WISEMAN EXPECTATIONS: Year 1

[Sleepy51]

I just wonder where all the expectations are coming from. I'm pretty sure NBA consensus at the team level is that it takes a big a good 3-4 years to fully develop -- physically and mentally. I would expect for a player that had all of 3 games in college (and no training camp), that the full 3-4 years will be necessary for his development. Add to that his pre-professional training has been by a guard, not a big, and it is not surprising that the positive plays we have all seen are on the offensive end, and not on defense. I think his understanding of how to rebound in a league where he is no longer the biggest man on the court by a large measure is just beginning. Expecting JW's game to fully mature before 3 years is just wishful thinking, IMO.

The one physical deficiency I see in JW is that he doesn't have "spring". Antawn Jamison, for example, had a lot of bounce in him. He could get off the floor really quickly, with little effort. JW seemingly has to gather down low to jump and get any appreciable lift. That jumping process makes the ball vulnerable when he has it in his hands, makes him a tad slow to block shots and makes him appear shorter when in a crowd trying to gather rebounds. I don't know if it is the result of slow twitch muscles, or that he needs more strength in his quads...whatever the explanation, GSW trainers should work with JW to develop quicker hops, or conversely, to rely more on his height, reach and understanding of body positioning than trying to jump out of the gym. Duncan was dominant down low without any appreciable hops.

Part of the inappropriate expectations comes from what I would say has been mismanagement of the Roster. Marquis Chriss or Looney were supposed to be the starting C this year, not a 19 year old who isn’t Shaq. Looney was gimpy out of camp and physically not ready to play and Chris’s was gone for the season. There should have been a passable veteran starting C added to the roster. Pushing Wiseman up as a starter was a wrong decision. Point blank, they got it wrong. Not because he is a bad prospect, but because you do not start teenage rookie big men in the NBA. Hell, it was within my lifetime that you didn’t start teenage frosh big men in the NCAA.

They didn’t give Kerr a vet replacement and he went with what was available, and then starting vs not starting him because a “thing.” Kerr never should have been put in the position where starting Wiseman was his only choice (when Looney was hurting.)

He should have been available for D league. He should have played limited minutes early on. He should be just earning regular rotation minutes now. And NONE of that is a negative reflection on JW as a prospect. When they decided to draft a teenage big expectations should have been appropriately set that he was a multi-year project, and NOT a part of the plan to max out Steph’s window. They could have articulated that the 2021 draft was for helping Steph and they made a conscious decision to use the 2020 pick for the future given the available talent.

There would have been nothing wrong with saying that the plan was a multi-year plan and that’s just the way it is, but they would empty the chamber in 2021-2022 to get the Core back into contention.

Mishandling the expectations is leading to mishandling the development and could be corrosive to the culture and the future. They really pounded the donkey on this. They need a cohesive plan to unwind the damage this summer

[clyde21]

I hate how they’ve turned him into strictly a rim runner. I think he was better in the first week of his career when he was launching 3’s and going coast to coast. I don’t care if he was out of control and reckless at times, that’s what makes him unique and worthy of a #2 pick.

I also didn’t like it at the time, but having him come off the bench was a good move. He was feasting on playing against 2nd units.

I feel like they’re mismanaging this kid like crazy.

they are actually trying to simplify the game for him, wtf is the point of drafting a 7-1 center 2nd overall if ur just gonna have him launch 3s at a 25% clip the entire game? he needs to develop his inside game first and extrapolate from there

i'm fine with them simplifying things for him, but Wiseman offensive game will always be centered around rim running in this offense, which was ALWAYS the issue in the first place unless you are breaking OUT of this offense and running plays specifically for a C like Wiseman, which we've literally NEVER done in the Kerr era before.

[clyde21]

Id simplify things even more for him.

Rebound, just chase those boards even if u need to steal them from oubre.
Screen and run to the rim.
Take the 3 if open. No step back, no dribbling, no moves at all. Just shoot.
When in doubt, drop down coverage and just put your hands up.

Thats it.

Dont iso.
Dont post up.
Dont run a 1 man fast break.
Dont get stuck in no mans land.

+1

just rebounding, boxing out, setting screens, and catching lobs/put-backs, defensively just worry about protecting the rim.

that's it, he should be watching Bogut tape nonstop really

[Onus]

The biggest issue was that our playoff hopes hinge on wiseman being the only center. So if the expectations are playoffs and wiseman is the only center the expectations for him are going to rise and all of his flaws are going to be expounded because we expect to make the playoffs.

