Is Wemby Already the Best Defender in the NBA? | NBA Group Chat | The Ringer

Is Wemby Already the Best Defender in the NBA? | NBA Group Chat | The Ringer

In snar defensive plus minus wimy a making this up no this is real no this is this one snar Taylor snar it’s a really good analytic site I would recommend people check it out uh they have subs for fan level and everything too it’s good stuff but he’s already

Eighth in the league you know uh and and he’s 20 years old right now in defensive LeBron which goes across years going back to 20134 for guys 23 and under so that’s a big sample this season Victor’s 20-year-old season is ranked 14th over that time frame and he’s the youngest

Player in the top 30 so you’re just talking about a guy who is like already at this age hitting a Mark that is really unusual and I think that is like um yeah I mean just the way he’s able to like cut off and I I you know people

Always talk about like taking away the layups and that in and of itself is is important like taking away literally those easy points off the board but I think like thinking about what that does to an NBA offense like NBA offenses most of them respond it’s the pressure

Release thing of like we’re going to try to get layups and then they’ll be like a ripple response to us creating open threes like the pressure of us trying to do that having a wimy once they start to build this team dude if they can like get other good Defenders around him he’s

Going to be he’s going to be a defensive player of the year sooner than later I think it’s just a matter of what year I think the MV MVP thing I’ve said that I think he could break Derrick Rose’s MVP record like agewise like I think this is

Going to get crazy um like in the next couple years um but yeah his defensive impact is like unprecedented more or less if you guys had a ballot is he on there I think like defensive player of the year goes one two three like some of

The other Awards do like I think you have to at least consider him there I I don’t think you could have like surpass goar considering the wolves’ success and how much defense is a part of that and how much he is a lot of the defense but

Like I don’t know I can’t even I don’t know who you would put two over wemi at this point I don’t know but you think Victor wyam was the defensive player of the year you think he is no I said he’s like two or three oh I was about to say hold

Up I mean but that’s the thing is like well I think it’s more of a question of how crazy is that was like that like how crazy do you think really is like cuz that’s what it is because I don’t think it’s like tin foil like off the off the

Map crazy like I I think it’s I think it’s reasonable to think about no here’s what I’ll say about it and you know some of this stuff is hard to prove in the NBA long regular season right I don’t think teams has dedicated themselves to figuring out how to attack Wendy’s

Weaknesses on defenses um teams don’t take the Spurs seriously and so it’s just like we can kind of come out and beat this team no matter what right so I don’t think you know there are specific game plans being built around beating Victor web minyama right I don’t think

The best minds and the best talents in the games have you know decided to home in on what wbi is doing to defeat him right and so I think he’s he benefits from playing on a team that nobody gives a damn about um taking seriously like I

Don’t think in a playoff matchup for instance I’d rather him than Anthony Anthony Davis on defense I just think Anthony Davis is a PhD level defensive player I can’t believe I’m rookie I’m not sure about that I can’t believe I’m saying this I’m not sure about that I

Can’t watch listen to me I’m a Kentucky I love ad I defend ad more I’m not sure man like he’s I think he might be more competitive than Anthony Davis like I really like wow Jesus Christ dude more I think I think that his resting heart

Rate as as a player is more steady than than Anthony David like Anthony gets up there and gets high and revs his motor can rev High say I’m not this isn’t a matter of talent to me I just don’t think he has the brain power of an

Anthony Davis somebody who’s been in the league for 10 12 years that’s more experiential though you’re saying that’s what I and that’s what I’m talking about right you know what I mean like it’s not that the talent isn’t there you know to one day he’ll be like the kg literally

Zero weaknesses in my defensive game and I’m just going to destroy every off offense by myself I’m not saying he’s not going to get there but kg is a defensive was a defensive computer you know obviously not as toolsy as W because nobody has ever been but I think

