Before Victor: The BV Year and Outlook
By now almost every basketball fan knows who Victor Wembanyama is if they pay attention to the NBA. Simply type the first three letters ………..Vic…..into your Google search and his name will appear. The young man is 19 years old. He will certainly be the number one choice in this year’s NBA draft. He stands a legitimate 7’4″.
Folks are still creating adjectives and nicknames to give Wembanyama, and sincerely it is up to him to decide how he should be addressed. However, here is one prediction that I believe will legitimately occur over the next few years, the creation of the term BV in the NBA.
Wembanyama’s impact offensively and defensively will change the NBA. He is likely to take on a number 4 role positionally while playing offense the first few years, and will certainly be used as a center on defense.
He can handle the ball and shoot from outside. Wembanyama’s ability to dribble in traffic allows him greater mobility to drive towards the hoop. He can clearly cause chaos in the paint offensively with a threat of dunks, put backs and rebounding. He is an effective passer when distributing the ‘rock’ to his teammates.
He will immediately make other teams change the way they attack and play offensively against him. The game of basketball has evolved into one that looks for open space, and shots from the outside dominate. One consideration is that teams may go into a hyper induced outside game in which they try to put four guys (maybe five) outside of the three point circle. This to try and keep VW away from the ball as much as possible as he plays defense, attempting to get him out of position.
Anybody with the ball inside of the arc has the potential to have their shot blocked by VW. Wembanyama’s closing speed, getting to an offensive player considering a shot, is almost always one step away. Meaning he can quickly attack, extend his arms, and either block an attempted shot or simply make a player change his mind and stop the motion of the offensive scheme.
Wembanyama is not God, but he can be a basketball god if he stays healthy. You have been warned. He is doing well in European basketball which has a smaller court, and more grabbing and pushing compared to the NBA. Whoever has the luck to draft Wembanyama likely has a generational player. The magic within all of this is the fact the young man seems to be genuinely a good person.
In this year of BV – Before Victor – basketball the East looks like it has three teams that can make a run towards the Championship round including the Bucks, Celtics and 76er’s. The West is full of teams with question marks regarding health and the ability to coalesce into competing units. Phoenix and Denver are the favorites, but potential problems lurk on both teams.
In the Western shadows looms Memphis which is being compared to the ‘Bad Boys’ of Detroit from the 1980’s, but the Grizzlies need to win something first. Due to their ‘talking’ and desire to try and intimidate folks – it would help if they actually won something significant and advanced to at least the Western Championships this year, which they likely won’t. Ja Morant has plenty of talent, all-world, but he also has put a target on the back of his team by talking a lot of smack.
Perhaps more interesting than the Championship run which is developing, is the race to the bottom in order to get into the NBA Draft lottery for the chance to take Victor Wembanyama. Because it is likely that the winner via percentages of probability, that one of the worst performing 5 teams will get the opportunity to change franchise history. How good is VW? Whoever gets him is likely landing an all-star during the 2023-2024 season, a giant marketing tool worth hundreds of millions USD, while creating global brand for a club and the ability to make playoff runs very quickly of stature.
