

[shadow_operative 15931]

 

[miguelito 11108]

What the hell is a stock?

[Pam Cummings 9422]

Steals and blocks just combined into one stat.

[Fastbreak 3890]

Zach Lowe was talking on his pod about a Wemby watch for a 5x5 and the next day he does it.

[thepop 4391]

I was pretty confident he would get the next quadruple double. Now I’m thinking he will be the first to get a quintuple double as well.

[ztejas 42802]

Is he the best rookie in league history?

Seriously.

He just went 19/13/4/5/5 and 27/10/8/5/5 on back to back nights.

Not back to back games.

He went out Thursday, came an assist-shy of the 22nd 5*5 in league history, then came out FRIDAY and one-upped it.

[Underdog 28219]

5 hours ago, miguelito said:

What the hell is a stock?

[Braff Zacklin 13298]

 

[shadow_operative 15931]

 

[BurntOrange&White 38877]

On 2/24/2024 at 6:23 AM, miguelito said:

What the hell is a stock?

[BurntOrange&White 38877]

On 2/24/2024 at 11:30 AM, ztejas said:

Is he the best rookie in league history?

Seriously.

He just went 19/13/4/5/5 and 27/10/8/5/5 on back to back nights.

Not back to back games.

He went out Thursday, came an assist-shy of the 22nd 5*5 in league history, then came out FRIDAY and one-upped it.

https://clutchpoints.com/10-best-rookie-seasons-nba-history-ranked

 

Most of these are from the late 50s/early 60s

[shadow_operative 15931]

 

[gofuckyourself 8063]

That gives me middle school basketball flashbacks playing against dudes who already had their growth spurt.

[MNLonghornFUKM 8789]

 

Wolves had like 3 guys try going 1 on 1 vs him and all failed miserably

[shadow_operative 15931]

52 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

That gives me middle school basketball flashbacks playing against dudes who already had their growth spurt.

anybody from around here remember jesse bynum? i’m pretty sure that was his name. played at westridge (?) MS and Connally HS. he was 6’6”-6’7” in 7th grade. i had to go all dennis rodman on him every time we played, because otherwise i just had no chance. i fouled out a lot tho. 🤷🏼‍♂️ 

[BurntOrange&White 38877]

 

[C-Man 26696]

I’m down in SA for a work deal and four of us snuck out of dinner to head over to the arena tonight. That was fucking fun as shit. Victor’s two treys and absolute stuff of Chet was beyond awesome.

[6th Street 6297]

He won't last 5 years before the knee and foot injuries take their toll.

[aggie08 20479]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:13 AM, thepop said:

I was pretty confident he would get the next quadruple double. Now I’m thinking he will be the first to get a quintuple double as well.

I realize this is hyperbole, and you don't actually think that he'll ever record a quintuple double, but it got me thinking: does any player have a career high of 10 or more in all five categories? Wilt would be the obvious pick, but they didn't record steals or blocks back then. Safe to say he had some 10+ block games, but steals?

MJ topped out at 6 blocks, but did have a 10 steal game. LeBron has never topped 5 blocks or 7 steals. Hakeem is the closest that I've found. 10+ in four of the categories, with 8 being his most steals in a game.

[aggie08 20479]

10+ steals is the rarest of the 5. Only done 23 times by 19 players. Of the 19, Draymond Green is the only non-guard, and he's currently at 6 blocks for his career high. So, I guess I answered my own question: no player in NBA history has ever recorded 10+ in all five categories in their careers.

[gofuckyourself 8063]

No there's never been an official NBA quintuple double.

But Wemby absolutely could and is the most likely player to do it. I think he will in fact, and said it weeks ago.

He's already had a triple double in 21 minutes and a 5x5 in 31 minutes. He had 5 blocks and 5 steals in consecutive games.

Keep in mind the Spurs have 1.5 decent players around him on any given night.

He gets a few shooters and assists can be 5+, regularly. He's already averaging 3.3 with dog shit.

Points and rebounds are a given.

So it's blocks, and he's kinda good at those, and a stupidly nimble 7'4" dude with an F-18 size wingspan and steals are in the mix.

And he's 20. And getting better.

[aggie08 20479]

C'mon dude, he's awesome, but no need to be ridiculous. You're basically saying that he's going to do something that no player in NBA history has ever done over the entirety of their careers (again, no player has career highs of 10+ in all five categories)...in a single game.

I do give him a puncher"s chance to be the first player ever with career highs of 10+ in all 5 (he's only 54 games into his career, and he already only needs a 10 steal game to make history), but it ain't going to be in the same game. Ever.

You'd have to be playing the Washington Generals to record 10 blocks AND 10 steals in a game.

