Every Thursday, I’ll be taking you through the big story heading into the weekend. Or maybe the weirdest story? Or maybe just something that makes me laugh and I think will make you laugh too. Essentially, if you’re subscribed to The Bounce and reading every day, we’re going to have the same fun here as we do in that space.
On top of that, I’ve culled the weekend schedule for you to know what to pay attention to. Weird bad streaks against teams? Beefs you need to track? Just fun games with matchups you may not have known were happening? We’ve got that for you. On top of that, we’ll have a good old-fashioned Throwback Thursday to hit you with that feel-good nostalgia.
Let’s have fun by starting with Victor Wembanyama getting hotter than a simmering beef bourguignon or coq au vin — hopefully you believe now I have a solid depth of French cuisine knowledge.
Story to Watch: The Wemby Experience, Year 2
Why does Wembanyama shoot so many 3-pointers? Why isn’t he taking better shots? Why doesn’t Wemby post up more?
These are all questions that have hit the San Antonio Spurs’ 20-year old franchise player through the first 83 games of his career. No offense to Shaquille O’Neal and his forced Bol Bol praise last year, but we’ve never seen anything like Wemby. Not even close. Kevin Durant is the closest thing we’ve seen to him, and KD is like five inches shorter. KD is listed at 6-foot-11, and everybody believes he’s 7 feet tall. Wembanyama is listed at 7-foot-3 after being listed at 7-foot-4 last year. We all know Wemby is 7-foot-5. Regardless of listed heights, Wemby is breaking basketball convention in so many ways.
On Wednesday night, he had the first 50-point game of his career. It happened in a 139-130 victory over the Washington Wizards, but it still counts. His previous record was 40 points against the Knicks on March 29 of last season. Wemby has already had some ridiculous games this season. His second 5×5 game of his career in a win over the Utah Jazz. A 24-point, 13-rebound, nine-block game in a loss to the LA Clippers. Wemby’s stat lines don’t even really make sense most nights. We’re 12 games into his sophomore season, and just look how ridiculous his averages are.
Wembanyama is averaging 22.3 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 3.8 blocks on the season. He has 47.1/34.3/87.2 shooting splits, which works out to a 59.7 true shooting percentage. For a second-year player, this is an incredible start to the season. For almost every player in the league, this is an incredible start to the season. However, the shooting splits are boosted by this recent three-game surge from Wemby. Over his last three games, Wemby is averaging 36.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 4.3 blocks while shooting 59 percent from the field, 54 percent from 3 and 76.9 percent from the line. He’s gone 20 of 37 from 3-point range during these three games to boost his 3-point percentage from 22.6 to 34.3 percent. He went from child-at-a-carnival-game accuracy to just below league average (35.6 percent).
I’ll fully admit I didn’t think Wembanyama was off to a good start this season, and it was a little deflating for me. I’m so baffled by the way he makes you change how you watch basketball, and it excites me to see what he’s already doing to the NBA and how opponents will have to adjust to him over the next decade or two. It’s supposed to be too early to say something like this, but Wemby is changing the game of NBA basketball in a way we saw with Steph Curry as he realized his historically dominant form. Wemby isn’t making teams nervous as he crosses halfcourt, but they also simply don’t know how to neutralize him yet. It’s been a lot of letting him shoot — or troubleshoot really — on the court and hope it doesn’t go in. Up until three games ago, that wasn’t a bad strategy.
Now, Wemby is officially on a three-game heater that he’s looking to extend into five or seven or 82 or forever. I haven’t loved a ton of the effort or decision-making from Wembanyama to start this season. Maybe it’s an exhaustion from being in an 82-game schedule (he played 71 games as a rookie) for the first time, and following that up with the Olympics in a silver medal effort for France. He didn’t get the typical break an NBA rookie gets going into their second year. At times, he’s been so slow and non-reactive on plays he was blowing up last season with his length. And even with that criticism, he’s been really good.
While he’s killing it from 3-point range the last three games, I do think shot selection is still something he’s trying to figure out. Let’s take a look at how he’s scoring compared to last season.
Is Wembanyama taking too many 3-pointers?
