Player The unfortunately low-ceilinged Shaolin monastery of Victor Wembanyama

[sKiN20]

Single digit scoring in this current era of offense-first basketball is simply unacceptable for superstar tiered players..There is no excuse for it even you are little dinged-up..It is more of a reflection of a mental no-show than anything else. Frankly speaking, it felt like Wemby did his version of Pat Beverly play-in meme after going up 5-0..He and the team have done and proven nothing still.

Ageee with this. He had single digit on point/because he had an off night, only took 14 shots and wasnt able to get to the freethrow line. He should learn to get to the freethrowline consistently especially if his shots isnt falling.

 

[Exstatic]

Said it in the game thread; as long as Wemby still has these complete "ima take the night off" games you can't put him in Top 4-5 just yet..Even as a Wembanyama fan, the first week glazing from media & internet was a little too premature.. As we just saw sadly, he still capable of vomiting single digit scoring games like some deer-in-the-headlights rookie..

Yeah, I’m going to put this one squarely on the coaching staff. Once they saw that stationary high post was getting him swarmed, they needed to start moving him during plays, something that should have happened late 1st or early 2nd, but didn’t until late 3rd.

 

[PanameSpur]

Starting to realize Wemby is going to be a lot easier to stop or weaken during POs than RS.

Most of his good games where where opp let him play his game, the rare time teams game planned they put 2 bigs or played physical and he had some of his worst outings.

This roster isn't built to help him at all, and he's going to get exposed athletically a lot this season.

Also no idea why he went from too many 3s to not enough obvious ones he refuses to force a penetration. Is it a strategy? Wemby NEEDS to become elite at shooting the 3 if he wants to have a long career and get some space in the paint.

Spurs need a coach

 

[Shmurs]

Not necessarily. You saw what Mitch was capable of with a couple months of planning. You just need to space the games out more. By like 6 weeks.

 

[LeBowen]

We all wanted Wemby to stop chucking, but he'll never be strong enough to not need a jumpshot at all.
The solution to last night's setup would've been quick turnaround jumpers.
Mix in some 3pts and keep the defense honest.

He's projected to be the best player in the league because he's got elite range on top of his other talents, if he's just going to stop shooting jumpshots he'll never reach his full potential.
Obviously, there has to be a fine line between jumpshots that need to be taken and chucking, but that will come with experience.

Last season Wemby's shot selection was poor, but not taking any shots outside the paint is also not ideal.
I know he started chucking in the second half, but that was out of frustration, not by design.

 

[Ice009]

I was thinking that when watching the game. He needs to still shoot three pointers to fully unlock his game. Basically what you said, mix it all in. He can't take no 3s.

 

[Exstatic]

He needs to MOVE in the half court, pick and rolls, dives, spin moves into a cut when he seems to be setting up in the high post. A Wemby on the move is a terror. Just shifting from the right foul line extended to the left block would cause havoc for a defense trying to double or triple team him. You wouldn’t even need good shooters. The chaos of him on the move would leave wide open cutting and driving lanes for dunks.

 

[Shmurs]

Entire team spent the whole first quarter pretending like he didn’t exist for whatever reason. He needs to tell his team that he needs the ball because he is feeding their families. He can’t just see if champ or Barnes is going to lead the offense. It has to be him every time. And if he’s not organically getting the ball they need to call timeout and force the issue.

 

[RC_Drunkford]

The trick is Phoenix sending the double team as soon as Wemby starts his first dribble.

They were just crowding the paint and like Miami they put wings on him. He needs to learn to get lower to post them up like in the Hakeem workout video. The passing out of double teams has to be quicker as well as our ball movement to create open shots.

Fox return should help make things easier.

Another thing is teams know Wemby wants to drive to the middle. He needs to learn the LMA baseline fadeaway to keep teams guessing.

 

[SpursBrazil]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1985480472701370421

 

[benefactor]

Learning how to run the offense through him is still in its infancy. They have good base ideas on how to do it and now they will have to make adjustments. We have been used to pop doing the same thing over and over and watching it fail over and over as he has gotten older. I think this coaching staff is committed to seeing the results on the floor and adjusting accordingly. On the old staff pop was the only mind involved and no one dared challenge him. We have a good collective group now and I have confidence they will figure it out.

 

[Shmurs]

Fine but when they miss him he’s at the point in his career where he takes the lesser player aside and makes them remember next time. His passive aggressive thing where he mimes dunking a fake lob ain’t it. Hes the boss. Like jokic and Giannis and Shai. The others still aren’t acknowledging that 100% of them are orbiting planets.

 

[benefactor]

Fine but when they miss him he’s at the point in his career where he takes the lesser player aside and makes them remember next time. His passive aggressive thing where he mimes dunking a fake lob ain’t it. Hes the boss. Like jokic and Giannis and Shai. The others still aren’t acknowledging that 100% of them are orbiting planets.

He's existed in the world of chaos since he came to the spurs. He thought he was going to be taught by pop and then pop was gone and now he has new teachers. This entire franchise has been nothing but confusion up until now and now it looks like they have some real direction. He will get there. Have a little patience.

 

[scott]

He could really use a high caliber scorer capable of collapsing a defense and creating on his own. I'm willing to wait and see what this looks like with Fox for a few games before drawing too many conclusions.

 

[Max_power]

I didn't Watch the Game, but i look the boxscore at halftime and see wemby with Zero points , i though it was a glitch tbh

No spurs fans are delighted with this

 

[dn0774]

When the doubles come for Wemby we need guys that can knock down their open 3s of course, but also guys with the iq to make heady cuts to the basket. If Wemby is doubled then someone is open, that guy needs to punish them for it and Wemby needs to make the proper pass.

