Observations from Wemby’s Friendly Matchup with France vs Serbia

While the San Antonio Spurs’ NBA training camp is still a little more than a month away, Victor Wembanyama was back in action on the basketball court Thursday, as the new captain of France led his squad in a friendly matchup against Nikola Jokic and Serbia.

Despite falling into a double-digit hole, France ended up cutting the game down to two points in crunch time, but they couldn’t achieve the full comeback, falling to Serbia 90-87.

Wemby finished with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 6 turnovers, 2 blocks, and 2 fouls in 25 minutes of action. Let’s go through some observations on each end of the court from Victor in the exhibition match.

Les Bleus started big with both Wemby and Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in the frontcourt together. When the two shared the floor, Wemby played more of a perimeter-spacing role, hanging out from three, ready to catch-and-shoot or catch off a screen, then initiating his actions from up top. Gobert had more of the traditional center duties, like setting high ball screens and then rolling, or hanging in the dunker spot. When Gobert checked out, there were times when France had Victor as the lone big at center, but in the first half, he also shared minutes with Sacramento Kings center Maxime Raynaud.

Shooting the ball, Victor went 3-of-8 from the floor. He only took two shots within the arc, and both of them came in transition after France forced turnovers. His first interior basket was a reverse alley-oop dunk completion in the open court, and his second was a wide-open windmill dunk on the break. The other times when he was inside, the combination of Miami Heat forward Nikola Jovic and former Spurs draftee Nikola Milutinov guarding him with help didn’t allow him to get any attempts near the basket. Serbia would swarm him, and the attention he drew when catching the ball inside allowed him to pass the ball to wide-open teammates for 3-point attempts. That’s where two of his assists came from. With France not having downhill guards who can break down the defense like Wemby has in San Antonio with De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper, it was also tougher for him to get clean looks inside when in the halfcourt, with multiple defenders usually by his side.