Was Wemby's Summer Debut Really That Bad?

What I'm arguing in this post is based on watching highlights of Wembanyama's first Summer League game, not the entire game itself.  Yes, he did get dunked on hard, but that's because he was actually playing defense.  Due to his height and length he has an instant defensive presence, like those lanky players of old, the types who were only in the NBA because they're dumb tall.  But the difference is that he can actually play perimeter defense, like the way he swatted Miller's three.  Like it's rare you see a three-pointer actually get swatted out of the air like that, but that's the kinda defense you're likely going to need in today's 3pt-chuckin NBA.

Also, speaking of chuckin, the way I saw it dudes weren't passing him the ball enough.  That was okay with Julian Champagnie because first of all he was actually making his shots and second, he's already been in the NBA a couple of years.  But Blake Wesley, who was running the point, was also chuckin and like even getting his shit swatted.  He's a real fast player, and I see now he actually played for the Spurs last season.  And I know that dudes are like fighting for a roster spot.  But give the fans what they came to see, which isn't Wesley forcing his way to the basket and getting his shit pinned.

On the other side of the court, Brandon Miller finally had a good game, after the internet had a field day with his own less than stellar debut a few days earlier.  Dude has only been in the NBA for like a week or two and has already dealt with like Westbrook levels of unappreciation.  But if I were the Hornets I would have also picked him at number 2 because first of all, you can't be going style of substance too often.  And second, to my limited remembrance Scoot Henderson had a couple of chances to really impress this past year (like Wembanyama) but didn't, or at least not convincingly.  But I'm sure he'll be a fine fit if Dame sticks around, which is something I'm hoping to touch on in my next post.

CONCLUSION

It's obvious that Wembanyama is going to need to put on some weight.  I saw someone arguing otherwise on NBC a few days back, but that argument was obviously hasty.

I believe that Gregg Popovich is going to know how to use him.  In the Summer League, Victor is playing C, but I wouldn't be overly surprised if he plays SF or perhaps more realistically the 4 once the season actually being.  Now though I kinda wish that the Spurs had held onto Jakob Poeltl, because they're going to need a bigger (even if not taller), quality player alongside Wemby.