Pros And Cons Of Wemby’s Debut Game
Victor Wembanyama has made his debut in the NBA and against the Dallas Mavericks, and it didn’t live up to what some might have thought it was going to be, but it didn’t be a complete bust either.
The game in San Antonio came down to the wire, where it was going back and forth. For the Spurs, it didn’t end in a win. Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Kyrie Irving spoiled their fun.
Besides losing the game, which people cared about and didn’t for all the same time, the soldout crowd was really concerned about how Wembanyama was going to perform for the first time in the National Basketball Association.
To be completely honest, I thought he did fine amidst the foul troubles and trying to find his rhythm. Let’s talk about it.
Pros And Cons Of Wemby’s Debut Game
The fouling issues were awful
I don’t know if he’s trying to adapt from EuroLeague-style rules or what, but it was an interesting game until the fourth quarter. What looked bleak and rather disappointing eventually got turned around, but let’s focus on the negatives for a minute.
The foul breakdown is this: Wemby had two fouls in the first quarter, picking up his second with 43.5 seconds left in the quarter. This action resulted in the consequence of him being sidelined for the majority of the second quarter. He played 5 minutes and 33 seconds in the second.
It gets worse when in the first three minutes of the second half, he picked up two more fouls. Guess what? The debuting star sat for the remainder of the quarter. His fifth foul came against Luka Doncic just 26 seconds into his playing time in the fourth quarter.
Where this gets bad for him and San Antonio
The lack of consistency in being on the court and being able to figure things out was an issue, something that can’t be replicated moving forward. In short, those are adjustments that need to be made by Gregg Popovich and Wemby himself.
Having played three-fourths of the game sitting on the bench trying to avoid fouling is a big issue; not only does this disrupt his game, but it also disrupts the momentum and flow of his teammates. If plays are being designed for the star player, and he can’t find his tempo and flow, then it’ll create lost possessions and put his team at more risk of losing games and easily winnable situations within the game.
The fourth quarter helped him a lot, statistically, and being on the court overall, but remove the fourth and you see Wemby getting six points and five fouls. Who in San Antonio, or around the NBA, would be proud of that debut? Not many, but, the good news, is he recovered nicely.
The positives of Wemby’s debut
If we separate the fourth quarter from the rest of the game, then he played very well. I liked the fact he got out of that slump by catching an impactful lob from Devin Vassell when he checked back into the game with 7:12 to go in regulation.
I say all that to say Wembanyama turned on his beast mode and kept it competitive between them and Dallas. The fact he was able to close strong says a lot about his maturity as a person and a player, he put the past in the past and focused on what was in front of him.
Popovich did take note and gave the young rookie praise. It’s been said that many would give him praise based on his resilience to overcome the known issues and lead his team to a close loss. What didn’t help was Doncic and Irving draining clutch threes to secure them the victory. Also, given the fact that Doncic had an insane triple-double.
The future is bright for Wemby
Take the fouls out of it, he had a solid debut that is going to impressively grow. In 23 minutes played, Wemby secured 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block on 6-of-9 shooting. Also, another added bonus, Victor shot 3-of-5 from deep.
For his faults in this game, and they can’t be downplayed, his stats and fourth-quarter performance cannot be struck down. In fact, people should be talking about that, more than anything.
He’s taking his time adapting to this league, its rules, and everything else that goes into the NBA. There are no doubts in my mind that he can be a successful 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks a game player.
Don’t rule out Wemby… EVER!
Conclusion
While the Spurs lost this game, there is an overall feeling of them winning enough games to either make the play-in or playoffs. It’s doable given what fans saw tonight from the entire roster.
If you guys enjoyed this article, then read this post breaking down the worst debuts from Wednesday.
