Back in 2019, not many people dared to say that James Wiseman wasn’t the best player in his class. He was incredibly athletic and a grown man into a child’s body, and look poised to become a dominant big man in the NBA.
Wiseman had some off-court issues and controversies that cost him much of his lone college season at Memphis University. But not even that could hurt his draft stock, as he was taken with the 2nd overall pick by the Golden State Warriors.
James showed some flashes of great talent and his freakish athleticism early in the season but struggled to adapt to an NBA system, which is normal considering he barely had a shot at developing in college.
And to make things even worst, his season got cut short with an injury right when the game was starting to slow down for him. Then again, his coach Steve Kerr still has plenty of faith in him going forward:
“I have no doubt James (Wiseman) is going to make a huge impact in this league. He’s going to be a hell of a player but it takes time and you can’t rush that process, unfortunately. It has to happen on its own time. He’ll get there. We’ll just have to keep working with him. The good thing is he is a great student and he is a hard worker and has a great approach. I have a great belief in James,” Kerr said, as quoted by Yahoo! Sports.
Some fans wanted the Warriors to trade Wiseman before the deadline but it’s too early to give up on him. He’s 7’2”and it takes big men a little longer to round up their game and fulfill their potential.
During his rookie season, Wiseman averaged 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game on 51/31/62 shooting and those numbers will only trend up once he gets back on the court.
