120 Comments
Aug 27, 2022·edited Aug 27, 2022

Found this redraft of 2020 which gives Wiseman the #6 slot. Obviously, there are guys teams would take ahead of JW. But I find it fascinating that they still rate him #6 -- ahead of Desmond Bane and Tyrese Maxey, for instance -- even with the poor rookie year and the injuries. Their reasoning? "...his numbers were respectable and he showed some glimpses of serious impact. His ceiling remains extremely high."

It's just one guy's opinion, and I don't know him from Adam (actually, /he/ is apparently Adam, but I digress...). But it still makes more sense to me to give the INC and not bother giving a letter grade until at least we've had a chance to see him on the court with the good version of this team and preferably after he's gotten some development minutes on the floor. By mid-season, we should be getting a reasonable idea of whether he's headed in the right direction, and by the end of the season, we should probably have enough data to better project what we think he can be and hence whether he was worth taking at that #2 spot. YMMV.

https://www.complex.com/sports/re-draft-2020-nba-draft/

Postscript: Just noticed the date on this article was April 2021 -- so it doesn't account for this whole last season. Here's one from July 2022 which has Wiseman going #3(!). https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fastbreak/news/redrafting-2020-nba-draft-anthony-edwards-lamelo-ball-james-wiseman-tyrese-haliburton

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I have a timeshare on Jessup Island. Great deal. You only have to fly 18 hours for some Shrimp on the BarBee and a cold Fosters.

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Summary: Incomplete. Response: Not unfair.

Conclusion: Let’s get this season started already so we can talk about stuff that is actually happening.

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Aug 26, 2022·edited Aug 26, 2022

Y'all taking about buying up real estate on Wiseman island, when I'm already a landlord in Baldwin City!!

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Aug 26, 2022·edited Aug 26, 2022

...no matter what his grade is, he is by all appearances healthy and ready to play this season.

If ever there was a time to just sit back and enjoy his potential when he is on cusp of playing again for the Champs, this is it!

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I agree with an Incomplete for Wiseman but if you are giving Jessup a C for never even making the roster and Mannion a C for a few minutes of garbage time, not even sure he could stick in the league, and then gone to Italy, then an F for Wiseman is inappropriate. Stick with the Incomplete.

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I've been on Wiseman Island since it was an underwater volcano... and F is entirely fair given the criteria. I too look forward to seeing what a completely revamped developmental staff can do for Wise. (Side note: and it's also amazing what JP has accomplished without one for most of his career...)

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As much as I believe in Wiseman's future, I'm fine with this F/Incomplete grade for now. If the world were to end tomorrow, Wiseman's career relative to his draft position would be a bitter disappointment. Thankfully, the world wont end tomorrow, and I expect this grade to skyrocket in the next couple of years as JW continues to grow into his frame and develop his big man skills. He has the organizational support, the athletic gifts, and the mentality to be great. My money is on him putting it together and on those who have prematurely written him off as a bust already having to eat a large humble pie. Not saying that Apricot is one of those people, but they know who they are.

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Aug 26, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot

Kuminga highlight reel from international play; he had 18 points on 4/15 FG, 0/7 threes, 10/12 FT; + 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block

(10/12 from the line is nice, but showing the free throw attempts in the highlight reel is nasty stuff)

https://twitter.com/gswcba/status/1563249773540323328?s=20&t=HLTSdhaLNIJCUoRqiCWmfA

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>I did not want to draft Wiseman at all. But I got over it.

My first reaction after reading the Wiseman portion of the article is - No. You haven't.

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About LaMelo I think the DeAngelo Russell Experience next to Steph showed the limit of having another PG in Golden State offense, different from Jordan Poole.

LaMelo dribbles, dribbles, dribbles. Doesn't play or move without the ball, doesn't set screens for Klay and Steph, is not a reliable shooter (now, in 2022) and is not a good defensive player

Drafting LaMelo, we would have lost Poole one year ago and never seen him becoming a superstar

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This grade is gonna change from an F to an A. Wiseman Island is gonna be as packed as Wiggins Island by the end of the season.

Just you wait.

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Aug 26, 2022·edited Aug 27, 2022

I’m giving him an “incomplete” and remain relatively bullish on Wiseman based on his circumstances.

Given his arrival with such a limited college career, followed by no summer league or training camp because of Covid, followed by multiple injuries, I don’t know if David Robinson or Hakeem Olajuwon would have fared any better.

Assuming health this season, I’m looking for improvement from one month to the next. He’s had plenty of time to develop a good understanding of the team’s offense and defense and his role. I’d compare it to learning to drive; he’s done the book-studying, but hasn’t been unable to spend much actual time behind the wheel. The biggest thing will be to see if his decision-making starts to look more organic and less robotic…as well as him just having fun out there. I thought we saw glimpses of that in Summer League, so I was encouraged.

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Wiseman being an F is fair and correct, as he’s done very little at all, and was the number 2 pick.

Not to say that can’t change, but if his career ended today, he’s a huge F.

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Thanks for the updates on Mannion and Jessup. I won't waste RAM on them any more.

>> I did not want to draft Wiseman at all. But I got over it.

Kind of. Looks like you were lukewarm. Since you did advocate trading the pick, who in retrospect was a realistic and better target? I agree with you about LaMelo; not really a good fit here.

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F for Wiseman seems a bit harsh, given that the injury issues were unexpected.

I think you could give the team a solid F- on how they developed him that first year, though. It's kind of amazing how a bunch of very smart coaches (including Ron Adams, whose thing is developing bigs) could seemingly get it so wrong. Now that they've fixed their development coaching, the results will be better (already saw that in summer league).

Given what we knew (IIRC, they couldn't work anybody out because of COVID), it was a good pick then, and will probably still end up being a very good pick. Halliburton would have been seen as a reach, and I think Lamelo's defensive indifference would have not fit in well on this team ... how'd it go for D'Angelo Russell?

Barring an injury, I think it's fairly safe to project him as an replacement level starting center. My personal hope is that he ends up being a more athletic Brooke Lopez, which in our system, would be an incredibly valuable player.

Halliburton would have fit like a glove, too, of course. Great player (stupid Sac).

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