High Hopes and Dreams From Victor Wembanyama
High Hopes and Dreams From Victor Wembanyama – read more…
Victor Wembanyama, the most recent No. 1 choice in the NBA draft, visited with San Antonio legends Sean Elliott, David Robinson, Manu Ginobili, and Tim Duncan over the weekend. The ensuing stunning shot sent ripples of nostalgia through NBA fans of the 1990s and 2000s.
The most interesting thing about the photo isn’t that Ginobili, the shortest of the five, stands at 6 feet 6 inches, or that Wembanyama towers above the 7-foot-1 Admiral, or that Duncan could pass for a member of the Phish touring crew. The inference, not the tree itself, is the most important part of this family history.
There are a total of 12 Spurs rings in that picture, with Duncan’s five at the forefront; it is expected that Wembanyama, who now has none, will soon have several of his own. What about some severe pressure to get your career going, Vic?
Over the past few weeks, Wembanyama has kept the social media workers busy with more outlandish attempts to show off his massive size.
Victor Wembanyama has the girth for a 747. To reach the peak of the Eiffel Tower, Victor Wembanyama must stoop low. Mount Everest and K-2 serve as a cushion for Victor Wembanyama.
While such analogies are very ingenious, what actually counts is a social media post that can’t be made in Photoshop. A video of Wembanyama completely bricking six attempts from outside the arc appeared this weekend, too.
Wembanyama has a silky outside touch when the ball is dropping, so it was obviously simply a cold spell, but the film served as a sobering reminder that no amount of pregame excitement can improve his final score on game night.
What happened to the 2019 draft’s first and second overall choices just four years ago is also instructive. Zion Williamson and Ja Morant were once hailed as the beginning of an NBA era marked by exuberant physical play.
As Dan Wetzel pointed out last week, neither Williamson nor Morant has been able to avoid distractions off the court. No matter how you get it to the NBA, there are no assurances that you will succeed.
The hype around Wembanyama, who is still relatively small for his position in the NBA, has made him the most talked-about player in the league since LeBron James.
Even if you don’t like James, you have to admit that he’s a man who came into the league with huge, maybe even astronomical, expectations and smashed them all.
To rephrase, the last player to enter the NBA with similar expectations went on to win four championships, make it to 10 NBA Finals, and score more points than anybody else in league history. In other words, there’s no pressure.
In ten years, we may scoff at the thought of Wembanyana being an all-time great, or at the thought that we ever had any doubts about him.
Victor Wembanyama, whether or not he develops the ability to dunk on both feet at once, has already started one of the most intriguing careers we’ve seen in a long time.
