Player The unfortunately low-ceilinged Shaolin monastery of Victor Wembanyama

Wemby will win multiple MVPs one day. Not sure why anyone would think the league doesn't want that and whether they do or not, it's happening as long as he's healthy.
 
Fox211 said:
Wemby will win multiple MVPs one day. Not sure why anyone would think the league doesn't want that and whether they do or not, it's happening as long as he's healthy.
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going to be tough to win multiple MVPs in one day
 
Limguoguolo said:
The league doesn't want Victor to be MVP. The league wants to put big names on these lists in the race for this or that award.

The league was built on the same principle as the star system invented by the major movie studios in the 1920s. Originally, films were built around a subject, and the names of the actors didn't even appear on the poster. Thanks to the advent of certain artists such as Chaplin, they began to develop a commercial and industrial logic around actors and actresses. Sometimes by bringing them together on screen. Paramount's predecessor, Famous Players, developed this logic, which became the norm in Hollywood. It is still the logic today, a logic that exists nowhere else.

In basketball, it's the same. The league was built around personalities rather than brands (the opposite of Europe, for example). The league doesn't care who wins the titles. Instead, it needs to create a whole narrative around the stars. Everything is copied from the movie star system: publicity around personalities, scandal management, exclusivity contracts, obligations to the league and the press. Even the awards are modeled on the Oscars, which were supposed to complete this star system logic in the late 1920s. The important thing for the league is not that Victor or someone else wins a title, but that everyone talks about the possibility. All the stars are interchangeable.

A star is a star: It's important to bring out personalities in teams and in the league. If we compare this with what is done in Europe, for example, there is much more emphasis on team dynamics. That's why in Europe, coaches look for different solutions for each game and during each game to destabilize the opposing defense, with the direct result that offensive leaders rarely remain the same player from one game to the next. In France, to describe the fact that star players are put forward in the NBA, we talk about “ticket shots.” This means that franchise players have the green light to shoot. The very concept of franchise players does not exist in Europe. It is very specific to the NBA.

The entire NBA business, especially the press, is based on this star system logic. Even the Spurs are subject to it, and not just with Victor. The Big Three is nothing more than a reproduction of the star alliance logic imagined by the studios after the crisis of 1929. Even if its construction is not premeditated, it results from a narrative logic built around stars.

For every NBA player, there is a story to be created. They don't care who is at the top of the bill, the important thing is to look up at the billboard with wide eyes. And if necessary, discuss who you find there. Each title on the poster could be “Who is the best?” If it’s not Victor, it’s one of his own.
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On a global note NBA revenues are growing while viewership is declining for the last 10 years... not sure how this is sustainable. NBA is at a cornerstone with old stars (Lebron, Curry, KD...) on the verge of retirement, the new stars have quite a diffent profile, for one most of them are not american (SGA, Luka, Jokic, Victor...) and then they seem quite far from the usual start system at the exception of Ant. This change is awesome for the global visibility but a challenge for US viewership and game attendance. All of that in the context of a potential US expansion, an increase of injuries, too many games and even a Europe expansion.

I agree that whether with Victor or not NBA will promote stars but in this overall context, Victor is a great product due to his potential and his freakish nature and crazy stuff he is capable to do. At the end what matters is how attractive is Victor for the league, so far I would say so good... his highlights are everywhere, he is selling jersey. I'm not sure NBA will "help" Vicor narrative and accolades but it does not seem in NBA interest to spoil it by letting defense targeting his knees or not giving whistle love eventhough recently one can wonder
 
brazil said:
On a global note NBA revenues are growing while viewership is declining for the last 10 years... not sure how this is sustainable.
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Christmas games had the best ratings in many years.
Amazon and NBC broadcasting instead of TNT helps a lot with the domestic audience.
The issue is that if you're to watch whatever you want, you still need the LP+local broadcaster+ESPN/Amazon/NBC subscriptions which is just idiotic.
They're basically extorting hardcore fans for a lot of money instead of getting higher viewership numbers with cheaper subscriptions.

NBA is at a cornerstone with old stars (Lebron, Curry, KD...) on the verge of retirement, the new stars have quite a diffent profile, for one most of them are not american (SGA, Luka, Jokic, Victor...) and then they seem quite far from the usual start system at the exception of Ant. This change is awesome for the global visibility but a challenge for US viewership and game attendance. All of that in the context of a potential US expansion, an increase of injuries, too many games and even a Europe expansion.
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Times change and if you look at the all-star voting fans are already over those older stars.
While Europeans aren't as marketable in a traditional American sense, you can't say Wemby/Luka/Jokic aren't must see TV and great characters to have as the new faces of the league. SGA is the only boring one.
 
LeBowen said:
Christmas games had the best ratings in many years.
Amazon and NBC broadcasting instead of TNT helps a lot with the domestic audience.
The issue is that if you're to watch whatever you want, you still need the LP+local broadcaster+ESPN/Amazon/NBC subscriptions which is just idiotic.
They're basically extorting hardcore fans for a lot of money instead of getting higher viewership numbers with cheaper subscriptions.


