313 Thoughts: Examining James Wiseman’s brief time in Detroit

Laimbeer · Post #1 » by **Laimbeer** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:13 am

The formula is simple—I’ll detail; 3 Things to like, 1 Thing not to like and 3 Things to monitor.

3 Things to Like
Wiseman excelling as a play finisher
Wiseman hustling in transition
Wiseman being seven foot tall

1 Thing to Dislike
Defense

3 Thing to Monitor:
Can he expand his shooting range?
Screen-setting
Can Wiseman play alongside another big?

https://www.detroitbadboys.com/2023/3/13/23633310/detroit-pistons-james-wiseman-313-thoughts

bstein14 · Post #2 » by **bstein14** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:23 am

I think a big thing with him will be his motor. We've seen Drummond and Bagley both have motor issues. If Bagley isn't getting touches and doing well on offense he often doesn't bring the rebounding and other things needed. Especially if Wiseman ends up essentially splitting minutes with Duren next season... both young centers should be going balls to the wall on effort defensively and rebounding the ball if they are essentially playing 6 on and 6 off each quarter.

vege · Post #3 » by **vege** » Wed Mar 15, 2023 9:49 pm

1 Thing to Dislike
Defense

More like

3 Things to Dislike
Defense
BBIQ
Rebounding

Billl · Post #4 » by **Billl** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:02 pm

vege wrote:1 Thing to Dislike
Defense

More like

3 Things to Dislike
Defense
BBIQ
Rebounding

He's grabbing 9 boards in 26 mpg with us. That's right where duren is. He's no rodman, but both are rebounding at a very high rate and are right up there with the top rebounders in the leagues in per36 production on the boards. It's nice to be 7 foot and long.

But yeah, his defense and overall court awareness need a lot of work. We'll see if he can make some improvements there. He's logged very few minutes through college and the pros, and sometimes that comes with repetition.

Post #5 » by **Snakebites** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 4:21 pm

He's a big guy who's obviously got some physical tools- that's why he was picked so high in the first place.

But yeah, he's never going to be a starting center in this league if he doesn't improve his defense. People say this is a more offensive league, but I feel like at the center spot a guy who doesn't rotate well and doesn't have great defensive instincts is paradoxically not nearly as forgivable as it once was.

Right now I've still got Duren comfortably ahead of him as an overall prospect and think that's where most of our development energy and playing time should be committed at the center position.

Sort · Post #6 » by **Sort** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:15 pm

Wisemen has shown some positives out there, but without that defensive development, it's all for naught. Duren is just a better prospect and should be starting out there. I know the per 36 minutes aren't perfect, but Duren is almost 20 and 17 per 36.

Somebody please get these guys a defensive guru this offseason.

mattao313 · Post #7 » by **mattao313** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 7:30 pm

Javale mcgee

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MrBigShot · Post #8 » by **MrBigShot** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:19 pm

If he pans out he is a rotation back up big. The game sense is not there.

DBC10 · Post #9 » by **DBC10** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 10:51 pm

MrBigShot wrote:If he pans out he is a rotation back up big. The game sense is not there.

Yeah his IQ and placement of where to be often doesn't correlate to his innate talent level. I'm not sure he has enough time to figure it out before being relegated in the eyes of all teams to be just a high energy big that gets rotation minutes type of guy. There's plenty of those in the league, hell, we have one already in Bagley and to an extent Stewart

Next season I want to see Duren get the lion share of minutes to see what we truly have instead of this dual-split thing we have to finish off the season

chilluminati · Post #10 » by **chilluminati** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:11 pm

MrBigShot wrote:If he pans out he is a rotation back up big. The game sense is not there.

Agreed, he definitely looks lost sometimes. Hopefully experience helps with that as he gets more PT over his career, but any experience taken away from Duren hurts my soul.

440BB · Post #11 » by **440BB** » Thu Mar 16, 2023 11:17 pm

I'm glad the Pistons are giving Wiseman plenty of minutes during this late tank run. As he's getting comfortable, he's showing what specifically needs work for him to succeed. This will be a big off season for him and the coaches to see if he can grow in defensive awareness, screens and passing.

Consistent minutes as the backup center next season sounds like a perfect role for him to grow in. By this time next season we'll have a much better idea of his ceiling. If he shows he's ready for more, he may be a useful trade piece at a minimum.

whitehops · Post #12 » by **whitehops** » Sat Mar 18, 2023 8:02 pm

bstein14 wrote:I think a big thing with him will be his motor. We've seen Drummond and Bagley both have motor issues. If Bagley isn't getting touches and doing well on offense he often doesn't bring the rebounding and other things needed. Especially if Wiseman ends up essentially splitting minutes with Duren next season... both young centers should be going balls to the wall on effort defensively and rebounding the ball if they are essentially playing 6 on and 6 off each quarter.

I think part of all 3 of their motor issues stems from their bball IQ. Ironically Drummond had an ESPN sports science segment on him and he had like 90th+ percentile reflexes but a lot of bball IQ is recognizing what’s going to happen before it actually does and acting accordingly. So I think part of their motor issues have to do with not being able to dissect what’s happening and acting before, they wait to react to something which is often too late.