This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
I saw those tweets about Victor Wembanyama last week, after an uneven Summer League debut (that, as I wrote, was better than you thought it was).
So many people called the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft a bust, and I’m sure about 90 percent of you were kidding.
But c’mon. Don’t do that. Because let’s let the kid get comfortable with a whole new league and country after so much hype and attention, although he seems totally fine with all the cameras on him. Just look at his refreshingly honest assessment of that first game.
I’m burying the lede here. Dude came out for his second game on Sunday and went off — 27 points, 12 boards, three blocks and he only missed five shots.
The highlights tell the tale. He was EVERYWHERE, like we saw when he played in France. He was hitting mid-range shots off picks. He was practically impossible to defend in the post, even when he prematurely picked up his dribble He blocked shots inside and out and was a menace when players saw that enormous wingspan. Heck, he even hit a three-pointer:
Les Highlights de la belle performance de Victor Wembanyama face aux Blazers cette nuit en Summer League 👀⬇️
27 PTS/12 REB/3 BLK/9-14 FG…🔥pic.twitter.com/swNKz4vBhl
— 50 Nuances 🇺🇸🏀 (@50NuancesDeNBA) July 10, 2023
Maybe it’s good that you got the “bust” talk out now. Because you see that and you realize why he’s a once-in-a-generation player. Why, even if he struggles against NBA veterans later this year and not some younger opponents, that the sky is the limit.
Quick Hits: MLB Draft 2023 … David Ross insulted an ump … and more.
— The first two rounds of the 2023 MLB Draft are over, and here’s our tracker for all the big names taken in the first.
— Mics picked up David Ross insulting an umpire after a first-inning ejection.
— The Jazz massively trolled the Sixers in their now-matched offer sheet for Paul Reed.
