The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hoops Tonight - NBA Summer League Reaction: Victor Wembanyama's sloppy debut vs. Brandon Miller

Episode Date: July 9, 2023

Jason Timpf breaks down Victor Wembanyama's summer league debut as the San Antonio Spurs took on Brandon Miller and the Charlotte Hornets. Jason also discusses the thrilling matchup between Scoot Henderson and the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Amen Thompson and the Houston Rockets #volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight here at The Volume. We are live from the Blue Wire Studios at the Win in Las Vegas covering NBA Summer Lake. We're going to be talking today about the rough debut for Victor Wenbin Yama in his matchup with Brandon Miller yesterday.

And then we're going to do a quick rundown of a bunch of the other top prospects. And their debuts at Summer League, just a good old-fashioned episode of Hoops Tonight, just talking about basketball. You guys know the drill before we get started. Subscribe to the volumes YouTube channel so you don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on Twitter at underscore Jason LT, so you guys don't miss any show announcements. And if for whatever reason you guys miss one of these videos and you can't get back over to YouTube to finish, don't forget you can find them wherever you get your podcast under Hoops Tonight.

And last but not least, before we get started, it may be the off season. And there may not be any more basketball other than Summer League right now, but there are still plenty of events for you guys to go. see, whether it be a baseball game, which is becoming increasingly hard to find on television or a concert or a comedy show. And the best way to get a ticket to one of these events is on Game Time, the fastest growing ticketing app in the United States. For amazing last minute deals on tickets to see your favorite baseball team, band or comedian, download the Game Time app. Again, it's not just sports. July means huge summer concerts and comedy shows all around the country

and Game Time has your tickets. Download the GameTime app and Redeem Code Hoops. for $20 off your first purchase. Again, download the GameTime app and enter code hoops. That's H-O-O-P-S for $20 off. No matter where you live, get out and have some fun this week. Download the GameTime app. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. All right, so one of my prevailing theories about Summer League basketball

is everybody struggles because generally speaking with basketball players in their development, they're always more advanced on the defensive end when they're younger than they are on the offensive event. Makes sense. They're the biggest, strongest, athletic versions of themselves at that age, but their skill sets aren't as well-rounded and developed as they're going to be in their mid-to-late 20s, right?

And then you throw in the, you know, dynamic of having a bunch of guys that are scratching and clawing and fighting for their spot in the NBA, bringing a level of intensity, particularly on the defensive end that you just don't see. Even in regular season NBA games, it just becomes really, really difficult to succeed. And so go through and look at it. all the stat lines and it's, you know, Scoot Henderson's five for 13 and Brandon Miller's five for 15. No one's out there just lighting it up in hitting every shot. But even within that standard and

that kind of like curve that we're grading these guys on, it still was a particularly rough game for Victor Wimbignam. He went two for 13 from the field. He had more turnovers than assist. Did have five blocks, but it didn't feel like he was all that impactful defensively. And we are going to talk about some of his limitations because he certainly has, things that he needs to get better at. That's not exactly a hot take. But I want to defend Victor Wimbunyama today because honestly, I did not think it was the ideal basketball environment for him to be able to showcase what he can do. I was watching with the nerd sesh guys in the stands, Carson and Logan, and I look at him before the tip and I'm like, I wonder what they're going

to do with him on offense. Are they going to be running picking pops and setting him up with advantage situations where he can attack a defense that's already compromised? Or are they just going to dump it to him in the post. And almost immediately from the opening tip, they're just tossing him the basketball on the wing against Kai Jones in a set defense situation with nine sets of eyeballs staring at him and asking him to mix up and make a play. And look, here's the thing. That's a part of the game of basketball. You need to be able to rescue possessions. You need to be able to beat switches. You need to be able to, oh, this guy on the floor is a weak defender. We have to target him. That is a part of the game, but it's a small part of the game.

even the best players in the world. And there's only like seven or eight guys that are really good at it, that are really good at just picking on matchups one-on-one with a live dribble against a set defense in the entire league. And even then, they might only do it three or four times a game. And Victor did it three or four times in the first quarter. And so I'm not surprised that he struggled in that environment. That's just a really hard way to play the game of basketball.

