Topics
• Article 1 — Are we setting Victor Wembanyama up for failure?
• Article 2 — Stop comparing every tall player that can shoot 3s to Kevin Durant
• NBA Draft Question of the Week
Are we setting Victor Wembanyama up for failure?
Victor Wembanyama is one of the most hyped up draft prospects since Lebron James back in 2003. He has countless highlight reels that show his crazy agility and shot creator for a 7”5 center. There is no doubt in anyone’s minds that he is going to be the 1st overall pick on draft night. Here is the question I have been asking myself recently: are we setting Victor Wembanyama up for failure? Don’t misunderstand me here, Victor is an incredible basketball prospect. I have no doubts that he can be a star in the NBA. What I worry though is that our expectations for what Victor can do once he gets into the NBA are way too high. I’ve seen people say Victor will make an All-NBA team IN HIS ROOKIE SEASON. I don’t think people understand how ridiculously good Victor would have to be in his rookie season to reach that level, especially with the amount of talent in the NBA. Now not everything is going to expect him to be that good right away, but I am still worried that if Victor isn’t incredible in his rookie season, or he doesn’t develop as quickly as people seem to think he can, he will soon be labeled as a bust or disappointing, when in reality is is nearly impossible for any rookie basketball player ever to meet some of the expectations that people have for Victor Wembanyama. I’m not saying Victor can’t be that good right away, but it would be pretty freaking impressive if Victor is able to completely and totally meet the year 1 expectations he is receiving. So here is my hope for the basketball world. Please do still recognize Victor as an incredible talent with so much potential, but don’t have so ridiculously high expectations for him that anything less than a perfect start to his career will be disappointing for you.
Stop comparing every tall player that can shoot 3s to Kevin Durant
This is something that truly infuriates me. It’s is almost impossible to look at draft big boards these days without finding someone compare a taller prospect who can shoot 3s to Kevin Durant. Recent examples of this would be Jabari Smith Jr, Victor Wembanyama, and even Brandon Miller. Just stop it guys. The only basketball prospect since Kevin Durant came into the NBA that you can compare to him is Kevin Durant himself. The absolute closest thing to him is probably Brandon Ingram, and even then he had become his own player in the NBA and not Kevin Durant. Just because someone is around the height of 6”10 or taller and they can shoot 3s does not mean they are Kevin Durant. I will go over those recent examples I listed. Jabari Smith Jr was compared to Durant a lot during college, and just no. Jabari doesn’t come anywhere even remotely close to having the shot creation level that Kevin Durant had when he was in college. Victor Wembanyama this year has been getting compared to Durant. NO! Yes he possesses shot creation ability, but is nowhere even close to the difficult shot maker and passer that Kevin Durant is. Brandon Miller has even been compared to Durant by some people I’ve seen. NO NO NO! Brandon doesn’t touch the elite inside the arch scoring that Durant has. I’m not saying these guys are bad players. All three of them are really good basketball players! They just get compared to Durant when in reality they are not even close to him. The only way you can even make an argument to compare these guys to Durant is their frame, and that’s it. Durant easily tops them in just about every other area. Kevin Durant is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and is very much up there when we just talk about pure shot creation and scoring ability. I have yet to come across a draft prospect, or even a current NBA player that comes anywhere close to Durant as that. College Kevin Durant is miles better than any of these guys that are compared to Durant. HIGHSCHOOL Kevin Durant is probably miles better than any of these guys that are being compared to Durant as a shot creator and 3-point shooter. So please stop comparing every tall guy who shoots 3s to Durant and realize that Durant is one of the greatest scorers/shot creators in NBA history, and no one else on this planet is like him, other than somewhat comparable frames. If your going to compare a prospect to Durant, then that prospect better be an freaking amazing shot creator, scorer from all 3 levels, good playmaker, and good defensive player. Find a player that is like that, then we can talk. Even then, it’s still incredible difficult to compare that prospect to Durant.
If you’re going to do this no matter what I say, at least specify what part of Durant the prospect is like, cause there are some prospect that compare to Durant in maybe one or two skills, such as a high release point or incredible tough shot making. Don’t compare prospects to KD as a whole though, because that is going to take you nowhere. I have done this in the past, and I now realize the errors of my ways. If you ever catch me comparing a prospect to KD, you have permission to scream at me and set me straight.
NBA Draft Question of the Day
Who is your favourite draft prospect that you have ever scouted?
That’s all for this in folks! Sorry that it is a bit shorter than I would hope it to be. As these keep coming, I hope to have at least 4-5 articles per newsletter!
Signing off for now,
TheRaptor