OFFICIAL AROUND THE NBA: JANUARY 2024

almost OT, the Bucks were really challenged tonight.

 

RoLo getting naked with the Coyote

 

Why is a healthy 20 year old rookie on a 24 minute restriction?

 

You must be new to watching either the NBA or a Pop coached team.

 

Wrong

 

Then why ask that question FAMS? Honestly?

 

Because I can’t recall another healthy, young player that was on a minutes restriction. Not on another NBA team. Not in San Antonio, FAMS.

 

I think everyone is asking this question. the reason part of the brain has nothing to do with the part of the brain that sees a French dude block Giannis rim attempts in the stratosphere.

we don’t need to care about pops or their rebuild. we just want to see wemby break the game into teeny tiny pieces.

 

Wemby would be playing every game/35 minutes a game on every team BUT the Spurs. You think he cares about tonight’s game? Hell no he didn’t.
This is a coach who is always looking down the line, big picture. He has never cared about the regular season. He invented this shit. He literally created time management with his stars.
If there was ever a coach/ team that would do this, it’s Pop and the Spurs.

 

Go look at other players who were 7'4 and above.

Yao
Manut Bol
Shawn Bradley

They can't play this dude 36 minutes a night and expect him to play 10 years. Find me a single player who was that tall who played regular rotation minutes and had a long career. They don't exist.

 

That’s why I was asking why anybody would actually not expect this.

 

Yao and Bradley played closer to 30 minutes in their “prime” years. Bol played lesser minutes but that was more so because he wasn’t that effective of a player.

Yao was different because not only was he tall, he was also massive. He was around 310 lbs.

 

Early twenties is not the time to be testing the health of someone 7'4". Give him significant minutes but play it safe.

 

Wemby doesn't need "minutes" to develop his game. He's already very good at basketball. Wemby needs to develop his body, get in the weight room, gain some NBA strength. Victor doesn't need 40 minutes and 30 shots to get physically stronger.

 

there have been a few notable players as tall as Wemby that I'm recalling right now: Manute Bol, Ralph Sampson, Shawn Bradley, Gheorghe Muresan, Yao Ming, Mark Eaton, Boban Marjanovic.

we know that Yao's body couldn't handle basketball. Sampson missed 3 games his first 3 seasons, then was an injury magnet and retired early. Shawn Bradley was injured a lot too and only averaged 30 minutes or better in one season

Mark Eaton was an iron man. Played 11 seasons till he was 36 and averaged 81 games a year over his first 10 seasons. But his body type was completely different than Wemby

but if we're talking body types and accepting that 7'2 is close enough to Wemby's height than you have to consider Kareem and Mutombo. Kareem averaged about 42 minutes and 80 games/year over his first 7 seasons. He averaged 33 minutes in over 80 games/year when he was 35-39. Mutumbo was basically another iron man averaging 36 minutes over his first 10 seasons. He missed an average of 2.6 games a year. And considering he entered the NBA at 25, that's pretty impressive

now, one factor in those examples is that almost all of them didn't come into the league until they were 22 or older. They came in physically mature and were finished with growing taller. Their bones & joints were likely more well developed. Wemby just turned 20 today so some caution is probably sound practice

edit: forgot about Rik Smits. He was pretty durable over his first 7-8 seasons but he only averaged 27 minutes

 

Damn Jokic

 

Yao barely played. Look at how many years he actually played close to a full season.

Same with Bradley.

 

They're the OKC of the EPL - amazing front office, the envy of the league. I think of Brighton as being in Division 2 or lower - I still can't think of them as a Premier League side.

 

Liverpool is probably the sweet spot between perennial contender and plucky outsider. They were the unbeatable team of my childhood - Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Alan Hansen, Ian Rush, John Barnes, Peter Beardsley - legends!
John Oliver is a die-hard fan:

 

You'll Never Walk Alone!