[Onus]

Id simplify things even more for him.

Rebound, just chase those boards even if u need to steal them from oubre.
Screen and run to the rim.
Take the 3 if open. No step back, no dribbling, no moves at all. Just shoot.
When in doubt, drop down coverage and just put your hands up.

Thats it.

Dont iso.
Dont post up.
Dont run a 1 man fast break.
Dont get stuck in no mans land.

+1

just rebounding, boxing out, setting screens, and catching lobs/put-backs, defensively just worry about protecting the rim.

that's it, he should be watching Bogut tape nonstop really

This they need him to do the simple things first and give him something simple to achieve every game so he has something that he can rely on.

Saying do whatever you want and having him fail at everything is just demoralizing. He needs to know that there’s something that he can do that can impact the game. It can be screening, rebounding, blocking shots whatever but he has to fall back on something that he can focus on.

[sonnyhill]

I hate how they’ve turned him into strictly a rim runner. I think he was better in the first week of his career when he was launching 3’s and going coast to coast. I don’t care if he was out of control and reckless at times, that’s what makes him unique and worthy of a #2 pick.

I also didn’t like it at the time, but having him come off the bench was a good move. He was feasting on playing against 2nd units.

I feel like they’re mismanaging this kid like crazy.

they are actually trying to simplify the game for him, wtf is the point of drafting a 7-1 center 2nd overall if ur just gonna have him launch 3s at a 25% clip the entire game? he needs to develop his inside game first and extrapolate from there

i'm fine with them simplifying things for him, but Wiseman offensive game will always be centered around rim running in this offense, which was ALWAYS the issue in the first place unless you are breaking OUT of this offense and running plays specifically for a C like Wiseman, which we've literally NEVER done in the Kerr era before.

Clyde21 and Sleepy51, you both make some good points in your posts.

There may be some organizational discord with how to develop-and-play Wiseman (front office wants him to start; Kerr wanting to slowly bring him along). It might have also been politically impossible for the Warriors, especially because they had passed up and drafting Ball and instead had chosen Wiseman, to send Wiseman to the G-League where he could have developed his skills, gained confidence, and came back to the team as a more polished product.

Wiseman is currently a mess, a mess with upside potential, but still a mess. In last night's game vs the Heat, he was getting out rebounded by their guards, could not take advantage of a post up on a smaller guard, and looked like a deer caught in the headlights on defense. With all that being written/said, why not utilize his strengths and have the team go to a quicker lineup which can full-court press, increase chances of having a transition-style offense, and have Wiseman rim-run and with the potential to finish the break? It is painful to watch the kid go into his ball handling mode where he tries to lead-and-finish the break!

Also, Wiseman did look better when playing against the opposing team's second unit.

[TB]

His shot chart shows how good he can be and also how young he is right now getting into bad spots.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/james-wiseman-shot-chart

- He is really good inside the restricted area (duh, he's big and dunks)
- He's pretty solid for a center in those pick and pop jumper locations (top of key/wing 3's or deep 2's top of key)
- He's awful in no-mans land (not a dunk, not a midrange jumper even.. its just when he can't get where he needs to be or panics and shoots)

I'd give Wiseman 3 options:
1) dunk
2) catch and shoot 3 or deep 2
3) quickly just pass to anyone wearing a Warriors jersey if you don't have option 1 or 2 available

Either way, he's going to be fine.

[and1GS]

His shot chart shows how good he can be and also how young he is right now getting into bad spots.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/james-wiseman-shot-chart

- He is really good inside the restricted area (duh, he's big and dunks)
- He's pretty solid for a center in those pick and pop jumper locations (top of key/wing 3's or deep 2's top of key)
- He's awful in no-mans land (not a dunk, not a midrange jumper even.. its just when he can't get where he needs to be or panics and shoots)

I'd give Wiseman 3 options:
1) dunk
2) catch and shoot 3 or deep 2
3) quickly just pass to anyone wearing a Warriors jersey if you don't have option 1 or 2 available

Either way, he's going to be fine.

Fascinating, thanks for sharing. The low left block misses really resonate with me. He sets up shop there often, gets stonewalled and will go Oubre by trying to force it into the hoop. But they clearly are not running plays for him there given comparative volume - definitely resonates with what I see.

I think your take is very smart. Bigs really shouldn't be putting it on the ground until they're stars anyway. And, if we're being honest, post ups are generally bad plays in today's NBA unless it's a quick move and a hook shot. But the 'going to work' Andre Drummond play is largely inefficient for today's league.

