James Wiseman will thrive in year two with the Golden State Warriors
If I had to place a bet on which 2020 NBA Draft prospect will make the biggest leap from year one to year two — James Wiseman would probably be my guy. This is in part because the bar isn’t too high considering how lackluster his rookie season was, but also because Wiseman is going to be in a much better position to thrive as a sophomore.
The learning curve is steep for a young center in the NBA. What’s worse, Wiseman didn’t have the luxury of learning the ropes step-by-step. He entered the league with minimum experience and instantly had to be a productive cog in a machine that was hoping to reach the playoffs.
This put Wiseman on a tight and unforgiving leash. It’s hard for anyone to find a rhythm when they are playing limited minutes but especially difficult for a rookie who hasn’t even found his niche yet.
Though his MCL injury has held Wiseman back from actually practicing, a full year around the team will help him nonetheless. Having a bit more knowledge under his belt and having some of the pressure passed to incoming rookies such as Jonathan Kuminga and Jordan Poole will allow Wiseman to focus on simply playing his role.
Which, should be an easy one to flourish in. Wiseman has all of the natural gifts to be an impactful rim-runner. Now, he also has all of the spacing and high-IQ teammates to help him succeed. All that’s left is to go out and put it all together.