VW = ? (Rookie Season Thread)

[SNPA]

I see a lot of Durant + Gobert comps.

Read on Twitter

The move at 1:35…jaw dropping. No one has ever seen anything like it and that’s not the only play of that variety.

[MyUniBroDavis]

I view him as a guy who if he’s healthy throughout his entire career I’d be disappointed if he isn’t at least top ten all time

He’s got the highest ceiling ever, but on the offwnsive end in particular it’s more that he may not each it for awhile if he does at all but I think it’s dumb that some people are trying to be too smart and saying he can’t be the best offensive player in the league one day

Defensively he’s a GOAT tier prospect, in an absolute sense if he ends up fulfilling all of his potential and ends up having the best defensive peak ever dont think it would surprise too many people

The Wemby discourse on here is interesting because people are basically changing the definition of ceiling from it being what a player could maximally achieve unless something unforeseen happens to just what they think he might do if stuff goes pretty well, because wembys ceiling literally kills the GOAT debate lmao

If he’s healthy, I think he’ll be a top 30-40 player year 1, and it’ll take till year 3 or 4 for him to be MVP level if it happens



Wemby is interesting because you can clearly see how he’d be this unstoppable force of nature that spanks Jordan or bron or whoever you have as the GOAT while at the same time even without injuries you can see how he’d be a bust as well

[SNPA]

I view him as a guy who if he’s healthy throughout his entire career I’d be disappointed if he isn’t at least top ten all time

He’s got the highest ceiling ever, offensively it’s more that he may not each it for awhile if he does at all but I think it’s dumb that some people are trying to be too smart and saying he can’t be the best offensive player in the league one day

Defensively he’s a GOAT tier prospect, in an absolute sense if he ends up fulfilling all of his potential and ends up having the best defensive peak ever dont think it would surprise too many people

The Wemby discourse on here is interesting because people are basically changing the definition of ceiling from it being what a player could maximally achieve unless something unforeseen happens to just what they think he might do if stuff goes pretty well, because wembys ceiling literally kills the GOAT debate lmao

If he’s healthy, I think he’ll be a top 30-40 player year 1, and it’ll take till year 3 or 4 for him to be MVP level if it happens



Wemby is interesting because you can clearly see how he’d be this unstoppable force of nature that spanks Jordan or bron or whoever you have as the GOAT while at the same time even without injuries you can see how he’d be a bust as well

I agree with most except the timeframe to be MVP. I think he has a real chance at ROY/DPOY and MVP. Having stated that, if he is at that level I think voters for MVP will be hesitant to vote for him for a variety of reasons (I won’t agree with).

That highlight reel is of a 19yr old playing against NBA talent for the first time. He only gets better. Which is unbelievable considering some of the highlights are never before seem types. I saw video of the Mavs practicing with arm extensions to mimick VW. He’s changed the way teams practice…he hasn’t played a regular season game yet.

[MyUniBroDavis]

I view him as a guy who if he’s healthy throughout his entire career I’d be disappointed if he isn’t at least top ten all time

He’s got the highest ceiling ever, offensively it’s more that he may not each it for awhile if he does at all but I think it’s dumb that some people are trying to be too smart and saying he can’t be the best offensive player in the league one day

Defensively he’s a GOAT tier prospect, in an absolute sense if he ends up fulfilling all of his potential and ends up having the best defensive peak ever dont think it would surprise too many people

The Wemby discourse on here is interesting because people are basically changing the definition of ceiling from it being what a player could maximally achieve unless something unforeseen happens to just what they think he might do if stuff goes pretty well, because wembys ceiling literally kills the GOAT debate lmao

If he’s healthy, I think he’ll be a top 30-40 player year 1, and it’ll take till year 3 or 4 for him to be MVP level if it happens



Wemby is interesting because you can clearly see how he’d be this unstoppable force of nature that spanks Jordan or bron or whoever you have as the GOAT while at the same time even without injuries you can see how he’d be a bust as well

I agree with most except the timeframe to be MVP. I think he has a real chance at ROY/DPOY and MVP. Having stated that, if he is at that level I think voters for MVP will be hesitant to vote for him for a variety of reasons (I won’t agree with).
That highlight reel is of a 19yr old playing against NBA talent for the first time. He only gets better. Which is unbelievable considering some of the highlights are never before seem types. I saw video of the Mavs practicing with arm extensions to mimick VW. He’s changed the way teams practice…he hasn’t played a regular season game yet.

