Top Performance Series: Victor Wembanyama
The idea behind the top performance series is to go back and watch the best, or one of the best, box score games of each prospect's season to see how they looked when they were performing at their highest individual level and what that might show us about their ceiling as a prospect.
As you would expect, for the unanimous projected No. 1 overall pick and a generational prospect for many, Victor Wembanyama, there were plenty of games to choose from this past season. Ultimately, his 33-point, 12-rebound, four-assist and three-block performance in early November was the selection.
Offense
Something that immediately stood out when watching this game was Wembanyama’s willingness to let the game come to him. For a player that averaged over 20 points per game on 16 shot attempts, he was not forcing on the offensive end.
It was also very apparent from the opening tip, and multiple possessions throughout the game, that the 19-year-old is going to benefit greatly from better floor spacing at the NBA level. Wembanyama is often staring down five defensive players loaded up to stop him when catching on the perimeter or in the mid-post.
Wembanyama’s game projects to be able to operate in multiple play types that include pick-and-roll, pick-and-pop, transition and more. It seems that his bread and butter right now, and moving forward, is going to be operating in that aforementioned mid-post area.
The Nanterre, France native is able to showcase all of his skills from this area on the court whether it be simply rising up and shooting over the defender, shooting a fadeaway jumper, attacking off the bounce with one dribble to the rim or taking a double team and finding an open teammate for a shot.
While this game was mostly a runaway, it did get close late in the 3rd quarter and this is exactly where his team got him the ball so he could get a bucket and regain the momentum.
If Wembanyama is to be the offensive hub early in his career ,these mid-post isolations are going to be where he operates from.
Another interesting play type for Wembanyama in the NBA will be operating in the DHO. He obviously has the handle and possesses a great basketball IQ that allows him to see actions as they are developing and where the ball needs to go next.
Operating in DHOs would also allow him to showcase his passing ability, 2.3 assists per game, which is another intriguing skill considering his size and the angles of the floor that are available to him that simply aren’t to anyone else.
Lastly, the 3-point shot looked solid in this game and there is plenty of reason to believe that this is going to be an above average skill for him at the next level. He did only shoot 30% from behind the arc this season on 5.2 attempts but he was also 83% from the free throw line and his release is so high that defenders simply can not get a good contest.
Defense
At 7-foot-4 and with a reported eight-foot wingspan, the French phenom simply causes issues that very few other NBA players can on the defensive end. When you add in his ability to move his feet and flip his hips, that becomes completely unmatched.
He is going to be a difference maker in drop coverage from day one because of that length and his patience to play between both the ball handler and the rolling big. The guard of whatever NBA organization he lands with will see their lives get so much easier defending ball screens with the extra amount of time he will allow them to get back in front.
He isn’t just making a difference in ball screens, though. In this game there were countless times where his length completely changed the angle of a pass or shot or simply deterred the offensive player from even attempting it.
All of this combines for an elite recovery ability to make up for some of his own mistakes or mistakes made by his teammates.
The biggest area of improvement for Wembanyama is attention to detail with his positioning. Yes, his size, length and athleticism warrants the raving that it gets but against NBA level talent and athleticism he won’t get by on those things alone.
He still gives up easy post up positions too easily which sometimes can even result in him being out of position to provide that recovery ability that was just mentioned. He also relies on his size alone for defensive rebounding which at his current level of play even gave up some second chance opportunities for the opponent.
For Wembanyama to truly reach his elite level ceiling on the defensive end he will have to value and improve upon these “small” positioning aspects of his game.
Ceiling
Elite two-way player and best player in the NBA.