Edited March 1 by aggie08

[thepop 4391]

Not hyperbole, I think he CAN do it. May not be likely but if anyone can do it it’s him. Look how good he is at 20, now imagine 27, 28 year old Wemby playing 44 minutes in a playoff game. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18332]

He’s gonna get a quad at some point I gotta believe. He will probably get 10 steals in a game if he plays long enough. He’s already had a 6 steal game in limited minutes in 50ish games. He’s had two 5 steal games in the past week.

But 10 steals in the same game as 10 blocks? I wouldn’t put anything past this cat but that would take a lot of stars aligning. It’s rather preposterous but the fact that I’m even entertaining the idea is a testament to what a freak he is. 

[shadow_operative 15931]

53 minutes ago, thepop said:

Not hyperbole, I think he CAN do it. May not be likely but if anyone can do it it’s him. Look how good he is at 20, now imagine 27, 28 year old Wemby playing 44 minutes in a playoff game. 

i don’t think it’s possible outside of something like a 5 OT, 212-208 type of game. forcing 20 TO’s in a single game as an individual is as close to impossible as it gets. never mind that you have to get 10 of each. there’s just not enough possessions in a game for it to happen.

[thepop 4391]

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/196803180PHI.html
 

Wilt technically already got one FWIW. 48 minutes played. Some high school girl also just got one a few days ago I found out.

 

I’m just saying the odds aren’t zero. 

Edited March 1 by thepop

[shadow_operative 15931]

fouls:

LAL: 19

PHI: 14

Wilt: 0 

lol

[C-Man 26696]

i don’t think it’s possible outside of something like a 5 OT, 212-208 type of game. forcing 20 TO’s in a single game as an individual is as close to impossible as it gets. never mind that you have to get 10 of each. there’s just not enough possessions in a game for it to happen.

Blocks count as TO’s? I didn’t know that before tonight if that’s right.

I’d bet quite a bit of money that Wilt had a quintuple double at some point in his career.

[shadow_operative 15931]

5 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Blocks count as TO’s?

they don’t, don’t listen to me lol.

[Kermit 3099]

7 hours ago, 6th Street said:

He won't last 5 years before the knee and foot injuries take their toll.

Your mom had a lot of knee and throat injuries from her job too.

[TexEx15 17253]

Good lord this guy is an alien.

[Dbeasy 14783]

I’ve assumed the Spurs org has purposely not focused on winning this year because they have several draft picks. But at some point Wemby’s play is just too good. This OKC win is a strong, surprising one. 

[ztejas 42802]

9 hours ago, aggie08 said:

C'mon dude, he's awesome, but no need to be ridiculous. You're basically saying that he's going to do something that no player in NBA history has ever done over the entirety of their careers (again, no player has career highs of 10+ in all five categories)...in a single game.

I do give him a puncher"s chance to be the first player ever with career highs of 10+ in all 5 (he's only 54 games into his career, and he already only needs a 10 steal game to make history), but it ain't going to be in the same game. Ever.

You'd have to be playing the Washington Generals to record 10 blocks AND 10 steals in a game.

I don't know man. He almost had a 5x5 on back to back nights as a rookie. He's leading the league in stocks. By a lot. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8789]

I’ve assumed the Spurs org has purposely not focused on winning this year because they have several draft picks. But at some point Wemby’s play is just too good. This OKC win is a strong, surprising one. 

It was cool when the wolves played SA the other night, wemby went to the bench with the lead in the first quarter and he was ballin.

Then the wolves recaptured the lead during the non wemby minutes and he was an absolute non factor the rest of the game outside of a funny block on Monte morris. Bricked his shots, looked disengaged. SA clawed back after the wolves got complacent with a 20 pt lead but not because of wemby. It’s like they forgot about him after the first quarter. Weird strategy. He’s gonna be a monster with some actual teammates and an extra star

Hopefully the wolves are moved to the eastern conference by then

[Pam Cummings 9422]

Anyone go honking last night?

[MrX 690]

They’ve played Wemby at center way more recently so he’s come to life. Living next to Zach Collins for 25 minutes a night must suck. 
 

10 blocks and 10 steals is a tall order. I’m guessing for it to get done, the Spurs would have to be blowing out some Wizards-like team and let him go for it. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18332]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

It was cool when the wolves played SA the other night, wemby went to the bench with the lead in the first quarter and he was ballin.

Then the wolves recaptured the lead during the non wemby minutes and he was an absolute non factor the rest of the game outside of a funny block on Monte morris. Bricked his shots, looked disengaged. SA clawed back after the wolves got complacent with a 20 pt lead but not because of wemby. It’s like they forgot about him after the first quarter. Weird strategy. He’s gonna be a monster with some actual teammates and an extra star

Hopefully the wolves are moved to the eastern conference by then

 

Pretty much all of their problems would be solved with good three point shooting around him (and him playing more than 30 mpg). They are last in the league in 3P% but 11th in number of 3's taken per game. They get one wide open shot after another all because of the attention Wemby creates, and they just don't have anybody besides Vassell who can consistently knock them down. They shot 50% from three last night and won going away. I'm too lazy to look up the stat but I saw somewhere that they've won nearly every game in which they outshot their opponent from three this year. They also turn the ball over at a ridiculous rate. Between the long rebounds from all the missed threes and the live ball turnovers, teams are getting out and running for easy buckets. You get teams in the half court and then you have to deal with Wemby lurking every possession. 

