Golden State Warriors: 3 Keys to James Wiseman’s development
By Tony Pesta
James Wiseman must find his role (roll) on offense
Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors have insisted on not conforming to modern NBA offense which often features pick-and-rolls plays over and over again. However, the pick-and-roll might just be the best role possible for James Wiseman.
On offense, Wiseman is only really elite at finishing at the basket. He’s still working on the rest of his game but there is not much stopping him from simply rolling to the hoop and finishing over smaller defenders.
Wiseman is an impressive athlete with humongous leaping ability and supreme strength. This makes him an obvious pairing in pick-and-rolls with a player like Stephen Curry who can set him up for easy looks routinely. What’s more, Wiseman’s wide frame makes it difficult to defend Curry in these plays.
As previously mentioned, the Warriors somewhat stubbornly refused to run pick-and-roll too often last season. This began to change later in the year and Wiseman ended up finishing the season in the 49th percentile as a pick-and-roll finisher. The Dubs scored roughly 60 percent of the time on these plays.
Moving forward, I hope to see Wiseman featured more in this type of action. It is a natural fit for him and likely his most effective skill on offense.