Grades: Spurs @ Kings - Feb. 22, 2024

[Seventyniner]

I noticed a difference between the first and second half as to how Wemby guarded Sabonis too. In the first half Sabonis was just going right at Wemby with a series of fakes, but in the second half Wemby adjusted and 4 of Sabonis's 10 second half points came from putbacks.

Wemby is such a fast learner that I don't think very many players will consistently beat him one on one. When he has enough games against top opponents to learn their tendencies, watch out.

[spurraider21]

I noticed a difference between the first and second half as to how Wemby guarded Sabonis too. In the first half Sabonis was just going right at Wemby with a series of fakes, but in the second half Wemby adjusted and 4 of Sabonis's 10 second half points came from putbacks.

Wemby is such a fast learner that I don't think very many players will consistently beat him one on one. When he has enough games against top opponents to learn their tendencies, watch out.

for the most part, a lot of it is just his patience and staying down instead of going for fakes. his length and quick bounce give him a nice margin of error when it comes to timing blocks, so he can wait longer than most guys before going into his contest and still being able to block the shot.

with that said, when he allows himself to get driven under the rim, while his ungodly length still allows him to contest the shot, he's still getting himself behind the 8-ball when he does that. the core strength will come with time

[tonight...you]

Wemby might not be as good as the top 3 centers in the NBA than he is on a night when he doesn't play the top 3 centers but its not like any center in the NBA can just replicate that. That's kind of the point. Yeah, Sabonis did things to score on Wemby but only two other teams have centers who are as good or better than Sabonis (and one of them hung 70 on Wemby) but that doesn't mean any other team in the NBA is going to be able to replicate it or the secret is out.

He scored all of 22 points. 2 points more than his average. That's not really "getting straight worked" but sure, the tape is out now and everyone will try it. The tape of Jordan's been out for awhile and somehow people haven't been able to replicate him yet. Weird.

Nobody has hung 70 on Wemby. Embiid hung 70 on over a mul ude of players that game.
C'mon.

[Slippy]

DVs attacking game in the keyway just keeps getting better. They were tough and unguardable to say rhe least. Still came through at a high perecentage.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Wemby might not be as good as the top 3 centers in the NBA than he is on a night when he doesn't play the top 3 centers but its not like any center in the NBA can just replicate that. That's kind of the point. Yeah, Sabonis did things to score on Wemby but only two other teams have centers who are as good or better than Sabonis (and one of them hung 70 on Wemby) but that doesn't mean any other team in the NBA is going to be able to replicate it or the secret is out.

He scored all of 22 points. 2 points more than his average. That's not really "getting straight worked" but sure, the tape is out now and everyone will try it. The tape of Jordan's been out for awhile and somehow people haven't been able to replicate him yet. Weird.

I saw 4 post ups in the first half where the combination of early work, changing release points, strength, and footwork saw Sabonis throwing hook shots right in Wemby's face. I had yet to see anyone do anything remotely close to that.

I like Wemby btw.

Embiid did most of his work against Collins and he was using his midrange a lot. I do like how you are making borderline all star Sabonis into a borderline all-NBA though. There are plenty of big men like Davis, Embiid, KAT, Sengun, Giannis, Adebayo, or Jokic off the top of my head.

[CorrectCrusader]

To be fair on the Sochan knock on defense, the refs let Sabonis do moving screens the entire game.

[manufan10]

The team is odd that they seem to have, at most, one player playing well at a time. When Vassell plays well, Victor doesn't, when Victor plays well (many games), every body else sucks, when Sochan plays well, Vassell sucks. If the team can have two or three players consistently play well, this is easily a 35-win team.

The players are trying, but they just seem so lost some times, it's almost like they know one of their teammates are hot, and they don't know what to do. Oh crap, Vassell is on fire, should I shoot or keep feeding him the ball?

They are playing like a pick up team, still. There are clear improvements from the ghastly games at the beginning of the season, but they have a looooooong way to go.

Did it again tonight.

[MannyIsGod]

I saw 4 post ups in the first half where the combination of early work, changing release points, strength, and footwork saw Sabonis throwing hook shots right in Wemby's face. I had yet to see anyone do anything remotely close to that.

