How good is Victor Wembanyama? What makes him so intriguing? And is he really the best prospect ever? This film breakdown discusses the 2023 #1 pick in the NBA draft, the evolution of big men prospects from Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan, and how the game has changed for giant centers and how they can use their size on today.
My NBA App profile on Wembanyama: https://app.link.nba.com/TB-Wemby
Support at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thinkingbasketball
Book: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Basketball-Ben-Taylor/dp/1532968175
Podcast: https://player.fm/series/thinking-basketball or at https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ben-taylor/thinking-basketball-podcast
Website: https://www.backpicks.com
Twitter: @elgee35
Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
Stats courtesy:
http://www.pbpstats.com @bballport
https://www.basketball-reference.com
https://stats.nba.com
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
Music by Cody Martin (Epiphany instrumental)
#ThinkingBasketball
33 Comments
Here's my Wembanyama profile on the NBA App: https://app.link.nba.com/TB-Wemby
He's a bum and a bust. He played Euroleague for a season and it was way too physical for him so he left—injured. Those are 10-minute quarters and 34-game seasons… There he shot a dismal 30% from 3, a disastrous 35% FG, couldn't rebound even as the tallest dude on the court, and emerged as a liability late in games because he couldn't shoot free throws. He goes to Mets where they play 1 game a week and just like the Ignite promotional machine, make sure they showcase their product for sale at all costs. Then we saw him in FIBA last year where large players beat the living crap out of him and Kenneth Lofton Jr violated his manhood. I'm done with the crap mainstream parrots, sports talk conmen, and promotions try selling me. They tried selling me the Lakers, the Suns as a thooper team, the Celtics as a team of destiny, the Bucks as an unstoppable force, the BLM MVP Embiid, Scoot Henderson as the 2nd overall pick, and Wemby as a generational talent. STFU. Just STFU. I'm happy to have profited heavily off my own logic, and what I saw, not what I heard. I'm laying a monstrous bet that "the field" wins rookie-of-the-year over Wemby. The award likely goes to Chet Holmgren who is an absurd +700 currently. So in conclusion, Wemby is 7'2'' vaporware (or who knows how tall he is because we can't even get an honest response there), Scoot is an Ignite promotional product, neither of these dudes will flash in a 30fps NBA broadcast, and I'm here to mop up the bloody mess of red ink the dumb money leaves behind. Thx!
wemby da 🐐 already. the way nba develops their player, he will certainly be the 🐐. his ceilings probably 10 chips.
A concern I have with wemby is that he obviously has people he trusts when it comes to taking care of his body. I hope the spurs learned from the Kawhi situation, it's not gonna be great if people wemby trusts start to butt heads with spurs staff.
Wait till you hear Wemby speak his mind. Extremely mature and well-spoken for his age too. Has all the tools to succeed, barring injuries
spurs gotta trade for tacko fall and chet holmgren
It would be enough if some bigs decided to invest in post moves instead of threes. This should be the easiest time ever to be a back to basket big, because refs calls fouls to help the offense and there’s few bigs who want to “bang” pause
Is he better than Porzingis?
Is he better than Porzingis?
The reason 7 foot+ players don't model their games on small guards is that keeping the ball that low and doing fancy between the leg moves, stop & step backs is because it puts way to much stress on long legs and knees. Durant has been able to do it, Porzingis somewhat also. But for the most part you have to know your strengths, even Jokic doesn't jack 3's constantly. We;ll see how his game looks in the NBA but you gotta protect the knees for longevity.
NBA asked for a vid for their app???? I'd rather see Thinking Basketball than Fried Take or Pardon My Unimagination.
That's new to me (seeing a decent video in an app…yahoo fantasy videos are horrid) and congrats but I'd rather see your videos and a few other youtubers than mainstream media. The organic views don't lie but maybe it's easier to sell air time for dumb beer commercials in the current mainstream model. Ppl really do fear inevitable change until it's overly apparent…stupid social proof.
Kid better learn how to do the sky hook from Kareem or bank shot from Tim Duncan. I can't see how he is not going to get injured since his body is mostly bone.
Most guys this size are super injury prone. Gonna be interesting to see how it goes
I think Vic has the potential to become an amazing player if not the best if he career isnt derailed by injuries. He could also train to become a better playmaker than Jokic.
Duncan & Robinson still live in SA. They're gonna upload the software into him. He’ll just need to polish his shot and get the rotations down.
Let the man breathe, djeezes
We gotta make a spider nickname for wemby quick
2:00 thinking basketball foreshadowing the celtics trade⁉️
Enjoyable vid
Another Anthony Davis. Nothing new. Potentially a bust
Congrats on having the NBA recognise you! Well deserved!
Best analysis about Victor I have seen so far. Great job! I think he will struggle on offense at least for a couple of years but will have a great impact on D immediately.
Evan Mobley Victor Wembanyama finals 2028
You never talked about the 3 seconds in the paint. There no such thing like this in French league. He will shoot over anybody.
@ThinkingBasketball You say that the low post is not part of today's game, but didn't Denver's use of its size and strength (between Jokic, Gordon and Porter) to win the championship show that bully ball can be used effectively? Might that not spark a renaissance of the post?
I think best case scenario, he has an Anthony Davis type career. He'll always be injury prone, and he could put up amazing numbers on mediocre teams but his lack of playmaking caps his upside as the go to guy on a championship team, and instead would be best utilized as a clear number 2 or a 1A/1B type situation next to an elite scorer/playmaker like LeBron and AD in 2020
Something interesting of Wembayama is his shot. If he gets better at his outside shot, he could be unstoppable. Still, his physique worries me, 'cause I thinkhe doesn't seem like the type of guy whose knees can handle all of his weight if put unde extreme strain. Rik Smits, being 3 cm shorter suffered from injuries that slowed him down
There is one fact which remains true since the game was invented, when both teams are equally matched, the team with the better center always wins
Being big was never enough. You never saw 7 footers in the NBA that werent able to do anything with that height. And the few that were big but incapable, were considered busts and hardly played, certainly not on a good team.
I think he should change his shooting arc to be lower. He's 7'4, he doesnt need a high arch shot, and while it theoretically increases the basket width by dropping in straight from above, it also changes the shot form and increases the travel distance of the ball. I think he'd benefit off of giving it a much lower arch.
That's awesome the NBA asked you to make this video. Congrats man, you've earned it.
I sincerely hope I am wrong on this but Wembanyama looks so porzingisy to me, I really doubt he will ever complete a full NBA season.
And the idea that coach Popovich will teach him in the next half a decade makes it even scarier