That’s not because of Wemby it was probably a joke if an account said that, teams use those already

He’s a bit more raw that some other guys are, and his three point shooting is still suspect as is some of his decision making, offensively at least there are gonna be some hiccups that people are gonna overblow, but his passing is a lot better than I thought

Some people assume he’s like a 7ft4 KD which isn’t really true, in some aspects the fluidity is there although not quite as much but obviously any human being whose picked up a basketball before knows a 7ft4 KD is the GOAT offensive player, but we don’t really know if Wemby is a good shooter yet and offensively it’s How his absurd fluidity and frame translates into his post and one on one offense, or how that continues to develop

[SNPA]

The Gobert part is the weaker IMO. VW is a lot better in space. He’s more akin to KG.

[Texas Chuck]

Oh boy its going to be AD all over again. We had a lot of posters here saying AD was going to be the GOAT after his rookie year and well look how silly that looks right now. We need to slow down. The possibilities are intriguing of course, but let the guy actually play a bit first. And we certainly shouldn't be assuming health. We should be assuming bad health because that's what history tells us.

I mean did we learn nothing from how excited some of you were on Zion? And he's barely played since his one real season. Freakish, unique body types aren't actually ideal IRL very often.

I hope he's healthy and great. But man its way too soon for these projections.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Oh boy its going to be AD all over again. We had a lot of posters here saying AD was going to be the GOAT after his rookie year and well look how silly that looks right now. We need to slow down. The possibilities are intriguing of course, but let the guy actually play a bit first. And we certainly shouldn't be assuming health. We should be assuming bad health because that's what history tells us.

I mean did we learn nothing from how excited some of you were on Zion? And he's barely played since his one real season. Freakish, unique body types aren't actually ideal IRL very often.

I hope he's healthy and great. But man its way too soon for these projections.

Not a single human being said that about AD after his first year

People were saying that after his third year because his pace was crazy (I was a huge believer in this because I was like 14) and a bunch of stuff happened

I assume we’re assuming if healthy because it’s lame as hell to be like “yeah let’s not talk about what he can be because hell prolly get hurt so who cares lol”

Zion issue has been more how horrible of a job he’s done taking care of his body I think, it’s crazy how much slower he looked even in year 2 compared to in college

[SNPA]

Oh boy its going to be AD all over again. We had a lot of posters here saying AD was going to be the GOAT after his rookie year and well look how silly that looks right now. We need to slow down. The possibilities are intriguing of course, but let the guy actually play a bit first. And we certainly shouldn't be assuming health. We should be assuming bad health because that's what history tells us.

I mean did we learn nothing from how excited some of you were on Zion? And he's barely played since his one real season. Freakish, unique body types aren't actually ideal IRL very often.

I hope he's healthy and great. But man its way too soon for these projections.

It’s all caveated with health. But he moves really well and isn’t to heavy for his frame. He is also twice the prospect Zion was IMO. If I knew I’d get a career long healthy and engaged Zion or VW with no guarantees…easy call. It could be two Zions, still easy. This kid is next level

[Texas Chuck]

Not a single human being said that about AD after his first year

People were saying that after his third year because his pace was crazy (I was a huge believer in this because I was like 14) and a bunch of stuff happened

I assume we’re assuming if healthy because it’s lame as hell to be like “yeah let’s not talk about what he can be because hell prolly get hurt so who cares lol”

Zion issue has been more how horrible of a job he’s done taking care of his body I think, it’s crazy how much slower he looked even in year 2 compared to in college

Oh it was worse later with AD, but we were already hearing it after his rookie year I promise. Because the idea was he was going to be a rim protecting KG defensively but be a tick below offensively. Then he looked better offensively than expected and people ignored the defense was worse than expected and just stuck to that same projection.

I think its fine if you want to assume health, but its worth saying history tells the other is more realistic. Not sure why acknowledging that is more lame than ignoring it, but okay my kids tell me all the time I'm lame so you ain't wrong there lol....

[MyUniBroDavis]

Not a single human being said that about AD after his first year

People were saying that after his third year because his pace was crazy (I was a huge believer in this because I was like 14) and a bunch of stuff happened

I assume we’re assuming if healthy because it’s lame as hell to be like “yeah let’s not talk about what he can be because hell prolly get hurt so who cares lol”

Zion issue has been more how horrible of a job he’s done taking care of his body I think, it’s crazy how much slower he looked even in year 2 compared to in college

Oh it was worse later with AD, but we were already hearing it after his rookie year I promise. Because the idea was he was going to be a rim protecting KG defensively but be a tick below offensively. Then he looked better offensively than expected and people ignored the defense was worse than expected and just stuck to that same projection.

