I’ve gone from not watching any games to watching all seven of the Spurs games. Victor Wimbenyama truly is must see TV and I think he’s going to revive the NBA and change the trajectory of this league. He is going to make the NBA He has exceeded every bit of the hype, and there’s only one problem. As I’ve watched these games, I’ve noticed a pattern, and that is that his teammates don’t look for him.
His teammates are actually being actively selfish. while playing the game. And Victor is a willing passer. He’s looking to score, but he’ll make the pass if it’s there. But what I’ve noticed over and over again is distributors and ball handlers like Jeremy Sohan, Chetty Osmond, Keldon Johnson, and Malachi Branham have not passed him the ball.
They aren’t looking for him. He really only gets the ball if there’s a set play called. Or if he rebounds the ball or he’s a, an initial part of the play sequence. But he’s not being given the ball in positions for him to succeed. And this all culminated into Victor forcing really uncharacteristic shots in the Indiana Pacers blowout last night.
So Victor was actually just shooting the ball because he wasn’t getting to shoot. And this is a dumbfounding situation because why wouldn’t you have The best player in the world featured in your offense. And why wouldn’t you incorporate him as much as possible? Now, Victor is leading the team with 14. 9 shots a game.
But that’s not that much higher than Kelden Johnson. And Victor really should be shooting at least 20 shots a game. And if nothing else, he should be incorporated heavily into the offense and there should be plays. running for running through him. So I think one of the problems here is that the, that Greg Popovich has taken the approach of, let’s just see how this plays out.
And he may even be, he may even want Victor to assert himself and just demand the ball. Outright. But Victor is only 19 years old, all of his teammates are older than him, and I don’t think that’s Victor’s style or what Victor wants. Victor wants to be a great teammate. You can tell by watching him. He plays winning basketball, and he wants to put his teammates in position to succeed, but he also knows That he is the one that should be the primary scorer and yet so many of his teammates are looking to be scorers themselves when they really shouldn’t be.
So some teammates are efficient scorers. Chetty Osman has had a really good season. But what I’ve also noticed is that on fast breaks and or other situations, he’s not really looking for victor. He’s looking to score for himself. The same goes for Kelden Johnson. And the same is especially true for Jeremy Sohan, who really is a poor scorer.
He’s a poor shooter and he doesn’t score the ball or handle it that well. And yet it’s not Victor receiving the ball and the Spurs aren’t trying to incorporate him into the offense. Now sometimes there will be set plays run for Victor, but he needs to get closer to the basket and he needs to get the basketball.
More times, not just when he sets up. Actually, the Spurs commonly will have Victor set a pick for the ball handler at the top of the key, and then Victor will flare out, but he’s not getting the ball, and so this is an elephant in the room, and it’s seven games into the season, and you would think that Greg Popovich would direct more of the offensive focus to Victor, and you think that his teammates would learn it.
that there is a synergy to Victor getting the ball and that when Victor, when the offense flows through Victor, they only stand to benefit with open looks, better looks, and more spacing. But that’s what’s, that’s not what’s happening. And so just as someone who wants to see Victor succeed and knows that Victor is the premier talent in the league, it’s ridiculous that he’s not being passed the ball.