 

[The Ballsbreakers]

Entire team spent the whole first quarter pretending like he didn’t exist for whatever reason. He needs to tell his team that he needs the ball because he is feeding their families. He can’t just see if champ or Barnes is going to lead the offense. It has to be him every time. And if he’s not organically getting the ball they need to call timeout and force the issue.

This. It's like they went to a time machine and went back to the first few weeks of his rookie year.
And a good part of it is on him, too, as he was just too content being on the weakside... probably meditating mid-game.

 

[brazil]

Obviously teams are planning against Victor and double teams is the way, we need to trade for shooting asap

 

[ambchang]

I've been saying this for a while, but my biggest fear is that Wemby's first few years will be like David Robinson's pre-Duncan years (minus the rookie season), fantastic individual player, questionable team around them.

Robinson had little talent around him other than Elliott, and the lack of shooting makes game planning around him easy in the playoffs. He didn't help himself by never developing a go-to low post move.

Wemby had some talent around him now (Castle, Harper, and soon Harper) but the lack of shooting around him is glaring. Wemby also tends to settle once in a while and is over-reliant on his other worldly physical advantages, much like the Admiral. Difference is that back in the 90s allow a team to have a superstar to just basically wreck the opposition with rules that heavily favours isolation offence, and we can't have that anymore.

 

[brazil]

I've been saying this for a while, but my biggest fear is that Wemby's first few years will be like David Robinson's pre-Duncan years (minus the rookie season), fantastic individual player, questionable team around them.

Robinson had little talent around him other than Elliott, and the lack of shooting makes game planning around him easy in the playoffs. He didn't help himself by never developing a go-to low post move.

Wemby had some talent around him now (Castle, Harper, and soon Harper) but the lack of shooting around him is glaring. Wemby also tends to settle once in a while and is over-reliant on his other worldly physical advantages, much like the Admiral. Difference is that back in the 90s allow a team to have a superstar to just basically wreck the opposition with rules that heavily favours isolation offence, and we can't have that anymore.

In Victor case, I'd say he has a lot of talents around him more so than David but they all have the same profile relying on driving to the basket or work close to the basket which was kind of fine with Victor playing mostly on the perimeter. Now we have Sochan and KJ incapable to score without being close to the basket, Fox and Castle also relying on their drive and now we have also Harper, too many people going to the post. Spurs have to adress that point urgently

 

[OK Computer]

In Victor case, I'd say he has a lot of talents around him more so than David but they all have the same profile relying on driving to the basket or work close to the basket which was kind of fine with Victor playing mostly on the perimeter. Now we have Sochan and KJ incapable to score without being close to the basket, Fox and Castle also relying on their drive and now we have also Harper, too many people going to the post. Spurs have to adress that point urgently

I don’t understand this post. You skipped like three players who score away from the basket (Vassell, Barnes, Champagnie) and included Sochan who hasn’t played yet. KJ is shooting 46% from 3 so far. When you only list the players with the same trait, of course it’s going to look like the whole team doesn’t score from outside.

 

[OK Computer]

IMO, the “lack of shooting” is an illusion. I think folks have a tendency to shift blame away from Wemby because he’s obviously the golden child of the franchise. It’s okay to say he’s failing the entire team. Leaders fail, too. But good leaders always get back up, and strive to be better for themselves and for others.

I have no doubt Wemby will find a way to overcome his deficiencies and find a way to elevate others. It’s the same way that Harper makes other players look good because he’s naturally good at that. Harper is a very good example of how a star is supposed to elevate other players. There’s enough talent on this team, it’s just that Wemby has to find a way to play in a way that makes the other players successful.

 

[Shmurs]

IMO, the “lack of shooting” is an illusion. I think folks have a tendency to shift blame away from Wemby because he’s obviously the golden child of the franchise. It’s okay to say he’s failing the entire team. Leaders fail, too. But good leaders always get back up, and strive to be better for themselves and for others.

I have no doubt Wemby will find a way to overcome his deficiencies and find a way to elevate others. It’s the same way that Harper makes other players look good because he’s naturally good at that. Harper is a very good example of how a star is supposed to elevate other players. There’s enough talent on this team, it’s just that Wemby has to find a way to play in a way that makes the other players successful.

I agree a little. It was less “they doubled vic and clogged things” and more “there was no gameplan whatsoever to counter a defensive scheme”

 

[ginobilized]

The crappy games are the ones where you learn. Sometimes I see him dribble into the double team or his team mates freeze as if they've never seen a double team. Quick decisions and ball movement will help and Wemby needs to learn how to handle it for us to be a contender. It may take awhile to get there. When Wemby turns his back to the basket is when the doubles are really effective. TD struggled at times with doubles, too.

Can you imagine watching tape of that game and breaking down the mistakes with coaches and teammates in the room? That sounds painfully humbling to me.

 

[Fireball]

IMO, the “lack of shooting” is an illusion. I think folks have a tendency to shift blame away from Wemby because he’s obviously the golden child of the franchise. It’s okay to say he’s failing the entire team. Leaders fail, too. But good leaders always get back up, and strive to be better for themselves and for others.

I have no doubt Wemby will find a way to overcome his deficiencies and find a way to elevate others. It’s the same way that Harper makes other players look good because he’s naturally good at that. Harper is a very good example of how a star is supposed to elevate other players. There’s enough talent on this team, it’s just that Wemby has to find a way to play in a way that makes the other players successful.

Wemby needs to improve his game when being double teamed which is fine given his age. But the team is a problem as well. The Phoenix game was a disaster and Wemby only was -3 ... Preseason Champagnie would be elevating the team ... glad at least Keldon is knocking it down so far.