[Mitch Cumsteen 18332]

 

 

 

Mind you, that month is the shortest of the year and it had an 8 day break for the all-star game in it. And he played only 3/12 of them at home while averaging only 29 mpg. 

[closetohumping 17299]

39 minutes ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

 

 

 

Mind you, that month is the shortest of the year and it had an 8 day break for the all-star game in it. And he played only 3/12 of them at home while averaging only 29 mpg. 

Yes but it also had a leap day

[gofuckyourself 8063]

13 hours ago, aggie08 said:

C'mon dude, he's awesome, but no need to be ridiculous. You're basically saying that he's going to do something that no player in NBA history has ever done over the entirety of their careers (again, no player has career highs of 10+ in all five categories)...in a single game.

I do give him a puncher"s chance to be the first player ever with career highs of 10+ in all 5 (he's only 54 games into his career, and he already only needs a 10 steal game to make history), but it ain't going to be in the same game. Ever.

You'd have to be playing the Washington Generals to record 10 blocks AND 10 steals in a game.

Eh, it's more ridiculous to think it will never happen, either by Wemby or anyone.

Individual progress continually advances and new records fall all the time.

When has there been a 7'4+" dude who is in the top 5 for over two+ months in pull-up 3 pointer percentage? Since January that's the case. Every other player is a 6'5" or under guard. It's unprecedented.

Not that long ago people would think that was impossible.

He's had a 5 x 5 in 31 minutes. In his first year in the NBA. At 20 years old.

It may take an OT game but it's absolutely possible.

These are season averages, per 36 minutes, which he rarely hits. He averages maybe 28 minutes.

26 pts
12.8 reb
4.3 ast
4.2 block
1.7 steals

Again, the team around him is lukewarm vomit.

Better shooters and the assists happen. He's had 12 games with 5+ assists this season. He'd have had probably 18 games or more with decent shooters and probably multiple 10 assist games already.

Blocks obviously can happen. He's had 5 or more blocks sixteen times this season. That stat is increasing each month, despite -- presumably -- opposing teams becoming more aware of his presence. He's learning faster than they are adjusting.

Steals? Who knows. That's the one I see being the toughest.

But I'm not betting against a dude that young with freakish athleticism and a clear intention to be one of the best ever.

Pundits were saying "yeah, but let's see how he does over a full season because he hasn't played an NBA type schedule, etc."

All he's done is get better month-to-month.

You think a full off-season of training for the NBA game won't continue that trend?

The only thing stopping it would be Pop not playing him (already seen this) or a scheme that has less usage for him and fewer opportunities to stuff the stat sheet.

[gofuckyourself 8063]

3 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

 

 

Yeah, but he'll never do other things that no one has ever done because no one has ever done them before. I mean that's just science.

[aggie08 20479]

26 minutes ago, gofuckyourself said:

Eh, it's more ridiculous to think it will never happen, either by Wemby or anyone.

You're right, "never" was harsh on my part. I'll give Wemby a 0.001% chance of ever recording a quintuple-double. The only way it's happening is in a meaningless regular season game where he has something like 26/12/9/8/6 in the 3rd quarter, and his coach (not named Pop) let's him blatantly chase it a la Devin Booker. Sure, that's in the realm of possibility.

There's a better chance than not that he never has a single 10+ steal game in his career because it's really hard to do as a non-perimeter player. That said, I'd feel pretty safe putting money down on him being the first player to have official career highs of 10+ in all categories if he has a full career because that's how norm-defying he is. The odds are just infinitesimal that they all align on the same night. But sure, if anyone theoretically could do it, he's the favorite by a country mile.

I'm in no way, shape, or form trying to slight him whatsoever.

Edited March 1 by aggie08

[gofuckyourself 8063]

1 minute ago, aggie08 said:

I'll give Wemby a 0.001% chance of ever recording a quintuple-double.

See that wasn't so hard was it?

 

2 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

I'm in no way, shape, or form trying to slight him whatsoever.

Fuck you and your irrational Wemby hate.

I kid. I know you're arguing a logical point. Though I'd give him .01%, at least.

I hope it happens not just because I'm a Spurs fan but I'd hope any player does it for the wow factor.

Except Draymond, that POS. I was concerned he had a chance for a while back in the late 2010s.

[shadow_operative 15931]

5 hours ago, Mitch Cumsteen said:

 

 

 

Mind you, that month is the shortest of the year and it had an 8 day break for the all-star game in it. And he played only 3/12 of them at home while averaging only 29 mpg. 

this is all just proof that we’re living in a simulation, and that wemby is god’s create-a-player.