Wemby’s RIDICULOUS Highlight Spells Trouble For NBA

Wemby’s RIDICULOUS Highlight Spells Trouble For NBA

Victor Wimbeyama figured it out and now the NBA is in big big trouble if that guy stays healthy. Some unreal stuff that he pulled off in the latest Spurs scrimmage. Plus, Zion Williamson, Slim Zion, looking skinny and healthy. Could the Pelicans be a team to watch this season? I’m Trevor Lane. This is the Basketball Bulletin. Make sure you subscribe right here to the channel. Don’t forget to turn on those notifications as well. Uh Donnie WBY, I was going through making a Webby highlight reel and like everything he does is absurd. It does not look natural. It does not look like it should be possible. But this moment should be particularly concerning for the NBA. Watch this. We Luke Cornette. He’s a big dude. If WBY is off the dribble dislodging Luke Cornette like that, jeez. We’re we’re in big. We have to unpack this. Firstly, he takes it the length of the court. Secondly, he hits a hezy right there at about 15 ft and then he pushes Cornet from what 10 feet out to under the basket. Look at Cornette. He winds up under the basket. I mean, this this is very Giannisesque right here, right? Which is terrifying. That that looks a lot like Giannis. So, I put this out on X and I had people in the comments say, “So what? We’ve seen Giannis do that before.” That’s the effing point. That is If We Wy is doing Giannis things and Webby is 8 foot n that’s a problem. That’s a big problem for the league. Frankly, I’ve thought that WBY has kind of let teams uh let teams off a little bit with taking so many threes. if he is and he can hit the three. There’s no question if you look at at the numbers. But you look 90th percentile on the at the rim. Whereas you look at three, he’s more of, you know, it’s a good shot for him to take. It does space things. Weird that he’s in the 39th percentile in corner threes, but 59th on non-corner, shooting a little better above the break. But still, nonetheless, um, it’s a it’s a weapon in his arsenal, but I always thought he tal he took a few too many and kind of let teams off the hook by not just forcing himself into the paint and forcing his will there. If he’s starting to do stuff like that and he adds that element to his game, that power element, he is going to be he’s going to be impossible to stop. I mean, he’s already impossible to stop. You’re not guarding this dude at all right now. You see, supposedly he grew an inch, so there’s that. Um, but like I think I think you’re right on the nose when you say that he lets people off the hook. I mean, he takes nine threes a game. Yeah. It’s almost disheartening that a dude is 74 or whatever and he spends so much time on the perimeter. Like it it almost feels like you’re leaving meat on the bone because you know you could get to the rim just a little hook shot and you could make a career a 20 point per game career off just scoring around the rim. Now, I don’t want to I’m not saying that to put him in a box because that’s ultimately what’s going to differentiate him from a guy like Giannis is the the ability to score in the multitude of ways that he’s already showing that he can do. Um, but it’s it just it feels like something is missing there if if a player spends so much time on the perimeter at his size, right? I had to go back to this last move because th this is it exactly like how are you supposed to deal with this if he decides that this is what he wants to do all the time, right? Look at where he dunks from here. This is not with a run. This is not This is not full speed Michael Jordan style jumping from the free throw line. This is off of a pivot. He’s going to leave his feet here and he’s going to dunk this. Like what are you supposed to do with that? That’s the thing. That is the point. If We WBY has figured out that I am now this strong, that he’s getting stronger, this physical, I I think he’s a lock to win defensive player of the year because of how many shots he blocks, almost four blocks per game last season. The negative uh impact he was in the 100th percentile as a shot blocker. The negative impact on opponent’s field goal percentage at the rim is absurd. Yeah. Um, but if he’s figured out the power game offensively, he could legit be I don’t want to get too hyperbolic because we haven’t seen, but we’re talking he could be in the MVP running. Let’s be real. He could be in the MVP running. I mean, he he’s a guy that I would project to from here on to be in MVP and DPO while you’re running probably for the duration of his career. Like, that’s how high his ceiling is. His ceiling is astronomically high. It’s just is he going to be healthy? And that’s the most important thing. Like other than that, I don’t really have any other concerns or questions because obviously he’s going to round out his game. He’s going to get better at the things he does on the perimeter, be become a better uh better ball handler, better shooter. Um and he’s going to get better at finishing around the rim, finishing through contact, all these things as he gets older and his body comes along for the journey, you know, in more ways where he starts to round out his size. Um I’m not so worried about that. It’s just the health. And I really want to make it clear that this guy is every bit the alien as advertised. And if he is able to, like you’re saying, figure out the way to to really enforce his will in a power sense, that’s going to be ridiculous for the league overall because again, that has been what’s made Giannis the nightmare that he is because he was