Simplify to those 3 things. See where you go from there. His shot looks fine, so I think the issue becomes, does it really make sense to try and take turn around or off the dribble 2s from midrange at this point?

[sonnyhill]

His shot chart shows how good he can be and also how young he is right now getting into bad spots.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/james-wiseman-shot-chart

- He is really good inside the restricted area (duh, he's big and dunks)
- He's pretty solid for a center in those pick and pop jumper locations (top of key/wing 3's or deep 2's top of key)
- He's awful in no-mans land (not a dunk, not a midrange jumper even.. its just when he can't get where he needs to be or panics and shoots)

I'd give Wiseman 3 options:
1) dunk
2) catch and shoot 3 or deep 2
3) quickly just pass to anyone wearing a Warriors jersey if you don't have option 1 or 2 available

Either way, he's going to be fine.

Fascinating, thanks for sharing. The low left block misses really resonate with me. He sets up shop there often, gets stonewalled and will go Oubre by trying to force it into the hoop. But they clearly are not running plays for him there given comparative volume - definitely resonates with what I see.

I think your take is very smart. Bigs really shouldn't be putting it on the ground until they're stars anyway. And, if we're being honest, post ups are generally bad plays in today's NBA unless it's a quick move and a hook shot. But the 'going to work' Andre Drummond play is largely inefficient for today's league.

Simplify to those 3 things. See where you go from there. His shot looks fine, so I think the issue becomes, does it really make sense to try and take turn around or off the dribble 2s from midrange at this point?

Great analysis and insights.

Can Wiseman get proficient enough in his offensive game on the low block to where he would automatically draw a double-team? If so, Curry, Thompson, Wiggins, Poole, Mulder, even Oubre (on the baseline) can set up around the 3-pt arc for the kick-out and open shot.

[EvanZ]

His shot chart shows how good he can be and also how young he is right now getting into bad spots.

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/james-wiseman-shot-chart

- He is really good inside the restricted area (duh, he's big and dunks)
- He's pretty solid for a center in those pick and pop jumper locations (top of key/wing 3's or deep 2's top of key)
- He's awful in no-mans land (not a dunk, not a midrange jumper even.. its just when he can't get where he needs to be or panics and shoots)

I'd give Wiseman 3 options:
1) dunk
2) catch and shoot 3 or deep 2
3) quickly just pass to anyone wearing a Warriors jersey if you don't have option 1 or 2 available

Either way, he's going to be fine.

"Fine" is not what you want after using a #2 pick on a guy. When I hear someone say "Player X is going to be fine", it almost always means they are not going to be fine, anyway.

[KevinMcreynolds]

I hate how they’ve turned him into strictly a rim runner. I think he was better in the first week of his career when he was launching 3’s and going coast to coast. I don’t care if he was out of control and reckless at times, that’s what makes him unique and worthy of a #2 pick.

I also didn’t like it at the time, but having him come off the bench was a good move. He was feasting on playing against 2nd units.

I feel like they’re mismanaging this kid like crazy.

they are actually trying to simplify the game for him, wtf is the point of drafting a 7-1 center 2nd overall if ur just gonna have him launch 3s at a 25% clip the entire game? he needs to develop his inside game first and extrapolate from there

i'm fine with them simplifying things for him, but Wiseman offensive game will always be centered around rim running in this offense, which was ALWAYS the issue in the first place unless you are breaking OUT of this offense and running plays specifically for a C like Wiseman, which we've literally NEVER done in the Kerr era before.

I have nothing against the rim running, I just don't want him only rim running. He's never going to be worth the pick unless he can stretch the floor, which he was doing before his wrist injury. He was shooting 3's and 20 footers with confidence and now he doesn't even consider and just rotates the ball automatically.

[Warriors Analyst]

It's hard for me not to see this season as a disaster for Wiseman and the Warriors.

Before the draft, I warned against drafting Wiseman. I expected that as a rookie big, he'd likely be bad on defense, and the one competitive game that he played in the NCAA against Oregon was littered with defensive blunders and inexplicable decisions on offense. Unfortunately, the Oregon game is pretty much exactly what we've gotten out of Wiseman. He has gotten better on defense as the year has progressed and he's shown more promise switching than he has in drop schemes, so he's not a total disaster, but I think it's crystal clear that Wiseman was the wrong pick and the Warriors are doing pretty much everything they can to mess up his development and/or trade value.

