Wembanyama, Holmgren look to ring in NBA’s new era of bigs | No Cap Room
Yahoo Sports NBA writers Dan Devine and Jake Fischer give their takeaways from the first meeting of the young star for the Spurs and Thunder. Hear the full conversation on “No Cap Room” - part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
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DAN DEVINE: The things that stood out to me, one-- and this is where we get right back into my dad stuff. It might be a budding rivalry. Neither one of those guys might want to deal with it too much. But if Victor Wembanyama is going to headbutt dudes as he dunks on them, then maybe more people will not be thrilled about it.
Chet Holmgren certainly didn't seem to be thrilled about it. He made a point of calling it out on social media after the fact, when accounts were like, oh, man, Wemby with the and 1. And Chet was like, yeah, a headbutt's a pretty unstoppable move. Certainly many wrestlers of my lifetime would agree.
But the more that there's actual physical conflict that could lead to actual animosity-- the bigger thing, though, is we've kind of been waiting-- so Chet Holmgren comes in a year ahead of Wembanyama. Everybody spent all last season wondering-- waiting for what Wembanyama's arrival would look like.
The point of these guys arriving in the NBA is, it's not just a stretch four, it's not just-- or sorry, stretch five. It's not just a unicorn. These guys are-- can pull-up shoot. These guys can-- it's not just running off of pindowns. It's also all of the action that you can do around them.
It's them being able to face up and go off the dribble. The continued evolution of the size and skill game is what these two dudes represent. And yeah, they're string beans. And yeah, they're going to have some hard times against the burlier fives that they got to deal with.
Wembanyama is going to be playing the four, it looks like primarily, next to Zach Collins or Charles Bassey. There's a lot to still figure out. But you saw in that first half, this is what the future holds. This is what the idea is.
It was wings that could switch everything. It was bigs who could shoot. It was guys who could protect the rim. Now it's bigs who can do everything.
And I don't know if we're going to have a run on that, and there's going to be-- in 10 years, there's going to be one on every team. But these guys, the promise that they hold is, this is the beginning of a new evolution in terms of what you look for in the league. And I think there's a reason why people are so excited about that.
JAKE FISCHER: The final stat lines for each gigantic young man, 19 minutes for Victor Wembanyama, 20 points, 5 boards, 2 steals, 1 block. Chet came in at 16 minutes, 21 points, 9 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist.
I think also, what's going to be most interesting is how these guys-- everyone's going to talk about the offense. It's the defensive side for me.
DAN DEVINE: Absolutely.
JAKE FISCHER: The Spurs, as you mentioned with the Zach Collins, Charles Bassey of it all, they are intentionally starting Victor at the 4 next to another five man, similar to how the Grizzlies use Jaren Jackson, in a way that will probably boost these guys' gaudy helpside block numbers.
DAN DEVINE: Or Giannis next to Brook in Milwaukee too. Yeah, having that rover--
JAKE FISCHER: Exactly. I do wonder, the sustainability of that long-term, just with-- we've seen certain teams struggle. I mean, hello, Minnesota Timberwolves, obviously the health and whatever, but struggled to fit those two types of bodies on the court at the same time, even Cleveland with Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.