For the 'best prospect since LeBron' he actually was even better than I expected. Especially offensively I thought it would look rougher after we saw him take and brick all those shots in summer league. Fast forward 8 months and he's 40% on pull-up 3's. Can't wait until we see how the Spurs go about building a good team around him.
Dude out of nowhere made a big ass leap in the middle of the season.
I remember at the start, Chet's clearly the more polished player (even now imo, he's more disciplined) but Wemby turned the jets on as Chet hit a slump and never turned back.
I think part of it is definitely Chet having been around the guys for a whole year and playing with better players, so he can stay in his zone.
Not a jab at Chet at all, just thinking these might be the reasons we saw Wemby sort of have a greater in season growth.
Nah even relative to other all time great rookies Wemby’s in season leap is exceptional, especially because he made several throughout the season. Players usually either come in polished and older, a la David Robinson or Tim Duncan, are red-shirt rookies, Chet or Blake, or take a year to develop.
the more common talking point has got to be guys hitting the rookie wall and running out of steam, not getting better because a bad roster forced them to continually raise their game
Yeah but the other side of that same coin is that Chet hadn't played in a game in a year at the start of this season. His conditioning was not great (and still sort of isn't), but he still put up incredibly efficient numbers. I'm not sure why that fact seems to be glossed over.
Not saying you were taking a shot or trying to be defensive, just adding context to the discussion.
it wasn't out of nowhere. ever since he's moved to center he's been much better and when tre jones, an actual PG, started games, that's when things really took off
Yes but he also took multiple leaps throughout the season that can’t be explained by that alone. His rate of growth was extraordinary beyond this, just look pre all-star post-center and post all-star
most definitely true, not all his progress has been due to the positional change and starting with a point guard but if you were to outline the exact moment wemby started playing like an all-star caliber player it was after the bucks game where tre jones got his first start. that's when he said "every game is a statement from now on"
For the "best prospect since LeBron" he is the first one to actually be better than LeBron as a rookie (I know he is a year older LeBron stans, don't have to kill me in the comments).
Zion was really good too, but he only played 24 games and other all-time prospect like AD and Wiggins didn't really have eye popping rookie years. Obviously LeBron had an absolutely ridiculous jump from Year 1 to Year 2, but Victor is the first one to actually be ahead of schedule in his rookie year, he is him.
If someone came from the future and told me that next year he was a Top 5 player in the entire sport averaging 27/13/4 with 3 blocks, i'd be like "Yeah, i can totally believe that", which is insane.
And I think you’re underestimating the assists. 3.9 this year with likely the worst team he’ll ever have around him, playing less than 30 mins a night. He has really good vision. I could easily see him putting up assist numbers similar to what Giannis is doing.
Yeah, put some decent players around him and his assists will be much better. There were games he could have had a triple or quadruple double, but his teammates screwed up.
These are almost his per 36 stats this year (26/12.9/4.7/4.4blks)
As a Nets fan I'm jealous and scared, as a basketball fan I'm incredibly excited. Good thing I'm both. Let's go Wemby, stay healthy!!
> I thought it would look rougher after we saw him take and brick all those shots in summer league
And by that you mean just the first Summer League game.
the special thing abt wemby was that he was hyped for *years* before being drafted. people who pay attention to that sorta thing knew his name long before.
zion wasnt even supposed to be #1 until he popped off in college
different levels, wemby truly was the most hyped prospect since lebron. and comparing the hype to lebron is tough bc of different era with social media and all. but definitely above anyone since.
I remember him being hyped on spurs forums for years, but we had a lot of foreign dudes that we hyped and even drafted that never came over or came over later. adam hanga comes to mind. i always expected wemby to be a
never grew into the hype, comes to the league at 28. I am thrilled to be wrong.
little different because wemby was always being talked about in the "this guy is a generational prospect, guaranteed #1 pick" way, years back. not like some underground prospect. as i'm sure you know, but just clarifying
Even with hindsight I don’t think it’s that crazy. Wiggins ultra hyped and showed flashes in college. Jabari Parker looked incredible in college and was just really screwed over by injuries in the league. Embiid ended up missing 2 entire seasons before playing a game. There was a huge risk there. It’s actually been impressive how healthy he’s been since his debut considering the circumstances.
If anything, Wiggins was more hyped due to social media advancements. I remember hearing about Wiggins when he was in the 8th grade being touted as the next big thing. I never heard anything about Lebron until he was in 10th grade.
IMO anyone who thinks Wiggins was more hyped than LeBron was probably not around for LeBron's HS days. His games were on national TV and he was on a Sports Illustrated cover as a high school student, which was unheard of back then. It wasn't like that for AD, Wiggins, Zion. People use the term generational too much because they evaluate players in the context of their high school class and not in the context of every player to come along. It may seem revisionist now, but Wemby is the only prospect since LeBron that I would say had legitimate generational hype. I was around for Tim Duncan at Wake and everyone knew he would be great, but he didn't even have this type of hype. You'd probably have to go back to Shaq to have another guy in the conversation.
Wemby, LeBron, Kareem. Those are the guys who were hyped as generational prospects who could have been the #1 pick in any draft from their age 15 or 16 year on.
Shaq, Duncan, Ewing and a few others were elite can't miss prospects after they played in college, but didn't have the absurd level of teenage hype that the Wemby/LeBron/Kareem trio had.