Some numbers here:

Wiseman's OBPM on the year is -4.3. His DBPM is -1.3. As a point of reference, Andris Biedrins in his final year with the Warriors had a -4.8 OBPM. Biedrins' TS% that year was 45%. Wiseman's this year is 55%. Despite being a far more efficient finisher, a 33% three point shooter and shooting 30 points better from the free throw line than Biedrins, Wiseman's offensive impact is only marginally better than later career Biedrins. That's um... really bad.

In the Kerr era Steph has only been a part of three two-man combos to play >100 minutes with a negative net rating: Steph/Oubre -1.9, Steph/Varejao -6.6, and Steph/Wiseman -7.4. The ORTG of Steph/Wiseman is 102.8

In Steph's entire career, these are the negative net rating two-man combos he's been in that have received >100 minutes .
Steph/Oubre, Steph/Varejao (2015-16), Steph Wiseman, Steph/Festus (2012-13) Steph/Biedrins (2012-13), Steph/Steve Blake, Steph/Jordan Crawford, Steph/Klay (2011-12) , Steph/Biedrins (2011-12), Monta/Steph (2010-11), Steph/Reggie Williams (2010-11), Steph/Lou Admunson (2010-11), Steph/Biedrins (2010-11), Steph/Gadzuric (2010-11), Steph/Carney (2010-11) Steph/Turiaf (2009-10) Steph/Morrow (2009-10), Steph/S-Jax (2009-10), Steph/Chris Hunter (2009-10), Steph/Randolph, Steph/Biedrins (2009-10), Steph/William (2009-10)s, Steph/Maggette (2009-10), Steph/Randmonovic (2009-10), Monta/Steph (2009-10), Steph/Bukie (2009-10), Steph/Mikki Moore (2009-10)

In Steph's ENTIRE CAREER, only six two man-combos have performed worse than Steph/Wiseman:

Monta/Steph -8.0 (2009-10)
Steph/Gadzuric -8.8 (2010-11)
Steph/Carney -10.5 (2010-11)
Curry/Crawford -11.8 (2013-14)
Steph/Bukie -14.0 (2009-10)
Steph/Mikki Moore -20.8 (2009-10)

You'll notice that three of those two man combos are from when Steph was a rookie and wasn't STEPH F'n CURRY. The other three players Gadzuric, Carney, and Crawford, literally never played another NBA game after their seasons with the Warriors. So in the Kerr era era, Wiseman has had the worst numbers per net rating in a two-man combo with Steph and the only players worse than him played with rookie Steph or did not play in the NBA the season after. From the Kerr era, no two-man combo involving Steph has ever had a worse ORTG than Steph/Wiseman.

These numbers are brutal. I will say this, it's not fair to pin this entirely on Wiseman. He's very obviously being misused and his skillset is a terrible fit for what Kerr likes in centers. The front office deserves a lot of criticism for picking a guy who didn't fit Kerr's system and expecting he would and Kerr deserves criticism for doing pretty much nothing to put Wiseman in positions to succeed. The front office also messed up big time by not grabbing a vet C when Chriss went down. I love Looney, but we could use another vet body to save Wiseman from getting embarrassed. The fact is that Wiseman is really bad right now and he's going to be bad for a while.

What does Wiseman do well, exactly? Finish? Yeah, but he's also 7'1 and in the 99th percentile of human athleticism. He should at the bare minimum, finish well. At this point his jumper is mostly an idea. He's shooting 33% on jumpers this year and only 63% from the free throw line. On the year, Wiseman is shooting 30% from shots in the paint that are not in the restricted area, 29.7% on hook shots, and is shooting 34% from the mid-range. Add that all up and there's a body of evidence that suggests Wiseman doesn't have a natural shooter's touch. Beyond that, his shot selection is really bad. It's still a bit of a mystery as to whether the coaching staff wants Wiseman to post up or he's seeking out those shots himself, but he's a bad post player at this point. Victor Oladipo and Jimmy Butler punk'd him multiple times last night and he spins himself into trouble and fades on an alarming number of shots.

Wiseman has looked way more comfortable in PNR situations this year and I absolutely believe that he should be running more of those, but his PPP there isn't stellar either. Looney, Paschall, Dray, JTA, and Steph all have a higher PPP than Wiseman does as the roll man, albeit on lower volume (the only one who comes close to matching the frequency of PNR roll man is Paschall). Here, I think Steve deserves a lot of criticism. Yes, I do think that Kerr's system can be phenomenal with the right players, but... we don't have those right players right now. There might be some value to teaching Wiseman how to operate in that system, but I haven't seen much growth in his offensive game this year. His best games have come when his role is simplified and he's in the dunker spot or he gets to run the PNR as the roll man.