He is a stretch big. The way that he is going to be used with the spurs, especially early in his career, is set in ball screens, roll into the top of the key, or popping to the top of the key, catching there, having a slow-footed center closing out at him, and him either hitting a three or pump-faking and attacking that close-at. That's what Khras Porszingis does. Hell, the best player in the world, Nicola Yokic, that's what he does. Yeah, there's posting up.

Yeah, there's a lot of complicated stuff that he does. But the bread and butter is him running two-man game, and him either popping or short rolling to the basket. And so especially on the offensive end of the floor, I didn't think the spurs did Victor any favors because they were asking him to play an extremely difficult brand of basketball. And he's going to struggle in that environment. Now, I will say there's some stuff that he has to get better at

because they did run some pick and pops in the second half in particular, and he would catch with Kai Jones closing out at him, and he'd just be slow. He'd stay in there and he'd jab step, and he'd wait for him to close out. And now all of a sudden, even though you ran an action to get him in advantage, he's staying in there getting ready to play isolation basketball again. So he does need to learn to be quick, specifically in off-ball situations.

And we can talk about that because that's the big difference between like a guy like Brandon Miller who was playing in slow motion, but in a good way, like making reads on the basketball, you do want to take it slow. But when you're popping and someone's closing out at you, you need to make a quick decision. It's catch-and-shoot, catch-and-rip towards the baseline and try to make a play. There's definitely some things that Victor needs to get better at, but that was just a really difficult situation for him to just pop in a summer league setting, just attacking in isolation like that.

And then even on the defensive end of the floor, and he did end up with five blocks, which goes to show you just how insane his defensive ceiling could eventually be, or we should just call that his defensive floor. But the reality is, if you watch that game, he's guarding Brandon Miller the whole time. He's chasing him around on the perimeter. He's chasing him over the top of screens.

He's away from the basket for the most part. So just in general, looking back at that game, I didn't think it was the best example of an opportunity for us to see what Victor is good at. And so on Sunday, I wouldn't be surprised if they dramatically changed their approach. And most importantly, going into the season with the Spurs, it's not going to look anything like what you saw yesterday. I saw way too many people taking an opportunity to take a victory lap or to bury Victor Wimbunyama or to call him a bust or way overhyped from one summer league game.

And to me, that's completely nonsensical. Even if you wanted to reach that conclusion, you're going to need a hell of a lot more evidence than just one particular game. And no matter what, that's just not what he's going to be doing for the spurs. Let's watch him do what he's going to be doing for the spurs before we make a judgment call and what type of player he's going to be. No matter what, as a big who's protecting the rim and picking and popping,

he's probably not going to win rookie of the year anyway. It's going to be some guy like Scoot. Scoot Henderson was awesome yesterday, applying a ton of rim pressure and generating offense for his teammates and competing to you. defensively. Guys like that are going to pop earlier in their careers and they're going to win the rookie of the year, maybe get an earlier all-star selection. But Victor Wimbunyama's all-time ceiling is infinitely higher than all of those guys because he has the capability of being the

best defensive player of the world while also being the best offensive player in the world. And that's a super unique quality. So I do want to defend Victor. Also, I thought it was really cool to hear that coach Greg Popovich has renewed his contract for five years. Now it's a little convoluted because apparently he's also the president of basketball operations and he can potentially fulfill that contract outside of a coaching role. So we'll see in the long run and maybe he's going to have to groom somebody to fill his particular shoes. But I can think of nobody better to to guide Victor in this phase of his career, especially since he's gone through a similar situation with Tim Duncan in the late 90s and the early 2000s developing this all-time great

prospect at the forward center position. I can think of nobody better. And I'm glad that he's going to year round for that. Also, shout up, shout up to Kai Jones. We all went there to see a Victor Wimbunyama highlight in one of the most unbelievable highlights that I can remember seeing Kai Jones dunking over the top of Victor Wembeen Yama. Good old fashioned, Blake Griffin over Timfay Mosgoff style, just throwing it down through the rim. That was fun. And we had a lot of poster dunks last night between Shaden Sharp and then Victor Wembe Nama getting dunked on by Kai Jones. There was just an unbelievable highlight reel in some. Summer League yesterday.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard,

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podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

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podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. So we're just going to go rapid fire through the rest of the prospects. I have six or seven other guys I wanted to hit on. Brandon Miller really was impressed with the pace that he played at. Again, when you're initiating offense, you want to take it slow and have change of pace. Why? Because you need to make reeds. And the guys that are firing like a bat out of hell every single time they have the basketball. Those are the guys that are reckless.

