The NBA closes its regular phase this Sunday. The 30 teams of the North American League face each other in 15 games with several playoff and play-in positions up in the air. Also the final positions of fifteen teams. A lot of nerve. A lot of tension in all the pavilions, even in San Antonio, where the Spurs receive the Detroit Pistons with the operating calculator to see who has the best chance of obtaining the next number one in the draft.
A confrontation that will close a sad season for the Michigan franchise. For the Texans it hasn’t been a birthday either, but at least they leave with a smile on their faces, with the absolute certainty that Victor Wembanyama was everything they dreamed of. And, that is a lot.
The Frenchman (20 years old and 2.24 m) will not play at the Frost Bank Center due to an ankle problem, after playing 71 games in his NBA debut and with the Rookie of the Year award in his pocket. And, of course, a huge impact on the field, where this alien has exceeded many of the expectations created around him. His impossible size, his most impossible movement with the ball due to his size, and his ability to score from any corner of a basketball court have impressed rivals, coaches, and fans.
His socks are out of this world for a first-year player. His more than 21 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks are unique averages for a rookie. Specifically, there are 21.4 points, 10.6 sacks, 3.9 basket passes and 3.6 badges. Only nine players before had averaged 20+10+3 blocks in a single season. Ewing, Hayes, Lanier, McAdoo, Mourning, Shaq, Olajuwon, David Robinson are his companions on this journey. And, in less than 30 minutes (29.7), no one accompanies him.
And, also in that group, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, of course. The legendary center of the Los Angeles Lakers is the only one ever to surpass the French international’s marks in a course. He did it when he was 28 years old. Wembanyama is only 20.
The similarity between the two does not stop there. Kareem, Olajuwon and Robinson had been the only ones to close a campaign with 1,500 points, 250 assists and 250 blocks. After this season, the Spurs center has joined the family… although with a nuance: he is the only one with those figures who, in addition, has made more than 100 triples, with a 46.2% success rate in step back (step back), a percentage that no one in the NBA has achieved with that volume of success this year with Darius Garland at 45.3% and Donovan Mitchel at 44.7%.
Dizzying figures. They leave people with their mouths open, but they have not been constant over time, but rather through a weekly and monthly evolution, which broke the rookie wall, that disease that causes rookies to fall as the games progress. More than slow, his start to the season aroused misgivings: in the first three months of competition (the last of 2023), only in November did he reach 20 points on average and Chet Holgrem’s pace with the Oklahoma City Thunder put that award in doubt to Rookie of the Year that everyone awarded him before he debuted in the NBA.
However, with the arrival of 2024 everything changes. Four months above the 20 average goals and 30% accuracy from the perimeter. More than 9.5 rebounds and 3 blocks. He accumulated his only two triple-doubles and 29 of his 43 double-doubles.
His consolidation as the best young man of the season would come with the All Star break because there was a Wemby before Indianapolis and another after. In the 49 games prior to the Indiana game, he averaged 20.5 points (32% from three-point range), 10 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 3.2 blocks in 28.4 minutes. In the next 22, with his legs (very) rolling and without collective goals, the Frenchman shot up to 23.5 points (3 more) with 33.3% from three (1.1%), 12 catches (2 ), 5.3 basket passes (2.1) and 4 blocks (0.8) in 32.5 minutes on the court. A remarkable growth that does not put its limit in the sky. That’s impossible because he’s an alien.
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2024-04-14 09:17:56
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