Wemby Is An MVP Favorite if Spurs Overtake OKC

I was thinking about this the other day, like, is Wemby, has he become the one guy that you have to see?

Like, if you have an opportunity to go to an NBA game that Victor Wambayama is playing in, like, is it a must go?

Like, has he reached that stage of like Jordan, Kobe at a certain point was probably like that, LeBron at his peak was certainly like that, maybe he still is, but as Wembayama become that must-see attraction?

I mean, I think if you, if you love basketball and really watching how one player can Kind of dominate a basketball game without necessarily scoring 60 points, right?

Like he, he's capable of completely dominating a basketball game without trying to stand out.

He just does, um, whether it's scoring, uh, offensive rebounding or defensive rebounding, some of the shot blocking and plays that he makes defensively around the basket in terms of rim protection, and then just some of the finishes, uh, the, the touch from, from 3 in terms of shooting.

You know, his length around the rim.

And so I, it, it's not, uh, you know, big guys don't always get, it's kind of like the dunk contest , right?

Like, people don't always watch a guy that's 7 ft tall dunk the ball and feel like that was special.

But Wimby, I think he still does really special things even though he has that 7'4, you know, body type and length and athleticism.

You played in an era of dominant defensive bigs.

Dikembe Mutombo was around in your playing days, Ben.

Wallace was around in your playing days.

I mean, and those guys were great defenders.

But when you watch Wimbayama, like defensively, is he just on a, a different level?

Like, how would you compare what he can do on that end to what those great defenders could do that you went up against?

Yeah, I mean, I think all great shot blockers have a, a really, really high basketball IQ.

Like their timing, their understanding of, of when to jump, what angle to take in order to prevent a shot from getting to the rim.

I, I, I think what makes Wimbayama different though is the guard play and, and the, and the, the forwards and the wings that are attacking the basket.

It's evolved so much that the finishes, you know, right, right finish, uh, inside hand finish, push floaters, there's so many different types of guys attacking the basket that When Miyama's ability to block shots almost regardless of what type of finish they're trying to get to, I think that puts him in kind of a different bucket than some of those guys, Dikembe and Ben Wallace where, like if you were trying to dunk on them at the rim, they could meet you at, at the, at the peak.

Uh, but Wimbayama can go get a push floater from 12 ft away.

And still meet the ball at its peak.

Um, I mean, you saw Kobe White, uh, from the Charlotte Hornets just look completely confused at how Wimby got to his floater a couple of nights ago.

I, I've had coaches over the last couple of years tell me, and, and you're familiar with this drill, like when they're running their team through, you know, the morning shootaround and and the practice sessions, like basically saying to them, Like if Wemby's in the game and you drive to the paint, turn around.

Like there's not even a way to attack him.

They don't even bother.

They say, don't, no, it's a driving kick situation or it's a turnaround.

Don't even try to put up a shot.

I mean, it's what it looks like.

And, and, you know, when you think about the Spurs and You know, how well they've played this season.

A lot of it starts with that aspect of their game.

It's, he's completely changed the trajectory of what they're capable of doing on the defensive end.

And when you think about the, the young and athletic and physical, you know, guards and wings that they have applying pressure on the basketball, activating ball handlers and decision makers, but then those guys knowing they most likely won't get all the way to the rim for a rim finish.

That creates quite the challenge for opposing teams.

And so, as much as we You know, kind of drop our jaw sometimes when he makes an incredible offensive play, or he finishes a, a dump from 15 ft away from the basket.

Um, it's really the defensive end of it, uh, that is, I think, kind of sped the clock up on what the Spurs are, are possibly capable of accomplishing this season.

Guards must love playing with a guy like Wimbayama, like the number of chances you could take with that guy behind you.

Yeah, like I can play the passing lane a little bit more than I wanted to.

I can press up on a guy that might be a little bit quicker than me.

It's just like, it's gotta be liberating to have that guy hanging out behind you.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, obviously Shaq was a very different type of player, uh, but the concept was the same, like knowing that you had the biggest, strongest dude on the block standing behind you.

Uh, yeah, you could be a little bit more aggressive, take a few more chances, uh, knowing that they, they, they wanted nothing to do with the guy standing there waiting for him.

And so, um, uh, the Spurs have that guy right now for sure.

