Will anyone beat out Victor Wembanyama for Rookie of the Year? | Devine Intervention
Yahoo Sports Senior NBA writer Dan Devine and Ben Golliver of the Washington Post explain why it will be hard to beat out the San Antonio forward this awards season. Hear the full conversation on “Devine Intervention” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
BEN GOLLIVER: I think at mid-season, the big debate for me was Wemby over Chet. And I was still on Chet mid-season because he had played--
DAN DEVINE: Yeah, same.
BEN GOLLIVER: --so many more minutes. To me, that has flipped. I think that there's going to be some segment that say, hey, look, winning has to factor in here. Chet's been a massive part offensively and defensively of one of the best teams in the league. He deserves credit for that. And he's trying to play all 82 games, coming off of a redshirt year. That's pretty insane from Chet, so he's got a real case there.
But I think Wemby has solidly answered the bell in terms of being the Rookie of the Year. And you look at just the base numbers, 20, 10, and 3 blocks. He's the first player to do that in the NBA since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000. Are you kidding me? That's not like the first rookie to do it, the first guy under 25 to do it. The first player to do it in basically 25 years. So I don't know how you look past that.
That actually left me-- and this is pretty nerdy-- but third place on the Rookie of the Year ballot. I really don't respect a team like the Charlotte Hornets. They're not really an NBA team this season. So it's like, are we just going to say Brandon Miller, we're going to give you a Purple Heart for your courage? And you were out there every single night, putting up big numbers. You get third place. Presumably, you have Wemby one, Chet two. Where did you land third for Rookie of the Year?
DAN DEVINE: My sense is it probably will be Miller for the purpose of you had to shoulder a number-one load in a way that probably other people didn't. And then ahead of schedule on defense, too, which is difficult for a rookie wing. But yeah, I mean, if your argument there-- there will be people from Miami saying Jaime Jaquez Jr. had to play major starter's minutes on a team that was ravaged by injuries all season long. He deserves consideration in that discussion.
Also, I just looked back because it blew my mind. Wembanyama, they've won his minutes for the last 41 games. Going back to January 1, I think, they're plus 29 with him on the floor. So one of the worst teams we've seen in a very long time wins when he's on the floor, which there's something to be said for that.
BEN GOLLIVER: Well, and you've seen the on/off splits with him defensively, where it's like basically the worst to the best as soon as he steps on the court. And that's a pretty common thread for guys who win Defensive Player of the Year or in MVP conversations over these last years. You get those huge swings. And I think there's a really good chance he could win more career Defensive Player of the Year awards than Gobert, which is pretty wild because Gobert is probably about to win his fourth.
I also think there is a case in a vacuum, last three months of the season, he is just the best defensive player in the NBA or the highest-impact defensive player in the NBA. You know, I do my top 100. I don't want to scoop myself.
DAN DEVINE: Sure.
BEN GOLLIVER: There's a really good chance he lands in the top ten next year. And I don't think I've ever had a second-year player in the top 25, and I've been doing it more than a decade. He could be on the fringe of the MVP conversation next year if they make some modest improvements around him this summer, like Houston made a jump, even if they don't spend as much money as Houston made.
