“He just kept the game simple” said Kevin Durant. Seen written, it can seem dismissive, but KD was saying it in an appreciative tone. “He wasn’t posting us up, or going one-on-one”. The Spurs got easy buckets for Wemby — the sort of passes that everyone and their moms have been asking for — by tossing the ball up and letting him get tap-ins or lay-ins or dunks. He got open for some smooth pick-and-pops and then some pull-up transition bucket threes.
He showed the entire toolset, the stuff that makes people talk about him in awe. We’ve seen guys pull up in transition for walk-up threes, we’ve seen big guys shoot the ball well. We have seen big men handle the rock. No one has seen a 7’4” guy do it so smoothly. He does the big man stuff that “versatile” big guys aren’t excited to do, like fighting for rebounds, setting good screens, and battling inside.
In short, he’s a hooper.
In the first game vs the Suns, Phoenix got up big and let the Spurs comeback and fought their way though that to steal a win. This night was about getting hot — “That happens in the NBA” says Pop. The Suns fought their way back but San Antonio closed them out. Wembanyama hit big shots, but said “it was as a group, as a team”. Devin Vassell is out, and will be “for a while” after leaving with a groin injury. The Spurs needed someone to step up to do the bulk of the scoring and it was the tall guy.
If you have ever played any kind of organized basketball, you have likely heard coaches telling you to make the “simple” pass, to “be smart” and move the ball. Players usually interpret this as stifling and coaches not wanting individuality to shine. The reality is that simple is usually best. The Spurs pushed the ball early, and got layups. NBA players can make layups at something like a 99% clip, folks. That is good. The greats can score over someone, but you save that for when you need it. Do your work early, and get a 99% chance of scoring vs some lesser number. You can do the advanced math on that as well, as the points-per-possession number for a layup is darn-near 2.00. The most efficient isolation scorer in the league is (last I checked) Kyrie Irving at 1.19. It doesn’t really matter as even 1.50 is less than 2.00. Run the floor. Score easy layups.
Right now the Spurs ask Devin Vassell to do the hard scoring. The runs around screens, the isolations, the attacks into the teeth of the defense, the fadeaways, the stepbacks. Great scorers have all that in their arsenal. I mean, Booker had to break out a couple of those in the Suns comeback. The buckets count the same, though. Wembanyama sealing off Booker and getting a tap-in for 2 counts just as much as a step-back, spin, fadeaway from their guys.
Big guys. Run the floor.
That said, being a Dunker Spot all star (Clint Capela, Robert Williams, etc) is one thing. Wembanyama can probably get 17 points-per-game playing off a great pick-and-roll guy, sure. The stuff Wemby was doing takes more skill than just that. He moves so smoothly, and has great hands. Some guys need passes placed perfectly or they will lose the ball. Putting the rock anywhere near Victor is a good thing. He reads the ball in the air well, and can operate outside the paint. Drew Eubanks got worked over at the three-point line as Wemby gave him a fake and pulled up from straightaway. Then he came off a pin-down and hit a jumper at the free throw line. That’s some KD stuff and is just as impossible to guard.
Credit the entire Spurs team, also. KD said “they were looking for him” and while that is just good, smart, basketball we know it has been something like a work-in-progress as his teammates were having to realize that Put the ball up high really and truly means Put the ball up really high. The offense was unselfish, energetic, and up-tempo. That’s beautiful stuff that makes it hard to guard anyone let alone a 7’4” unicorn with unreal versatility.