But there's issues here: we killed the Bulls in PNR two games ago and then just... went away from it against Miami. My guess is that Kerr thinks PNR is a gimmick and therefore doesn't feel comfortable running it against a smart defense, which is why he ran a bunch of motion stuff against Miami, but they shut all that down pretty easily. There's probably some truth to the fact that it's easier to run PNR against a bad defensive team like the Bulls, but I don't think that justifies going away from it against Miami. There was a way to run PNR with some success, but you have to commit to spacing the floor around Wiseman to make it work. I've noticed that Wiseman has a propensity for taking soft fadeaways on the roll when his path to the bucket is blocked by a defender. At this point he doesn't have the body control to euro around them and because he's not an instinctual passer, it's not terribly surprising that he panics and tries to fire up a fadeaway or stepback. But the fact is that he's not good at those right now. Wiseman would look a lot better if Kerr committed to running PNR's with MULTIPLE shooters, spacing the floor around him, which brings me to the whole issue of roster construction/rotation choices.

The handling of Oubre this year has been a disaster. It's pretty clear he's not a long term fit and I think at this point I'd rather just not have him on the team next year. I can't speak to all of the offers that were on the table at the deadline, but I'm inclined to think that most of those deals would have been better for the team THIS YEAR than keeping Oubre would be. Earlier in the year I wanted Lee to start. I understand that there's contract/emotional considerations that probably motivated Kerr to keep Oubre in the starting lineup for fear of alienating him and messing up his trade value or desire to remain here long term. But at this point in the season, it looks like the bridge is pretty much burnt between the Warriors and Oubre and the starting lineup is suffering for Oubre's role in it. Oubre can absolutely be a useful bench 4 in a simplified offensive system, but Kerr's not exactly a coach who wants a simplified offensive system and he's made it very clear he prioritizes defenses above offense, to the point of detriment. So as a result, Oubre's presence makes it harder to run PNR's against good defenses and bungles our spacing, for what exactly? What is the point in giving Oubre extended minutes at this point unless your end goal is to tank, emotional and developmental consequences be damned.

Bringing that back to Wiseman, if the goal for this entire year has been to tank, whatever, that sucks, but I can make sense of it. But the implicit motivation behind tanking is to accumulate assets that will help you win games at some point in the future. And this Warriors team doesn't have much of a future right now outside of the next two or three years that Steph is still Steph F'n Curry and I think it's clear that he can still be that guy on a lot of nights, but it's not reasonable to expect that night in and night out. So if you're tanking, you're now hoping that you get the Minnesota pick, keep our own pick, and that Wiseman can be a good player next year OR he can be a trade asset to help you get big fish.

But with how the Warriors have handled Wiseman this year, we've accomplished neither of those things. Wiseman looks worse than he did at the beginning of the season. His offensive impact numbers rival late career Andris Biedrins and when he's on the court with Steph, our offense is far below league average. He's shown some improvement on defense, but not nearly enough for anyone reasonable to expect he'll be anything other than raw meat for AD and Jokic in the post or Lillard and Luka dragging him into high PNR's in the playoffs over the next two years. So to date, the Warriors don't have a body of evidence that suggests Wiseman will help the team next year in the playoffs AND because he's been misused and Kerr's rotational choices have exacerbated Wiseman's offensive flaws, his trade value markedly worse than it was before he got drafted.

I don't think many of you understand how much his value is going to decrease next year unless he puts together an absolute monster season. Jarrett Allen was a late first round pick and had -0.9 OBPM and 0.1 DBPM as a rookie. He improved with every year and he got traded in his contract year for... a second round pick. That was the trade value of Jarrett Allen, a good young C, who is set to hit the FA market this year. Allen's reps want $17 mil. He'll probably get that from Cleveland because the Cavs are a bad org who have to overpay to retain talent. But how long do you think it'll take Wiseman to be worth $17 mil? If Wiseman only makes marginal improvements on the offensive side of the court, which is where my biggest worries lie with him, and grades out around +1.0 DBPM, which is where Allen and Myles Turner's career averages are, how much do you want to pay Wiseman? How much do you think other teams will want to pay Wiseman? There's not going to be much of an appetite to trade for Wiseman for the privilege to pay him >$20 mil, which is what he and his representatives will absolutely want for a former #2 pick. Right now Wiseman makes just under $9 million dollars a year. He makes more than Serge Ibaka makes right now. How long do you think it'll be until Wiseman is actually worth $9 mil for his oncourt value?

