It’s always nice to have a veteran around when you’re a young player trying to make a living in the NBA.
That’s only more obvious when you’re a former top-3 pick who’s not coming off a strong rookie season. Everybody’s talking about you and how you failed to live up to the hype, and that could take a toll on your career.
Luckily for James Wiseman, he’ll now have Andre Iguodala to guide him and mentor him along the way:
“James Wiseman is the guy — that’s the guy I’m most excited to play alongside,” Iguodala told Kerith Burke of NBC Sports.
Iguodala says that Wiseman reminds him of his 14-year-old son, claiming that they have the same kind of confidence so it’ll be a smooth transition for him to serve as his mentor:
“They are the exact same,” Iguodala said. “Wiseman speaks Mandarin, [and] my son speaks French and a little bit of Spanish. Their confidence wavers the exact same way, they react to things not going their way the exact same way. So, this is like I will be a father full time now.”
The former Finals MVP is pretty excited about Wiseman’s potential and is looking forward to helping him achieve it:
“James, he has no idea how good he’s going to be, but he wants to be great and asks the right questions,” Andre added. “So I’m just looking forward to showing him how easy it’s going to be because sometimes you can work too hard, and sometimes you can move too fast, sometimes you can try to take on too much and just trying to help him see like as the mind is — is a lot more effective in the body.
Especially in the NBA and especially with your talent.”
It’s too early to count a young, promising player like him out. He barely played in college, missed a lot of his rookie season, and some big men need more time to figure things out.
Hopefully, Andre and the Warriors will help him become the star he can be.
