Golden State Warriors: James Wiseman is ready to contribute

James Wiseman entered the Golden State Warriors Summer League roster with a bang finishing a monstrous alley-oop play to start the game and staying hot throughout the game. He was impressive, plain and simple.

His big dunks, fade-away shots, contested three, and a fair share of huge blocks weren’t even the most impressive part of Sunday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs either.

James Wiseman has picked up the small things in the game of basketball that will make huge differences for the Golden State Warriors.

Throughout his 20 minutes of game time, Wiseman was in position nearly every time down the floor, whether it be on offense or on defense, he was exactly where he needed to be.

In the pick ‘n’ roll, one of the most difficult plays to defend against, he read the plays perfectly as he was in a position to step up and contest jumpers or turn around and swat lobs or shot attempts every single time.

He continuously moved his feet, staying in front of nearly everyone he matched up against. If he got beat out, he stayed right on their hip and recovered nicely as they got to the bucket. Even his seven fouls were all necessary fouls or just ticky-tack calls that we see called so often in the summer league.

Wiseman found openings in the defense, punishing them consistently, although he rarely got the ball in these situations where he found gaps off-ball, he was ready and posted up his opponent in spots where he could do something with it.

Wiseman even placed good, hard screens, keeping defenders behind the play with Jonathan Kuminga or Mac McClung driving to the bucket.

He was even able to make some impressive reads and beautiful passes which could mean great things for the team moving forward.

These were the main areas where he struggled in his rookie season before his injury, making this improvement something to note in his development.

If he is able to do this consistently, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green will most definitely reward him for his efforts.

James Wiseman is already an incredible athlete and more than capable of spacing out the floor as a stretch five.

In his rookie season, Wiseman shot 31.6% from three-point range, which isn’t great, it’s not even average, but you had to respect his range. He also was rushing his shot at times throughout the season, lowering his percentages.

It is not unrealistic to expect his shooting splits to improve this season as he has been working incredibly hard to get better and he was visibly uncomfortable at times during his rookie campaign.

Much of this discomfort was due to a lack of muscle mass, which he has worked on, gaining 14 pounds of muscle since his last game in April of 2021.

On top of this added muscle mass, Wiseman also has impressive speed and hops for a center, this was shown off on Sunday during his incredible performance as he was able to reach up and block or contest every shot that came near him while also being consistently near the front in the fast break, both on offense and on defense.

If James Wiseman continues this level of high IQ and high awareness play, the Golden State Warriors will add an incredibly dangerous two-way weapon to their repertoire next season as they look to contend for a back-to-back championship.