Considerate talk|The figure is like a bamboo pole and the playing style is strange, which does not affect Wenbanyama to become the NBA's "chosen son"

Written by 丨From one dozen to five

Editor丨 Feng Xiao

Without suspense, Venbanyama became the 2023 NBA champion.

The doubts surrounding him not only did not weaken, but were pushed to a new peak: can he really succeed with such a strange existence? The so-called strange comes from the strange "big bamboo pole" body of 2.24 meters and 104 kilograms of Wenbanyama, as well as his unconventional inner playing style of face basket control.

This makes Venbanyama look like a new species, so new that even the well-informed NBA star-making industry system cannot provide a growth template with reference value.

It is human instinct to aversion to uncertainty. Therefore, when "new species" are born, they often attract suspicion. But I believe that Venbanyama will erase these doubts in the near future and win people's admiration. Because of all indications, he is the darling of this era, and is another true "chosen son" in the NBA and even the basketball world after James.

1 Basketball "let go" the big man

Back more than 20 years ago, from the Spurs' selection of Duncan in 1997 to the Rockets' selection of Yao Ming in 2002, all six teams with top picks chose the inside. The Cavaliers drafted James in 2003, and for the next four consecutive years, teams with top picks were selected inside.

Because it was still the era of big men, every team wanted to have a top-level interior as the core of the team. If you can't pick a top inside, stock up on a few blue-collar insiders, at least one on the defensive end.

For all insiders, "confrontation", "weight gain" and "low-post offense" are the three key words, Yao Ming learned that Dwight Howard was elected the champion, the first thing he asked was how much Howard weighed and bench pressed, which was the normal psychology of interior linemen in that era.

Gaining weight improves the ability to fight offense and defense at the basket, and strengthens the low-post offense, Yao Ming is the most typical example.

When Yao Ming entered the draft in 2002, his biggest selling point was that he was tall but mobile, could run like a small forward, could use as a point guard to deliver shells to teammates, and had stable mid-range shooting and near-basket hooking ability. The disadvantage is that Yao Ming weighed only about 131 kilograms at that time. ESPN's assessment was: "For the stronger centers in the NBA, pushing Yao out of the low post may be a breeze." ”

Yao Ming was still a lightweight player for a few years, but since 2005, Yao has gradually gained weight with the help of trainer Anthony Farson. According to Sports Illustrated, Yao's weight had risen to 137 kilograms in 2007, and data such as bench press proved that Yao's strength and confrontation had improved greatly.

After gaining weight and strength, Yao Ming has improved both offensively and defensively, and he has become a low-post offensive god in the league and the interior core of the Rockets' top defensive system. In the context of the times, Yao Ming's weight gain met his personal and team needs, but the gains and losses were mixed, and he also took on the damage caused by the weight gain.

Starting with Yao's weight gain in 2005-06, Yao has not played 60 games in any other season, except for 77 good attendance in 2008-09, and not for the entire season in 2009-10. There are also factors such as Yao Ming's lack of time to rest and bad luck in the offseason, but his injuries are more due to weight and playing style.

Today, times have changed, and the new era has "spared" the big men. Sports science has emerged, medical concepts and methods have advanced, and the practice of ignoring individual differences and forcibly gaining weight at the expense of career length has almost disappeared.

In today's era, the requirements for confrontation and low-level offensive ability on the inside are getting lower and lower. Yao's single-season low-post offense went 900 times during his player era, while Jokic, who had the highest number of low-post offense in 2022-23, was just 360.

With fewer offensive scenes on the inside, more blocking scenes for defenders and forwards, the team's requirements for interior defenders have become "lightweight" and the pursuit of mobility. So from Drummond to Jokic, even the already thin Porzingis is losing weight.

2 Artificial before the pit avoidance guide

Between the two generations of Yao Ming and Venbanyama, the NBA has pushed many so-called "unicorns", but only James in 2003 became a real unicorn. As for the "space-type interior lineman with the potential to become a block king" Porzingis and "upgraded Barkley" Zion Williamson, they have both gone through crazy trial and error on the road to developing talent, and have taken many detours. The difference is that Porzingis came out and Zion was still lost.

These predecessors have written a "Guide to Avoiding Pits" for Venbanyama, with the theme of "adapting to the times and what suits you is the best".

The Porzingis Nix era was forcibly established as a low-position offensive weapon, but his weak confrontation and weak lower body strength could not support him to play the role of a low-post killer, so Porzingis did not avoid injuries and played extremely low offensive efficiency.

