After the Warriors’ 132-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs tonight, Steve Kerr said in his presser that James Wiseman would be assigned to the Santa Cruz Warriors, the team’s G-League affiliate, tomorrow.

Wiseman has been a “Did Not Play - Coach’s Decision” the last few contests as Kerr experiments to right the ship, and picked up 9 minutes in tonight’s blowout. This was the expected move given how Wiseman’s season has started, and it looks like he could spend likely more than 2 weeks down south. Here’s the full soundbite from Coach Kerr on the decision:

This isn’t the first time an up-and-coming draftee who’s needed some extra reps has been assigned to Santa Cruz, and the Warriors certainly haven’t been shy about using their developmental staff to find ways for their young guys to improve. Moses Moody has been good in his second year with the team, finding space in the rotation after some excellent G-League play last season, but the big story was always Jordan Poole, who almost came back an entirely different player.

The keys for Big Jim with the Sea-Dubs will be mostly his defensive awareness and decision-making, as well as positioning. While he’s a physical force on the court, he often finds himself in the wrong spot just often enough for it to be an issue. While there’s been some complaints about him not making contact on screens, it’s all been play design to have him slip and dive off picks for easy buckets - when it works, it works great, but it hasn’t recently due to the team’s lack of ability to stretch the floor.

Offensively, Wiseman will need to take a similar philosophy Poole did of “simplification”. It was noticeable tonight that JP was at his best when he was making decisions quick, not overdribbling or trying to do too much, and that will be important for James to learn how to do. His role as a big man falls squarely within the flow of the Warriors’ offense, and playing outside of that has as many negatives on a team like this as it does positives.

Wiseman is expected to spend around 10 days in Santa Cruz, although it could turn into longer. This also likely won’t be his last stint there. Kerr mentioned in his presser that he’s keen on using JaMychal Green as a stretch 5 instead of a 4, so those are most likely where the lion’s share of Wise’s minutes will go while he’s away.

(Photo credit: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)