Warriors’ James Wiseman needs to proves doubters wrong
Warriors‘ second-year center James Wiseman recently suffered another setback, and he may not be on the court for the first time this season for several more weeks as he deals with swelling in his knee.
Wiseman initially tore his meniscus which was a season-ending injury last year. There’s no denying that with this recent setback Wiseman’s doubters are growing louder, and he’s going to need to prove them wrong once able to step onto the court.
The Warriors will be without James Wiseman for at least a little while longer as pessimism continues to flourish around the 20-year-old center.
Wiseman has several key flaws in his rookie season, many of which came on the defensive end. Wiseman averaged 3.1 fouls per game, and considering his limited minutes per game, that spikes to 5.2 fouls per 36 minutes and 6.8 fouls per 100 possessions.
Now, Wiseman has reportedly bulked up, and it looked like he had gained strength during his showings with the Santa Cruz Warriors; however, the NBA level is a different beast and it’ll be interesting if he can stand his ground in the paint.
On top of that, Wiseman struggled to shoot efficiently. Nearing 80% of his attempts were within three feet of the rim yet he shot just 52% from the field. Shooting 55-60% from the field would an ideal range for Wiseman considering his shot selection.
The real issues stem from the hope that he’s coming back continuing to be crushed along with the unclear nature as to why the return from his initial torn meniscus was so lengthy. That took longer than anticipated, and now the swelling will force another setback.
The Warriors don’t necessarily need Wiseman, and given they only have around a month until the postseason commences, it feels unlikely that Wiseman is going to get into the rotation and play meaningful minutes prior to that.
Wiseman would give Golden State a few nice aspects on both ends of the floor that they do not have. He’s a legit 7-foot and has a 7-foot-6 wingspan.
The young prospect would be a lob threat even greater than starting center Kevon Looney and would also be a greater rim protector, despite losing some versatility as Looney is good at defending smaller guards better.
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He should be able to come back at full strength and prove his doubters wrong, but until then, there’s much unknown regarding his long-term potential.