PHILADELPHIA — A few weeks ago, Joel Embiid said he wondered if Victor Wembunyama knew what he wanted.
“I think, first of all, he has to figure out where he wants to play, whether he wants to be a guard or a big man or something else,” the 76ers big man said. “It’s not necessarily whether he wants to be a guard or a big man; it’s that he wants to be a guard. That’s who he wants to be. Do you want to be KD, or do you want to be me? Not Durant, or a version of those guys — you want to combine everything. Now, I just think the way he plays is a little forced, which is not bad. Because the only way to improve is to play and learn. This is the only way. You’ll make a lot of mistakes, but you’ll learn a lot. “
The study of Bunyama.
The San Antonio Spurs’ rookie center is figuring out how to disrupt NBA offenses at a seemingly geometric rate. He’s been a terror on defense since the Spurs moved him from power forward to center in mid-December, giving the league a glimpse of what the future holds, even in the five-and-out situations that plague most NBA offenses Down. Positionless Basketball, meet the space-sucking defender. Meet a rookie who is already very good defensively without fouling.
“Am I surprised? No,” Vunbanyama said after blocking six shots in the Spurs’ win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday.
“Especially as a young player, as a rookie, with coaches like us, everything starts with defense,” he said. “Growing up in Europe, to get on a professional roster at 15 or 16 years old, you have to work your butt off defensively. So, being new to the league, we would go back to that role – sometimes to some extent. It feels good to play this difficult character.”
There’s a clear difference in Wembunyama’s impact: former Tre Jones point guard and post-Tre Jones point guard.
Through the Spurs’ first 19 games, the Spurs conducted something of an experiment, putting second-year forward Jeremy Sochan on the ball, Wembanyama at power forward and Zach Zach Collins plays center. There’s a methodology to this decision; the Spurs hope to use the first quarter of the season to get Wembanya on the court right away and acclimated to the NBA game. It’s not that the Spurs don’t care about winning or losing, but… they don’t really care about winning or losing. There is a bigger picture to consider.
From November 5th to December 13th, the Spurs suffered an 18-game losing streak.
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During this period, Wembunyama shot 42% from the field and 26% from three-point range. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 0.872. The Spurs’ opponents shot 39% from three-point range; 54% from 2 seconds. The Spurs averaged 121.5 points per game and lost by 13.1 points per game.
But soon after, Gregg Popovich moved Collins to the bench and inserted Jones into the starting lineup. He moved Soshan back to power forward and Wimbanyama to center. The sky cleared.
Since mid-December, Wembanyama has shot 51 percent from the field, including 34 percent from three-point range. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.24.
But the Spurs’ defense has also improved significantly. They were tied for 28th in the league in defensive rating (120.5) in November. They ranked 21st in the league in December (118.6). Through 11 games in January, they ranked 15th (115.6). Wembanyama averaged 3.5 blocks per game during this period. Their net rating fell to -5.9 from -13.1. They’re just 5-15 over that span, and Embiid set a Sixers single-game scoring record with 70 points against the Wombany and San Antonio Spurs on Monday. Of course, the Spurs remain one of the worst teams in the league. But they are also the youngest. Their overall defensive numbers are changing significantly in the right direction. This is a start.
Wembunyama ranks ninth in the league in projected defensive plus-minus on dunks and 3-pointers at +3.0. That’s 14 spots ahead of Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren, Wembunama’s main rival for NBA Rookie of the Year. He ranks ninth in defensive rebounding rate on dunks and 3-pointers (29.5). Wembanya leads the league in blocks per game (3.2).
“Some of the things he does, I’m telling you from the beginning, you can’t focus on,” Spurs defender Devin Vassell said Monday. “You’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve always said, he makes our game easier and we have to make his game easier. Defensively, we have to have that impact. If we put Man is leading to the basket and we know he’s going to wipe it out. So we have to make sure we can counter his defender to make sure he doesn’t get the rebound or whatever happens.”
A crowd swarmed from the fairway, trying to acclimate to the 7-foot-4-inch spread mantis in flight. There were some great blocks for star players – early in the game, like Wombanyama’s block to Ja Morant, and in clutch moments, like here against Giannis Antetokounmpo Bo’s blocks are the same. There were also some blocks that didn’t make sense, or most of what you’ve seen on defense in the past 60 years. Yes, I know he did those things last season with the Mets 92 team. However, IMHO, there are some differences in talent between the LNB Professional A League and this league.