Times change and if you look at the all-star voting fans are already over those older stars.
While Europeans aren't as marketable in a traditional American sense, you can't say Wemby/Luka/Jokic aren't must see TV and great characters to have as the new faces of the league. SGA is the only boring one.
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Ratings decrease trend seem to come to an halt but it is still very recent. Last 10 years trend is quite dramatic but again you are right about crazy subscriptions but also the highlight trend watching rather than the whole games. To make a parallel it's a bit like games focusing on few whales spending rather than low spending spread a lot of people. I'm here just wondering if it is sustainable tbh long term, it worked last 5 to 6 years tho.

Oh I agree Jokic, Luka, Victor are awesome characters with very peculiar personalities, I just don't know US public acceptance of that. Look at Jokic dude is putting never seen before numbers, makes crazy plays games after games and is a great character but at the same time, he is not THE big star ala Curry, Jordan, Lebron or Magic, Shaq. It seems to me he is recognized by knowledgeable fans but not that known by the general public tbh. I believe if you ask random people in the streets not following at all the NBA they know Lebron name but won't be able to name Jokic.
 
brazil said:
On a global note NBA revenues are growing while viewership is declining for the last 10 years... not sure how this is sustainable. NBA is at a cornerstone with old stars (Lebron, Curry, KD...) on the verge of retirement, the new stars have quite a diffent profile, for one most of them are not american (SGA, Luka, Jokic, Victor...) and then they seem quite far from the usual start system at the exception of Ant. This change is awesome for the global visibility but a challenge for US viewership and game attendance. All of that in the context of a potential US expansion, an increase of injuries, too many games and even a Europe expansion.

I agree that whether with Victor or not NBA will promote stars but in this overall context, Victor is a great product due to his potential and his freakish nature and crazy stuff he is capable to do. At the end what matters is how attractive is Victor for the league, so far I would say so good... his highlights are everywhere, he is selling jersey. I'm not sure NBA will "help" Vicor narrative and accolades but it does not seem in NBA interest to spoil it by letting defense targeting his knees or not giving whistle love eventhough recently one can wonder
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Cade is coming of age and Flagg, Castle, Harper, AJ, Peterson and Boozer are all hitting the league at the right time. The NBA really needs 3-4 of these guys to truly ascend to stardom to fill the void that Bron, Curry and KD are about to leave.

In my opinion anyway.
 
scott said:
Cade is coming of age and Flagg, Castle, Harper, AJ, Peterson and Boozer are all hitting the league at the right time. The NBA really needs 3-4 of these guys to truly ascend to stardom to fill the void that Bron, Curry and KD are about to leave.

In my opinion anyway.
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i mean, who are "the guys" between 25 and 29 now?

Shai, Tatum, Haliburton, Brunson, Mitchell, Bam, Booker, Zion...

like dont get me wrong. great players. but none of these guys are legends. if OKC wins some more, SGA maybe
 
I hope he won't tolerate the bullshit the Spurs have been pulling on him.
Playing it safe is one thing, but acting like every injury is a potential career ender is just pathetic.

Knee hyperextension with no structural damage? How does a minute restriction help with that?
Ligament damage won't happen if he plays 35 instead of 20 minutes.
He's either good to go or not.
Way different from calf injury.
 
We’ve gotten ridiculously cute with his minutes and load management stuff and it’s costing the team.

Staff got emboldened when we won a bunch of games with him out so now they feel bulletproof when it comes to resting him.

This bullshit needs to end unless he’s actually hurt, and he had said over and over again he’s not in pain or discomfort. He’s doing acrobatic karate kid crane kicks in pregame warmups. Wtf are we even doing?
 
i am still thinking mitch can't coach wemby and he knows it. but can't quit , so he plays games. he can see the stats , but he knows in his heart, a traditional big would see us win at a higher rate. The best skill in the fucking NBA is availability and regularity and dependability. WEmby is none of that. he is ruled by moods like a lot of 20 year olds., governed by a shadowy cabal of doctors. The owners just want to sell tickets and don't care about winning. They won their arena so they wont improve the team.

WE were spoiled by Robison's military service and duncan's rampant use of Marijuana giving them both some clarity , even then , winning was hard.
 
I just wonder if it’ll ever change. Are we just always going to be in this stage of “Well he’s 7’5” so we have to be ultra conservative with him”? You can blame the calf injury but it sort of feels like this was going to be their strategy regardless. Avoid playing him heavy minutes and be extremely conservative with any injuries that pop up.

Not even necessarily here to debate whether it is or isn’t the right decision. More so just wondering out loud about whether we should ever realistically expect anything different. They’ve already admitted he has a “weird anatomy” or whatever the term was that Mitch used.

What would you guys say the odds are that Wemby ever averages 34+ mpg while playing 70+ games in a season? And can he really reach GOAT-tier status if the answer is that he never does those things?
 
spursistan said:
My blood is boiling because this minutes restriction bullshit has gotten old and lame now that it just reeks of a bunch of medics having too much power within our organization and it's leading to too much overthinking. Let them explain away this..

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008742107713073290
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KOC is a clickbait/ragebait guy who i dont care for but this point is spot on
 
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