Wemby, or not Wemby?
That’s not the question.
Victor is absolutely going #1 overall Thursday night.
Call this my legacy take.
Call me a moron.
Call me whatever you want.
History is basically screaming from the top of it’s lungs that it’s about to repeat itself.
Rebuttal from everyone else:
Welcome to Tall Ball.
The real question is if Wembanyama is going to live up to his hype or his height.
Spurs fans better pray it’s just the former and not the latter.
By that I mean - the ones that weren’t just tall potted plants rooted into the ground.
These are your professional athletes with every bit the athletic ability of a 7-ft tall grade school librarian.
Let’s review some shooting heat maps for four out of the top five.
But if you think that’s bad, let’s talk Tacko.
This does not apply to Tacko Fall.
That’s about two full lengths worth of Tackos as shown below.
What led Tacko to taking such an out of character shot?
Had to be a end of quarter heave, right?
Just a garbage time heat check.
And a lot of rim.
But you know what?
No one in NBA history will ever have a better shooting percentage from 9-22 ft than Tacko Fall.
Thank you for allowing me to binge on some Tackos.
Fun fact: Bradley also attempted only one 22-ft shot in his career and he ALSO made the shot!
Is this some NBA 2K like glitch in the matrix for seven footers?
Yeah, Yeah, Whatever.
What About Players That Did More Than Reach For the Hoop?
Plus I needed to do some heat maps for the Sprawlball theme.
Then the Tacko thing happened.
Whatever, let’s get to it.
Imagine how much worse it gets when seven footers start thinking they’re Derrick Rose.
The assumption is this requires much more out of their tall, awkward bodies.
Here’s the top-12 with a brief injury synopsis based on some quick googling.
The very first name is an almost perfect comp to Victor Wembanyama.
Ralph Sampson - The Wembanyama of NBA Past
Ralph Sampson was Victor Wembanyama.
The hottest draft sensation leading up to the 1983 NBA draft.
A 7'4" big man who played power forward and moved like a guard.
It’s really just a biomechanical reality.
Mother nature is like that old Bill Cosby joke.
That’s Tall Ball.
Or a guy named Mike.
The Hornets are never good, so those picks will have value.
OKC also makes some sense.
Who knows, maybe Fox/Sabonis plus four firsts every other year to the seven year max to Sacramento?
You could even sign a sharp shooting mid-range guy off the streets afterwards.
You need someone who’s consistent from 9-22 feet.
I know a guy.
Anyone else in the mood for tacos?