a guy or is still a guy at this point, of course, but he’s a guy that you can’t stop him from getting to his spots. He’s going to locomotive down and he’s going to go the full length of the court, right? We’ve only seen a few guys in in the modern NBA that are really able to do that. And if WBY is able to even be like 75 or 80% of that while having the rest of the skills that he has, he’s going to be such an offensive terror overall. So, I I think that he is well on his way. And I like I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t like handing him stuff a little too early. I want to see him go out there and earn it, of course. Um because he is so far and away the overwhelming favorite for DPOI, for example, that it’s it’s almost comical, but I want to see him earn it, but I certainly think he can. He’s going to be ridiculous, man. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So, how’s the window in the West? Is it closing for anybody else to to win things? I mean, if WMBBY really has got this figured out, I’m not saying the Spurs are going to be a title contender this year, but I mean, I think the days are numbered where the Spurs and WB and my god, how unfortunate it is that he wound up in the West and with the San Antonio Spurs of all clubs to land there. U, but that is going to be a really tough mountain to climb for uh Western Conference teams and potentially teams in the finals coming up. Uh, all right, let’s talk a little bit about that. Has that wind is that window shutting? is when we figure it out. We’ll get to that right after this. Oh, plus Zion, Slim Zion, doing some absurd things in Australia right now. Ever heard of the Sleeper app? Here’s a little secret. It’s more than just a platform for seasonl long fantasy leagues this year. Millions of users enjoy playing fantasy sports on Sleeper, but the app offers so much more. Live stats, real-time updates, and visualization on all of them. 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So Donnie, does it literally come down to is Wem injured or not in terms of whether or not the the defensive player of the year is even available? Oh yeah, and for the next number of years, unless some fatigue sets in, he’s just going to hold on to it. I think like I I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins if he’s healthy like, you know, three, four in a row, maybe a gap year, and then gets back to winning another couple. Like I I wouldn’t be like a voter fatigue year. Yeah. like unless there’s something like that I can and and it’s like it’s kind of hard to say these things because it almost feels like it’s overhyping you know the prospect here but I think the key thing is that he is still going to get much better he’s still very young and so when when you already see him have such control on that specifically in terms of like odds already it’s hard to imagine anyone else coming in and usurping that from him uh overall I I wanted to say really quick though, like just on this initial play that we were reacting to, was that offensive or what? I’ve got people in the comments saying it’s an offensive. I’m of the mind that like I mean it could be. The arm comes a little bit away, but my god. Yeah, I mean I guess here does the does the arm come up there off? Yeah, he he he Yeah, it comes up a little but it wasn’t a full It’s not like he hit him with the point of the elbow. The fun police jump in and and want to, you know, put a stop to this. I’m not going to do that because by the same vein like Giannis gets away with that got away with that for like 15 years you know whatever like I’m not really calling that personally but you know he just the sheer fact and Luke is not a small dude either like but he but WBY is a giant amongst giants and he makes big dudes like Luke who’s a sevenfooter look small dude it looks like it’s a wing that he’s dunking on he’s he makes him look tiny I don’t know if you’ve seen the side by side of him like next to KD who is a legit seven footer as well. He just looks tiny next to him. So WBY is a giant amongst giants. But really what it is is that he’s just so thin framed that it that’s what makes this surprising to see uh that he’s starting to add that power and physicality to his game. The sheer fact he came out here and did that in like a scrimmage is is ridiculous. So unbelievable. Unbelievable. All right. Another ridiculously talented player in the in the Western Conference that fingers crossed. I, you know, given the injury history that he’s got, I hope that we finally get a healthy season from Zion Williamson because right now, now take it all with a grain of salt. They are playing in Australia in preseason. So, these are not NBA teams they’re playing against. But look at the way Zion is moving out here. This is a a slim down version of Zion Williamson. And if you see the the fluidity that he’s moving with, the quickness, he was always been surprisingly quick given his size and his strength. He is so explosive out there and if the weight loss allows him to stay I mean look at how much skinnier he is. If the weight loss allows him to stay on the court that I’m not projecting the Pelicans are going to be a playoff team or anything like that but this makes them a much more difficult club to deal with on a night in night out basis if they’ve got this Zion Williamson and if if I know we’ve been saying it for years but if he could stay on the floor he is a differencemaker. There he is getting a steal right there turning it into transition points. He is absolutely phenomenal. Yeah, for sure. Right. You’d have