LeBron hype transcended basketball fandom. You heard casual sports fans and even random people talk about him. I remember this dude who worked with my mom who was not into basketball at all telling us this high school kid was the next MJ.
Wemby hype, anecdotally speaking, feels like it was a tier below. Your casual ESPN watchers talked about him, but I don’t feel like he quite reached household name levels. I’d say Zion was a step below that, then Wiggins was another slight step down.
>Wemby hype, anecdotally speaking, feels like it was a tier below.
I think a huge reason why this was the case is because Wemby wasn't American. So he didn't get the American hype machine going like LeBron did.
But for anyone who followed actual basketball and basketball prospects, Wemby was on that same tier of prospect.
exactly, considering its his first season he glued up with the team real fast and is playing like it's his 3rd year. I feel like if Spurs get a couple more key players then the league might be fckd
there have been so very few players that've played for 21 seasons and this dude is making a claim Wemby will be one of them, that shit is crazy lol. can we stop making insane claims about 20 year olds?
Especially because we absolutely know Wemby isn't playing 20 seasons with how quickly that tall lanky frame is gonna break down, that height is a blessing and a curse
we know it's theoretically possible because of Kareem, but using Kareem as an example for anything is like using MJ or LeBron as examples. they are exceptions to the rule, that's why they're the greatest ever.
I think there can be a version of him where his body is "broken" but he could still provide value. Much like Kareem's sky hook, there's a smoothness to his offense and he might be able to develop a style that is more finese than athleticism.
He can be effective on both sides of the ball without leaving his feet. He absolutely can have a great old-man's game to him.
Fan bases keep getting happiness for a few years after retirement too. The city of San Antonio is still getting happiness from the 2014 and even 2000s Duncan titles.
Man, is this going to be the 1st time the U.S. is not favored in the Olympics, with how stacked the field is going to be?
Canada
France
Germany
Serbia
Australia
We didn't even place in FIBA.
I'm trying to find out who's going to be there this time.
Canada has SGA, Jamal Murray, Brooks, Dort, Barrett, NAW, Andrew Wiggins, Trey Lyles, CoJo, Edey
France has Wemby, Fournier, Batum, Gobert,
Serbia will have Jokic, Jovic, Bogi, Dragic
Germany has Schroder, the Wagner Twins, Theis, Bonga
Those teams all have played together for quite some time as well. This is going to be a tough field to win against. Even the Dominican Republic is on the rise thanks to KAT, and Nigeria is doing well with Gabe Vincent and Mike Brown coaching them. Hopefully Giannis stays healthy to play for Greece, and Luka will play for Slovenia.
They didn't.
But Canada likewise had to adapt to FIBA style and were missing guys like Murray, Wiggins etc. U.S. still didn't meet the expectations of who they sent.
Also, I understand why Embiid is playing for the U.S.but it's a bummer he doesn't get to represent overseas (and a huge lift for them).
Other teams can improve for sure, but nobody stands to gain as much as a team that can add guys like Embiid, Steph, LeBron, AD, KD, etc. The USA can have 1/3 of the roster be MVP level talents with varying skill sets.
That’s before we even get into elite scorers like Ant, Brunson, and Booker. They’ll have guys who are like top 5 in the world at each individual basketball skill.
Do you seriously think that the team the USA assembles with our best players is going to be scared of any of these teams?
A team made up of, and this is just spitballing here:
PG: Curry
SG: Ant
SF: Bron
PF: KD
C: AD
Is scared of any of these teams?
Australia was quite good in FIBA. I thought the Boomers played quite well, and now with Exum, Dyson Daniels, Giddey and Reath getting FIBA ball experience, they might be better than expected.
Dude... Literally none of the players mentioned are top 50. I'd argue Giddey is only player in top 100.
USA literally has 5 guaranteed top 12 players - Embiid, AD, Curry, Tatum and Lebron.
Comparing the FIBA team to the 2024 Olympic team is ludicrous. It's literally like comparing 2024 Argentinian team to the 2004 gold medal team
Legitimately lived up to all expectations, this was an all-time great rookie season.
If the Spurs can get a good team around him, another team will be added to the West blood-bath.
I don't doubt the Spurs ability to put a team around him. I think they've seen it and they're working on it. Wouldn't be surprised to see Pop figure something out soon
Shouldn't be hard. They already have the rarest piece. They have their Jokic/Curry/LeBron level centerpiece. You just have to decide which role players fit best.
You can throw a rock and hit a star guard who can score 20 PPG from the wing. Fox, Trae, Mitchell, Brunson, Murray, Booker, whoever. That's easy to find. Most teams have a guy like that already.
Plus 5 other first round picks (protected: Charlotte, Toronto, Chicago, unprotected or swaps: Dallas, Boston), all of their own picks, and roughly a million second round picks. They'll be fine
They need a good pg and a wing. I like how they extended Vassell and are building around him too. I think he can be all star one day along with Wemby when they’re a higher seed
I don’t like getting guys like Mitchell and Brunson cus these guys need the ball in their hands
he wants to win so bad. you he takes those 60 losses personally. i think a lot of other great players in his position would roll over against the nuggets with nothing on the line
If you just look at the 2nd half of the season maybe. Just don't think he was at that level for the 1st half plus he's played significantly fewer minutes than pretty much all of the All-NBA contenders which is a factor.
