Everyone on the other side wants to know where Victor Wembanyama is at all times.
Everyone on the other side wants to know where Victor Wembanyama is at all times.Mike Christy/Associated Press
Emptying out the Desk Drawer of the Sports Mind …
7-4s, 7-5s, even a 7-6 or two. We’ve had ’em in the NBA before, but we’ve never had an ultra-tall player quite like the 7-foot-4-inch Frenchman we’ve got now.
Wait, what’s that hand up in the back of the room? Oh, it’s Ralph Sampson. “Hey! Remember me? I was 7-4. I was fluid. I could shoot from the outside. I was the 4. Hakeem Olajuwon was the 5.” Fine, Ralph. But we don’t have time here to psychoanalyze you and your phobia about being so big and how we bet you’d have paid a million dollars to have an operation that would have made you 6-4.
Victor Wembanyama is truly something new. No previous Ultra-Tall (UT) has had his amazing range of skill or, most importantly, his feel for the game. He can score from, as they say, all three levels. He is a serious 3-point shooter. Well, you say, so is Kristaps Porzingis. But the Latvian doesn’t pass like the Frenchman, and he isn’t close to the force Wembanyama is on defense. Everyone on the other side wants to know where Wemby is at all times. In addition to the blocks, there is the matter of shots not taken. In this regard, Wemby evokes memories of Wilt and Russ.
I still worry about his slender body. Let’s hope he’s around for a long, long time. He may need a little luck in order to have a proper career.
The history of UTs in the NBA goes back further than most people realize. For example, who remembers Swede Halbrook? He was a 7-3 center who came out of Oregon State in 1956. He first spent four years in the National Industrial Basketball League (ask your grandpa or great-uncle) before embarking on a 143-game career with the Syracuse Nationals.
In the ensuing years, the NBA has employed such UTs as Mark Eaton, Randy Breuer, Gheorghe Muresan, Shawn Bradley, Chuck Nevitt, the aforementioned Porzingis and, of course, nobles such as Sampson, Manute Bol, and Yao Ming. And perhaps I’ve missed one or two.
But we ain’t never seen nuthin’ like Wemby. We should treasure him.
Job security
Item: Mike Tomlin resigns.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had three head coaches since man first landed on the moon. Does that put it in perspective? Chuck Noll (1969-91), Bill Cowher (1992-2006), and Tomlin (2007-25).
Our beloved Patriots have had 15.
One thing to remember is how horrible the Steelers were before Noll showed up in 1969. They were known as a team that could win the fight but lose the game. Since starting life as the Pittsburgh Pirates (honest) in 1933, the Steelers had six winning seasons.
Honor long overdue
File this one under: What Took So Long?
Sean McDonough, the pride of Hingham and son of our Globe legend Will McDonough, is the new National Sports Media Association Sportscaster of the Year. He will join Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year Kevin Paul Dupont at the annual awards ceremony in Greensboro, N.C., in late June.
It’s about time Sean’s brilliance has been properly recognized. There are very few people in his profession who are completely at home broadcasting all four major sports. In fact, his only peer is Kenny Albert. It’s great to have Sean back in the Red Sox mix.
Travel agents
Did I miss the memo? I mean, that you’re allowed a lot more shady activity before a basketball official actually blows the whistle and calls traveling? I have resisted saying this for years, but I can no longer take it. We got on the slippery slope by sanctioning the so-called Euro step, And now it’s out of control. Of course, we lost palming when Allen Iverson hijacked it.
And don’t even mention Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Euro gallop.
A whole new world
Major college sports as we know them are gone forever with the transfer portal and NIL money. We all know that. Just hear me out on something.
The old system, with the players getting valuable scholarships, worked. Sure, there were abuses, but it was a fair exchange until coaches’ salaries exploded skyward. When coaches made five figures, or even six figures, it was OK. But when coaches began making seven and now eight figures, the agitation began.
Do you agree?
Bob Ryan can be reached at robert.ryan@globe.com.