In the Lone Ranger era, Porzingis was transformed into a space No. 5 by Carlisle, and more use of shooting to participate in the offense, which is the most suitable position and playing style for Porzingis. After trial and error, Porzingis completed the correction of the error, lost 7.2 pounds in the 2022-23 season in the Wizards, reduced the low offense to 4.6 100 rounds, and increased the proportion of three-point shots to 35%, resulting in Porzingis shooting a career-high true shooting percentage of 62.7%.

In addition to Porzingis, Magic insider Pol Pol is also a role model for Venbanyama, his body is very similar to Venbanyama, and he is even ridiculed as the "original Venbanyama". Instead of blindly gaining weight and developing a low post, Bol followed the small-ball era and turned himself into a No. 3 or No. 4 position dominated by no-ball, blocking, counter-attacking and catch-and-shoot. Last season, Bohr, who was at great risk of injury, played 70 games.

Zion is a complete opposite, and there is nothing wrong with Zion, who still lacks the projection threat, to develop in the direction of the organizational forward, but it is also true that the lack of projection threat will limit Zion's ceiling as an organizational forward.

Zion's most fatal problem is that he has not followed the trend to develop projections, and is still trying to use his physical talent alone to try and error. He didn't have enough professionalism to lose weight and avoid injury risk, playing just 114 games in four seasons so far. He also didn't have enough professionalism off the field to maintain discipline and was caught up in a peachy scandal that caused headaches for the team.

When Venbanyama entered the NBA, these avoidance guides provided him with a lot of reference: technically he should enhance his projection, move in the direction of Kevin Durant, and play more off-ball and participate in blocking. At the defensive level, use more movement, height, and reach to assist defense rather than hand-to-hand combat with opponents. In terms of professional attitude, maintain self-discipline, gradually improve confrontation and strength, and gain weight at a slow pace.

3 Eat up the dividends of the times

The times create heroes, and Wenbanyama was elected as the champion, with the help of the east wind of the times. The times need Venbanyama, and the heritage of the NBA also needs Ventanyama.

In the past, top stars usually gained their fame through high school leagues, college years, overseas leagues or international statistics, but in recent years, many of the top rising stars have relied on social media. In the era of Internet celebrities, those carefully edited highlights have brought fire one talent after another.

There are also many industry insiders who are keen to create momentum, such as NBA G League president Rahim, Venbanyama's explosion in the United States originated from Raheem's save last year, he invited the Paris Metropolitan 92 team to the United States to play two games with the Ignite team, Venbanyama played against this year's scout Scott Henderson, and the exposure was full. It was also after those two games that Venbanyama basically locked the top. From this perspective, Venbanyama is grateful to Rahim for his pitch.

It was an era of increasing offense and no longer encouraging confrontation and defense, with the pace of the game taking off, the proportion of fast offense increasing, and the three-point shot completely opening up space. This version is suitable for Venbanyama, you know, even Pol, who has very few scenes, can average 9.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game with the Magic, if Venbanyama averages 30 minutes per game under Popovich's coaching, it should not be a problem to average 15 points + 10 rebounds + 1 steal + 2 blocks per game in his rookie season.

The NBA has always paid attention to façade inheritance, James, Curry, etc. will eventually retire one day, Jokic, Antetokounmpo, Embiid and others The middle generation battle has just entered its peak, and the league has planned to find façade stars for the next era. Morant and Zion missed the opportunity due to off-field events, and the time is right for the Bunbanya Malay, which has its own traffic and is full of infinite possibilities in the future, and some of the resources that would have been diverted to other rising stars will be concentrated on Bunbanyama.

History always has amazing coincidences:

In the 1984-85 season, Magic Johnson led the Lakers to a championship. That same year, Michael Jordan won the Rookie of the Year and began to take the position.

In the 1996-97 season, Jordan led the Bulls to a championship. That same year, the league began discussing the Lakers' No. 8 rookie guard.

In the 2008-09 season, Bryant led the Lakers to a championship. That same year, the Warriors produced an excellent shooter point guard, and no one knew that Curry would change the times in the future.

In the 2014-15 season, Curry led the Warriors to a championship. That season, Jokic was drafted by the Nuggets, but stayed in Europe to level and dominate the domestic league.

In the 2022-23 season, Jokic led the Nuggets to the championship. In the same year, Munbanyama entered the draft.

From the perspective of inheritance, Bunbanyama may be the "chosen son".