Probably, but it’s not that simple. Wemby is taking 17.0 field-goal attempts and 8.3 3-pointers per game. He’s also attempting 3.9 free throws each game. Last season, those numbers were 16.7 field goal attempts, 5.5 3-point attempts, and 5.2 free-throw attempts. It’s safe to say Wemby is venturing farther away from the basket early on in Year 2. This looked like a historically bad decision by him until three games ago; now it’s normalizing a bit. Look at the shot chart for Wemby from last season compared to this season:
There’s still a lot at the rim, but there’s far more heat happening at the 3-point line than his rookie season. Not to mention, the midrange is out of his repertoire compared to last season. Some of this could be Chris Paul setting him up. It’s either at the rim or it’s behind the arc. As a rookie, Wemby was having to get himself into every situation possible unless Tre Jones was on the floor. We all lived through the Point Sochan months, and we should never have to do that again. Wemby’s 3-point attempts are about the same on pull-up shots. He took 2.4 last season, and he’s at 2.6 this season. The catch-and-shoot attempts have gone from 3.1 last season to 4.7 through the first 12 games.
As a rookie, 50.7 percent of Wembanyama’s attempts happened in the paint. He made 59.6 percent of those shots. And 31.2 percent of his shots were above-the-break 3-point attempts, in which he made 31.3 percent of them.
This season, just 34.3 percent of his shots are coming in the paint, and he’s making 72.8 percent of them. He’s taking 47 percent of his shots on above-the-break 3-pointers, and he’s making 34.4 percent of them. Ideally, he’d find himself at the rim, or at least in the paint more, and still find a way to stretch the floor when it’s needed. I’m generally not a fan of complaining that a guy is taking too many 3-pointers, but Wemby up until recently was bailing out the defense by taking the 3-pointer more than taking a shot in the paint. It’s all just a learning process for the guy still figuring out the matrix.
Should Wemby post up way more, considering he’s taller than everybody?
Maybe? It depends on what you think he can and should do in the post. I understand Wemby is almost always the tallest out there, and tall people should be next to the hoop. However, if you’re Wemby, then being able to plant yourself on the block and not leave that position is hard. He’s very slight, and he doesn’t have a great physical base to become immovable off the block. Often, when he posts up, he’s pushed out several feet by the time he’s catching the pass. Now, he’s working in the midrange, usually as a face-up attacker. It works because he’s tall enough to shoot over everybody, and he has a great handle on the ball.
Last season, the Spurs posted Wemby up on 14.7 percent of his possessions, and he scored roughly 89 points per 100 post-up possessions. That’s pretty good for a rookie big man, but he’s not going to remind anybody of Shaq any time soon. This season, he’s posting up on 11.2 percent of his possessions, and he’s scoring 108 points per 100 possessions, which is a big jump. A lot of that comes from him catching the ball, facing up, and driving to the rim. That’s where he’s at his best. If he’s going to try to score off post moves, then it has to be quick catches when he does have deep position in the post. Before he can be muscled away from the hoop.
The Spurs have struggled with getting him the ball in those positions, even with Paul in tow.
Where can the Spurs get Wemby some easier shots?
The pick-and-roll. They still don’t utilize him enough in the PnR, and some of that is his love for shooting these 3-pointers. He’ll pick-and-pop to the perimeter to keep the floor spaced, and it can work out just fine. As a roll man, it eats up 13.7 percent of his possessions, and he scores 113 points per 100 possessions doing it. That’s good. It happened just 11 percent of his possessions last season when he scored 114 points per 100 possessions in those situations. That should not be declining, whether he’s popping or rolling, with CP3 as the point guard.
Everything is still a work in progress, and Wemby is getting hot recently. The process being fine-tuned will make his job easier, and it will also get him to the free-throw line a lot more. That’s where he will find more of a rhythm as he starts figuring out how to take over the world.
Games on the Radar
Do you plan out your weekend around your sports-viewing schedule? You’re not alone. Are you the type to want to look like a sports savant by going to your local sports bar, suggesting a game to put on and then reveling in the praise from fellow patrons you’ll get for knowing what to watch? You’re home. Are you the type to just fly by the seat of your pants and wing it last minute when you remember games are on? Bookmark this post and refer to it later! These are the best games to pay attention to this weekend.
(All times Eastern)
Thursday
Dallas Mavericks at Utah Jazz, 9 p.m. on NBA TV: It’s literally the only game on the Thursday schedule for the NBA as they load things up for the NBA Cup Group Play on Friday. It’s some great second-screen action while you watch Jayden Daniels against Jalen Hurts.
Friday — NBA Cup Night!
Miami Heat at Indiana Pacers, 7 p.m. on League Pass: The Heat’s NBA Cup hopes are on the line, as they cannot afford to lose their first two group games. They lost an overtime game on Tuesday when Erik Spoelstra called a timeout he didn’t have at the end of overtime. The Pacers will be looking to light up a very good defense.
