Why Point Center may be unprecedented.

Victor Longo Wembanyama as point center is a much better deal than you think. Because of Wemby’s natural physical attributes he can change the game of basketball entirely. While Nikola laid the blueprint, Wembanyama can do things that has never been done at that role because Wemby is more physically gifted than Jokic. I’ll go through some things that may be overlooked.

1. Most importantly, Victor Wembanyama will be the youngest to ever led this style of offense. He will eventually have more reps any Nikola Jokic at some point as it took Jokic a few years to be able to command an offense. Wemby did it tonight (Jan 10, 2023) and if this continues he’d ahead of the curb. As a reminder this is the WORST Wembanyama we will experience. He only gets better after this year. I say allow Wembanyama to continue development running this position.

2. Wembanyama is much quicker than his predecessors. If you ever heard commentary about wemby’s game one of the recurring compliments is that Wemby is a lot faster than he looks. He’s leading the offense at unprecedented speeds. We had some of the highest amount possessions of the season this game. I am talking Haliburton fast breaks. How can I say this? Every fast break Wemby led himself up past half court was above the court at least at the :20 mark. One of them was at the :22 which was freaking ridiculous and no I am not talking about the outlet pass. It was off a missed corner 3 rebound in the 3rd quarter and in two seconds he was across half court. That’s freaking insane. If you didn’t know Haliburton usually gets across half court on average between the :18-:19 second mark. Haliburton leading the fastest offense in the league and Wemby had multiple fast breaks faster than Haliburton. The speed of Wemby’s fast breaks largely contributed to Wemby’s historic triple double in 21 mins. That’s not a coincidence due to minutes restriction. That’s best it’s some of the fastest possessions we’ve ever seen from a block or rebound.

3. Wemby reads the game well clearly because he can see everyone. In the post interview of Jones and Vassell said they were either surprised or Wemby told them to do the action that allowed them to receive the pass. For example Vassell was told to roll and do an inverted pick and roll. That was a play directly made by Wemby himself. I think people grossing underestimate the kids BBIQ. He had Dribble Handoffs, Inverted Pick-and-Rolls, Shovel Feeds On Drives, Outlets After Boards, Bounce Pass In Transition, Behind-the-Back Dishes, Post Dishes To Cutters all in one game.

4. The reason why a point center is more advantageous than a traditional point is that the point guard usually has to wait for the center to secure a rebound and then push the ball but a point center can rebound and immediately start running. But Wemby can block and start running which is unprecedented so while most players think there is a possibility of a bucket, Wemby can erase the attempt before half the opposing team realizes and gets out and run or pass. And he may be the best point center defender which can led to more fast breaks because again he can block the ball and push. It is entirely possible he becomes one of the strongest defenders but instead of him leaking out, his team like sochan leaks out and it’s easy points. Bad shots or blocks will eventually be extremely detrimental to the spurs if this becomes a mainstay strategy. It showed tonight. Bad corner three led to an outlet pass at the :23 second mark. A “block”, that was taken away because it wasn’t clean enough, led to a shovel pass assist to a bucket at the :18 mark. Some teams don’t even start their offenses at the :18 mark.

5. Unlike his predecessors, Victor’s offensive ability has higher potential as he is a lob threat, faster cutter and roller, larger wingspan, can finish with both hands above the rim. When he is the one receiving the ball offensively we already know, the only way to stop Wemby is if he doesn’t finish the shot or if you foul him because there is no real way of stopping him.

6. Point centers led to severe mismatches in transition. If a center has to pick up Wemby, than the paint is open. If you have a smaller guy on him or double him, Wemby can easily pass over the top to the actual point guard on the team and then he can play off ball which is Wemby’s usual game anyway.

7. We do have to see if the spurs will continue a heliocentric offense around Wembanyama. But even if say for this to work when Wembanyama is doubled he will need strong outlets to punish defends for trying to get the ball out of his hands. Which demands a strong point guard and lights out shooting. This probably why Vassell and Jones have shined in these last few games, but we are going to need more of that more than ever going forward. I understand pistons was a poor defensive team but a lot of what Wemby was doing can’t be stopped by the best of teams. You are talking offense in 2-4 seconds of securing a ball. Most teams can handle that type of pressure thus the pacers historic offense run. Ironically enough we defend better than the pacers believe it or not. So if anything can turn this season around a point center Wemby sure can.

TL:DR.

Wembanyama’s ability to defend unlike anyone in the past playing as point center, his passing ability his speed for his position, his offensive potential, his BBIQ can allow him to led breaks faster than anyone in NBA history off of both rebounds AND blocks, potentially becoming some of the strongest offensive ever solely due to Wemby’s physical gifts. Hopefully we can turn this season around with a Wemby point center offense and strong shooting and playmaking after Wemby gets the ball forced out of his hands.



by thedam100