What was your defense like with and without Shaq?

Like when you had Shaq behind you in your years, what was the defensive approach with him and then when you, the years you played without him?

Yeah, I think it's kind of two different paths.

Uh, in pick and roll, it was more challenging.

Because Shaq would, what now is called drop coverage.

Most of the time he was in drop coverage because we didn't, we didn't want him coming out too far away from the basket.

And so there were nights where opposing guards had a little bit more room to snake pick and rolls, uh, to maybe get into a pull-up 3 or pull-up jumpers at the nail or at the elbow, and to some degree, those may have been the shots that we were willing to give up , depending on which team we were playing.

But in isolation, I always knew I could be more aggressive on the basketball because Shaq would definitely be standing at the rim or near the paint, and no perimeter player wanted to go near him at all.

Fast forward to my years in Oklahoma City, a couple of other stops, like our, the defensive coverages were so different .

You're talking about Serge Ibaka and, and Kendrick Perkins and Kevin Durant and other guys around you.

Um, those pick and roll coverages were, were a little bit different than, than the big fellas, uh, but it all equaled up to, you know, we, we had great defenses in those championship years and, uh, it, it was no different when Shaq was there.

You know what I love about Wimbayama now is that you can see like this surliness developing in him.

I mean, I remember going down to San Antonio in September, October of last year, and I did a, a cover story on Wemby and spent a lot of time with him there, and he's, he just sort of had this still kind of like happy to be here vibe, like young 2021 year old kid, you know, love to learn, the losing sucks, but it is what it is.

Now, like you see him, you know, dropping a forearm shiver to Jayson Tatum, who's 3 games removed from coming off an Achilles injury.

Um, guys go to the rim against him.

Guys like Chet Holmgren, he's, he's talking to, he's trying to get into his head.

Like, this, this switch flipped quickly to me, Derek.

This seems like he, he got to this point where it's like, he's not just happy being an NBA player now.

He's like, we gotta win.

Like we're a championship team and I'm, I'm gonna play that way.

Like, I, I don't know when you, if you saw this, this kind of switching and flip at some point, you know, this season or last season, but he, he's just, you know, turned kind of into a different gear, I think this year.

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I think, you know, we saw a little bit of it last season in, in, in moments or in stretches.

Um, you know, obviously, his season was cut short, uh, with the deep vein thrombosis, and we didn't really get to see him finish out kind of this path that, that he was on.

And some of it , I think, is, is, I mean, he's still exploring his full potential and what his ceiling is going to be as a player, uh, you know, reading some of, uh, head coach Mitch Johnson's comments recently, like, Wimby has plans to be on a lot of lists in terms of what he can accomplish individually and, and what he hopes that the team can accomplish.

And I, it, it looks like he's starting to see that those two things can't align.

Like he can be the best player in the world and play with the versatility in his game that he, that he wants to embrace and, and not get put into a box positionally.

Uh, but, but that he also can do that within the context of like them having a championship caliber team.

And that's the great part about watching him is like he truly wants to win.

He's, he's not hunting stats.

He's not trying to just move up the scoring list.

He's making winning plays and things that impact winning, and that's what makes him really unique, you know, as a young player.

Uh , that wants to do both.

He, he wants to be successful individually, but he wants the team to come along with him at all costs.

And he's pushed himself into this MVP conversation.

Like, I, I don't, he's averaging under 30 minutes per game.

And I don't know if there's ever been an MVP that's averaged under 30 minutes, not in a long time, that's for sure.

But like they're chasing Oklahoma City, and they're within range of Oklahoma City.

And to me, it as a voter, like if they catch Oklahoma City, and Victor Wimbayama is a big reason why .

It's hard not to vote for him, man.

It's hard.

I mean, there are some good candidates this year and I think Shay right now, as we sit here mid-March is probably at the top of the list, uh, to win it again, but there's a long way to go.

There's 1516 games left in the season.

And if they wind up passing Oklahoma City in the standings and Wemby's his, his per 36 numbers or what they look like right now, it's like 30 points per game, 15 rebounds, I don't know where you stand on that, but I, I, I know it's, it's gonna be tough to vote for a guy averaging sub 30 minutes.

But if they get to that number one seed, man, that, that to me is the threshold that that puts him right at the top.