I think its fine if you want to assume health, but its worth saying history tells the other is more realistic. Not sure why acknowledging that is more lame than ignoring it, but okay my kids tell me all the time I'm lame so you ain't wrong there lol....

I don’t remember rookie AD being that hyped up, 3rd year AD genuinely was in a crazy pace then gentry made him a post back to basket guy and they tried to take away what made him good and made him gain way too much weight, then he tore his shooting shoulder and shot poorly ever since

Because when talking about teenage prospects playing basketball it’s a lot more fun to talk about what they can be instead of dismissively saying they’re prolly gonna be crippled by their third year lol

[MyUniBroDavis]

Oh boy its going to be AD all over again. We had a lot of posters here saying AD was going to be the GOAT after his rookie year and well look how silly that looks right now. We need to slow down. The possibilities are intriguing of course, but let the guy actually play a bit first. And we certainly shouldn't be assuming health. We should be assuming bad health because that's what history tells us.

I mean did we learn nothing from how excited some of you were on Zion? And he's barely played since his one real season. Freakish, unique body types aren't actually ideal IRL very often.

I hope he's healthy and great. But man its way too soon for these projections.

It’s all caveated with health. But he moves really well and isn’t to heavy for his frame. He is also twice the prospect Zion was IMO. If I knew I’d get a career long healthy and engaged Zion or VW with no guarantees…easy call. It could be two Zions, still easy. This kid is next level

Wemby is a far better prospect but Tbf on Zion he’s one of the few players that was all-nba caliber when healthy and substantially worse than he was in college lol, I’d be so curious at how good a Zion that took crazy care of his body would look since a worse version of himself was near 30 a game on 60% shooting by the second half of his second year

[Texas Chuck]

Because when talking about teenage prospects playing basketball it’s a lot more fun to talk about what they can be instead of dismissively saying they’re prolly gonna be crippled by their third year lol

I didn't say that. But I do think we shouldn't being making top 10 all-time projections without him having played a minute and the very real health concerns with every player of his height ever.

I'm definitely not trying to kill anyone's fun. For me its fun to be realistic. Its why I'm always bringing in real world considerations to these topics. Because to me dealing in the most realistic(imo obviously, not dictating to anyone else what is most realistic to them) conditions possible is the most enjoyable experience.

I'll bow out here and let the hype commence. I honestly do hope you guys end up right. I love greatness. And admittedly I'm always a skeptic. I was late on Giannis and Curry when people started hyping them up. And the Flavor Flavs and Mars Blackmons were right.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Because when talking about teenage prospects playing basketball it’s a lot more fun to talk about what they can be instead of dismissively saying they’re prolly gonna be crippled by their third year lol

I didn't say that. But I do think we shouldn't being making top 10 all-time projections without him having played a minute and the very real health concerns with every player of his height ever.

I'm definitely not trying to kill anyone's fun. For me its fun to be realistic. Its why I'm always bringing in real world considerations to these topics. Because to me dealing in the most realistic(imo obviously, not dictating to anyone else what is most realistic to them) conditions possible is the most enjoyable experience.

I'll bow out here and let the hype commence. I honestly do hope you guys end up right. I love greatness. And admittedly I'm always a skeptic. I was late on Giannis and Curry when people started hyping them up. And the Flavor Flavs and Mars Blackmons were right.

But that’s why I said if he’s healthy lol

[Colbinii]

Not a single human being said that about AD after his first year

People were saying that after his third year because his pace was crazy (I was a huge believer in this because I was like 14) and a bunch of stuff happened

I assume we’re assuming if healthy because it’s lame as hell to be like “yeah let’s not talk about what he can be because hell prolly get hurt so who cares lol”

Zion issue has been more how horrible of a job he’s done taking care of his body I think, it’s crazy how much slower he looked even in year 2 compared to in college

Oh it was worse later with AD, but we were already hearing it after his rookie year I promise. Because the idea was he was going to be a rim protecting KG defensively but be a tick below offensively. Then he looked better offensively than expected and people ignored the defense was worse than expected and just stuck to that same projection.

I think its fine if you want to assume health, but its worth saying history tells the other is more realistic. Not sure why acknowledging that is more lame than ignoring it, but okay my kids tell me all the time I'm lame so you ain't wrong there lol....

Yeah I don't think AD had quite this hype. Sure, a one-off person but regardless of what hype AD had, it made sense given how great he was in 2015.

