Victor Wembanyama continues to amaze along with his versatility and agility for a person of his dimension. Moreover main the league in blocks per sport (3.3), the Spurs phenom is twelfth in steals (1.3) and eighth in deflections (3.0), numbers that trace at a perennial Defensive Participant of the Yr candidate.
Nevertheless, the possibilities of him profitable that award as a rookie are slim to none. Within the trendy NBA, the place protection is a workforce idea, Wemby’s defensive affect is incumbent upon his teammates being extra versatile on the perimeter the place many of the scoring occurs. That is exactly why Wembanyama is contesting solely 8.7 photographs per sport compared to Brook Lopez (17.3) or Rudy Gobert (11.3), who profit from point-of-attack defenders making their lives simpler as rim protectors.
When Wemby is surrounded by higher perimeter defenders, you’d higher consider his defensive win shares, not even within the high 50 at present, will skyrocket to the higher echelon. Additionally, his potential to change onto perimeter gamers is already on show, however until he is surrounded by gamers speaking higher on that finish, his superior stats will proceed to take a success.
Regardless, Wembanyama’s particular person affect is palpable and unattainable to disregard. Throughout a sport towards the Lakers final Friday, Wemby grew to become the primary participant since Michael Jordan to register consecutive video games with no less than 5 blocks and steals, just some weeks after registering a triple-double with blocks.
