Tom Haberstroh and Dan Devine make the case for Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama. Check out the full conversation on “The Big Number” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
Dan, this, this is exciting.
10 games left, we’re here, and it feels like, one of the biggest names, the biggest players in the sport, the biggest player in the sport, really appreciates the integrity of this game enough that he wants this award and wants to win as many games going forward and play in as many games going forward.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think the, the You know, and we- I think we have the, the audio sort of cued up for, for of what he said when he actually sort of made his case.
was, was asked to, I believe it was Jared Weiss at The Athletic asked the question of, you know, basically, “What’s your case?
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What’s your argument for, MVP?”
And it was about as concise and succinct a three-point plan as you’re gonna hear from an athlete in that situation.
My first one would be that defense is 50% of the game, and that it is undervalued so far in the MVP race.
Because, I believe I’m the most impactful player defensively in the league.
Second argument would be that we almost swept OKC in the season, and we dominated them three times with their real team and four times with the, you know, more rotation players.
And, my third argument would be that offense impact is not just points.
Ooh.
Yeah.
Ooh.
I like, I, I think there’s a lot to be That’s a pretty rich text.
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I also love, and it’s not in that clip, but he, he said sort of i- in a subsequent response that, like, his job is, over the next 10 games, to end this debate.
Like, he, that he wants to, over the final, the, you know, these close, this closing 10 games, render this a moot point, the, the discussion.
And I feel like, yeah, to your point, that attitude of, “My job is to make a, an, a bulletproof, ironclad, affirmative argument for myself, over these last 10 games,” like, it is what, it’s what you’re looking for.
Our guy, our guy Tom Ziller wrote about it in his newsletter, Good Morning, It’s Basketball Today.
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Like, the idea that this is so refreshing, the, that there’s no It, it’s, I mean, while Victor obviously has been, has had plenty of media training and has the, the understanding of how to communicate the way he wants to in his, you know, second, third language, whatever it is, as impressive as that is, it doesn’t feel so, like, anodyne or so antiseptic in the way that some other prospects that come through, you know, the pipeline of being elite prospects sound.
Like, he’s actually willing to say what he thinks and what he means, and what he means is, “I’m better than everybody.
I A- and that is to be expected.”
It’s, it’s like a, like, you know, somebody who was born to rule and who has sort of grown up his whole life with the understanding of, “At a certain point, I will assume the throne, and this is all to be expected.”
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And I don’t know that anybody expected the assumption would happen this soon, but he is certainly mounting a pretty convincing argument for it on the floor.
Yeah, I’m conflicted here, Dan, ’cause, number, number one, I would say, I should be campaigning on his behalf because I picked him to win MVP before the season.
That’s right.
But I also recognize he still has some work to do, Dan.
Like, they’ve won 11 straight games with Wemby in uniform.
They’ve won 22 out of their last 23 games with Wemby in uniform.
But he hasn’t been in uniform as much as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
So if there’s one thing that I would say that he needs to do from here on out, it’s go 10 and 0 to finish the season and play in every 10 of, one of those games.
Like, that to me, if they’re g- if, if it’s gonna happen, I think it still can happen.
I think Victor Wembanyama absolutely can win MVP this year