That's that kind of like Russell Westbrook type syndrome where everything's happening so fast and there's no change up. And then it's always just feast or famine and the result. right. His pull-up jump shot looks really smooth. He hit one in pick and roll yesterday when Victor died on his screen. And I was really surprised at how good he was passing the basketball. It's something that I look forward to watching develop young in his young career. And then defensively, he had a big two-handed block at the rim yesterday. Really impressed by Brandon Miller. Scoot Henderson, again, spitting image of Russell Westbrook. Just that unbelievable downhill rim pressure,

this competitive energy that just like comes off of him in waves that you can just see with the way he's acting with his teammates, with the way he's interacting with his opponents, the unending energy. Now, you guys have heard me say that that's my least favorite archetype of player because that super athletic guard tends to tail off earlier in their careers and struggle in some of the ancillary areas of their game. Hopefully, Scoot Henderson is the one who breaks the mold, and the key will be getting in the gym. All of these super athletic guards, they rely so heavily on their athleticism to generate offense that when their athleticism starts to fade, their skill deficiencies rise to the surface.

And so what will make or break Scoot's career will be his ability to develop that skill set as his athleticism fades. Shaden Sharp, I thought he had a really rough game for about three and a half quarters. And then he has that monster dunk in transition and it was like everything turned around for him. Suddenly he's just getting downhill like crazy.

He had that wild contact layup on the left side of the rim. he had a really nice turnaround fade away that he hit in traffic. You could tell when he really up to his athletic intensity was when the game turned around for him. And that's his best skill. Remember, you as a basketball player bring weapons to the battle. And you have to use those weapons. And if you table those weapons, you're not doing yourself any favors.

One of the things I noticed early in the game, he would come off of a screen and have some space and he'd slow down and shoot like a set shot. And it's like, dude, you're the best athlete on the floor. Rise up. This is a big Kevin Durant statement. in his training regimen. Do everything at game speed. If you are taking those shots at game speed in practice and rising up at game speed in the game, there won't be any sort of break in your

rhythm and you'll feel comfortable in those situations. It's really hard as a freak athlete to come off of a ball screen and then slow yourself down, especially in a game setting like that. So I'd like to see Shade and elevate a little bit more on those jump shots. He's got such an athletically gifted body that if he can develop that part, he can be a really gifted shotmaker in this league. He had a spinning fadeaway that he took over Jabari Smith Jr. that he missed. And when he took it, he got literally like six feet of separation against an outstanding perimeter defensive player. That's the kind of exciting stuff that you can see in Shaden Sharp's future. Amend Thompson. He ended up hurting his ankle, unfortunately, on a huge clutch block

down the stretch that game, making an extra effort on a multiple rebound situation, made the block, came down and suffered a grade two sprain. He's going to end up missing the rest of Summer League. But I will say I was really, really impressed with the effort, the competitiveness, his playmaking popped off the screen. Obviously, he's got some stuff with his shot. He's got to work out. Probably needs to overhaul his form. He's got a little bit of a crossfire thing going on.

And the problem with crossfiring is so many more angles have to be dialed in for it to work, whereas if you have a good power line in your shot, you won't miss left or right, so then you only have to worry about the distance on your shot. So I'd like to see him kind of reconfigure some stuff with his shot. Really exciting young player. Javari Smith Jr. I ended up hitting the game winner, got to the foul line a bunch, had 33 points. He was so, so, so underdeveloped as a ball handler and as a score last year.