to hope that, you know, the lessened load that ridiculous. The lessened load on his joints from him losing legitimate weight will help keep him healthy. Um, and we’re not showing it here, but there’s some like shirtless images of Zion. And he actually is in great shape. Like, he looks really good. Wasn’t he fat like three weeks ago? Like there were pictures of him that that looked I mean, maybe fat is a little insensitive, but a bit he was a bit overweight. Let’s say of them that were going around like three weeks ago and he didn’t like this was all this is like a a UFC style weight cutting plan he must have been on or something because that weight came off fast. He went on uh he went on the OMIC and what that does is it makes you not have not hungry at all. So you just don’t eat and so you just drop. So Zion has not eaten for three weeks. That’s what you’re saying. No, I don’t obviously I don’t know exactly what he did but he looks he looks like he’s in great shape right now. um and probably the best shape I’ve seen him in. And he said that he he feels like his younger self, this and that. So, I think that uh he may actually be able to do it this year. It’s funny though because isn’t it also by extension a contract year for Zion? Uh is it? Cuz isn’t he extension eligible and then the other years after this are the ones where they’re not even guaranteed, I believe. Let me look. I I’ll pull that up right now. Um it it very well might be. Let me see. Uh yeah. No, I mean they’re non-G guaranteed years. He is extension eligible, but yeah, $0 guaranteed. He’s got the weird contract. The weirdest in the NBA. Yeah. Where here and I’ll even put it up. This is And this is how much of a risk and this is why he’s in great shape. That’s my point though. It’s like he’s like, you know, I I got to get this money. So So you think this is just contract? So So here’s the deal. is his contract for this season becomes guaranteed due to a games played clause. Uh but guaranteed seasons become non- guar I’m sorry become non-g guaranteed due to games played clause. Um he his contract becomes fully guaranteed January 7th of this year. Otherwise it’s 50% guaranteed. Here’s the triggers for for it. 20% of his salary for this season becomes guaranteed if he passes all six of his weigh-in checkpoints during the 2425 season. I would assume he did otherwise we would have heard something about that. And then so he gets weighed at six different times throughout the season and he has to meet weight criteria. Then 40% of his salary becomes guaranteed if he plays more than 41 games becomes more guaranteed and he gets an additional 20% guaranteed. Remember, guarant non-G guaranteed doesn’t mean he’s not getting the money, by the way. It’s not like he doesn’t hit these and he doesn’t get the money. It just means if they waved him, they wouldn’t owe him um that money. They they could wave him and move on from that salary. But an additional 20% becomes guaranteed if he plays more than 51 games and the remaining 20% becomes guaranteed if he plays more than 61 games. Even then, let’s say he played 60 games. Are the Pelicans going to say, “Oh, nope. You didn’t play pay 60%. We’re gonna cut you. We’re going to pay you 80% of your salary.” and we’re going to keep the remaining 20%. No, probably not. So, I think that’s important to keep in mind with this. But still, this is a lot of protections in here for Zion Williamson. Clearly, the the Pelicans didn’t trust him to stay in shape or stay on the floor or they tried to protect themselves against those things ending in a disastrous way. I mean, we got a pro alete number one overall pick getting fat checks. So, like that’s that’s kind of crazy like in and of itself. But yeah, I I think I think the most important thing with Zion, you know, we heard with Luca, JJ was saying like, you know, this is just a lifestyle. And obviously, we need to get a couple years from now and see if that round up being true with Luca. Um, but I think the most important thing is that it’s not just a phase. Like, you need to make this your identity. This needs to be your lifestyle that you’re going to be in shape. And whether that means that you’ll be able to hit 60 plus games, 70 games, or or if you’re going to continue to be injuryprone, who knows? But I think that this is a great baseline for him. And he’s another guy that’s very clearly a superstar caliber player, right? So So Donnie, you said something. You said that, you know, he’s a How ridiculous is that he’s a professional athlete that that’s got these things in his in his contract. Mhm. When he shows up, does that is it upsetting? Like when And I I think the conversation should probably be the same with Luca if we’re being fair here. For sure. Like if a guy shows up in this kind of shape the way Luca showed up in this kind of shape. Is that you know, yay, praise, all right, get excited, he could actually do this. Or does that piss you off more that why haven’t you been doing this the whole time? Right. This is all just diet. A little bit of both. Yeah, it’s it’s all just mostly just diet for these guys and what they’re eating off the court, right? And so in that case, then yeah, certainly it is a little bit annoying when you see most of the other guys make sure that they maintain good health and uh or good diets and eating habits, I should say, and and obviously don’t put on a bunch of excess fat and then some of the other guys put on that weight, right? And and it it’s a little bit more disheartening in the sense that you see what they can be even with that weight. Yeah. And