Chet is 21. Wemby is 19.
Chet had a year of development in the NBA. Chet is a perfect example of how drastically a year of NBA development can change your body.
Wemby is a rookie that just switched from international basketball to American rules.
Chet is on a really good team, with a great facilitator in Giddey, (i know,) a bonafide superstar guard in Shai, and a point forward in Williams. He is surrounded by elite defenders like Dort and Wallace. OKC is deep, talented, well coached, and almost made the playoffs last season.
Wemby is on a bottom feeder that has struggled for years and really goes about 7ish guys deep. His starting lineup lacks a point guard. There is only one point guard getting minutes in the rotation. Both of the teams leading scorers need to develop as facilitators. Wemby struggles to get the ball where he needs it and is often missed in moments when he should be getting the ball. The team does has some good defenders but still has significant room to grow on that end.
Yet we have pundits genuinely trying to argue that Chet is a more impressive rookie than Wemby. I get why, Chet is really good, and fun to watch, and a good story to pair next to Wemby. Wemby is also struggling in some key areas, like shooting. But realistically the contextual differences are too vast to act like there is a fair comparison to make. Like do people really think the Thunder would be worse right now with Wemby over Chet. Or that Chet would make the Spurs better than Wemby has.
Now, to be clear, I’m not arguing against a Chet ROTY vote. Chet is contributing to a winning team and that is valuable. Instead, what I’m saying is that Wemby is still, imo, far more impressive. I think a lineup of Shai, Wallace, Dort, Williams, Wemby would be absurd defensively. And I think Wemby would be far more impactful offensively within a good team’s offensive system.
Chet absolutely has been more impressive than Wembanyama, and it’s not even remotely close. Him being in a better situation doesn’t change that.
Holmgren’s first 16 games are arguably the most impressive first 16 games of anybody’s career, up there really with just MJ and Kareem. He’s also younger than MJ or Kareem were as rookies.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to immediately be a hugely positive contributor to a top team on day 1 of your professional career like Chet has? It’s incredibly difficult and rare. And as games have gone on Chet has shown more and more that he can be so much more than a role player offensively, and his role will probably get bigger and bigger as the year goes on.
Tbh if Wembanyama didn’t exist and wasn’t taking up so much attention Holmgren would be getting hyped as somebody with GOAT potential for how he’s played so far. Literally nobody has ever shown the ability to be all of an elite rim runner, elite spot up and pull up shooter, elite rim protector and a great perimeter defender. The closest would be KD’s best form at Golden State, but he still never got to Chet’s level as a rim protector. What he’s doing would be incredibly impressive even if he wasn’t a rookie and even if he wasn’t a 7 footer.