In the latest Lowe Post podcast (around 1:15 mark) Zach asked his guest if Wemby should be in the all defensive team. His answer is “No”. Here is his reasoning
>…You still have a hard time putting somebody from a (team) defense that mediocre. I think Wemby is still figuring out how to be impactful, you know, where’s the gamble I can take those sorts of things…
You can tell he barely watched Wemby played this season. I can hardly recall one occasion in which Wemby gambled for his block and took himself out of position. Heck, his presence in the paint alone already deters most ball handlers to even attempt the shot at the rim. And you’re not going to put this guy in the all defense conversation? Zach Lowe pushed back hard on Kevin’s Wemby snub. Hopefully this idiot doesn’t have the ballot.
by DevilGunManga
20 Comments
If they don’t want to put him in the first team because of the stupid “team record” reason, fine. But to not even have him make all defensive second team is a disgrace to the award and invalidates it as a whole. Why even have it at that point if you’re snubbing the league’s leading shot blocker.
It’s debatable whether or not Wemby should make the first team (I believe he should.) but it should NOT be a debate whether or not he should AT LEAST make the second team. He 100% should.
Hmm yes look at my very smart opinions that differ from the common consensus
Fuck you Kevin Pelton
Not only is he the leaders in blocks by a mile (3.4 vs 2.6), total blocks, blocks per 48, but he averages 1.3 steals per game, leading the NBA in stocks (steals + blocks) with 4.7, compared to 3.6 the next highest guy.
The idea that he’s not all nba first defensive team is laughable.
I do find the “his team defensive rating is only 23rd” argument to be a little silly considering what their rating is when he’s on the court. He’s got AD as a lock and the Lakers are 17th in defense. Hell the Lakers are actually better on defense with AD off the court. Obviously there’s noise in that, but it’s a bit strange to penalize Wemby when he’s anchoring a team that is the worst defense in the league without him and not AD whose team comparatively does fine without him.
I respect the argument that the Spurs are a really bad defensive team. But I don’t understand the gambling thing. It’s just flat-out untrue. Most of Wemby’s blocks are just really good help defense or really good 1 on 1 defense.
The league average defensive rating is about 115 and this team has a defensive rating of 112 when Wemby’s on the court despite not having a true 5 and no elite PoA defender…that’s an unrivaled impact. For context, they have the worst defensive rating in the league when Wemby’s on the bench.
Pelton said he thinks Shai should be on AD 1st because of his steals. When Zach asked him if he’s even one of the 3 best defenders in his own team, Pelton said “he’s probably in the top two”. So, he can’t definitively say he’s even the second best defender on his own team, but he belongs on the 1st team?
Then he dismissed Wemby because our defense is so bad… seconds after Zach pointed out that our defense with Wemby on the floor is actually decent.
I don’t think Pelton is a genius, but he’s not usually this bad. He wasn’t making any sense at all.
This dude seems to imply that Wemby is getting stats while not being impactful and that is just plain false. Wemby actually doesn’t contest some shots in order to put a body on his man and keep them off the boards. He has the ability to block jumpshots but has learned not to as often because it leaves him exposed to a drive.
Also when he plays bad defense, Pop doesn’t hesitate to bench him for a little bit. This man is getting less stats than he could because he’s trying to play the right way. And apparently its working because all the metrics AND the eye test tell me that he’s one of the best defenders in basketball today.
If he was chasing blocks all the time, would’ve not he always be in foul trouble?
Which was solve early in the season.
Kevin pelton alternates between some pretty good, and some pretty bone-headed takes.
If Victor was having a white side level year where he was blocking a bunch of shots but all the advanced defensive metrics pointed him as a negative or neutral asset On that end I’d agree with him.
But the reality is he exposed the fact that he hasn’t watched much of the Spurs this year when he said that Victor still trying to figure out how to be impactful.
He IS impactful. Pretty much every advanced defensive metric, which guys like pelton cream their pants over usually, paints Victor somewhere between a top three and a top 10 defensive player in the entire league in regards to his overall effect on opposing offenses.
You combine that with the immense, unheard of, defensive gravity he has and the raw shop locking numbers. I think it’s pretty clear. He’s going to finish a second in defensive player of the year, a distant second to be honest, and make an all defensive team regardless of how bad the spurs are.
I will agree that JUST being the blocks or steals leader shouldn’t warrant an all nba defensive team. Whiteside and Iverson were trash defenders and led the league in them multiple times.
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HOWEVER, Wemby’s defensive impact is near the level of AD’s, just not as polished yet. He deserves the second team selection as a center this season behind Gobert.
These dumbasses will give Marcus smart dpoy and first team defense but wemby is not worthy… Yea whatever
KP’s smart obv, but this take feels like a reach. I’m not as high on Wemby’s defense as many, but he contests a bunch, teams are shooting much worse at the rim when he contests, and the Spurs defensive rating is much better when he plays (this is context dependent of course as he plays with stronger defenders than play when he sits).
I’m not in love with his defensive fundamentals pretty often, but he’s a million feet tall, so it really doesn’t matter.
The all in 1 metrics love him, his traditional stats are off the chart, and his defensive impact is at least very good. If we’re operating under the old rules and you think Gobert and AD are ahead of him, fine. But since you can pick 10 bigs if you want, Wemby feels like a very strong candidate
Kevin is a bum, that what we know so far
Give it some time and see this guy say “I’m sorry, I take that back”
The “corporate media” has very weird opinions
Kevin Pelton has my vote for All Bum First Team
His analysis is usually ok, but Pelton has a weird thing against Vic, he is always reaching for ways to justify Chet being ROY over him. He also seems like kind of a miserable dude.
Let’s not pretend Wemby doesn’t make mistakes on defense. He gets caught flat footed when trying to help and he gambles for blocks or steals and lets the ball get past him. To me that is exciting because he’s still getting better.
Like you, I think Wemby should be on the all defense team, but you don’t have to call the man an idiot or say he doesn’t watch just because he has other highly skilled players ahead of our guy.