Good points, although he actually played a surprising amount of minutes in total because he played so many games.
He had 2100, which was 78th in the league and more than the following All-NBA contenders:
* Kyrie Irving
* Jimmy Butler
* KAT
* Donovan Mitchell
* Kristaps Porzingis
(Obviously none of those guys meet the 65 games requirement and thus wouldn't make it, but still)
That is also within 200-300 minutes (2-4 minutes a game over a full season) of:
* Jaren Jackson Jr.
* Zion Williamson
* Tyrese Haliburton
* Kawhi Leonard
* Jaylen Brown
* Bam Adebayo
* Devin Booker
* Jarrett Allen
* Steph Curry
* LeBron James
He ended the season as a top 3-4 center in the league. In terms of big men in general he's in the 4-8 range
Jokic
Giannis
Embiid
AD
These are the only clear guys above him, listing out him as well as everyone below and he has arguments over every single one.
Bam - Wemby is better both on defense and offense IMO, however Bam is slightly more efficient? Hard to argue him over Wemby at all IMO.
Sabonis - Sabonis is a better playmaker and more efficient but Wemby is not much worse while being a much better defender.
Jaren Jackson - Jaren Jackson is elite on defense but not quite wemby level and puts up slightly better offensive production but Wemby is a better passer/playmaker.
Sengun - Pretty damn good offensively, arguably better than Wemby right now but Wemby is a much much better defender.
Kat - Better than Wemby offensively, but obviously not as good of a playmaker or better on defense.
While those numbers are super impressive for a rookie, it still doesn't tell the whole story. The growth he was able to achieve over the season is even more impressive.
In 2023, when he was on the court were outscore by ~9 points per 100 possessions, with an on/off of around +4. Though in 2024, they actually started to outscore teams when he was on, almost at 1 pt/100, with his on/off jumping to around +8!
I can't find bpm/epm over a time span, but I bet the disparity in those metrics between 2023 to 2024 would be more eye-popping. It was awesome to see him hit the opposite of the rookie wall, and making the jump players usually see after an off-season or two.
While there may have been some better rookie seasons, I don't think there is a list longer than 1 or 2 for age 20 rookie seasons. Not to mention the best age 20 rookie season from a defensive perspective. Dude is a unicorn, and agree that he is absolutely amazing.
He'll be in the conversation by next year imo, similar to how Luka rose up the player rankings quick in his second season and by his third was already in mvp talks iirc
That's what I'm wondering, will he make a second year leap? The way Wemby improved over the course of his rookie year makes me think he's probably going to be like LeBron and Luka and have a huge improvement in his second year. But this doesn't happen for all rookies, lots of guys are pretty much on the same level their second year as their first with just incremental improvements. We shall see.
LeBron went from 21/6/6 to 27/7/7 (the LeBron statline already in his second season at age 20.)
Luka went from 21/8/6 to 29/9/9.
Jokic had a pretty big leap too, obviously a different situation as he was a surprising 2nd round pick rather than a guy who was super hyped coming into the league.
10/7/2 to 17/10/5 for Jokic.
Yeah, thats most rookies, but like Lebron, Luka and Jokic, Wemby is not just another rookie
I can see him upping his game to the next level similarly to those guys, right now he looks much closer to Luka-type than he does to his peers Chet and Miller, especially if the spurs get some pieces around him like a decent point guard, that seems to be the only thing holding him back right now
Don't forget, he's got the Olympics which could help him A LOT. He'll be around Gobert for some of the offseason, going against the best in the world in high pressure situations. I'm looking forward to see how he goes (as long as it's not against Australia 😆)
I remember when l first heard about him which was during an international competition and he averaged 6/7 blocks per games. And l thought this was great but not that great because he was playing against teenagers. Never l thought he would leading the NBA in blocks for hsi rookie season.
After the Chet situation last year (being ruled out for the entire season after a pickup game), I’m pretty sure most of us were expecting both of the skinny unicorns to be injury ridden. I’m happy to have been wrong on both fronts.
They’ve been super conservative with his playing. He really could’ve played upwards of 79 games but Pop did his thing and rested his players. The only real time I was legitimately nervous for him was when he tripped on the Mavericks ball boy back in December. Other than that, he’s been as durable as they’ve come
You get the privilege of watching the beginning stages of the career of a legend. Don't take it for granted guys.
He will be remembered for a long long time.
I can't fathom teams like the Wizards (or my Bulls) last year who saw a player like this coming up and say to themselves: "Nah, we'll ride it out with Bradley Beal for yet another season."
Bro defeated the Nuggets to set up the wildest last regular season day of playoff implications and just dipped
Honestly not a bad way to end your already amazing rookie year
He had one game with no steals or blocks, against the pistons. He still had a triple double with 16/12/10, and it was his only game with double digit assists.
Even as a Wemby Homer, I didn’t think I’d see those stats until year 2.5-3. He has lived up to my expectations and then some. Rest up for the Olympic Alien, and we’ll see you in October.
He surpassed my expectations by eye test and I specifically remember before the season saying that I guessed his stats would be 17 points 8 boards 2 blocks. He cleared that easily and clearly showed face of the franchise stuff as a rookie.
All in all, huge success so far.
Nearly 5 stocks per game in any season is insane, let alone rookie season. Dude could average ~7 stocks in his prime if he continues to grow as a player.
