Victor Wembanyama can't fix the NBA's worst defense by himself https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38841903/victor-wembanyama-fix-spurs-nba-worst-defense-himself
"Has the NBA figured out Wemby? He looks bad." -> After every bad game. "Future GOAT who's >>> Jordan and LeBron!" -> After every good game.
Wemby lost that hype train real quick. That's what happens when people call you multi generational before you even played your first NBA game.
Wemby is a unique combination of size and skill, but Sengun is better at basketball. I'd rather build around Sengun than around Wemby, if I can only have one of the two. Obviously would have been nice to have them both (they play different positions), but hopefully, Jabari will do enough to complement Sengun in the frontcourt.
Complimenting one, does not have to make the other smaller. Both are great IMHO.....the transition from the French league to the NBA is not seamless. And yeah, he is not as good defensively as I thought he was. But I guess Pop using Sochan as PG and other experiment suggests they are putting experimenting before winning......which would yield results in a few years. As I put it, Pop has softened throughout the years, now it is Ime's turn to be that hard ass.
How do you figure that? He's basically tied for 2nd in the league in blocks behind only Anthony Davis - he's probably 50/50 to lead the league in that category. He also leads the league in the utterly unquantifiable "shots changed/not taken" ranking that Hakeem used to lead the league in. IMO he is already the most impactful defender in the league other than Davis, who is in the rehab ward again as usual.
Then he cannot lift the entire SA Defense because the Defensive Rating is in the Basement. (Courtesy of Kirk Goldsberry) He is clearly just playing for his own defensive stats, that means no real communication..... AD has impact on them Fakers, the D rating is going up with his stats.
San Antonio's D-rating goes from 116 to 127 with him off the floor. SSS, but that's a massive gap - probably the biggest of any starter/regular player in the league in terms of defensive impact. (For the record, Jaren Jackson Jr. had a 5 point on-off gap last year) My guess is that would probably be a record if it continued all season, but it will probably be at DPOY level even if it regresses back. "Guys I'm going to erase anybody shooting within a 7 foot radius of me" - The guy is an elite defender, and will be recognized as such at the end of the season in the awards voting, I'm pretty confident of that.
Ehhhh.... I respect you have your favourite player, but as much as I hate the Spurs (and therefore Wemby), it is important to note one guy is in his rookie campaign, the other in his breakout 3rd season. Wemby is a better prospect by far - but I hope he never develops and averages 7 TOs per game while Alpy plays 9 all star games!!
He has been hyped because he is an 8 footer playing like a 6'7 guy....people are looking at a zoo monster. That comes with the struggles of playing like a small guard with such size..... Alpe does not have that problem or that advantage.
