Good morning! Are you tweeting negatively about your team?
Tank You
Welcome to Wembsday!
There are two things NBA teams should be playing for this season: the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the No. 1 pick in the draft. I know; we’re not supposed to openly embrace tanking around here. But most of your teams aren’t competing for the title.
If you’re up in the air on what to do: Have you seen Victor Wembanyama? The 7-foot-4 Frenchman with an infinite wingspan and size 20.5 shoes is the reason to tank. Some are calling him the best prospect since LeBron James. Some are calling him the best prospect ever. Having the guard skills he possesses is something they don’t even allow in video games anymore.
The 19-year old is averaging 21.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.2 blocks. He takes one-legged, running 3-pointers for fun. We shouldn’t embrace tanking, but the pride of finishing 22nd in the NBA standings and not ending up with this prospect shouldn’t exist.
Make sure you check out the Hoops Adjacent podcast with David Aldridge and Marcus Thompson. They’re talking to French basketball journalist Bastien Fontaneau about Wembanyama. You won’t want to miss that.
The Latest from Shams
Several NBA teams are increasing their pursuit of Spurs center Jakob Poeltl, and it appears a move east could be possible ahead of the Feb. 9 trade deadline.
The Raptors and Celtics are among the teams expressing interest, sources say, and the 27-year-old will be arguably the top unrestricted free agent big man in July.
Poeltl is averaging 11.8 points on 62 percent shooting and 9.0 rebounds per game for the 14-37 Spurs.
That and much more in this week’s Inside Pass.
#GiannisBetter
Greek Freak has two more levels to go?
Think about how overwhelming Giannis Antetokounmpo is on a basketball court. Teams devise entire game plans to throw as many bodies as possible in front of him in the hopes he doesn’t put two players on a poster. Or in a TikTok highlight. I’m not sure if we have posters anymore.
Despite averaging a career high 31.8 points, Giannis believes he can get a lot better. He recently sat down with The Athletic’s Eric Nehm to talk about elevating his game.
“There is two more levels to be unlocked here. And I have to stay locked in to unlock those levels. I’m not unlocking them right now.” He added, “But there are more levels to unlock and right now, I’m not touching that level and it irritates me.”
Here’s Eric talking to the Tampering about this idea.
Giannis won a title with arguably the greatest closeout game in NBA Finals history. He’s a two-time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and NBA Finals MVP. He’s averaging 28.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game over the last five and a half seasons.
You’re telling me there are two more levels above that? Good luck, everybody.
Negative Tweeting!
Are Heat fans the most negative?
You know how internet graphs and maps can be. Someone says the most searched candy in each state is Rolos or those weird strawberry hard candies, and everybody yells about it. I never know how real that stuff is. but it’s still fun to react to it.
This week, there was something similar about the most negative fan bases in the NBA. According to Replay Poker (via NBACentral), the most negative fan bases on Twitter have been tracked and tabulated.
The Warriors have the third-most negative fan base. The Knicks are the second-most negative. And the Heat have the most negative fans on Twitter. All three of those teams had a sample registering over 30 percent of tweets as negative.
Warriors? Probably complaining about Steve Kerr’s rotations. Knicks fans? Probably mad about something James Dolan said. Heat fans? Their team hasn’t exactly looked like the team from last season.
Most surprising on this list? Denver at ninth; the Nuggets are crushing it and have the MVP. But maybe it has to do with it being so hard to watch their games locally.
On This Date
Bernard King was destroying everybody
On this day 39 years ago, Bernard King posted his second straight 50-point game. It happened in Dallas, with King going for 50 while shooting 20-of-28 from the floor and 10-of-13 from the line. The Knicks forward didn’t take a single 3-pointer because they rarely did that in 1984.
The previous game, King went for 50 in San Antonio, this time on 20-of-30 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free-throw line. The scoring lines for King in those games were nearly identical. King talked about it with Kevin Garnett and Gary Payton five years ago, saying his go-to move was back-to-back 50s with that left baseline attack.
He’s one of a dozen players to do it, although with 3-pointers and scoring explosions this season, it feels like a storm is going to happen again soon. Of course, Wilt Chamberlain once had 50 in seven straight games. He ruins all records.
Bounce Passes
Last Night + Tonight
Story from the night: Let’s track LeBron’s assault on the all-time scoring record! King James had 28 points in an overtime win against the Knicks. He now needs 89 points to pass Kareem.
Tonight’s Main Screen: Nets-Celtics (7:30 p.m. ESPN): Any time Kyrie Irving goes back to Boston, it’s must-see TV. Don’t forget to watch the Damian Lillard–Ja Morant point guard battle (8 p.m.). Check the full schedule here.
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(Photo of Victor Wembanyama: Glenn Gervot /Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
