Wemby Watch: Victor Erupts for 50 Against Wizards, Pulls Spurs to .500

Victor Wembanyama had another big game propelled by a heaping helping of three pointers. In just 32 minutes, he shot 18–29 from the field and 8–16 from three, finishing with a career high 50 points.

I like the 29 attempts in 32 minutes. Victor is the Spurs everything, he should be putting up 25 shots a game.

However, I don’t like the three point theme that continues to emerge. We did see some positive yield (beyond the points) in that Victor nailing threes enabled him to get some space to the hoop, but 16 attempts in regulation is high even for Steph Curry.

And one negative that immediately surfaced against the Wizards is that as soon as the three pointers started drying up, the Wizards immediately chipped away at the lead (because the Spurs offense wasn’t reliable / one of substance).

The Spurs somehow got up 16 in the first quarter and then gave all but one point back within the same first quarter. That might be some kind of record.

The game remained tight until the third quarter when the Wizards offense sputtered and their drought allowed the Spurs to comfortably distance themselves.

Macro Thoughts

Victor hit 50 in only 32 minutes and was very efficient, but this type of play isn’t sustainable so my enthusiasm is tempered.

The positives are that Victor did get inside for a collection of easy buckets and that his three pointer is looking more reliable.

Also, Mitch Johnson appears to be pushing the Spurs to get the ball up more quickly and that will help jar loose some free points.

But the downside is the Wizards already don’t play much defense and when the Spurs play a more capable opponent, this type of play will get swallowed up if Victor doesn’t shoot 45% or more from deep.

And while he gets praise for draining a high percentage, the comfort level that he has now won’t remain when games get tight and/or slow down and the defense locks in. Stated another way, Victor’s going to come back down from orbit when the pressure increases.

Victor The Conditional Center

Victor’s not a full-time center. He’s a conditional center.

Against Alex Sarr, sure, he’s a center.

Against a bruising behemoth like Jonas Valanciunas, he’s not a center.

Same for Steven Adams, Jock Landale, Joel Embiid, Mitchell Robinson, and maybe a few others.

These guys are ready to punish Victor in the paint and they have the frames to do it.

I don’t know how the Spurs don’t recognize this. They’re so paranoid about playing Victor 34 minutes, and yet they trot him out to get bodied by these super heavyweights.

Cognitive dissonance at its finest.

And it not only takes a toll on Victor’s body, these guys can all abuse him down low and get rebounds at will — this is how Valanciunas amassed double digit rebounds in ~9 minutes of play; Valanciunas can get any position he wants against Victor.

This is not a flaw on Victor’s part; it’s just not his body type. This is completely fine, it’s the Spurs who need to recognize this and adjust.

Just put Charles Bassey out there for 10 minutes to go to battle with Valanciunas. I don’t see why this is such a sticking point.

Victor’s not getting outplayed at center. He just doesn’t have the body type to match up with these guys and it’s taking minutes off his career.

Other Notes

Victor Wembanyama can’t reliably dribble from outside towards the basket. This is not a point of contention, it’s a given. We’ve seen this play out countless times.

Victor’s impressive handle for his height should be viewed as a potential emergency out, not a showcase feature.

He can dribble just fine, but he’s too tall for it to work in real life. It’s so hard for him to pull off, he occasionally falls down.

• Devin Vassell’s shot looked off to start the game, like he added a hitch and an extra horizontal extension.
• The Wizards were getting beat over and over by simple cuts to the basket.
• How many times were the Spurs going to let Jordan Poole go to his right for an easy layup? Force him left.
• Alex Sarr looked solid. Not spectacular, but there were multiple instances of substance in his game.
• Alex Sarr got a nice block on Victor, but the reason he did is Victor has a low IQ tendency.

Every so often when Victor goes up for a shot in a crowd or there’s a strong contest, rather than going straight up, Victor will try to extend by bringing the ball down and/or horizontal. In effect, he brings the ball down to where he can get blocked.

It seems like he’s imitating Michael Jordan’s hanging and contorting in the air, but without a reason for doing so. Jordan had to resort to extras to get free, Victor doesn’t.

Similarly, we see Victor end up semi getting dunked on, but only because he lunges to contest on plays where he has no chance at catching up.

The Lakers travel to San Antonio for an ESPN showdown on Friday. If the Spurs win, they’re over .500 and crawl up in the playoff picture. Currently they sit in the 10th spot, the last slot for the play-in.