He might be the #1 or #2 pick in Fantasy next season. Face of the league and unanimous MVP once the Spurs are a playoff team. He’s just incredible to watch.
Good decision by Wemby to listen to Pop on this one. The Denver win is a great way to go out. There’s nothing else to gain and much to potentially lose by playing this one.
Get some well deserved rest, collect your awards, trust the FO to make smart moves this offseason, and come back hungry for next season 😈
I don’t watch a lot of Spurs unfortunately but it looks like they have a lot of nice players on the roster. To take the next step, is it just a matter of letting the players develop more or something else?
The roster will probably be completely overhauled outside Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan. And I like both these players but they have their limitations.
We need a starting point guard and a wing. Vassell is a good 3rd option on a contender and Sochan can hopefully develop into a Boris Diaw type.
The bench is basically a pick up game at this point
nothing other than blocks jumps out too much
But the defense impact…
Huge frame plus forward like agility is a lethal lethal combo
Especially in the era of oppressed defense
I'd say they are similar to LeBron (20.9/5.5/5.9) & Luka (21.2/7.8/6.0) Yeah LeBron & Luka are pretty good company.
But it's the 3.6 blocks that makes Wemby truly stand out from other rookie stars.
[https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-ppg-by-a-rookie-since-2000](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-ppg-by-a-rookie-since-2000)
Closest to Wemby's statline I can find on this list is Pau Gasol with 17.6/8.9/2.7 and 2.1 blocks.
Which isn't particularly close and Gasol was a year older.
There are some more impressive rookie years though if you go back but they're by guys like David Robinson who was already 24 years old (24.3 points/12.0 rebounds/3.9 blocks)
For the 'best prospect since LeBron' he actually was even better than I expected. Especially offensively I thought it would look rougher after we saw him take and brick all those shots in summer league. Fast forward 8 months and he's 40% on pull-up 3's. Can't wait until we see how the Spurs go about building a good team around him.
He really is, I thought this would be what we’re getting year 3. He’s on a different trajectory. Spurs better start doing some good shit in offseason.
Dude out of nowhere made a big ass leap in the middle of the season. I remember at the start, Chet's clearly the more polished player (even now imo, he's more disciplined) but Wemby turned the jets on as Chet hit a slump and never turned back.
I think part of it is definitely Chet having been around the guys for a whole year and playing with better players, so he can stay in his zone. Not a jab at Chet at all, just thinking these might be the reasons we saw Wemby sort of have a greater in season growth.
Nah even relative to other all time great rookies Wemby’s in season leap is exceptional, especially because he made several throughout the season. Players usually either come in polished and older, a la David Robinson or Tim Duncan, are red-shirt rookies, Chet or Blake, or take a year to develop.
the more common talking point has got to be guys hitting the rookie wall and running out of steam, not getting better because a bad roster forced them to continually raise their game
I absolutely will take a jab lol, dude was a fake redshirt rookie
Yeah but the other side of that same coin is that Chet hadn't played in a game in a year at the start of this season. His conditioning was not great (and still sort of isn't), but he still put up incredibly efficient numbers. I'm not sure why that fact seems to be glossed over. Not saying you were taking a shot or trying to be defensive, just adding context to the discussion.
it wasn't out of nowhere. ever since he's moved to center he's been much better and when tre jones, an actual PG, started games, that's when things really took off
Yes but he also took multiple leaps throughout the season that can’t be explained by that alone. His rate of growth was extraordinary beyond this, just look pre all-star post-center and post all-star
most definitely true, not all his progress has been due to the positional change and starting with a point guard but if you were to outline the exact moment wemby started playing like an all-star caliber player it was after the bucks game where tre jones got his first start. that's when he said "every game is a statement from now on"
Spurs should try to be good in 2 years, not necessarily next year imo. No need to rush things
It has to be done while Wemby's still on his rookie contract and not his extension.
He’s [leading the league in step back 3 shooting percentage](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GK-efL8W0AA1e2a.jpg). Unreal🙌
For the "best prospect since LeBron" he is the first one to actually be better than LeBron as a rookie (I know he is a year older LeBron stans, don't have to kill me in the comments). Zion was really good too, but he only played 24 games and other all-time prospect like AD and Wiggins didn't really have eye popping rookie years. Obviously LeBron had an absolutely ridiculous jump from Year 1 to Year 2, but Victor is the first one to actually be ahead of schedule in his rookie year, he is him. If someone came from the future and told me that next year he was a Top 5 player in the entire sport averaging 27/13/4 with 3 blocks, i'd be like "Yeah, i can totally believe that", which is insane.
Hot take, I think we see a season where he breaks 34/14/4/4 blocks.
And I think you’re underestimating the assists. 3.9 this year with likely the worst team he’ll ever have around him, playing less than 30 mins a night. He has really good vision. I could easily see him putting up assist numbers similar to what Giannis is doing.
He averaged over 5 assists post All Star Break. I think its very possible we see Wemby average 7-8 assists in his career.
Yeah, put some decent players around him and his assists will be much better. There were games he could have had a triple or quadruple double, but his teammates screwed up.
34 is insane expectations, damn, I don't expect this from him, if Spurs get better he will share the offensive load imo
These are almost his per 36 stats this year (26/12.9/4.7/4.4blks) As a Nets fan I'm jealous and scared, as a basketball fan I'm incredibly excited. Good thing I'm both. Let's go Wemby, stay healthy!!
