The Whiteboard: Chet vs Wemby, Part 4

Did you even notice that the No. 1 and No. 2 pick in June’s draft went head-to-head earlier this week? No? It’s strange, because 1 vs 2 is usually a game automatically gassed up and put on national TV, but not this time.

Zaccharie Risacher’s Hawks lost to Alex Sarr’s Wizards on Monday night, if anyone cares. The underwhelming reputation of 2024’s draft class might have something to do with this whimper, or perhaps this class is being overshadowed by last year’s tectonic-shifting group, headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren.

Last season’s matchups between the two rookies lived up to their marquee placement. Holmgren’s Thunder won two of the three matchups, while Wembanyama wowed with better counting stats.

On Wednesday night, we get Part 4 (on ESPN), and it could be the best installment yet.

Both Wembanyama and Holmgren have leveled up in their second season. They are topping the leaderboard among second-year players in points, rebounds and blocks,

Holmgren is scoring, rebounding, assisting, stealing and blocking shots at a higher rate. His overall field-goal percentage is up while getting to the line more. One big area of improvement is his work off the dribble. He’s making things happen for himself and emerging as Oklahoma City’s no. 2 scoring option behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (especially while Jalen Williams plows through a bit of a slump). 

Wembanyama’s stats aren’t dramatically different from those of his watershed rookie season, but he is exploring the more unexplored corners of his game. Peter Parker without his glasses could mistake this for Kevin Durant.

It will be exciting to watch these two as their careers take shape and they grow into their vast potential. These head-to-head matchups will serve as must-watch milemarkers for two of the league’s premier talents. 

Wednesday night will feature some sizzling highlights, to be sure, but the real substance lies in how Chet and Wemby are readying themselves to lead their teams and take over as the new faces of the league.

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NBA News Roundup

• The Warriors made 21 3-pointers and beat the Pelicans in their first game without Steph Curry, who hurt his ankle on Sunday. Golden State was also without Andrew Wiggins and De’Anthony Melton for this one, but Buddy Hield stepped up with seven made 3s and Lindy Waters III (!) chipped in 21 points off the bench. Without Curry, coach Steve Kerr started Hield, Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody alongside Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis, and brought Jonathan Kuminga (17 points, three rebounds, three assists) off the bench for spacing reasons.

• Ugh, Lonzo Ball sprained his right wrist in the first quarter of Monday night's win at Memphis and will be reevaluated in 10 days, the team announced.

• Lauri Markkanen is day-to-day after exiting Utah’s loss to the Kings on Tuesday with lower-back spasms.

• Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, who has not played since the season opener because of a hamstring injury, will be out for at least one month after undergoing a non-surgical procedure on Tuesday. 

• The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements "that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status” but did not charge the team for violating the player participation policy. Embiid has not played this regular season because of a “left knee condition.”

Trend worth watching: The Nuggets have the NBA’s worst bench

On one hand, you can look at the Denver Nuggets winning back-to-back games on the road as a positive. On the other, the fact that it took overtime and MVP-caliber performances from Nikola Jokic to beat the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets isn’t exactly encouraging.

The biggest reason for the Nuggets’ concerning 2-2 start is the bench. While the starting five (with Christian Braun in place of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope) remains one of the NBA’s best (plus-11.8 net rating in a league-leading 104 minutes), the Nuggets bench is being out-scored by 12.7 points per 100 possessions – the worst mark for any bench in the league. They have more turnovers (13) than made 3-pointers (nine).

Offseason additions of Russell Westbrook and Dario Saric have backfired. 

Despite Westbrook going for 22 points in 20 minutes in Denver’s win in Brooklyn, the Nuggets were still a net neutral with him on the court. How is that possible? Because for every bucket Westbrook gets, he gives back. His defensive effort and focus is at an all-time low and the spacing concerns are as bad as ever. 

At 30 years old, Saric looks washed. He has five points, six rebounds and one assist in four games and is shooting a dreadful 22 percent. He’s missing bunnies. 

Meanwhile, none of Nuggets GM Calvin Booth’s draft picks have blossomed. This is not a chemistry thing or something that will be fixed with more time. This is a personnel issue. Simply put, the Nuggets don’t have enough good players.