John Hollinger:
https://theathletic.com/4973340/2023/10/19/nba-season-predictions-bold-wembanyama-celtics/A fresh-from-the-draft rookie hasn't made the squad since Yao Ming was voted in as a starter in 2003.
We can qualify that even further because Yao only averaged 13 points a game that season and was voted in despite production that clearly paled next to the other potential options.
To go back a bit further, to the last time a just-drafted rookie both made the All-Star team and had numbers that truly warranted his inclusion, one would need a full quarter-century. And, what a coincidence … that player happened to be Tim Duncan, in 1998, in his first season as a San Antonio Spur.
Well, 25 years later, I'm going to go out on a limb and say a top overall pick of the
Spurs will once again make the All-Star team … and will make it on merit.
Don't let one bad summer league game get you twisted:
Victor Wembanyama is as unique a basketball player to ever enter the league, a rim-denying giant at one end with a guard's mentality and skill set at the other. You thought
Kristaps Porziis was a unicorn because he could shoot 3s at his size? Well, picture the same package except with genuine ball skills and the ability to play out of the pick-and-roll.
I had thought Wembanyama might need a year to get his NBA sea legs before we really saw his impact. To hell with that. He's already quite clearly his team's best player and is likely good enough to lead the Spurs to a win total that may make them slightly uncomfortable. It's becoming more and more apparent that he's going to end up with an All-Star-caliber stat line that could, at the very least, put him on the short list for selection.
I watched Wembanyama twice in Vegas last year and announced several of his French games for the
NBA app; in every single one, he did something absolutely mind-blowingly unique, "I don't think I've ever seen anybody do that before" type stuff. He was far and away the best player in a good overseas league at the age of 18.
Here's the crazy part: His preseason has been
way better than that. Wembanyama seems to have made significant improvement both in his capability as a ballhandler and in his end-to-end speed (it helps when you can
Eurostep to the rim from the 3-point line without needing to dribble), producing cascades of easy baskets for himself and those around him.