And he still is a little bit sloppy, but you can start to see the development coming along as he's getting more and more reps. He ended up hitting a big jab step jump shot. Getting to the foul line is a big sign of you getting defenders out of position, which means the defenders don't know which direction you're going to go. I was talking with the nerdsash guys in the stands. To me, this is one of the most interesting parts of skill development in basketball. you can go in the gym and work on ball handling drills all you want.

You can go do shooting drills all you want. But at the end of the day, in a basketball game, it's not a static environment. Dudes are shoving you on the hip. Guys are hitting you on the arm. You're probably getting fouled and it's not getting called. There's a certain like physical battle that's taking place. And the only way to get good at that is to get reps. You have to do it in games against live defenders.

That's something you're never going to get in the gym by yourself. And so Jabari Smith, watching you make those mild leaps as a score, I'm excited to see more of that as he grows as well. Moving on to the Lakers Warriors, Max Christie has been a revelation the last two games, showing a lot of pull-up jump shooting, had a ridiculous driving dunk. That was the fourth ridiculous poster dunk that we got in yesterday's game.

I think Julian Champany ended up having a really good one too. Shout out to Julian Champany. He was awesome yesterday. Really smart signing by the Spurs to tie him up for four years on a good number. That's great team building there. Really smart stuff from the Spurs. front office. But Max Christie gets the ridiculous dunk. What's interesting with Max is all of the skill development stuff is great, but the really interesting thing is going to be whether or not he can

defend on the perimeter for the Lakers. Because if you look at the Lakers roster, they're stacked with shot creators. Austin Rays can run pick and roll. DeAngelo Russell can run pick and roll. LeBron James can pick and roll. Gabe Vincent can run pick and roll. You don't need any more shot creation necessarily on that team, not to mention Anthony Davis and everything he can do with the ball on the post. So really what you need for Max Christie is a 3-and-D player. And so what I'm really interested in is what Max Christie can do as a perimeter defender this season. Because if you look at that roster, the one weakness is it's like if I needed to guard a quick guard, who's the one guy I trust, and it's Jared Vanderbilt and not a whole lot else. And so if Max Christie can add some depth at

that position, he's going to earn some playing time. There's going to be some minutes in those three and D roles for the Lakers this year. And I think Max has developed enough that if he can compete enough defensively, he'll have a chance. Max Lewis looked great. Hit a couple of really nice plays attacking, closeouts. He had a step back, jump shot attacking a closeout. He had a pull-up jumper and pick and roll. He's probably my favorite prospect from the Lakers in the draft. I like Jalen Hood Schaffino, but I think Maxwell Lewis is a little bit more NBA ready, especially for the role that they'll need from him. He reminds me of Trey Murphy a little bit in that lanky wing with real catch-and-shoot ability with just that little bit of extra flash attacking closeouts and that has the tools to be a great

defender, even if he isn't one yet. On the warrior's side, Brandon Podziamski, still struggling to shoot a little bit, but he's getting good looks, so I expect him to fall eventually. Again, this is a very intense physical environment. The skill players are all playing poorly, so I don't want to judge him there particularly. But I'm really impressed with how he's built. This is my first time seeing him live. He's got a physical profile that's going to allow him to hold up during the NBA season and then defend up positions, which I think will help for some of his perimeter limitations, even if he can't slide his feet super well, if he can switch and guard a bigger wing because he's big and strong enough, that helps a lot. His passing continues.

to just stun me every time I watch him. He had a transition play where he got into the lane and up and under and just threw a rifle pass with his left hand to a shooter in the right corner. I think he's just Golden State Warriors basketball personified. He's going to be a perfect fit there. And last but not least, Trace Jackson Davis did not play. I'm hoping we'll get to see him on Sunday. I continue to think that he's going to be that forward that they were looking for.

They were looking for a veteran forward. It's really hard to find one in the veteran minimum market. It's very possible that Trace Jackson Davis at age. 24 in this upcoming season ends up being that player for them. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to scout him on Sunday. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. As always, I sincerely appreciate your sport, and we will see you next time. The Volume.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriters, Street or Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. Embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement. to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.