so it’s like you’re not even playing to your potential because if you dropped this weight, you’d be everything you are now but more, right? So at least in theory anyway. So like I think that’s more another part of it too. But for Zion for sure, I just have to wonder if how much of his like injuries have come as a result of that with the way that he plays, how exploit like it’s a that’s the main thing that’s different with him or in a guy like Luca. um is that Luca is very floor bound, not reliant on athleticism. Like the way Zion plays, you’d have to imagine that factors more because Luca was still able to kill the league as quote unquote fat Luca and be healthy. Yeah. Zion’s getting hurt every season and then and obviously if he’s this skinny now, clearly was not doing everything he could. Yeah. To stay on the floor over the last few years cuz he could have done this this entire time. Yeah. It just the urgency didn’t set in for him. this is this is diet, this is commitment, this is, you know, all all of those things. And that’s that’s where stuff like this I mean, God, look at how much skinnier he is. It’s unbelievable. But, uh, that’s where it can be frustrating for fans, for Pelicans fans, for NBA fans who want to see Zion be be great, um, that he hasn’t. Now, at the same time, same token, hey, hopefully he’s learned his lesson. Now, we’re going to see skinny Zion. And, and I can’t complain too much on the Lucas side because he wound up on our Lakers, you I mean, we’ll we’ll take that. And now Anthony Davis has put on 15 pounds as soon as he winds up in Texas. The irony is dripping. I don’t I don’t know. I just on that thing where like we were talking about this a little bit yesterday. AD said that he likes to put on some weight because going into the season he loses weight, but like okay, that makes no sense to me like logically because if that’s the way he does things and he came into camp last season at 250, right? Um it that means that he lost 10 to 12 lbs in game uh shape or in game play, excuse me, during the season. He drops to like the 240 area and here he is reporting to camp at 268. Like what what is happening here? That doesn’t even make any sense. Does he just stop losing weight at 250? Is that it? Like especially given the context of you finally he’s been asking for years to be able to play power forward. He finally gets to do it and now he bulks up. Yeah. Now, out of of all times to bulk up, like the last few years, do it. You’re going to be playing the center spot a ton. We knew that, right? The last few years, bulk up. Put on the weight. Put on some muscle. Let’s go. That’s fine. Right now, he finally gets the chance to do what he’s been asking to do for years and he puts on 15 pounds. It It makes no sense. It makes no sense. Maybe he’s somebody where his his body likes to be around 250. So, that’s the one where you could poke a hole in in my theory. like it doesn’t make much sense. Maybe he stops losing weight around like 249, 250 in that range and that’s I mean he was smaller than that earlier in his career, but maybe now his body with the amount of muscle he holds. It’s not like he was playing at 235 or something last year. It’s not like he reported at 250 and dropped 15 pounds mid-season last year and was playing at 235. That definitely didn’t happen. See, that’s my point though. But like that’s that’s what he’s explaining here, though. He’s at 268. He says, “Oh, I lose like 10 to 12 pounds in in, you know, in the season.” So I’m okay. Well, does that not always happen or are you just expecting that to happen this year? Yeah. Why are we expecting that to happen when clearly that didn’t happen last season? I don’t know. But yeah, anyway, this this summer’s been all about the shape guys are in and uh guys going both directions. But on Zion, I think that uh like I said earlier, he’s clearly a guy we’ve we’ve said it so many times, he’s clearly a guy that could be one of the best players in this league if he’s just healthy, right? and and I think that if he’s able to put together some healthy seasons, they’re able to really see what they have with him, put a roster around him, I think they could be pretty good. It’s just the West is just, man. So, I don’t know. Ultimately, it’s going to take some great roster building and and superstar play, of course, from Zion, but I think if he’s healthy, he’s up to it. And we just need to see it, right? He’s lost the weight now. We need to see him keep the weight off. We need to see him put together a run for a couple years where he’s healthy. And back to Wemi, same deal. Um he we need to see him really be healthy and stay healthy because that’s the most important thing for him as well. Absolutely. Absolutely. Knock on wood, we’ve seen too many injuries already. Stay healthy. All right, everybody. Give us your thoughts in the comment section about WBY. Has he figured out the physical side of the game, the power side of his game, and how much of a problem is that going to be for the rest of the NBA? Zion Williamson, can he stay healthy? And is it annoying that these guys are suddenly slimmed down when they could have been doing this the whole time? Give me your thoughts in the comment section down below. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel. Till next time, see you and stay safe.

In this video Trevor Lane and Donnie Freeman discuss a significant change in Victor Wembanyama and why it’s trouble for the rest of the league, plus the slimmed-down Zion Williamson looks fantastic…

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