Once he matches that with what he’s doing yeah we could get to what he’s talking about but I do think the mental component matters man when you’re playing against the best guys and people are actually dedicating you know every single brain in the facility is dedicated to beating you on defense it’s

Such a tough conver conversation because we still even at this point don’t really have the tools to quantify defense in the way that we probably should at this point and even some of the stats that Kyle may or may not have made up I just don’t think are popular enough in order

To to really get a sense of it and so it is still an eyeball thing and then that starts to bleed more into the team conversation where the Spurs as a whole are not good on either side of the ball and so you’re like well how much do you

Give wemi the credit for basic Walling off a large portion of the paint just simply by standing in there like he basically warps the way that you’re going to attack offense in a way that I’m not even sure goar is doing at this point but on the other hand all the

Results and all the empirical evidence would Point toward someone like a goar or even an Anthony Davis where you could see it you could quantify it and there’s like something you can grasp around it whereas like with wemi it’s just like well is this like just a lack of nuance

Or is do not having even a secondary perimeter Defender to go out and harass these guys and make things easier on him should we give him a benefit of Doubt for that so it’s like it’s a very complex conversation I don’t know Kyle if you have any like where you fall on

That uh I mean they defensively have looked like as as they’ve kind of clean their lineups up that stuff has improved and his onoff stuff is insane I I I’ll stay with it man I I really can’t believe I’m saying it but like I think if you swapped wiim beond the that

Lakers team and in 80s place I don’t know that it’d be that different really I don’t like he’s he’s he’s a really he’s that’s the other thing too guys is this is like this is like an algorithm that is like learning incredibly fast if you watch him he’s

Like already figuring out like where guys like I pointed to the Giannis game as a good example of Giannis you know one of the best finishers on the planet might be the the best finisher on the planet uh you were watching him like he early in the game he created these

Little bumps and kind of snuck around wimy and you saw wimy over the course of the game like Matador him like pull the chair on it so he couldn’t do it let the defender go by and he just kind of like does the you know he he makes out of

Area plays that like other guys just can’t and he’s really smart about when he picks doing it like if you watch some of the guys that come into the league with like crazy defensive potential like we got really wild about jiren Jackson Jr like all the talent in the world but

He’s all the way on the one end of the spectrum of like he’s going to go for everything wimy is smart about when he goes and when he doesn’t I think it’s only going to get crazier um so I I don’t know man I’m I’m having a hard

Time putting a limit on so you think wimy is the best defensive player in basketball today I don’t D Jesus Christ man yeah I’d like to see him do it in some meaningful games for real like I really would before it’s like yo this guy is the best

Defender we’ve ever seen like we’ve seen people you know have Stellar regular season um defensive success right and then in a difficult match up people put you in positions you don’t want to be in right and I get it like what would happen if Rudy were on the Spurs I think that’s a

Good question too what would happen if Rudy were on the Spurs what would they what would they look like like in terms like I think the acclamation curve part of it that has affected their numbers you take that out of it but he’s an offensive like you you’re trading the

Offensive thing too I’m just thinking about like I’m I’m genuinely this we’re just talking about this in real time we didn’t plan this I’m just curious like what what would it look like if were on the Spurs defensively like at the end of the season product how what would the

Gap be between him and wimy very quiet I mean I think Rudy is I mean I I think Rudy is just stronger than that’s like the only Advantage do he that he has he’s stronger and he’s seen more but like obviously he’s not as Fleet of foot wmy is somehow taller

Longer stretchier than Rudy um I like I don’t know I I don’t know that the defensive um sort of outcome for the Spurs would be way worse because they had Rudy gobear I I I have a hard time believing that you know what I’m saying

I I I just again like I said like in the regular season where nobody takes the Spurs seriously I think that has to factor in right

Justin Verrier, Wosny Lambre, and J. Kyle Mann discuss rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama’s defensive excellence in his first season with the San Antonio Spurs, as well as where he ranks already amongst the league’s elite defenders.

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