this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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I'm not just seeing it here on Reddit. I'm hearing it from other NBA boards, people I play ball with, fantasy basketball people, etc, etc.

I have no idea what the expectation was for this guy in his rookie season, but I think anyone who had half a semblance of knowledge knew what we were getting when he came in. Wemby was a defensive prospect first and foremost who has the chance to grow into one of the most impactful defenders ever due to his size and mobility, who could also put up 20+ points in the near future.

He wasn't great overseas offensively because he was still raw. He's still only 19 years old, in his first season in the NBA on a team that for all intents and purposes is still on a quest for more #1 picks. Wemby was a project from the very first day, albeit a very high ceiling project. Everything we talked about, both offensively and defensively was all about how he's going to look in year 5/6/7/8 of his career.

The dude is 7'4 and learning how to use his size while still picking up a lot of basketball fundamentals. I see a lot of posts saying how the Spurs should do this, or do that, or get this player, or bench that player. So much news for a team that is still far, far, FAR away from any hope of a ring. Why do we care so much that Sochan is getting burn at the PG spot? There seems to be so much focus on a team we knew was going to suck and a prospect that we knew was going to take years to learn the NBA and learn what he can do.

The fact that this kid has had some of the performances that he's had, and that he's even approaching 19-20 points a game regardless of efficiency at this point should be a win. I was expecting a lot less considering how much he had to learn, and how bad some of his performances overseas were. Wemby is arguably ahead of schedule at this point, and it should only get better with more reps, a better team, and more size.

Let him take all the 3s, mid range fade aways, etc that he wants. Let him make every mistake he can make this year to learn for the next year. This is a throwaway year for the Spurs that should be used just to evaluate and develop for the future. Some of you look incredibly silly bagging on a rookie on a below average team, expecting him to be the next Wilt from day 1. He's an incredible PROSPECT, key word there being prospect. Lets see where other 19-20 year old bigs were (Jokic, Giannis, Embiid) before we start complaining about Wemby not being LeBron, or blaming the Spurs for not putting together the perfect team around him when he's not even ready to lead a team in the first place. Stop being weird.

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[–] Giga1396@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Recency bias

[–] hurrakane212@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Nobody who knows anything about basketball is down on Wemby. However they're outnumbered by the sheer mass of idiocy.

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[–] oshinla@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Media and the league did not do him any favors. Bro is literally a baby giraffe in a league full of lions.

[–] RemoveHuman@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

People are desperate for attention.

[–] KatnissBot@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Cause the spurs suck. And they thought one rookie would be enough to fix everything, even though that’s not really how it works.

[–] GrayBox1313@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Remember when Lebron was called “LeBronze” cause that medal was the best he’s ever won. I dunno, people are gonna trash on generational talent until they start dominating and winning titles.

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[–] RipCityCNH@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

That constant, and not quite yet earned hype is exhausting.

[–] ApoliticalAth3ist@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

People are way too reactionary and short sighted

[–] Salamat_osu@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

People expect him to be a 7 year vet as a rookie.

[–] AnastasiaMoon@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

He acts like a prick

[–] icona_@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

the hype was incredibly annoying. it was fucking everywhere and it was like 10x worse than every other guy I can remember. Of course people will get sick of that

[–] HellveticaNeue@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I still think he’s going to be amazing.

But I gotta say, he sounded like an entitled dick the other day suggesting someone should be fired because they misspelled his name with an N instead of an M. Saying shit like “It’s a shame…”

[–] not-a-potato-head@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Before the draft, the talk was that he was a) a game changing player who b) could be one of the greatest of all time. He’s been the first, but nowhere near the second. People see that the Spurs are losing and take that as confirmation that he’ll never be the second.

Also controversial takes like “Wemby’s a bust” get a lot more people interacting with them compared to more nuanced takes, and thus get a lot more circulation due to algorithms

This is always how it was going to be. I remember a certain youtuber(can’t remember who) saying that wemby’s hype would die down somewhere during the season and people would start having the “is he even going to be that good” debate. The media and fans are fickle.

[–] Warioswallet@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Well that’s just silly. I didn’t get too into the pre-season hype because I’ve been around the block a couple of times. After watching him play I’m genuinely excited. He has a good feel for the game and seems dedicated to improvement. I was worried about his durability but he seems smart enough not to put himself in harms way too often.

[–] RealPrinceJay@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Because they’re not watching him play lol

[–] Kind_Bullfrog_4073@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

All he does is lose

[–] crailface@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Because he's not actually gonna be better than Lebron

[–] Hybrid_asshole123@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They even thought he better than lebron (rookie) 💀

[–] joeb1ow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Carmelo was a better rookie than Lebron tho, and was robbed by the hype-machine press for RotY.

[–] BigMik_PL@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

It comes with the "most hyped prospect since LeBron James" moniker.

League starving for the next big star and they were really hoping Wemby gonna be the new Jordan that's gonna come in and average 28ppg.

So now with Chet doing better most casual viewers are confused because they've heard all the Wemby propaganda all summer and probably don't even know who Chet is.

[–] DidiGreglorius@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Rookies are almost never efficient scorers and it seems like people forget that every time a mega hyped guy debuts. LeBron was 42/29/75 his rookie year.

