Las Vegas – There are not many games that can truly live up to the hype but a G-League preseason game did and that’s because of Victor Wembamyama and Scoot Henderson.
The top 2 projected picks of the 2023 NBA Draft put on an absolute show in Vegas with lot of NBA scouts and GMs in attendance. After only 1 minute into the game it was easy to tell why they are the 2 projected top picks.
Lets start with Scoot.
Early this week, Victor said that if he was never born that Scoot would be the number one pick and he is absolutely right. Out of the 2, Scoot has the more natural basketball talent and it showed all night on both ends of the floor. He has great change of pace, great ball handling skills, great IQ, great speed, great court awareness. He’s just an all around great player.
He pretty much showed his whole bag and was absolutely unstoppable. The things that was most impressive was his leadership.
He was coaching his teammates on both end and wouldn’t shut up. And that’s a huge compliment. Having a guy who talks nonstop is so beneficial to a team and shows the kind of leader he is. The actual basketball stuff is the stuff that probably comes easy while being a great leader takes some really hard work.
As Victor said, if he wasn’t born, Scoot would go first.
But, Victor Wembamyama. Just wow.
He is truly a once in a lifetime type of prospect. The most heralded international prospect since Yao Ming, scouts were saying he was the the highest graded prospect since Lebron James. That means he is graded higher than Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, Zion Williamson, and Dwight Howard just to name a few.
After watching him play, it became very evident that although Scoot could easily be the first pick in the draft, Victor Wembamyama was in a class of his own. Every time he did something I couldn’t help but to laugh because he shouldn’t be able to do the things he does.
He is so freakishly tall and so freakishly skilled. At 7’4″ there is absolutely no reason he should be able to do the things he does on a basketball court. From his dribbling to his shot. There is really nothing he can’t do.
The first half he was great but he was getting outshined by Scoot a little and he came into the 3rd quarter and put on a show scoring 17 points in the quarter. It seemed like he wanted to make a point to let everyone know that he is the for sure number one pick. Defensively…WOW.
There is no shot that is safe when he’s on the floor. He can recover so well and he can make up for his teammates mistakes with his elite rim protection.
Simply put, he’s going to be the number one pick no matter what. There isn’t anything any player in the 2023 draft can do that would make a team draft anyone other than Victor at 1. He is a guy that no team will be able to trade for unless there is a very massive godfather offer which isn’t likely but whoever has 2nd will get a great player too.
Both led the way for their teams with Scoot and G-League Ignite winning 122-115. Scoot with 28 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists while Victor put up 37 points including 7-11 from 3, 5 blocks, and 4 rebounds.
Both guys put on a show tonight and it was truly one of the rare occasions that something like this lived up to its hype. It was everything we all could have imagined and more. Both guys dominated, were very exciting, and we even had a close game late with both guys hitting clutch shots. What a special performance, great game, and fun night.
They will do it again on Thursday.
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