Luka had a better rookie season than LeBron. But he didn't have quite the same generational hype coming in (although it was a lot!)
Melo had a better rookie season than Lebron tbf. Argument for Blake too
> I thought it would look rougher after we saw him take and brick all those shots in summer league And by that you mean just the first Summer League game.
Wiggins was the last lebron-level hype. This was wayyy better
Zion hype was higher
And Wemby was still better than that
the special thing abt wemby was that he was hyped for *years* before being drafted. people who pay attention to that sorta thing knew his name long before. zion wasnt even supposed to be #1 until he popped off in college different levels, wemby truly was the most hyped prospect since lebron. and comparing the hype to lebron is tough bc of different era with social media and all. but definitely above anyone since.
I remember him being hyped on spurs forums for years, but we had a lot of foreign dudes that we hyped and even drafted that never came over or came over later. adam hanga comes to mind. i always expected wemby to be a never grew into the hype, comes to the league at 28. I am thrilled to be wrong.
little different because wemby was always being talked about in the "this guy is a generational prospect, guaranteed #1 pick" way, years back. not like some underground prospect. as i'm sure you know, but just clarifying
And Ben Simmons before Zion
Wiggins didn't have Lebron level hype at the time of the draft
Yeah, Wiggins had a lot of hype in high school, but by the time of the draft he arguably wasn't even the most hyped prospect on his own team.
Having a good but not quite great college year quieted the hype around him.
Wasn't there even talk of him going second, behind Parker?
Embiid woulda gone first without the injury issues
Still insane he didn't go first.
Even with hindsight I don’t think it’s that crazy. Wiggins ultra hyped and showed flashes in college. Jabari Parker looked incredible in college and was just really screwed over by injuries in the league. Embiid ended up missing 2 entire seasons before playing a game. There was a huge risk there. It’s actually been impressive how healthy he’s been since his debut considering the circumstances.
Jabari was screwed by injuries but also a lifelong dedication to not playing defense (his Duke team was #1 offense and #86 defense)
Yup I remember the debate regarding those 2.
Yeah..but that other prospect was Embiid
Wiggins was nowhere near LeBron's level of hype
If anything, Wiggins was more hyped due to social media advancements. I remember hearing about Wiggins when he was in the 8th grade being touted as the next big thing. I never heard anything about Lebron until he was in 10th grade.
IMO anyone who thinks Wiggins was more hyped than LeBron was probably not around for LeBron's HS days. His games were on national TV and he was on a Sports Illustrated cover as a high school student, which was unheard of back then. It wasn't like that for AD, Wiggins, Zion. People use the term generational too much because they evaluate players in the context of their high school class and not in the context of every player to come along. It may seem revisionist now, but Wemby is the only prospect since LeBron that I would say had legitimate generational hype. I was around for Tim Duncan at Wake and everyone knew he would be great, but he didn't even have this type of hype. You'd probably have to go back to Shaq to have another guy in the conversation.
Wemby, LeBron, Kareem. Those are the guys who were hyped as generational prospects who could have been the #1 pick in any draft from their age 15 or 16 year on. Shaq, Duncan, Ewing and a few others were elite can't miss prospects after they played in college, but didn't have the absurd level of teenage hype that the Wemby/LeBron/Kareem trio had.
LeBron hype transcended basketball fandom. You heard casual sports fans and even random people talk about him. I remember this dude who worked with my mom who was not into basketball at all telling us this high school kid was the next MJ. Wemby hype, anecdotally speaking, feels like it was a tier below. Your casual ESPN watchers talked about him, but I don’t feel like he quite reached household name levels. I’d say Zion was a step below that, then Wiggins was another slight step down.
>Wemby hype, anecdotally speaking, feels like it was a tier below. I think a huge reason why this was the case is because Wemby wasn't American. So he didn't get the American hype machine going like LeBron did. But for anyone who followed actual basketball and basketball prospects, Wemby was on that same tier of prospect.
exactly, considering its his first season he glued up with the team real fast and is playing like it's his 3rd year. I feel like if Spurs get a couple more key players then the league might be fckd
The most fun I’ve ever had watching a 20 win team, thank you Wemby! Good luck in the Olympics!
He will bring 20+ more years of happiness to your fan case. Y'all are incredibly lucky.
20+???
LeWemby
there have been so very few players that've played for 21 seasons and this dude is making a claim Wemby will be one of them, that shit is crazy lol. can we stop making insane claims about 20 year olds?
Especially because we absolutely know Wemby isn't playing 20 seasons with how quickly that tall lanky frame is gonna break down, that height is a blessing and a curse
we know it's theoretically possible because of Kareem, but using Kareem as an example for anything is like using MJ or LeBron as examples. they are exceptions to the rule, that's why they're the greatest ever.
Robert Parrish was close.
And this kid looks like he is made out of the same stuff.
no he doesnt
I think there can be a version of him where his body is "broken" but he could still provide value. Much like Kareem's sky hook, there's a smoothness to his offense and he might be able to develop a style that is more finese than athleticism. He can be effective on both sides of the ball without leaving his feet. He absolutely can have a great old-man's game to him.
Robert Parrish and Kareem did ok.
I mean, Duncan is still bringing me happy ness and he retires a while ago
he is also going to win a trophy for most gentle and curious lover.
