Victor Wembanyama Performance in Western Conference Finals
Victor Wembanyama has showcased dominance in the Western Conference Finals with a 41-point showcase, proving his mettle as a standout emerging talent.
Video Transcript
When Victor Wembanyama begins the Western Conference Finals in your building with 41 and 24, and steals the opening game of the series, hits the 30-footer to send it to double overtime, scores nine, in that second overtime, it really starts to change the calculations because it lets us know just exactly who Victor Wembanyama is capable of being.
However, this is where, and, and I've of- I've told people this a lot, I know it's, you could argue, not great for content, you could certainly say it's maybe a bit cowardice, but I like to do rankings when the season is over, because when you do rankings at the end of every game, you get real overreactionary.
Victor Wembanyama becoming the best player in the world is inevitable, and I think he now pretty comfortably holds, possesses the highest ceiling, like single game ceiling, of any player in the league.
Because nobody can do what he can do defensively, and he can hit offensive heights with some of the best guys in the sport.
For Victor Wembanyama, though, there is still a level of consistency, okay, that you are gonna have to be able to bring to the table.
And I think one of the things that jumps out a little bit, and I know it's jumped out to Coach, and it's not an attack on Victor Wembanyama, but he played 49 minutes in game number one, by far the most in his NBA career.
He's followed that up with 37 and 39 minutes in the next two games, and there are moments where it doesn't feel like Wemby can put his full imprint on the basketball game because this is the most taxing run of his basketball life.
So I said very recently I thought Wemby would be the consensus best player in the world midway through next season.
He might be the consensus best player in the world right now.
I still think, Coach, he has a lot in front of him to finish this series as the best player in the series, because I think Shai is playing at a pretty high level right now.
A- and he is.
And I think, Kevin, I think what y- people have to realize is getting into the playoffs and getting this deep in the playoffs his first year, he's at what?
Probably almost 90 games, game n- maybe not even sometime during the year, but he's probably about 85 to 88 games played.
This-- that's a lot, and it's taxing, and there's not a lot of rest.
If you just look at, you know, the last two games that he played versus Minnesota, 33 and 27 minutes.
So now you go 49, one day off, 37, travel, one day off, 39.
That's a lot.
And that's something that, Kevin, you, you just can't be prepared for because very rarely, Kevin, do you play three games in five nights, right?
I- in regards to not just three games in five nights, but playoff intensity versus the best team in the league.
So now it's, you know, how do you spell him?
How do you protect him?
So where do you see Wemby losing it is how he plays, right?
Mm-hmm.
Now, you know, I remember he had a lo- I mean, a deep three second quarter on Chad Holmgren, or Hart inside.
It had to be about 28 feet out, and I was like, "Whoa!"
And then as a coach I'm like, "I don't know if he's got energy."
Like, he's going outside because he may not have it, because, one, of his frame, and two, going inside getting him beat up, and three, it's just a lot of wear and tear on his body.
Mm-hmm.
So then it gets me to, if I'm now a GM, moving forward, what do the Spurs What is their last piece?
They need a center.
Wemby's not a center.
I have come off of this now.
He's a power forward.
He doesn't have the physical dealing with someone inside.
He needs a big-bodied, rebounding, shot-blocking center at the, at the rim that allows him to be that weak side rebounder, weak side shot blocker.
And there, there are I'm gonna bring up two guys that I really feel like if they, if the Spurs ever got these guys to play 25 minutes a night, lights out.
One of them you're not gonna get is Steven Adams 'cause of his contract.
And an interesting one is Mitchell Robinson.
He needs a protector.
Wemby getting 24 rebounds, fantastic.
Love it.
But at the end of the day, he's probably, with a big-bodied center, a 10 to 11 rebounding guy a night that could score the ball and could have someone take some of that pressure off him at the rim and be a physical presence to help him out.