I like Wemby btw.

Embiid did most of his work against Collins and he was using his midrange a lot. I do like how you are making borderline all star Sabonis into a borderline all-NBA though. There are plenty of big men like Davis, Embiid, KAT, Sengun, Giannis, Adebayo, or Jokic off the top of my head.

I mean in the old position system Sabonis would be borderline All NBA. He's pretty clearly the best center in the league other than Embiid and Jokic. This isn't some kind of hot take. I would take him and rank him above AD, KAT Adebayo and Sengun on your list. AD is a tough one, but AD is made of glass so yeah.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I mean in the old position system Sabonis would be borderline All NBA. He's pretty clearly the best center in the league other than Embiid and Jokic. This isn't some kind of hot take. I would take him and rank him above AD, KAT Adebayo and Sengun on your list. AD is a tough one, but AD is made of glass so yeah.

His post % puts him in the middle of though guys. He did not even make the all star team.

You rank is based on nothing.

[MannyIsGod]

His post % puts him in the middle of though guys. He did not even make the all star team.

You rank is based on nothing.

My ranking is based on nothing? lol

My ranking is based on watching more NBA basketball than you my dude; the same guy who thought the NBA figured out Wemby the other night and was scared the tape of that was going to reveal some crazy secret on how to abuse Wemby in the post. Yeah, he didn't make the All Star team this year because they put KAT there in his place. By all means argue KAT is better than Sabonis all you want. It would be a bad take but by all means, he was an all star and Sabonis was not so run with it.

Its incredible to say my rank is based on nothing. Look at his stats for s sake. Or don't, whatever. Be sure to bump this when NBA teams use the ground breaking tape against Wemby.

[MannyIsGod]

Just going to casually leave this here.

https://www.basketball-reference.com...ed_stats::vorp

[FuzzyLumpkins]

My ranking is based on nothing? lol

My ranking is based on watching more NBA basketball than you my dude; the same guy who thought the NBA figured out Wemby the other night and was scared the tape of that was going to reveal some crazy secret on how to abuse Wemby in the post. Yeah, he didn't make the All Star team this year because they put KAT there in his place. By all means argue KAT is better than Sabonis all you want. It would be a bad take but by all means, he was an all star and Sabonis was not so run with it.

Its incredible to say my rank is based on nothing. Look at his stats for s sake. Or don't, whatever. Be sure to bump this when NBA teams use the ground breaking tape against Wemby.

your basis is a fantasy where the amount of basket ball you claim to have watched and VORP?

You are just flailing. I talked about his post FG% and your brain tells you to say I should look at his stats.

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/pl...D&sort=EFG_PCT

His eFG% out of the post is lesser than Poeltl.

And he did not make the all star team because he was not in the top 13 of his conference. You like story time in your head.

[MannyIsGod]

Sure my dude, I looked at the VORP and BPM rankings because of you and not becaue I routinely check advanced metrics because I’m an avid basketball fan. Definitely just because you pulled a random out of context stat out. And lo and behold the advanced metrics show exactly what I claimed above. Guess I’m just that lucky.

Youre not familiar and you’re now projecting about people going to stats after the case. There’s a reason I made my claim and there’s a reason the stats back it up but by all means continue on with eFG and all star selections over advanced metrics. Can’t wait to see what the next argument is going to be.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Sure my dude, I looked at the VORP and BPM rankings because of you and not becaue I routinely check advanced metrics because I’m an avid basketball fan. Definitely just because you pulled a random out of context stat out. And lo and behold the advanced metrics show exactly what I claimed above. Guess I’m just that lucky.

Youre not familiar and you’re now projecting about people going to stats after the case. There’s a reason I made my claim and there’s a reason the stats back it up but by all means continue on with eFG and all star selections over advanced metrics. Can’t wait to see what the next argument is going to be.

We are talking about Sabonis's ability to score on Wemby in the post.

eFG% out of the post in your brain is out of context but your aggregate stats attempting for comprehension are applicable?

Your attempts at expertise are laughable, Mr. Advanced Stat Wizard.