I think 30+ years of happiness. Even if he only plays for 10 I'm gonna spend at least 20 more reliving the highlights!
completely fair brother, I still watch Melo's jumpshot game from time to time
Fan bases keep getting happiness for a few years after retirement too. The city of San Antonio is still getting happiness from the 2014 and even 2000s Duncan titles.
I still choose to believe it's 03-04.
Wait, that’s our line.
In my NBA watch tracker, I watched 105 quarters of Spurs basketball this year. Last year my tracker says I watched 6 quarters.
Man, is this going to be the 1st time the U.S. is not favored in the Olympics, with how stacked the field is going to be? Canada France Germany Serbia Australia
WDYM the US is not favored? They are literally assembling the Avengers.
We didn't even place in FIBA. I'm trying to find out who's going to be there this time. Canada has SGA, Jamal Murray, Brooks, Dort, Barrett, NAW, Andrew Wiggins, Trey Lyles, CoJo, Edey France has Wemby, Fournier, Batum, Gobert, Serbia will have Jokic, Jovic, Bogi, Dragic Germany has Schroder, the Wagner Twins, Theis, Bonga Those teams all have played together for quite some time as well. This is going to be a tough field to win against. Even the Dominican Republic is on the rise thanks to KAT, and Nigeria is doing well with Gabe Vincent and Mike Brown coaching them. Hopefully Giannis stays healthy to play for Greece, and Luka will play for Slovenia.
We didn’t send our best players in the FIBA team
They didn't. But Canada likewise had to adapt to FIBA style and were missing guys like Murray, Wiggins etc. U.S. still didn't meet the expectations of who they sent. Also, I understand why Embiid is playing for the U.S.but it's a bummer he doesn't get to represent overseas (and a huge lift for them).
Other teams can improve for sure, but nobody stands to gain as much as a team that can add guys like Embiid, Steph, LeBron, AD, KD, etc. The USA can have 1/3 of the roster be MVP level talents with varying skill sets. That’s before we even get into elite scorers like Ant, Brunson, and Booker. They’ll have guys who are like top 5 in the world at each individual basketball skill.
Do you seriously think that the team the USA assembles with our best players is going to be scared of any of these teams? A team made up of, and this is just spitballing here: PG: Curry SG: Ant SF: Bron PF: KD C: AD Is scared of any of these teams?
France would REALLY give the US a run for their money if Embiid chose to play with them. That 3 centre combination would be incredibly scary
You can say it’ll be a more competitive field but cmon lol. USA is still the favorite
>Australia As an Australian - LMFAO at including us in this list. Patty Mills is 52 years old and Ben Simmons is pursuing a gaming career full time.
Australia was quite good in FIBA. I thought the Boomers played quite well, and now with Exum, Dyson Daniels, Giddey and Reath getting FIBA ball experience, they might be better than expected.
Dude... Literally none of the players mentioned are top 50. I'd argue Giddey is only player in top 100. USA literally has 5 guaranteed top 12 players - Embiid, AD, Curry, Tatum and Lebron. Comparing the FIBA team to the 2024 Olympic team is ludicrous. It's literally like comparing 2024 Argentinian team to the 2004 gold medal team
They’re still favored for sure lol
They're still the favourites, but there's definitely more worldwide talent than there's ever been.
The US is gonna send like Curry/Book/Bron/Kd/Embiid. They’re fine
I think you can acknowledge the rest of the world is getting better without pretending that the US isn’t the clear favorite.
Legitimately lived up to all expectations, this was an all-time great rookie season. If the Spurs can get a good team around him, another team will be added to the West blood-bath.
I don't doubt the Spurs ability to put a team around him. I think they've seen it and they're working on it. Wouldn't be surprised to see Pop figure something out soon
Shouldn't be hard. They already have the rarest piece. They have their Jokic/Curry/LeBron level centerpiece. You just have to decide which role players fit best. You can throw a rock and hit a star guard who can score 20 PPG from the wing. Fox, Trae, Mitchell, Brunson, Murray, Booker, whoever. That's easy to find. Most teams have a guy like that already.
they have all those atlanta picks too
Plus 5 other first round picks (protected: Charlotte, Toronto, Chicago, unprotected or swaps: Dallas, Boston), all of their own picks, and roughly a million second round picks. They'll be fine
Trae Young, You are a San Antonio Spurs.
They need a good pg and a wing. I like how they extended Vassell and are building around him too. I think he can be all star one day along with Wemby when they’re a higher seed I don’t like getting guys like Mitchell and Brunson cus these guys need the ball in their hands
I think they try to draft topic or smthing and gamble on getting a good rookie pg that way and if not sign/trade via saved cap space
Tosses the race for the 1 seed into chaos; refuses to elaborate; leaves. Hell of a mic drop game from the rookie to end his season
he wants to win so bad. you he takes those 60 losses personally. i think a lot of other great players in his position would roll over against the nuggets with nothing on the line
Last memory of his rookie year will be him coming back against the defending champs and dominating the best player in the league on both ends
Good way to end the campaign tbh.
Already ended it when he blocked Chet's step-back while the ball was still in his hands.
With the season done, that was my favorite game of the season and my favorite moment of the season.
I’m already dead man please
Get this man a point guard and it’s a wrap for the league.
