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.
9 players in NBA history have put up 50/40/90 splits for a season and Chet is on pace to do it his very first year of play. Chalking that up to not being the number one option and being on a talented team is lazy to me because there has been 1000s of players that meet those qualifications who don’t come close to doing what Chet is doing. I don’t see how Wemby has been far more impressive.
On pace for shooting percentages for a season after 15 games is truly absurd lol.
I mean sure but it’s not like he wasn’t basically a 60/40 player in college.. Free Throws are the only thing that took a leap and even without that shooting 55% from the field and 40% from three in the NBA while being an elite rim protector is what’s absurd. Regardless if he hits the 50/40/90 mark he has always been a super efficient player and nothing has changed in the NBA
Ok but your entire comment is about Chet being a 50/40/90 player matching only 9 other players. It reserves none of the nuance of your follow up.
It's his entire career and he's a rookie. He has the highest PPG whilst shotting 50/40/90 of any rookie to have played 15 games... ever. Haters are wild lol