We've seen around 15% of the season so far and obviously he's just as amazing of a prospect as draft experts promised, but what do you think of him as of right now?
Wemby is averaging 19.3/9.5/2.4 on a bad efficiency, taking A LOT of bad shots. The Spurs don't have enough passers to take advantage of him and it feels like he's playing way too much at the 4. The defense is good and extremely promising, but definitely not consistently elite so far.
He could probably be a lot more effective on a team that's better suited to his game though, but... I started making the list, expecting him to be around #40-50, and was was a bit surprised by how many guys I listed.
In no particular order, here's all the players I thought I could take above him for the rest of the season.(question marks are players that I'm not sure about or haven't seen enough of):
tatum
brown
jrue
KP
derrick white?
embiid
maxey
tobias
giannis
dame
hali
jimmy
bam
myles turner? - his defense hasn't looked as good as it's been in the past, feels like he's lost a step.
herro?
brunson
barrett? (hasn't necessarily performed better, but he has terrible "supporting" cast for his skillset)
trae
dejounte murray
bridges
lamelo
cade?
franz wagner
banchero? - numbers aren't great, but he'd be a lot better on a team with guards who can shoot
dm
garland
mobley&Allen? - Wemby might be better if he takes on a similar off role, but it feels like they've proven too much even if Wemby's defensive peaks are more impressive than what they've done.
siakam
barnes? - I'd take Wemby above what he did last season, but he's definitely been better this year
og?
anthony edwards
gobert
kat? - probably better, but I still don't rate his defense and he's a proven playoff dud.
jokic
murray
gordon
KPJ?
doncic
kyrie
shai
JW
chet - been better so far, but based on eye I feel like Wemby would as good in the same role.
fox
sabonis
FVV
AD
LeBron
KD
booker
beal? - could be on the decline, but his last year was better than Wemby is now
Zion
ingram
Steph
draymond? (same as beal)
PG
Kawhi
Harden? (same as beal)
Lauri
ja - too good, even with the missed games
JJJ
Bane
Vassell? - depending on what you make of his defense, could be dropped
Other maybes/honorable mentions:
giddey - might be better with the right fit, but he's a limited scorer with bad def..
Randle - too shit right now and I don't rate his type of offense as highly as others (when it's good) have in the past
Smart - I was never as high on his defense as the general public (for ex. I thought he was 3rd or 4th best defender on the Celtics when he won DPoY)
anfr simons - between health, bad defense and lack of evidence on a good team, it feels like a no, but he's definitely had long stretches of play better than Wemby
cj - more proven than simons, but between health and age...
Grant - could def be more effective than Wemby in a limited role, but he's said many times he'd rather have fun and get paid + defensive questions
dominayton - similar disposition to grant, but worse on offense when he gets to do what he wants
lavine and derozan - a bit better historically, but they've been pretty bad this year. I' might be underrating them since I've never been a fan.
Wiggins - same as beal and etc, but he's been sufficiently shit drop him here
lopez - can probably do more on the perfect team, as he doesn't get into his offense on the Bucks, but I feel like he's too fit-dependent
jalen green - I don't think he's good enough at creating for how shit his defense is
sengun - feels like a stretch between defense, sample size and the lack of shooting
He’s not a great defender yet. His blocks are very Hassan Whiteside-ish right now. He gets a lot but he bites on every fake. The spurs defense even with him on the floor is still bottom 5. He has a long, long ways to go mentally on that side of the floor. He’s super slow to recognize when to help and he’s constantly giving up easy buckets by overcommitting hunting for blocks. His defense is a far cry from elite at this stage.