Wembanyama, a “false big”? Why the French phenomenon is a special case among very tall players

In terms of preparation or recovery, very tall players are subject to very specific physical constraints. If Victor Wembanyama (2.22m) does not escape certain obligations in the management of his body, he is an exception in several respects. And that’s why the phenomenon of Boulogne-Levallois terrifies the NBA so much.

The anecdote is reported by Sports Illustrated. Last February, in its issue devoted to the new darling of world basketball, the prestigious American magazine returned to a funny misadventure experienced by Victor Wembanyama during a trip to the United States last summer. Passing through San Diego, the French phenomenon, 2.22m under the fathom, realized that his suitcase had been misplaced at the Paris airport. In this specific case, ordinary mortals – although necessarily very annoyed – can easily find a store to buy the necessary. But what can you do when most shops… don’t offer clothes in your size?

At the time, Rudy Gobert came to the rescue of the future No. 1 in the NBA draft. They are few to be able to lend clothes to Wembanyama, but, with his 2.16m, the current pivot of the Minnesota Timberwolves is one of them. Present in Los Angeles in his second home, about two hours drive from San Diego, the pivot of the Blues filled a suitcase with jeans, shirts and shoes which he immediately sent by Uber to Wembanyama.

Extreme attention paid to very tall players

Being over 2.20m is not necessarily a gift in your everyday life. No more than in his life as a basketball player. Being that big is of course an advantage in a sport where size is fundamental and helps to dominate. But, in top-level practice, this gift from Mother Nature also comes at a price. “These are players who have large segments, so the joints have more pressure and compression. You have to be extremely careful, explains Pierre-Yves Couve, former physiotherapist from Wembanyama in the France U16 team. When you have large segments like that, it’s the lever that counts, the movement of the force. Without delving into technical terms, the bigger the lever you have, the greater the pressure on the joints. When you play with big guys like that “, you have to be extremely careful, work closely with the technical staff. We relieve them, we make them play 20 minutes. Sometimes, I allowed myself to say to the technical staff: ‘You have to take him out, he can play 20 minutes but no more’. The preparation must be very thorough.”

More than any other player, very tall basketball players – 2.15m and over – must take special care of their bodies. “At this stage of my career, the physical trainer is just going to be a little more careful in terms of recovery, he’s going to make me ride my bike more rather than the treadmill compared to other players so as not to put too much constraints on the joints, illustrates Moustapha Fall, 2.18 m. When I was young, there were more differences. I had a lot of reinforcement, whether at the level of the knees, at the level of the ankles or at the level of the body in general to be able to better support the back”, indicates the pivot of the Blues and Olympiacos. “When you’re older, you tire more quickly. You have to stretch, you have to rest. You just have to take more time, quite simply”, abounds Fred Weis (2.18m).

1.70m at 8 years old, 1.91m at 11 years old… Linear growth

The growth of these exceptional players can also be a real brake on their rise to the highest level. Very often, a basketball player who rises to more than 2.15m has grown all of a sudden during his adolescence. With serious consequences on the learning of basketball. Before becoming a dominant player in the NBA, Rudy Gobert, for example, paid the price for this brutal growth. “From memory, Wembanyama must have been 2.12m or 2.13m at 15, remembers Bernard Faure, who had the Boulogne-Levallois player under his orders in the France U16 team. At the same age, Rudy Gobert, c He was 1.92m. Gobert was an outside player at the time, he was not ready at all to play. For him, there was no possible entry to the Pôle France. He went to Cholet who kept him almost two years on individual work, on the game without opposition and without making him participate in any championship.

“He has always been aware of his body. He has grown little by little. More than the others… but little by little. We usually say that the big ones mature later, because they have to get used to it and adapt to their physique. But Victor, he doesn’t have that problem.”

Fred White

Wembanyama didn’t need to stop competing because of sudden growth. Quite the contrary. 1.70m at 8 years old, 1.91m at 11 years old… The very probable future player of the San Antonio Spurs grew up in a completely linear way. “That’s why he’s so strong: it’s because he’s always been tall in fact, says Fred Weis. He’s always been aware of his body. He’s grown little by little. More than the others…but little by little. We usually say that the big ones reach maturity later, because they have to get used to and adapt to their physique. But Victor, he doesn’t have this problem. J I feel like he was born that way.”

The former Nanterre player therefore had time to tame this special body. “Moving a body like mine, in fact, it’s very hard, confided the main interested party in the columns of Parisian last December. It takes willpower and mine has always been to play like I do. have always done, although it is much more complicated than for someone who is 1.80 m tall.” But he clearly rose to the challenge. Because what is most striking when watching him play – and what makes him the most anticipated prospect in the NBA since LeBron James – is precisely his formidable mobility.

“It’s a fake big”

“Victor is a vine. As young people, I’m not going to lie to you: sometimes we were scared. We thought he was going to be taken down. But in fact no. He’s a vine, he’s flexible. This is why it is unclassifiable, launches Pierre-Yves Couve, his former physiotherapist. A large interior, which is 2.15m, at the age of 15 or 16, we know that it is a little clumsy, not well in his structures and that he will hatch and gain self-confidence around the age of 25. Victor, on the other hand, explodes right away because it has nothing to do with it. He is tall… But he’s not a big guy. He hasn’t had any growth problems. So he has hyperpressure in his knees, but he’s not heavy. He’s not stiff, he’s extremely flexible. It’s a fake big!”

The whole paradox is there. If his 2.22m make him an exceptional player and an athlete already well identified by the general public, inevitably marked by this giant size, Wembanyama is an (almost) completely normal basketball player in the eyes of a technical staff and medical. “When we talk about the aerobic level, we know that the level of the interiors is lower than that of the exterior players, explains Bernard Faure. We are used to individualizing all this work. He is not classified out of category by compared to that. He is assessed the same as any player, a 1.95m or 2m player.”

At first glance, Wembanyama’s lean and slender figure might put him at a disadvantage when it comes to tackling slightly smaller but beefier interiors. “When you see him, you have the impression that he is a freluquet. But I don’t think he’s that freluquet in fact, sweeps Fred Weis. He doesn’t have the morphotype of a big guy in appearance, but I think he is really sheathed. A big one, when you push him at the level of the pelvis, he moves normally. He doesn’t move much! I think the key word for a big one is the cladding”, continues the former pivot of the Blues. “From a muscular point of view, you will never make Victor an NBA muscleman. It will never be a golgoth like Gobert who reigns terror in the racket”, underlines Pierre-Yves Couve for his part.

This very special body, an unprecedented combination of the mobility of a 1.95m player in a 2.22m body, is precisely what is panicking the United States and the world of basketball. “He’s a lot smoother than any great I’ve seen in my career. He has pretty much all the attributes of a winger despite being the size of a big man, summarizes Moustapha Fall. Everything he does is fluid, it doesn’t seem like the other big guys, a bit clumsy, a bit robotic. When he makes his gestures or his movements, nobody is shocked, because it seems normal in fact.” Soon, it will be the turn of the NBA to get used to it.