Shot Selection Of Victor Wembanyama Should Be Focus In Rookie Season
It seems the Victor Wembanyama hype is never-ending, at least not until the regular season is fully underway, at which point we've grown smarter about the Frenchman's strengths and weaknesses at the NBA level.
One improvement area that already seems to be in the cards for Wembanyama during his debut season will be that of shot-selection. The 7-foot-5 wunderkind had the ultimate green light last season for Metropolitans 92, which was both a blessing and a curse in some respects.
Obviously, it allowed his talents to be on full display, making him the sure-fire number one pick, and the most hyped prospect in American sports in the social media era. But, the exposure also unearthed elements that will likely take a few years to fully sort out, such as shots being rushed, and shots where the degree of difficulty are dialed up too far.
While growing up as a shooter will serve him well, Wembanyama can at times feel a little too confident in his ability to hit turnaround fade-aways from just inside the 3-point line, or when he takes pull-ups from 32 feet.
It's not that he can't hit them - he can - but they're low-efficiency shots, and he's yet to fully develop into a reliable long-range shooter who can justify taking long Luka Dončić/Damian Lillard pull-ups outside of the flow of the offense.
(Heck, even Dončić could stand to shave off a few of those attempts every game.)
The Spurs have emphasized they want Wembanyama to be himself, indicating they're willing to let him test out his game, and learn by doing. That's fine on the surface, but creating good habits will have to be a concurrent project.
Head coach Gregg Popovich needs to be in Wembanyama's ear when the rookie takes questionable shots, and challenge him in video sessions to spot superior alternatives. Essentially, Wembanyama needs to follow the Kevin Durant blueprint.
Durant, as a Seattle SuperSonic, was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted offensively, and fortunately the future Hall Of Famer embraced the idea of learning from that experience. By year two, Durant had realized how to turn a significant portion of his bad shots into ones where he had more control. His shot profile didn't alter much, but the timing of when to shoot, and when not to, did. As a result, his accuracy improved dramatically.
Wembanyama has to follow a similar path. Year one will have to be a season of learning, adjustment and - most importantly - embracing a willingness to become a student.
This isn't to say Wembanyama doesn't have a good chance of becoming a Rookie Of the Year favorite. If given the minutes, and pending health, there's a strong likelihood he'll walk away with the prize. But that isn't the goal. What he does from beyond his rookie season is what matters. What he'll take away from it. What he'll adjust to. What patterns in his own on-court behavior he'll discover.
To make it to superstardom takes not just a leap in production - it takes a player to possess cutthroat honesty about himself, his game, and his pathway towards immortality.
Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
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