Those who don’t like Wembanyama

Victor Wembanyama turned 19 in January. And he is completing his trampoline seasonhe bridge year towards number 1 in the draft, one of the most sung in NBA history. Starting next year, he will live with the pressure of being a chosen oneone of the most anticipated players in the big league, a phenomenon called to change basketball. Literally, it is. The expectations are the highest since LeBron James two decades ago and the franchises dream of a player who could change destinations, in sports and economically.

This year, the Frenchman has opted for monopolize fewer spotlights and work with a basically scientific method in his physical set-up. He has withdrawn from the Euroleague, something strange a priori, to play fewer games and have a reinforced work team at the Metropolitans 92. There is the big beast from the Gala League: 21.5 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and a PIR of 25.1 in 24 minutes per night on court. In the NBA preseason he traveled to the US, exhibited himself in a couple of friendlies and returned to his work zone. Everything perfectly calculated and destined to land in the NBA.

with his 2.19, his impossible wingspan and his ability to move almost like a point guard and shoot like a forwardBig stars like LeBron himself or Giannis Antetokounmpo have warned that there has been nothing like it until now, that we are facing a new archetype, the player of the future As long as he is the great shadow, injuries are respected. His physical constitution causes fear, the only one with him, in that sense. That is also why, surely, he has lightened the load of his matches this season.

Launched towards a number 1 of the inevitable and ultra media draft, Wembanyama knows that all teams they would kill for getting hold of him and at least controlling the fate of his rookie contract years. That is the great goodness of the draft, especially for franchises without great present objectives and forced to think about the future. Those who often prefer (in their offices, not in their locker room) to lose a lot to ensure the best options for the weighted lottery that defines the draft positions. the vaunted tankingwhich some projects have turned into an industrial process and which the NBA has fought with various media, since the creation of the play in to give more competitive options in the final stretch of the regular season oh, sure, the readjustment of the options in the lottery. Now, the three worst classified have the same options to take the number 1, 14%. The fourth goes to 12.5% ​​and the fifth, to 10.5%. Before, the differences were greater, so each position (more defeats) that was descended was better for the future of the teams at that stage.

A race that not everyone has been in

This year, and even more so with such an enormous star project, there were several who sounded before the season as the ones who were most clearly going to go for number 1and more with Wembanyama as big prize. If you look at the projected win totals as preseason ended, this was the ranking: San Antonio Spurs just 22.5 wins; Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets 23.5. Oklahoma City Thunder, 24.5. Orlando Magic 27.5 and Detroit Pistons 29.5. That, in terms of teams with less than 30 wins (of the 82 total). Later, Charlotte Hornets and Sacramento Kings with 33.5.

If you look at the classification in the last days of the regular season, the worst teams are Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, who have almost assured that podium from the sewers, the three positions that give the most number 1 options. And then the Charlotte Hornets appears, the closest to them. And then the teams that already have over thirty wins: Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers…

Some agree on both lists, of course. And it really doesn’t stop working disappointing the role of teams like the Rockets and Pistons, who had already made box important in the last two drafts but they do not finish putting their reconstructions in motion. Something that, for example, the Orlando Magic has done. The Spurs did enter this season in complete demolition and yes, they have stuck to their script, emptying their accounts, releasing future charges and drawing ballots for the big lottery, for Wembanyama. And finally there are some teams that were counted on in that fight but have decided that I did not go with them, who were going to compete. Excellent news for their fans, the NBA and its leaders. Because they are teams that are winning and they are doing it with reformulated bases, with young players working, with new ideas. That is the basis of a reconstruction. If you have it, that’s a lot. Not everything always has to be waiting for the next year, for one more draft. In fact, that would have to be the exception.

Three of the five franchises that projected the most losses have been well above expectationswith his mind set on fights that have had nothing to do with the 2023 draft:

UTAH JAZZ: This was, es, a clear case of a rebuilding team, which was supposed to let this season pass and completely reform its project. He has done it, but winning and finding pieces that already seem essential for his future. The Jazz, after years as contenders for the ring (rarely in the first rank) and as one of the best teams in the regular phase (yes, unquestionably), They traded Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, their two big stars. Joe Ingles had already left and so did Royce O’Neal, Mike Conley, Bojan Bogdanovic… not left anything.

But the thing has worked, with a 35-year-old coach like Will Hardy who came from being Ime Udoka’s right-hand man in the finalist Celtics. AND with a new franchise player like Lauri Markkanen (25 years old), who has finally found himself after his bad finish in the Chicago Bulls and his improved but secondary role in the Cleveland Cavaliers. The finn has been all star, is aiming for the Most Improved Player award and has shown that he was much more than a piece of those to see what happens included between the draft rounds that came for Donovan Mitchell. In addition, the draft has brought excellent news: center Walker Kessler (pick 22, 21 years old) has been at an exceptional defensive level. He was a pick the Jazz had given the Grizzlies but he went from Memphis to Minnesota and back to Salt Lake City in the Gobert operation. In addition, the Jazz kept pick 14 from the Cavs, and chose shooter Ochai Agbaji. After a low-key start, he is starting to show that he can be a major player in the future. And the Jazz, a revelation at the start of the season, have barely lowered the piston and continue to fight to be in the play in… As minimum.

INDIANA PACERS: The Pacers had grown accustomed to being serious, respectable, and good but not excellent. Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon and Caris LeVert left, and all indications were that Myles Turner and Buddy Hield would also change teams. But a top-notch coach, albeit one that ended badly on Doncic’s Mavs, as Rick Carlisle has wrought a competitive team, which has been in the zone between noble and temperate from It is throughout the season. And that counting on the fact that he has not had luck with injuries, responsible for a few defeats.

Hield and Turner have stayed and have contributed, so much so that the center has renewed, something that seemed impossible, and with a two-year extension he enters the line of reconstruction of a team that found gold in the transfer of Sabonis thanks to the arrival of Tyrese Haliburton, who at the age of 23 has made his debut as all star and he has everything to be one of the great point guards in the NBA in the next decade. The Pacers also got it right in the last draft: they chose Bennedict Mathurin with the number 6, who points to an important star. And at the start of the second round, with number 31, they took an Andrew Newhard who, with a more modest ceiling, is also leaving good feelings.

OKC THUNDER: The Thunder also looked set for another year at the bottom of the NBA, piling up losses, draft picks and toxic contracts that could be turned into assets. And more so when in preseason Chet Holmgren, his brand new number 2 in the draft, was struck down by a foot injury and the one who seemed called to be the new franchise player. But the Thunder are fighting to be in the playoffs and have signed a brilliant season in which they have made it clear that their future is already here. Trainer Mark Daigneault (38 years old) is doing a fantastic job with a roster very young but in which emerges a megastar: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 24 years old all star and with plans to fight for the MVP in the futureif he continues in his current progression.

With Shai as a clear benchmark, the season has also been fantastic for the number 12 in the draft, Jalen Williams, a 21-year-old forward who is going to stay close to the Rookie of the Year that Paolo Banchero (Orlando Magic) will surely win. In addition to the oldest and most important Lu Dort, a defensive beast, Josh Giddey, number 6 in 2021, is already a reality, a guard intelligent and highly competitive. And they are beginning to be used in a very interesting way Jaylin Williams, who has minutes as false center and that he was number 34 in the last draft. The Thunder have Holmgren stopped and Ousmane Dieng, whom they chose with the 11th after making that pick by hitting the first rounds, in France. So his project is already beginning to have a defined shape… and with a great future.