The thing here is, Wemby is longer, moves more fluidly and has a much more complete package offensively.

Basically, AD was seen as a Russell-KG Defensive Ceiling (Which, given his level of play in 2020 and 2023, he got 95% of the way there) and Offensively he already exceeded most realistic expectations and is near his ceiling.

However, due to injuries, his career value isn't close to what his actual Peak play has been, which he has matched his ceiling with.

See here for AD Post-NCAA Championship Game, Pre-Rookie season.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1179653&p=31694359&hilit=Anthony+davis+goat#p31694359

[Colbinii]

The crazy thing about Wemby is he matches the fluidity of young KD yet is 5-6 inches taller.

[MyUniBroDavis]

The crazy thing about Wemby is he matches the fluidity of young KD yet is 5-6 inches taller.

Bro turned you into a believer in a preseason he’s generational

[rk2023]

Im probably one of the biggest Wemby fan-guys on the PC Board. That said, I do agree with Texas Chuck to a decent extent. Unsure how I’d put a ‘top X’ or ‘current gen respawn of Player Y on Defense and Player Z on Offense’ until I can see some of his macro/micro skillsets and their development over a longer and more sustainable sample.

That said once again, I’ve been very impressed from some of the flashes I have seen throughout preseason. I think his offensive process will only get better over time and with better perimeter talent alongside, but that’s one area I’m very curious to see in the NBA / hope is generally improved.

[zimpy27]

I think he could be MVP-level as soon as next season. Spurs need to build quick.

I also think that's hes going to pick up some lower leg injuries and this fluid big we see now will only last a few seasons. He will still be a top tier player though.

[The Master]

Yeah I don't think AD had quite this hype. Sure, a one-off person but regardless of what hype AD had, it made sense given how great he was in 2015.

The thing here is, Wemby is longer, moves more fluidly and has a much more complete package offensively.

Basically, AD was seen as a Russell-KG Defensive Ceiling (Which, given his level of play in 2020 and 2023, he got 95% of the way there) and Offensively he already exceeded most realistic expectations and is near his ceiling.

However, due to injuries, his career value isn't close to what his actual Peak play has been, which he has matched his ceiling with.

See here for AD Post-NCAA Championship Game, Pre-Rookie season.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1179653&p=31694359&hilit=Anthony+davis+goat#p31694359

Davis had enormous hype after his college career and it is correct to say he didn't meet his hype, especially on a defensive end. I mean, he's one of the best defensive players of his generation, but not once in a generation type of defender he was considered to become. His rookie year was pretty underwhelming though, so it's weird to say that he was hyped after his 1st year, it was before his rookie season and after his 3rd season when he was hyped the most.

But I don't think Davis being ~top40 best player of alltime is a knock on him or ''hold your horses'' argument on Wembanyama. I mean, I can agree that ADs upside was bigger than his prime/durability (and it will be hard to change this trajectory), but AD being top40 best player ever (I think he'll reach this threshold easily barring heavy injuries) is an equivalent for Wemby being a KG/Kobe level of player vs pre-draft hype.

AD is a fair comp though health wise, because he's a decent example how one's career value can shrink even without any season-ending heavy injuries.

Regardless, I'm pretty sure we will witness the second greatest season by 19/20yo in the history besides LeBron this year (he was a soph tho).

[LukaTheGOAT]

I view him as a guy who if he’s healthy throughout his entire career I’d be disappointed if he isn’t at least top ten all time

He’s got the highest ceiling ever, offensively it’s more that he may not each it for awhile if he does at all but I think it’s dumb that some people are trying to be too smart and saying he [b]can’t be the best offensive player in the league one day [/b]

Defensively he’s a GOAT tier prospect, in an absolute sense if he ends up fulfilling all of his potential and ends up having the best defensive peak ever dont think it would surprise too many people

The Wemby discourse on here is interesting because people are basically changing the definition of ceiling from it being what a player could maximally achieve unless something unforeseen happens to just what they think he might do if stuff goes pretty well, because wembys ceiling literally kills the GOAT debate lmao

If he’s healthy, I think he’ll be a top 30-40 player year 1, and it’ll take till year 3 or 4 for him to be MVP level if it happens



Wemby is interesting because you can clearly see how he’d be this unstoppable force of nature that spanks Jordan or bron or whoever you have as the GOAT while at the same time even without injuries you can see how he’d be a bust as well

Or we just don't think he will pressure the rim on the perimeter enough to be the best offensively.