I mean…what yes this?
Wait, how did Victor Wembanyama do that. pic.twitter.com/XbvUH5q5ca
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) January 21, 2024
This is another angle. He didn’t look at the ball he was about to block:
Wymby blocked the shot…unbelievable pic.twitter.com/RoRhXKeKRS
— Matt (@mattbigguts) January 21, 2024
Washington’s Marvin Bagley is 6-11. As of 2014, the average height of an 18-year-old male in the United States is slightly over 5-8. Based on height, among men 20 and older, anyone 6-1 or taller falls into the 95th percentile of all men in the United States. Bagley is a statistical anomaly.
So, what is Winby?
“Normally, I can just go up and get past people because I’m 6-foot-11,” Bagley said. “But guys like that, you have to be a little bit more crafty or create something for yourself or your teammates.”
The way the game is played today, you might build a player with Wembunama’s size to challenge shots — long and agile, with the incredible ability, as Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse noted, to change direction. Nurse was talking about how Wembunyama cuts into the attack, but the same principles apply at the other end.
“It goes both ways,” Popovich said, echoing Nurse.
“He (Wembanyama) also likes to be on the outside, handle the ball a little bit, that kind of thing. It’s a lot easier for him now than it was before when someone would guide him with their hands, touch him, bump him. Think of Isiah (Thomas) ) or someone around him. So it’s an easier environment for guys on the perimeter. Defensively, he can roam more like Joel. We call them “roamers,” or that’s what I call them They. They’re not going to be guarding one guy all the time. Their job is to be in the paint, at the rim, changing shots, blocking shots, things like that, so people have to change what they do offensively. And then other players, complementary players, Gotta react until you realize that guy is going to keep walking away and getting to the basket.”
Vibanyama’s most impressive trait is his lack of foul play.
Rookies, especially rookie big men, all have a target on their backs. The league insists its officials view everything and everyone the same. Perhaps the same is true on Earth-2. But here, newbies don’t usually get the benefit of the doubt.
However, Wembanyama has only fouled out in one game so far. With rare exceptions (Monday’s game against the 76ers being one of them), he didn’t take many major defensive fouls, like when Embiid drove to the basket and took the 20-year-old to the basket. He averaged only 2.4 fouls per game.
Popovich and I had a lot of fun last weekend when I asked him how Bunyama’s defense has evolved since the start of the season. (The guess here is that he didn’t want to be seen as “teaching” defense to Wembanya, who was mentored by one of football’s greatest coaches, Vincent Collet — Wembanya Ma’s coach with the Metropolitan 92 team and is also the coach of the French national team. Wemby will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer.)
“I said, ‘Keep your hands somewhere else, don’t foul again,'” Popovich said. “That’s between the ears. You tell everybody what to do, how to track, what to do, what’s appropriate and what’s inappropriate foul. Some people get it; some people get it. Some people don’t. He It’s smart, he gets it, and he’s got it figured out.”
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If Spurs are to gain defensive traction in the coming years, Souchon will have to be a part of that as well. He was selected ninth overall in the 2022 first round and, as he said before the draft, is someone who likes to be “thick-skinned” to his opponents. He doesn’t care if he gets dunked; He kept talking. And play.
“I think it annoys people,” Jones said.
Now, in his normal position, Sochan needs to be able to handle Wembanya’s negligible limbs. This may be what the second half of the season is about.
“I think it’s scary. Scary. As we get older and more mature and our bodies become more mature, it can be scary,” Sochan said. “I think it’s going to be hard for us to score. I think it’s going to win us a lot of games, so I think it’s exciting. I feel like Vick and I have gotten closer as the season has gone on, both on and off the court. It’s changed.” That’s awesome…and this is just talk, just knowing…and instinct. Sometimes defense isn’t about X’s and O’s, it’s about X’s and O’s. It’s about instinct. Just read, read and react. There is When I get beat, he’s helping me. Or the other way. Or stealing. Or rebounding, because he blocks everything.”
Holmgren and the Thunder are in San Antonio on Wednesday. With Holmgren surrounded by potential MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and with one of the league’s most diverse and difficult offenses and a team defense that’s finished early, the Thunder proved the Spurs still have a long way to go. Way to go – though Wembanya has added another player to his collection.
Education continues and the learning curve always stretches into the distance.
—Sports NewsJosh Robbins contributed to this story.
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(Victor Wembanyama shooting against the Trail Blazers photo: Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