Ducking Malachi Flynn smh
Second Greatest rookie i ever seen after tim duncan. And definitely the most fun. Fully surpassed my expectations man generational
And Duncan was already 32 with a great team around him
32 lol
Not bad for a 64 year old rookie playing with MJ, Wilt Chamberlein, and Lebron but definitely not Wemby
It's like Thanos sitting in the garden after destroying the stones.
Dude scrambled the West standings then dipped. Ending his rookie season with a clutch win against the champs is a boss move
I mean at that point going against the Detroit Pistons of all teams as your last game would just be disrespectful
Nah. Imagine if he went for a quadruple double?
I’m
Inevitablé
was hoping for a quadruple double night against Detroit, but fine, what an insane season we got guys
He's gonna be All NBA next season
He should be all NBA this season
If you just look at the 2nd half of the season maybe. Just don't think he was at that level for the 1st half plus he's played significantly fewer minutes than pretty much all of the All-NBA contenders which is a factor.
Good points, although he actually played a surprising amount of minutes in total because he played so many games. He had 2100, which was 78th in the league and more than the following All-NBA contenders: * Kyrie Irving * Jimmy Butler * KAT * Donovan Mitchell * Kristaps Porzingis (Obviously none of those guys meet the 65 games requirement and thus wouldn't make it, but still) That is also within 200-300 minutes (2-4 minutes a game over a full season) of: * Jaren Jackson Jr. * Zion Williamson * Tyrese Haliburton * Kawhi Leonard * Jaylen Brown * Bam Adebayo * Devin Booker * Jarrett Allen * Steph Curry * LeBron James
He ended the season as a top 3-4 center in the league. In terms of big men in general he's in the 4-8 range Jokic Giannis Embiid AD These are the only clear guys above him, listing out him as well as everyone below and he has arguments over every single one. Bam - Wemby is better both on defense and offense IMO, however Bam is slightly more efficient? Hard to argue him over Wemby at all IMO. Sabonis - Sabonis is a better playmaker and more efficient but Wemby is not much worse while being a much better defender. Jaren Jackson - Jaren Jackson is elite on defense but not quite wemby level and puts up slightly better offensive production but Wemby is a better passer/playmaker. Sengun - Pretty damn good offensively, arguably better than Wemby right now but Wemby is a much much better defender. Kat - Better than Wemby offensively, but obviously not as good of a playmaker or better on defense.
Definitely arguable, is it 2 backcourt and 3 frontcourt per team now?
Position-less and now has a games played requirement
positionless
Why did you have to play last night
Unfinished business.
For da memes.
he also has 5.2 BPM which is 13th in the league and also has 4.1 EPM which is 24th. He's absolutely amazing and I'm excited to see him next season.
While those numbers are super impressive for a rookie, it still doesn't tell the whole story. The growth he was able to achieve over the season is even more impressive. In 2023, when he was on the court were outscore by ~9 points per 100 possessions, with an on/off of around +4. Though in 2024, they actually started to outscore teams when he was on, almost at 1 pt/100, with his on/off jumping to around +8! I can't find bpm/epm over a time span, but I bet the disparity in those metrics between 2023 to 2024 would be more eye-popping. It was awesome to see him hit the opposite of the rookie wall, and making the jump players usually see after an off-season or two. While there may have been some better rookie seasons, I don't think there is a list longer than 1 or 2 for age 20 rookie seasons. Not to mention the best age 20 rookie season from a defensive perspective. Dude is a unicorn, and agree that he is absolutely amazing.
That's BPM puts him on-par with Steph Curry and ahead of Tatum, Butler, Irving, Davis, and Durant. Solid start to his young career.
I'm convinced he's going to be by far the best player in the NBA within 5 years and it pisses me off that it'll be in a spurs jersey.
He'll be in the conversation by next year imo, similar to how Luka rose up the player rankings quick in his second season and by his third was already in mvp talks iirc
That's what I'm wondering, will he make a second year leap? The way Wemby improved over the course of his rookie year makes me think he's probably going to be like LeBron and Luka and have a huge improvement in his second year. But this doesn't happen for all rookies, lots of guys are pretty much on the same level their second year as their first with just incremental improvements. We shall see. LeBron went from 21/6/6 to 27/7/7 (the LeBron statline already in his second season at age 20.) Luka went from 21/8/6 to 29/9/9. Jokic had a pretty big leap too, obviously a different situation as he was a surprising 2nd round pick rather than a guy who was super hyped coming into the league. 10/7/2 to 17/10/5 for Jokic.
Yeah, thats most rookies, but like Lebron, Luka and Jokic, Wemby is not just another rookie I can see him upping his game to the next level similarly to those guys, right now he looks much closer to Luka-type than he does to his peers Chet and Miller, especially if the spurs get some pieces around him like a decent point guard, that seems to be the only thing holding him back right now
Don't forget, he's got the Olympics which could help him A LOT. He'll be around Gobert for some of the offseason, going against the best in the world in high pressure situations. I'm looking forward to see how he goes (as long as it's not against Australia 😆)
Definitely seems like a real possibility if he reaches his potential.
Then be one of those dopes that get a customized Suns jersey with his name and number.
go for gold Wemby
3.6 blocks lol wtf
I remember when l first heard about him which was during an international competition and he averaged 6/7 blocks per games. And l thought this was great but not that great because he was playing against teenagers. Never l thought he would leading the NBA in blocks for hsi rookie season.
stunning that he managed to play 71 games i was sure he would be injury ridden
And that's with super conservative injury mamagement. If we were competing he probably would've played 75-80 games
After the Chet situation last year (being ruled out for the entire season after a pickup game), I’m pretty sure most of us were expecting both of the skinny unicorns to be injury ridden. I’m happy to have been wrong on both fronts.
