Victor the magnificent
Shaq on offense, Bill Russell on defense
When Victor Wembanyama first came to the NBA, he was a guy that wanted to prove he could be a shooter and a perimeter-based player like Kevin Durant was in most of his career. If you go back in the TrueHoop archives (interesting now: a deep dive comparing Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama as rookies) TrueHoop’s first understanding of Wembanyama was that he could be a Duncan Robinson on offense and a Rudy Gobert on defense. That’s how he played. He looked to shoot 3s often as a rookie, and played on the perimeter a ton.
It wasn’t anything close to realizing his full potential. But to his and the Spurs’ great credit, he has learned that he’s better off being Shaq on offense and Bill Russell on defense.
That will be a major problem for the Thunder this year, and Spurs opponents for the next decade. Can opponents figure this out? Titles hang in the balance.
