Just look at this play by Victor minyama against Memphis.

It looks like nothing right.

It looks like Memphis just gives up on a fast break.

Okay, it’s not a big deal.

The only reason Memphis doesn’t score on this possession in transition is because they are terrified to put a shot up on the rim, with wemi trailing in the first place and then challenging at The Rim in the second place.

And this is the kind of generational defensive impact that Victor wanyama has been bringing to the San Antonio Spurs all season long.

And if you needed examples of it, if you were confused about why everybody was talking about wemi as this great actul Defender when San Antonio doesn’t really guard that well in the first place, well, for one thing it’s because Wy can’t play the entire game.

He is so incredible defensively but he can’t literally carry a defense by himself when he’s only playing less than 30 minutes a night.

But this play right here that I showed you in the very beginning is an example of Next Level defensive impact, because we have guys around the league that are good Rim protectors that you know.

Alter shots, block shots, do a good job of not fouling, but this kind of play where guys aren’t even getting shots up at The Rim just because wemi is there is absolutely incredible for a few reasons.

One, of course: continuing to deter shots at The Rim is a huge part of having an elite Nba defense.

You want to guard the three well, you want to not foul

And you don’t want to give up shots at the rim.

And if you like, in this example, the other team has an advantage here.

They’re in transition, they’re on the fast break.

This should be a good opportunity for a bucket, but because wemi is there, it’s nothing.

It turns into absolutely nothing and turning Advantage situations for the offense into nothing.

Nothing is obviously an incredible asset, but it’s even more than that right, because Wmy doesn’t even actually have to challenge these kinds of shots, which means he’s not going to pick up foul, which means you’re not going to be exposed on the defensive class.

And this is the kind of stuff that only a few players in a league it’s.

Wemi, it’s goar, a few other guys really get to this kind of a level defensively.

And coming into the season, there was obviously a lot of excitement about Victor wanyama, and I think a lot of the excitement was revolving around his offensive game.

Right, I mean we love to throw this term, unicorn around.

Everybody was very excited about this 7 foot4 guy that could handle the ball, that could shoot, and there’s been a lot of really good stuff from wemi all season long on the offensive end of the floor.

They moved him to the five about 30, 35 games into the year and offensively he’s just exploded.

Since then he’s been shooting the ball extremely well post All-Star break and him being able to shoot threes is a massive part of his game because he’s still improving in terms of his handle and his playmaking and things like that.

And offensively, the impact has definitely been there, especially when you consider the environment in which he’s having to create.

Right now.

There’s not a you know, the guards aren’t very good, there’s not a ton of spacing out there and everybody knows that wemi is the best player on the floor

And he’s still able to create the way that he is and able to put up great numbers despite not playing a ton of minutes at least relative to what you would expect from a player that is as good as he is.

And it’s just crazy to think about what the offensive ceiling is going to continue to grow into over the next couple of Seasons as he gets more consistent with his handle, with his playmaking, with his shooting and, more importantly, as they get better players around him because they are just plays where he looks truly Unstoppable, these lobs at The Rim.

He’s does a great job of finding these little Alleyways to to create space at the rim.

And if you, if you throw the ball up at The Rim, not very many guys are going to be able to contest and deal with him.

And there’s still Improvement there.

Offensively, you know, lower the turnovers, be a little bit stronger with the ball.

But this defensive impact is something that it’s really really hard to quantify right, because you can look at the box score and see that he’s averaging a ton of blocks and, and a lot of times, some of the defensive player of the year.

Conversation does come down to numbers and people look at you know some of these Advanced stats and things like that.

But to really get a get an idea of why Wmi is a defensive player of the year candidate as a rookie and someone that is probably going to win the award multiple times over the next couple of Seasons, assuming that he stays healthy, to really fully get an understanding of of how impactful he is, you have to watch the games and you have to see plays like this, because deterring shots at the rim without actually contesting is an unbelievable skill and asset to have, and I’ve talked about this before, and it’s something I’m going to continue to monitor for him as well.

It’s not just at The Rim.

There is this like cylinder.

There’s this like bubble that exists around Victor Wanyama.

When he’s on defense, the guys just don’t really want to put shots up.

At the beginning of the year, it caught people off guard.

Even some of these Elite Nba athletes were caught off guard by his length and his activity level and how easily he was able to make up ground and block shots.

But now guys who played against him a few times are starting to figure out that you just can’t really put a shot up when this guy is around.

I think that’s something we’re going to continue to see as his career progresses, even when he’s on the perimeter right.

