17 Comments

I also like at 2:46 how Steph bails out instead of trying to rebound the miss, which drags his defender with him because you don't want Steph beating you down the court and getting an open three. Steph's looking back up the court so he can see Wiseman coming in for the rebound.

Expand full comment
Feb 8, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball

Meanwhile I see that one of the Warriors other rookies, Justinian Jessup, is hitting 55% of his 3s in the NBL. By way of contrast, LaMelo hit only 25% in the same league last year. The only red flag I see is that he has 0 free through attempts in 5 games which suggests that he isn't even trying to get to the rim. Then again, Klay Thompson hardly every shoots free throws either.

Expand full comment

I've tried to watch as much as I could (free to stream on twitch)... and yea I don't remember seeing him get to the basket... feels like he has a sneaky quick first step (not sure if it'll translate to NBA) but he tends to favor the mid-range pull-up once he gets by a defender

Expand full comment
author

I WANT TO BELIEVE

Expand full comment

yeah, me too, but the other thing that gives me pause is that before being drafted , Jessup was mostly known for breaking Jimmer Fredette's Mountain West 3 pt record, and let's just say that Fredette's NBA career was underwhelming. On the other hand, Jessup has the size that Fredette could only dream about, and Fredette's college 3pt shooting ability did translate pretty well to the NBA. I never really paid much attention to Fredette, but I'm guessing his problems were mostly related to the NBA not being a very friendly environment for short shooting guards.

Expand full comment
author

The conventional wisdom take would be that Jessup will stick if he can not get exploited on defense and if he can move the ball in the offense.

Expand full comment
Feb 8, 2021Liked by punk basketball

The unconventional wisdom would be that Justinian lives up to his name a restores the west to the Warriors empire. We should be past the plague, so he won't have that to contend with.

Expand full comment
author

I did not realize early European history would be on the test

Expand full comment
Feb 8, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Those plays where Dray ends up boxing out so that other players like Wiseman can come back to get it is one reason why I think his rebounding numbers are down (definitely other factors like conditioning). We've had guys like Bogut, West, Zaza, Ezeli, Mo, etc. who were all pretty good rebounders by themselves and who were weighing anywhere from 250-270 lbs... this year we have a rookie Wiseman (240 lbs) and Looney (222 lbs) so Dray is having to do a lot more of the dirty work by himself.

Expand full comment
author

Dray does so much on defense off the stat sheet to make the team work. I’m not too worried about him on defense.

He does a ton on offense off the stat sheet, but I’m also glad he’s been working on getting his own points (last DAL game aside). The offense is going to work better if he’s a passable threat to directly score.

Expand full comment

Yep, agreed. He's aware that he can't let teams "Tony Allen" him.

Expand full comment
Feb 8, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Eric: Dray had an 'OK' couple of nights in Dallas as point forward/point center. Just 15 assists. A night. What are your thoughts about having Wiseman play forward on offense and center on defense? Wiseman has enough outside game to get to 4 out, could slash or get to dunker spot as play evolves or move to the low post later in a play. This could be the solution to lack of shooting in Dray lineups. Thoughts?

Expand full comment
author

I think people are open to this... if the GSW staff was remotely like me, they were just hoping Wiseman could be JaVale McGee with more stamina and court sense. This whole bombing in 3s at a high rate and spin post moves is way ahead of schedule. I feel like GSW doesn’t really know what his ceiling is in the right offense. We saw them having Wiseman IN THE SPLIT haha as a potential shooter or pick and popper, he spotted up in the corner to space, he’s okay passing out of the post. It’s like there’s so much to try.

In some ways, his power roll game and dunker spot game, and his defense/rebounding feels behind everything else. And ideally that would solidify before getting too far into 30th century offense.

Expand full comment

Have to find some way for Dray to play at the top of the key like David West only a lot better in terms of being the place to initiate the offense. will be interesting...

Expand full comment
Feb 7, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball

I am missing Wiseman right now, so this is especially welcome. Some fans get down on the Kid for being a raw kid, but I'm happy with his progress and want to see more of him.

Expand full comment
author

Wiseman is making so much progress. This video is from a month ago and it already feels out of date.

Expand full comment
Feb 7, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Thank you Sir Apricot. Your "young rookie" close needs to be my mantra with JW this season instead of just rookie.

Expand full comment