Making the adjustment to play in the NBA is hard. Not all young players dominate right out of the gate, and the reality is that most prospects need a couple of seasons before being able to make a true impact.
That’s why Golden State Warriors rookie James Wiseman should get a pass for a season full of ups and downs. He barely played in college and still showed some flashes of great potential during his first season in the NBA.
Wiseman struggled with help defense and was inconsistent as a scorer as well but he showed glimpses of greatness as well and was coming together before suffering a season-ending injury.
Thus, Warriors owner Joe Lacob recently went to his defense by reminding everybody that Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant didn’t make an impact right out of the gate and still ended up being Hall of Famers:
“I would have liked to see him play more games at the end. He would have gotten better. But big men at 19 years old, take a look at history. Kevin Garnett, I can name you all kinds of players. “If you use your eyes and look at what you saw overall — look at some of the potential. Because when you draft 19-year-olds, you’re drafting on potential. Nobody’s coming in and dominating at 19 years old. Nobody. Even Kobe Bryant took until Year 3 and he wasn’t even a center. These expectations are too high,” Lacob said, as quoted by Essentially Sports.
Whether Wiseman will end up being as good as the aforementioned players is yet to be seen but we shouldn’t just count him out after a down rookie season, especially considering he almost went straight from high school to the NBA after dropping out of Memphis.
Wiseman averaged 11.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game on 51.9% shooting and 21.4 minutes per game, and we’re looking forward to watching him blossom in his sophomore year.