Right now he’s at the.

He’s at The Rim a lot ever since they moved him to the five.

But even when he’s on the perimeter, potentially, if they look to add a big man and play him alongside another big, uh, next season he contests and and gets a piece of a lot of jump shots and having someone that can guard on the perimeter, protect the rim and get a piece of three point shots is just an unbelievable defensive weapon.

And I’m sure there are some people thinking right now: well, he’s not going to be able to guard on the perimeter, he’s not going to be out there a ton.

Here’s the difference.

Right, because a lot of the the comparisons, defensively, are made to someone like Rudy go.

Obviously there’s The French Connection.

These guys are both incredibly uh, tall, great length.

Here’s the difference with Webby.

He can guard on the perimeter and when I say guard, I don’t necessarily mean like.

He’s not going to be locking anybody down.

He’s not going to be able to stay in front of some of the quickest guards in the league.

Super well, obviously, but his length and his ability to make up space is so incredible that it doesn’t matter.

I think throughout his career we are going to see him at the four.

We are going to see him guarding on the perimeter because even if he gets beat, all that length and activity that he shows at The Rim as a help Defender is still there as an on ball Defender, and there are a ton of plays throughout the season where he gets beat, someone gets to the rim and it doesn’t matter.

He’s still able to recover and he’s still able to block the shot.

And having all three levels of Defense at The Rim, on the perimeter, as as a contest guy and blocking jump shots and then also being able to guard on the perimeter and stick with somebody and recover is just absolutely incredible.

Now the more guys play against Wmi, they’re going to start to figure out some other things that they can do, whether it be, you know, ball fakes trying to get him off the floor.

Uh, try to punish him in the post a little bit more, just try to back him down.

Obviously, some of these guys that are bigger and stronger than him, that’s something that we’re going to continue to see.

But he’s already so skilled and so disciplined in terms of like.

He knows he doesn’t really have to jump to get a piece of a lot of these shots.

So a lot of times he does stay down.

You don’t see him get caught in the air very often and even when guys do try and Bully him in the post, he just stays straight up.

He has such incredible length that it just doesn’t matter and I think a lot of the excitement for when Bec coming into the season- rightfully so- was about the offensive end of the floor

And it was about what he would look like as this unicorn kind of player.

But defensively I just continue to be impressed night after night, even within an infrastructure in San Antonio where he’s being asked to do so much, on both ends of the floor.

He still seems to have great energy.

He he seems to be a good teammate, someone that’s still having fun out there and just really really competes.

And that’s difficult to do when you’re a guy that obviously is used to winning.

He’s used to being part of competitive teams and it’s it’s just a really exciting time to have someone like this in a league.

That it’s just.

Everything is legit.

There’s no fluff.

There’s nothing fake about Victor wanyama, there’s nothing fake about his impact, his his statistics, any of that stuff.

It is all very much for real.

And if we continue to see these kinds of plays where guys are getting to the rim and just not even trying to put up a shot, I I can’t even tell you what that’s been going to begin to mean for San Antonio moving forward.

I’m really excited to see what they’re going to do in the offseason how they’re going to potentially add around wemi, of course, add a better guard, see him continue to play more and more minutes down the stretch of the Season, as well as into next year as well.

And I’m telling you, if you were someone that was confused about why there was all this Defensive Player of the Year hype about wemi- and yes, you see, all the Steals on the blocks be like, I don’t really know.

You know he’s so skinny- and all these different things, these kinds of plays and these plays I’ve been showing you throughout the video like it.

It’s it’s mindboggling to think about the level of impact that he could possibly have on the defensive end of the floor throughout his career, just because we’ve never ever seen someone with this skill set, this level of body control on the perimeter and such great timing and discipline within his Rim protection as well.

It’s going to be honestly.

There are going to be games he just completely takes over defensively and you know, a couple years down the road when the Spurs are competitive and it’s just going to.

It’s going to look like it’s not even fair some of these teams trying to score on S Antonio.

Imagine when they add more length on the perimeter.

Imagine when it’s difficult right now.

It’s not difficult to get around the the perimeter Defenders on the Spurs and then all of a sudden wem’s at The Rim.

Imagine when it’s difficult to get around the perimeter Defenders and then also you have to deal with wemi as well and you have to deal with him, potentially blocking your shot on the three-point line and staying with you on the perimeter.

There’s so much stuff here

And I just cannot wait to see this guy continue to improve and progress on both ends of the floor.