It's a mess of a situation, long term. Wiseman isn't very good right now. He'll get better, but he's never going to be worth the #2 pick and Kerr's coaching decisions have made it harder to use Wiseman to trade for a big fish. We're most likely stuck with Wiseman so I do hope that he improves and becomes a key part of the Warriors' success next year, but I don't think the early signs point to that happening.

[clyde21]

I hate how they’ve turned him into strictly a rim runner. I think he was better in the first week of his career when he was launching 3’s and going coast to coast. I don’t care if he was out of control and reckless at times, that’s what makes him unique and worthy of a #2 pick.

I also didn’t like it at the time, but having him come off the bench was a good move. He was feasting on playing against 2nd units.

I feel like they’re mismanaging this kid like crazy.

they are actually trying to simplify the game for him, wtf is the point of drafting a 7-1 center 2nd overall if ur just gonna have him launch 3s at a 25% clip the entire game? he needs to develop his inside game first and extrapolate from there

i'm fine with them simplifying things for him, but Wiseman offensive game will always be centered around rim running in this offense, which was ALWAYS the issue in the first place unless you are breaking OUT of this offense and running plays specifically for a C like Wiseman, which we've literally NEVER done in the Kerr era before.

I have nothing against the rim running, I just don't want him only rim running. He's never going to be worth the pick unless he can stretch the floor, which he was doing before his wrist injury. He was shooting 3's and 20 footers with confidence and now he doesn't even consider and just rotates the ball automatically.

he's never going to be worth the pick unless he's an Embiid or Davis or Towns or Jokic or Gobert, that's the entire point of picking a big that high in today's NBA, their value curve is way steepers than any other position essentially, only the best of the best are worth these high picks, and if he's ever going to be considered on that tier, he has to have a complete all around game or just be a complete side on one side of the court (Towns/Gobert).

if the connective tissue isn't there to get consistent minutes, it really won't matter that he can stretch at all.

[Big J]

I just don't ever see him becoming a defensive beast with his poor anticipation and slow reflexes, and that is the 1 thing that centers in todays game absolutely need to do. He can't pass either, so what is his best case scenario? Vucevic?

[Big J]

We're witnessing what Darko would have looked like if Detroit had played him. This ain't pretty.

[Swift21]

I just don't ever see him becoming a defensive beast with his poor anticipation and slow reflexes, and that is the 1 thing that centers in todays game absolutely need to do. He can't pass either, so what is his best case scenario? Vucevic?

One pumpfake he goes flying and taking himself out of position. Toronto attacked him downhill in PnR all game long and he looked helpless and pathetic.

[FNQ]

He's not going to be fine if all we do is keep posting him up. If that's who he is, then we need to deal him.

I'm not going to judge him too harshly in a game where there was almost no effort from anyone, but at some point we have to basically X him out as a post option, aside from maybe 1-2 looks a game, or in mismatches. Otherwise you set screens, rebound, and keep your feet on the ground on defense. I dont want blocked shots. overrated stat anyways. He needs to start bothering shooters, not trying to block them

[Swift21]

He's not going to be fine if all we do is keep posting him up. If that's who he is, then we need to deal him.

I'm not going to judge him too harshly in a game where there was almost no effort from anyone, but at some point we have to basically X him out as a post option, aside from maybe 1-2 looks a game, or in mismatches. Otherwise you set screens, rebound, and keep your feet on the ground on defense. I dont want blocked shots. overrated stat anyways. He needs to start bothering shooters, not trying to block them

Even when he keeps his feet on the ground I don't see a guy that can sink his hips and move laterally when a ball handler is coming downhill at him off PnR. There is just no fluidity in his hips.

[cdubbz]

Wiseman has played in 34 NBA games now. Hopefully he will reach 50 games played by end of season.

I’m willing to wash this season away. He got his feet wet and played nba competition for a full season.
I’m excited for next season for him - but I cannot have a lost James Wiseman in year 2.

[clyde21]

Wiseman has played in 34 NBA games now. Hopefully he will reach 50 games played by end of season.

I’m willing to wash this season away. He got his feet wet and played nba competition for a full season.
I’m excited for next season for him - but I cannot have a lost James Wiseman in year 2.

well, we take a risk...if we get a lost Wiseman in year 2, effectively his entire value is shot and we lost any trade value we might have had at that point.

so, here we are.