[–] whocares0000000000@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Oh now he is 7‘4?

[–] ImanShumpertplus@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

it’s stupid and people bought into the hype

he’s scoring at the same rate as Banchero and is an impactful defender as a rookie

if you can’t see how this guy is going to evolve into one of the best players in the league barring unforeseen circumstances, you can’t be helped

[–] CJ4ROCKET@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

He's stayed healthy and that should be the goal. No major injuries would be a huge success.

Unrelated but I feel bad for Sochan. He's a good prospect but just isn't a PG. Feel like this experiment could negatively affect his development.

[–] hawkman_jr@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

He’s not efficient. And nephews love statistics

[–] GuessableSevens@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This thread is crazy.

Wemby still looks like the first player I've ever seen who could become the GOAT defensive player.

The problem is that he is being completely mismanaged by Pop and the Spurs. What the fuck is the point of being 7'4 and coming off a DPOY year at age 18 in France as a Center if they're gonna play you on the perimeter defensively?

I don't wanna hear bullshit about extending his career. Opponents take like 50% fewer attempts at the rim when he's there. Nobody in history has this effect. Playing Center is not gonna cut his career length in half, and if it does but he's among the greatest defensive players ever during that time - so be it.

[–] joeb1ow@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I always knew Pop had no idea how to coach big men. /s

Im nit winnjng enough bets on him for pts total so in mad and think hes washed

[–] Dame2Miami@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Because the spurs are in last place lol?

[–] Mygaffer@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

They are dumb and reactive.

He's super young and super impressive when you take that into account. He is already skilled, he is only going to get stronger over the next several years, he's going to get even better knowing where and how he can be most effective in this league, etc.

But I've got Chet as my ROTY so far.

[–] Fast_Stick_1593@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Unrealistic expectations in the minds of a rookie expecting them to be an immediate playoff team and him and All-NBA talent.

They did it to themselves and now it hasn’t reached those ridiculous expectations they are turning on him.

[–] Sammy_Saddles@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I thought KD sucked his rookie year. Only watched a few games but wasn’t impressed. And look how that turned out

[–] RedditDeezNutz107@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Because Chet is Wemby when Wemby was supposed to be Wemby

[–] Proof-Umpire-7718@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Nba social media keeps posting him which has made people think he is being glazed too hard. When a player is constantly being posted, unless they are undeniably one of the best in the league at the time then people get annoyed with it. Personally, i don’t mind it and i understand it from a marketing experience to generate hype for this generational prospect. I enjoy watching Wemby play and think he has been pretty promising so far for a rookie.

[–] Mr_Unbiased@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Thinking Chet has surpassed him in RoTY ≠ Down on Wemby. Some fans can't handle their player getting the slightest of criticism.

[–] sportsbrownie@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I wish his coach was someone younger

The expectations for him are / were to be a top 10 player all time. Through 16 games he has negative win shares and is scoring 19 points per game on poor efficiency. On defense he is averaging 2.6 blocks a game but the spurs have been horrific overall on defense.

Lebron was pretty inefficient his rookie season too so that isn't the biggest deal but ESPN was saying Wemby would at minimum be a defensive juggernaut immediately and so far the spurs are getting cooked on defense.

[–] -KFBR392@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Build them up to tear them down

[–] k7cody@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Anyone that knows anything about bball knew this. It takes years to find out if Wemby will become great.

So far he’s actually killing it considering he’s 19 and a rookie.

Not an immediate impact in the win column

[–] FateRiddle@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

They lost 11 straight games. Losing unfix everything that winning fixed. Also people have short span of attention.

[–] Difficult_E@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

When you are compared to Lebron fucking James as a prospect that's gonna take over the NBA, you are going to have people be extremely critical of your game. Why people react with a ShockedPikachu.jpeg is honestly beyond me. Valid criticism or not, it's the way it is.

[–] HelloS0n@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

There was a ton of hype surrounding his name and most people only had access to highlights. They didn’t see that he was still very much a work in progress.

With the highlights came expectations. He’s still played very well for a rookie, but I think a lot of people were expecting a LeBron-like impact/takeover.

[–] Green-Umpire2297@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I like to see overhyped people fail.

[–] kurruchi@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

In addition to what everyone else is saying, Chet exists

We happened to get two rookies with super similar skill sets but one is losing every game and the other is winning (and playing better)

[–] kosmos_uzuki@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Kid looks soft. He plays soft. He'd rather jack up 3s than play in the post. He will be out of the league in 4 years.

[–] MisterBackShots69@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Chet going off and Wemby’s 3PT% is abysmal

[–] BenSimmonsROTY@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Agree with most of this comment - expectations were always going to be too high given the hype. I actually think he needs a better PG though as he isn’t playing in much of a structure which is making it harder for him to develop. He is doing too much as each game looks like a game of pick up.

RE Chet outshining Vic, worth noting he is 20mths younger than Chet, and Vic doesn’t have the luxury of the defense focusing on someone else like Chet does with SGA as well as a wealth of talent in OKC to simplify the game for him

[–] spellbreakerstudios@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Probly because Chet is a thing

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