Debate Is Raging About Whether Victor Wembanyama Is Any Better Than Bol Bol As The Wemby Nitpicks Reach Critical Mass
Let's nitpick away. The most exciting NBA Draft prospect in many years, Victor Wembanyama, hasn't even hit the court for an exhibition game with the San Antonio Spurs and already people are trying to say Bol Bol is just as good as him, if not better!!
LIKE COME ON. Y'all. I love me some Bol Bol.
...But uhh, was he a No. 1 overall pick? Was he hailed as the best prospect since LeBron? Did he gain four years' experience on a professional team? No. Bol Bol was a second-rounder who's already been traded multiple times and slid in the draft due to injury concerns.
Don't get me wrong. There isn't zero merit to a Bol-Wemby comparison. They're both massive human beings with better outside touch than most over-7-footers who can dribble well, finish with authority at the rim and present all kinds of problems defensively with their Bat Cape-esque wingspans.
And the truth is, if you look at the raw shooting and efficiency numbers from Wemby in France and Bol in the NBA to date, you'll see that Bol is more effective as a shooter.
HOWEVER, quality free throw shooting tends to bode well for an incoming NBA player's eventual marksmanship from 3-point range. Bol and Wemby hover around the high 20% beyond the arc, but the latter is superior at the charity stripe. You also have to factor in how there's less space on an international court, not to mention that Wemby plays way more like a guard way more often than Bol does. The shots Wemby takes are a higher degree of difficulty — not competition level-wise, in the flow of a game — and that'll continue amid a massive rebuild in San Antonio.
...But Wemby's numbies are about to be ridiculous even as a rookie. I've plugged this in at least one blog before. Oh well. Allow Luka Doncic to explain why Wembanyama is, in all likelihood, he'll be a 20+ PPG scorer right away.
I too want to see Bol Bol unleashed to his full potential. That said, the guy averaged only 21.5 minutes for a shitty, youthful Magic squad last season. Wembanyama is easily going to clear 30 minutes unless the Spurs do some galaxy-brained load management shit.
It seems like Wembanyama has a clear edge in ball-handling. His ability to stay balanced and shoot from multiple angles also stand out compared to what Bol can do. In terms of speed, quickness, explosiveness, suddenness — are those all the same? Whatever. — lateral agility and frame, Wembanyama has an advantage in all those areas. A more fluid-looking shooting stroke, too.
Come on, NBA Twitter. What the hell are we doing here?? One point seven million views for this garbage take!?!?
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A big reason this got started was Wemby's brickfest of a shootaround for some Spurs promo thing or something. There is a StatMuse spin-off dedicated to Bol Bol with five followers. I'm dying over here at the second tweet where eight core Magic players are mentioned as the nucleus to their bright future and Bol isn't even in there.
Cool. Bol Bol took over games at Oregon once upon a time and has shown mere flashes of that as a pro. These cats Bol and Wemby aren't in the same league. Wembanyama is single-handedly going to carry San Antonio back to respectability. The weight of that proud (antiquated of late, sorry) franchise is on his towering shoulders.
Not to trivialize intangibles by touching on a popular phrase, but Wemby HAS THAT DAWG IN HIM. Does Bol Bol? I legitimately don't know. Why did the Nuggets pitch him in as a throwaway asset in an inconsequential trade? Would he not have been a great backup to Nikola Jokic? What held Bol back from playing more in Denver? Not exactly something to gloss over considering the Nugs just won the whole damn thing.
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Sometimes in sports, it can be simple as that old classic eye test. Watch Victor Wembanyama in the following video. Then play back whatever Bol Bol highlights are contained herein. I get that Bol's competition is tougher. I don't get what these people on Twitter and other social medias are seeing. They ain't the same. Not at all.
Twitter @MattFitz_gerald/TikTok