Player The unfortunately low-ceilinged Shaolin monastery of Victor Wembanyama

I think he’s 5, even with a healthy Tatum.

The top 5 are supernatural. They do things that science can’t explain. Tatum is…a very good player.
 
Shmurs said:
I think he’s 5, even with a healthy Tatum.

The top 5 are supernatural. They do things that science can’t explain. Tatum is…a very good player.
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He gets gifted 1st team appearances because of record and because we are at a low point right now in terms of high level SFs in the NBA with guys like LeBron/Nephew/Butler being old or injured. Tatum is a good player but it's crazy to me that he already has 4x 1st team all NBA apparences already
 
Looks like Reddit is displeased with his 5 ranking.

People really don’t have any notion of how much attention he draws of offense. If you put him on the Lakers, they’d have possibly won the title last year. And if you put him on basically any other team, it’s instant playoffs. People just assume he’s been playing with NBA caliber players because the reality of this roster has been unfathomable.
 
November/December Wemby is definitely a top5 player in the league, the issue is that sample size isn't big enough for most people to warrant his top5 ranking.
 
I gotta say, it's nice that quotes from ignored members get auto-hidden. That's something I always wanted over on the other site.
 
Jacoby’s body language and speech pattern oozes someone who knows he’s going to be unemployed if he doesn’t figure out what he is.

“Former ESPN producer who has no media reach, insider contacts or basketball wisdom” is getting to be a tougher and tougher sell.
 
Neuromancer said:
ESPN has him as the 5th best player in the league for the upcoming season. Feels about right, hard to argue he should be above SGA/Jokic/Giannis/Luka at this point
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vecenie brought up a good point. between his 1st and 2nd seasons, his scoring increased by 3ppg, his FG% by 1, and his 3pt% by 2.5%

if he theoretically improved at a linear level, you'd be looking at ~27ppg on 48.5% and 37.% shooting figures, while being the league's best defender. that is basically by default an mvp caliber player
 
Ant and Curry have possible claim to 5. LeBron though…that’s where I was totally out.
 
Shmurs said:
Ant and Curry have possible claim to 5. LeBron though…that’s where I was totally out.
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I don't think Ant's presence is consistent enough to warrant top5.
Jokic and Giannis change the game by just being on the floor.
SGA and Luka are offensive engines with never-ending output.
Curry should be the 5th guy on the list, but I'm not sure he's got one more season in him. His decline was obvious during the last season.

Out of all the other candidates, Wemby is by far the most game-changing player even if his offense isn't consistently on the 30ppg December level.
I've never seen a rim protector "block" so many shots by just being in the paint and deterring anyone from even thinking about attacking the rim.
If he had a chance to contest as many shots as elite rim protectors like AD and Gobert do, he'd easily be at 5bpg.

And he just shot 35% from 3pt on 9 attempts while taking shots from Curry range, what are we even talking about?
Right now he's healthy and when he's healthy he's a top5 player in the league, no question.
I expect him to be at the top of his game from the opening night because he finally got some rest and will have a proper training camp.

If we're talking MVP race, it's probably Luka's to lose.
Jokic and Giannis have voter fatigue, SGA gets so much hate he's not getting another one.
Wemby and Ant are the only two that can challenge Luka, imo.
 
LeBowen said:
I don't think Ant's presence is consistent enough to warrant top5.
Jokic and Giannis change the game by just being on the floor.
SGA and Luka are offensive engines with never-ending output.
Curry should be the 5th guy on the list, but I'm not sure he's got one more season in him. His decline was obvious during the last season.

Out of all the other candidates, Wemby is by far the most game-changing player even if his offense isn't consistently on the 30ppg December level.
I've never seen a rim protector "block" so many shots by just being in the paint and deterring anyone from even thinking about attacking the rim.
If he had a chance to contest as many shots as elite rim protectors like AD and Gobert do, he'd easily be at 5bpg.

And he just shot 35% from 3pt on 9 attempts while taking shots from Curry range, what are we even talking about?
Right now he's healthy and when he's healthy he's a top5 player in the league, no question.
I expect him to be at the top of his game from the opening night because he finally got some rest and will have a proper training camp.

If we're talking MVP race, it's probably Luka's to lose.
Jokic and Giannis have voter fatigue, SGA gets so much hate he's not getting another one.
Wemby and Ant are the only two that can challenge Luka, imo.
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I don’t love seeing him chuck a 30 footer with 18 seconds left on the shot clock or whatever. But it’s also hard to argue that he shouldn’t be taking 10-15 threes a game since he’s literally never contested and hits them at an adequate rate. He could be a real sicko some night and go 12-20 or something and it wouldn’t be surprising because again - he’s never guarded.
 
On defense wemby has just been incredible due to his size, fluidity and reaction speed. There are still instances where he get caught off position and reaches but I think that’s more due to experience and coaching. The defensive schemes last year, if you can call those schemes, just left wemby out on an island sometimes and forces him to make bad vs worse decisions.

Offence is another thing though. He has yo learn how to be patient and not rush things. A lot of times it manifested into poor logo heaves but there are times where an offence just ends in bad shots or turnovers. He would still make some tough bad shots just because he’s who he is but they are still bad shots. Again, my beef is with the coaching/schemes.

The roster talent isn’t as bad as most make it out to be. It’s bad for sure, like bottom quartile or bottom third at best, but it just got magnified because of how bad the schemes were where players were forced to do things they can’t/shouldn’t do, or at best not disciplined for it.

Coaching is going to make the most difference this year I hope. If we continue to play high level street ball we’re screwed.
 
Correct Crusader said:
I wouldn't be surprised if Victors usage went down a little bit due to the talent raising of the off-season.
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His usage should be higher now because he get more expirence now and his entering his prine in a couple of years.
 
elpimpo4cc said:
Very sad to see how much SI has declined writing-wise
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I think it's obvious why when you click on the website and you get hit by 40,000 ads trying to overpower your computer's resources. Quantity and clickbait over quality is their model now.
 
nah sports illustrated is like forbes a zombie site printing garbage. ESPN is like the NYT valuing engagement over truth, and pushing big money interests over truth. ESPN is a TV channel, that's always been the bigger money deal. the website is just there to remind you watch ESPN. , SI is just a website. also the espn app works well enough, anyone every download an SI app?
 
Presumably with more talent around him on an upward trajectory (Fox, Harper, Castle) I would expect Wemby to have a similar or even slightly less usage than last year, not more.
 
All-NBA, DPOY, all star starter. It's going to be awesome seeing him with more weapons on offense. And this team isn't even a championship contender yet. For the next several years I think it's safe to say we'll see production move up a notch.
 
dn0774 said:
Presumably with more talent around him on an upward trajectory (Fox, Harper, Castle) I would expect Wemby to have a similar or even slightly less usage than last year, not more.
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I think he’ll get more efficient usage, though, playing in a real offense. Less early shot clock 30 footers and having to figure out how to salvage possessions. More set plays and 2-man actions. It was surprising we didn’t get more of that from him and CP, but maybe Paul’s limitations and the comfort level of guys sagging off of him kind of screwed that up.
 
A healthy Wemby is Top 5 period. Nobody blocks shots and alter games like he does. Offensively I see Jokic, Giannis, Luka, SGA, (Curry and AD when healthy) as other game changers with Wemby. Like your team defense dramatically changes when these guys are on the court. With Fox and company going to draw defense, Wemby will be less defended than ever before. And with 3rd year healthy and hungry Wemby, NBA watch out. I expect MVP Wemby from day 1 sending the message that he’s up for the running on both DPOY and league MVP.
 
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