Warriors groom Wiseman as immediate help
With Klay Thompson expected to miss the season with a torn Achilles tendon, some wondered if the Golden State Warriors would rely on 19-year- old rookie center James Wiseman more than they probably should.
The short answer is: No. Wiseman, the 7-footer who the Warriors selected with the No. 2 pick in the draft, is certainly brimming with potential, but Golden State won’t hop-step his development in search of a quick fix.
Replacing Thompson in the starting lineup will be Kelly Oubre Jr., while free-agent additions Kent Bazemore and Brad Wanamaker will fill out minutes on the wing. They, along with Wiseman, will try to do what Thompson was supposed to do — help lift the Warriors back to the playoffs following a disappointing 15-50 season.
But Wiseman’s role as a rookie will be simple. Run the floor, rebound and defend the paint.
That last part may sound difficult, but it helps that Wiseman is so large. Assistant coach Jarron Collins, listed at 6-foot-11 during his playing days, admits his measure is “a little fudged.” Wiseman, though? “He’s definitely a legitimate 7-footer,” Collins told me.
After losing Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston in the 2019 offseason, the Warriors have addressed their need for size and athleticism by acquiring Andrew Wiggins, Wiseman and Oubre within the last year. That group, plus Stephen Curry and Draymond Green, will anchor an aggressive defensive scheme
— headed up by Collins — that aims to create turnovers that lead to easy offense.
“We’re going to scramble, we’re going to fight, we’re going to compete,” Collins said.
Wiseman’s role in that defense, according to Collins, will be determined in training camp. During his short time at Memphis, Wiseman struggled to guard on the perimeter, recognize opponents’ basic pick-and-roll actions and, as a result, was often out of position and in foul trouble.
Having played just three collegiate games before leaving the program due to a dispute over his eligibility, Wiseman spent the better part of the last year training in Miami. In pickup games, he challenged himself to defend NBA guards John Wall and D’Angelo Russell.
“We did a lot of switching,” Wiseman said at his introductory press conference. “I felt comfortable guarding the guards.”
Should he look comfortable in training camp, the Warriors could open up the playbook for him and let him switch onto guards. If not, they’ll ask him to drop in their coverage and use his 7-foot- 6 wingspan to defend the rim.
“You want to play people to their strengths,” Collins said. “So we have to see him matched up against guards in practice, and then that will help formulate our defensive coverages with him.
“But at the end of the day he’s got to be able to do both, quite frankly.”
There’s a steep learning curve ahead for Wiseman. It’s one thing to be able to slide with guards and dash back to defend the rim. It’s another to learn the various coverages and calls of a team’s defense and opponents’ tendencies. His propensity for chasing blocks and picking up fouls will need ironing out, too. He will have Collins, assistant Ron Adams and Green, a former defensive player of the year, to learn from.
Wiseman’s development is vital to the Warriors’ future. Despite teams increasingly going small, the Warriors believe big men like Wiseman, who can play up-tempo and score at the rim efficiently, still have a place in the league. Impressed with his size, athleticism and character, Golden State’s front office ranked Wiseman as the top prospect in last week’s draft.
“My favorite part of James was we went to a very socially distant outdoor, safe meal with him and he showed up by himself,” general manager Bob Myers said at Wiseman’s first press conference. “He handled himself well. We got up from that dinner and we said what a pleasant young man.”
Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, Wiseman aspired to emulate gamechanging big men Chris Bosh and Kevin Garnett. He spent the summer working on his 3-point jump shot to become a floor-spacer like Bosh. Coach Steve Kerr will empower Wiseman, as well as other centers Marquese Chriss and Kevon Looney, to take that shot.
“[Shooting 3- pointers] is sort of automatic these days for big guys who have decent touch, which all of our centers have,” Kerr said. “Let’s work at it and get to the point where we can make the defense pay if the paint is packed.”
The Warriors would not have drafted Wiseman had they not been bullish on his potential, but they aren’t asking him to do an impression of Bosh or Garnett anytime soon, nor ever.
“We can talk about whose game he seeks to emulate, but we have to make him the best version of James Wiseman,” Collins said. “Obviously there’s a really high ceiling, but we have to get him there. I know that he’s willing to put in the work.”