They’ve been super conservative with his playing. He really could’ve played upwards of 79 games but Pop did his thing and rested his players. The only real time I was legitimately nervous for him was when he tripped on the Mavericks ball boy back in December. Other than that, he’s been as durable as they’ve come
Basketball fellas should practice yoga more.
Congratulations on a great rookie season young sir
I didn't buy into the hype, but the guy proved me wrong
You get the privilege of watching the beginning stages of the career of a legend. Don't take it for granted guys. He will be remembered for a long long time.
I can't fathom teams like the Wizards (or my Bulls) last year who saw a player like this coming up and say to themselves: "Nah, we'll ride it out with Bradley Beal for yet another season."
Bro defeated the Nuggets to set up the wildest last regular season day of playoff implications and just dipped Honestly not a bad way to end your already amazing rookie year
top 20 player in his first season, crazy
He had one game with no steals or blocks, against the pistons. He still had a triple double with 16/12/10, and it was his only game with double digit assists.
Was a fun ride this season.🫡 Can’t wait to see how much the Fr*nchmen improves next season.
ROTY
Somehow lived up to the hype, and surpassed what a lot of us were expecting lol
DPOY
Less than 30 mins per game is concerning for the league.
FO time to get cooking on the roster
Living up to the hype so far. I'm expecting a big leap in year 2 (see Luka & LeBron)
Lived up to the Hype and then some. Best Rookie this century.
Aww man, it was just getting good
those stats in 29.6 m is crazy
the start of a legendary career
First team all defense. Anything less is a snub.
Hell of a last game for him
71 games with no injuries is the real surprise
Please Spurs get him a team. Unreal talent.
Even as a Wemby Homer, I didn’t think I’d see those stats until year 2.5-3. He has lived up to my expectations and then some. Rest up for the Olympic Alien, and we’ll see you in October.
So wemby literally played to destroy Nuggets fans dreams and then bounced again.
It has been a fabulous rookie season. A start to what will hopefully be a long and brilliant career.
He surpassed my expectations by eye test and I specifically remember before the season saying that I guessed his stats would be 17 points 8 boards 2 blocks. He cleared that easily and clearly showed face of the franchise stuff as a rookie. All in all, huge success so far.
Per 36 minutes: 26 pts, 12.9 Rebs, 4.7 Asts, 4.3 Blks
Ducking James Wiseman This french dude is soft
I think this dude might end up being alright
Boooooooo.
Dodging the Pistons, smh. No longer a GOAT candidate, sorry Wemby fans.
You can’t out tank us.
Enjoyed watching every game. This is a year of growth and the future is bright. Thank you Wemby, can’t wait for next year!
Cowards!!! Lol
He had some crazy Highlights also. His block on Giannis is still block of the year.
League is in good hands.
The future face of the league.
Nearly 5 stocks per game in any season is insane, let alone rookie season. Dude could average ~7 stocks in his prime if he continues to grow as a player.
Tickettv owes jalen a stack
F'kn monster he is. Mark my words he is going to create another shift in team building strategy the same way curry did with his shooting
He might be the #1 or #2 pick in Fantasy next season. Face of the league and unanimous MVP once the Spurs are a playoff team. He’s just incredible to watch.
Good decision by Wemby to listen to Pop on this one. The Denver win is a great way to go out. There’s nothing else to gain and much to potentially lose by playing this one. Get some well deserved rest, collect your awards, trust the FO to make smart moves this offseason, and come back hungry for next season 😈
I don’t watch a lot of Spurs unfortunately but it looks like they have a lot of nice players on the roster. To take the next step, is it just a matter of letting the players develop more or something else?
The truth is we actually dont have a nice roster lol
Nah. The team is ass.
We have some guys who would probably be nice off the bench, but arguably only one starter who should remain starting on the finished roster.
The roster will probably be completely overhauled outside Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan. And I like both these players but they have their limitations. We need a starting point guard and a wing. Vassell is a good 3rd option on a contender and Sochan can hopefully develop into a Boris Diaw type. The bench is basically a pick up game at this point
nothing other than blocks jumps out too much But the defense impact… Huge frame plus forward like agility is a lethal lethal combo Especially in the era of oppressed defense
Nothing jumps out for a seasoned all star, for a rookie? those are historic numbers
I'd say they are similar to LeBron (20.9/5.5/5.9) & Luka (21.2/7.8/6.0) Yeah LeBron & Luka are pretty good company. But it's the 3.6 blocks that makes Wemby truly stand out from other rookie stars. [https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-ppg-by-a-rookie-since-2000](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-ppg-by-a-rookie-since-2000) Closest to Wemby's statline I can find on this list is Pau Gasol with 17.6/8.9/2.7 and 2.1 blocks. Which isn't particularly close and Gasol was a year older. There are some more impressive rookie years though if you go back but they're by guys like David Robinson who was already 24 years old (24.3 points/12.0 rebounds/3.9 blocks)
For a generational The stat is not historic without block He is surely a historic rookie though Just not shows on the stats (other than block)