GO DEEPER
Can the Miami Heat fix their current issues or is it time for a change?
Washington Wizards at Atlanta Hawks, 7:30 p.m. on League Pass: The Hawks are really short-handed and the Wizards are really the Wizards, so you never know what will happen here. Washington is 2-0 against Atlanta this season, but this is the NBA Cup!
Can Jarrett Allen and the Cavs move to 14-0? (Kyle Ross / Imagn Images)
Chicago Bulls at Cleveland Cavaliers, 7:30 p.m. on League Pass: The Cavs “survived” (?) a 76ers team on Wednesday that was missing its best players. The streak is still alive at 13-0. The Bulls head into Cleveland looking to ruin their perfect season and get some group play success.
Los Angeles Lakers at San Antonio Spurs, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN: It’s always fun watching the young stars of today go up against LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Wemby just went for 50 in his last game. How does he follow that up in the NBA Cup?
Phoenix Suns at OKC Thunder, 8 p.m. on League Pass: This would have been a lot cooler with Kevin Durant available, but he’s out with the calf strain. Also, Chet Holmgren is out with the pelvic fracture. We still have two of the best teams in the West with star guards looking for a dub.
GO DEEPER
Why isolation ball works for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder
Minnesota Timberwolves at Sacramento Kings, 10 p.m. on League Pass: I promise you this will be the exact same level of drama as Game 7 of their second-round series in the 2004 playoffs. Anthony Edwards will play the role of Kevin Garnett and De’Aaron Fox will play the role of Chris Webber.
Saturday
San Antonio Spurs at Dallas Mavericks, 8:30 p.m. on NBA TV: Just five games on the schedule, and this is really the only one of note. Unless the battered Pelicans can cobble together a lineup against the Lakers. Only lock in if Wemby plays on the second night of a back-to-back.
Sunday
Phoenix Suns at Minnesota Timberwolves, 3:30 p.m. on League Pass: Again this would have been cooler with KD healthy, considering the Wolves swept Phoenix in the first-round. We should still get a great show from Ant and Book.
Dallas Mavericks at OKC Thunder, 3:30 p.m. on League Pass: Another playoff rematch! The Mavs sent the Thunder home back in May. Now, the Thunder can … defend home … in November!
Throwback Thursday: Brandon Jennings on the map
Speaking of young guys dropping 50, did you know today is the 15-year anniversary of Brandon Jennings dropping 55 points as a rookie for the Milwaukee Bucks? I actually remember it like it was yesterday. Jennings had so much hype around him coming out of Dominguez High School in Compton, Calif. This was before Instagram was hyping up 9-year olds and getting them a million followers before their driving test. Jennings was being regarded as the top high school player in the country — in a class with Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans and Kemba Walker.
When Jennings decided to skip college and go play a year in Europe while he waited to be draft eligible, it shocked the basketball world. We thought he was going to go to UConn or Kentucky or Arizona. Instead, he went to Virtus Roma in the Italian League. He didn’t get a chance to play much or really show his talents. Then, he hit David Stern with the “oops pow surprise” on draft night in 2009 when he just walked out from backstage. Jennings was a flashy, lefty point guard. He often channeled some Nick Van Exel or Kenny Anderson vibes on the court. He was exciting. He was quick. He was a new school of scoring point guard that had been taking form more and more in the league.
He was off to a good start in the first six games of his career. The Bucks were 4-2 and Jennings was averaging 20.7 points, 5.2 assists, 4.3 rebounds and putting up 45.7/45.5/85.7 shooting splits on the floor. Then, in the seventh game of his career, Jennings made history. He had a showdown against Monta Ellis and fellow 2009 draft class member Steph Curry. Jennings wanted to make a statement in that game. He scored 55 points on 21-of-34 shooting from the field. He made 7 of 8 from 3-point range and 6 of 8 from the line. He was giving buckets to the Warriors, who couldn’t do anything about it.
Jennings’ 55 broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s rookie record of 51 points, which he did in his 67th game. It was the most by a rookie since Earl Monroe had 56 in 1968. Of course, Wilt Chamberlain’s 58 points remain the rookie record. Because Wilt holds almost all scoring records. Jennings would finish the season third in Rookie of the Year voting behind Curry and the winner Tyreke Evans. And he had a solid career before injuries started costing him his quickness and effectiveness. But that night, just a couple weeks into his career, Jennings was untouchable. It was one of many performances during that era that turned the smoldering embers of Twitter into the raging fire it would eventually become.
(Top photo of Victor Wembanyama: Ronald Cortes / Getty Images)
