By Joël Pütz | Sports journalist
Untenable since the start of the season, Victor Wembanyama, however, divides minds regarding his propensity to shoot three points. But if we look a little deeper into the subject, we quickly realize that San Antonio depends greatly on it…
16 victories for as many defeats, an equally balanced record in the last ten matches (5-5): the Spurs do not manage to stay above 50% of victories for long, but they hang on and are still in the Top 10 in the Western Conference. At this rate, Victor Wembanyama could well have the opportunity to play in the Play-In or even the post-season from 2024-25, as he announced before the start of the financial year.
Monstrous with more than 25 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks on average, the Frenchman also continues to shoot a lot of three-pointers even though this has been the subject of debate since the start of the season. For many, his 9.5 attempts per match (35.7% success) constitute heresy… That being said, not sure that the Texan franchise can really complain about it at the moment when it benefits greatly from it.
Spurs ultra-dependent on Wembanyama's three-point shot
A rather staggering statistic has indeed highlighted the impact of the Alien shoot in recent months:
StatMuse (via X) : The Spurs are currently at 16 wins for 16 losses. They have a record of just one win and six losses when Wemby hits a shot from three points or less. We desperately need his shot.
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If we go into a little more detail in the statistical field, we realize that the volume of winning shots of the Habs as well as its efficiency actually play a primordial role in the results of its team. San Antonio thus won 9 of the 11 games where the big man finished with at least 40% three-point success. When it remains below this bar, the balance returns to negative (5-11).
It therefore seems clear that as long as Wemby is drawing and has the hot hand, the Spurs have a better chance of winning. That said, not sure that this is a long-term solution, especially since the alternative seems obvious: recruiting more specialists in this area, in order to diversify the offensive game. In any case, this is what the fans are demanding, who do not want this dependence to go too far.
@kovinduryant : The day he has shooters around him, the team will be much better
@SixZamier : we desperately need SHOOTERS IN GENERAL
@cdee_w : His three-point shooting volume will remain high until more shooters are added to the roster.
We may not like that Victor Wembanyama takes so many three-point shots, but it is clear that it is very successful for the Spurs when he has the hot hand. For the Texan attack to regain some of the element of surprise, however, it would be necessary to add other snipers around the French nugget…
