What the Warriors Should Expect from James Wiseman This Season
Two seasons ago, the Golden State Warriors were the worst team in the NBA. Their 15 wins were lower than the Timberwolves and the Cavaliers, both at 19 wins a piece. Steph Curry played a total of 5 games that season due to a broken hand, Klay Thompson had just torn his ACL in the NBA Finals, Kevin Durant was on the mend from an injury of his own in Brooklyn after leaving in free agency, and it was a down year for Draymond Green with a myriad of injuries of his own.
In 2020, the Dubs had their luck turn as they landed the #2 overall pick in a top-heavy draft class. There was plenty of uncertainty at the time about whether they’d trade the pick for a player to help patch up the void of KD’s departure, if they’d try to trade down, or who they would take at 2. Ultimately, when the 2020 Draft rolled around, Golden State stuck to their guns and picked a player many would hope to be a new franchise cornerstone.
While he hasn’t panned out quite yet due to a myriad of injury misfortune himself, including a torn meniscus in 2020 and a need to surgically clean up scar tissue for the same injury in 2021, he’s still pretty young. And if Summer League was any indication, he’s starting to get the rhythm a bit:
James Wiseman was always considered to be a long-term project pick. His draft reports talked a lot about his frame and athleticism for his size, with flashes of skill and a soft touch around the rim. The biggest knock against Big Jim was easily his lack of playing time in college, as a recruiting violation suspended him 12 games where he should have been playing for Memphis. The nature of how much a violation it really was has shaky reasoning at best, but it was enough for Wiseman to leave the team and instead prepare to enter the draft despite having only played 3 games of collegiate hoops.
Upon his arrival in Golden State, Wiseman played 39 games in a season muddied by injuries. He averaged 11 points, 5 boards, and 1 block per game while shooting 51% from the field, 31% from three, and 62% from the line. He that in about 21 minutes a night, and it was clear he was still making some adjustments although he did look improved as the season went on. Unfortunately, due to his injuries and his unspectacular play prior to those injuries, he’s been written off by a lot of Warriors fans and media pundits, with many saying the team should trade him while he still has value.
That’s why those people are fans and pundits, however, and not NBA GMs.
While Wiseman’s Summer League numbers weren’t eye-popping, 10 points and 5 boards while blocking 2 shots a night in under 20 minutes is pretty good, and that’s with a feature role he likely isn’t quite ready for given he’s coming off an injury. We saw how Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody improved last season while getting fuller, NBA-level reps and even some very solid playoff minutes. The Warriors are good at developing talent, and given that he’s about to have a role waiting for him as a pick-and-roll partner with one of the game’s best PnR handlers ever, he’s going to benefit from that a lot.
Curry and Wiseman, although the pairing only had 4 games together in Steph’s hurricane of an April in 2021, produced some excellent efficiency to the tune of 1.30 points per possession. The league average tends to be at around 1.11 PPP, buoyed largely by the efficiency of taking a lot of 3s, so a play often resulting in a 2-point conversion and only sometimes getting to an open look from the outside for someone not directly involved in the action is impressively high. While it speaks a lot to Curry’s gravity and how he often drags the roll-man defender with the guy checking him, it shows Wiseman is capable of finishing plays.
Having Steph and even Jordan Poole, who’s improved as a PnR creator to the tune of finishing in the 84th percentile per the NBA’s advanced stats counting, to feed him the ball as he uses his length and strength to attack the basket will be hugely beneficial, as well as the defensive attention they draw. Another spot Wiseman will likely see some good reps is a dump-off option under the basket for when the Warriors go into other actions like their inverted pick-and-roll or drives off of split actions. These touches mostly went to Kevon Looney, who, as an undersized center, wasn’t throwing down lobs or always able to get it over some of the league’s better rim protectors.
James Wiseman’s inclusion as a vertical spacer in any playtype that wasn’t a backdoor cut will add a wrinkle option to the offense the Warriors didn’t have a ton of last season, but his potential on defense is what’s going to really seal the deal. While he had some issues with foul trouble in the Summer League, his shot-blocking and positional awareness has been something that’s been talked a lot about. With a 7’6 wingspan and standing at 7’1, he has the range to erase second chance attempts and cover for the rare Draymond Green mistake. He will need to improve on being a little too jumpy and eager to block those shots, something which will also clean up his foul trouble issues most of the time, but the potential is most definitely there. With enough experience, he can easily stake his claim to the paint while the Warriors #1 ranked defense from last season shores up the outside.
So, what are the most reasonable expectations for Wiseman this season? He’s not going to break out suddenly as a star, but he’s going to add things which the Warriors haven’t had for practically the entirety of their dynasty run, as well as fitting in with what they already do. A mechanically-solid jumpshot foundation gives him the opportunity to space the floor to the midrange and even sometimes to the outside, he’s a big body who’s mobile enough to set screens and play in versatile manners out of that, and most importantly, he’s willing and eager to grow as a player.
Golden State will likely have him in a back-up center role, and it would be a surprise to see him starting this year especially with how Kevon Looney played in the playoffs, but his improvements both to his game and his basketball IQ on both ends of the floor will likely get him a lot of usage if he can stay healthy. There’s still plenty to learn for the #2 overall pick, but in a system built for the unique talents of each of their guys, and a generationally-unique superstar to maximize all that in fluid manners, James Wiseman could certainly make a lot of people look pretty stupid for writing him off so early.
(Photo credit: Garrett Ellwood / Getty Images)