The return of James Wiseman, plus Kuminga takes over in crunch time

Not bad, it was just Summer League, but you can see the promise

The Highlights

Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA

It's pretty absurd that the Warriors bench is going to be: Wiseman Kuminga Moody DiVincenzo Poole That's like a good start for a rebuilding team and it's the bench for the champs.

This thread has some good plays:

Mo Dakhil @MoDakhil_NBA

It has been just two minutes and Wiseman has gone completely nuts.

StatMuse @statmuse

Jonathan Kuminga tonight: 26 PTS 7 REB 4 AST Game-tying bucket and game-winning free throws.

Apricot In-Game Notes

• Wiseman I *think* completely blew that ICE defense but he ran over from cross court and deleted the shot

• I’m very happy for J Wise that he is playing and looking smooth and healthy so these are all just nit picky things in the big picture.

• Wiseman is slipping his screens super early, I’d like to see him make contact and then roll.

• JK and Wise have the right idea but JK has thrown terrible passes to him. JK still getting the feeling of whether he should get his shot or throw the pass.

• They have Wise playing drop coverage and he’s pretty hard for smalls to beat. Defenders are over helping… just let JW try to defend them.

• Wise was frustrated on that break but Mac had a tough decision… thread the pass to JK for a highlight dunk, or drop it back to JW for the highlight dunk. JK needs more positive things to happen than JW, so good PG instincts from Mac

• I’m curious what a Wiseman-Santos pick and roll looks like. Santos gets into the paint and then all chaos breaks out, not usually good for GSW

• Wiseman making better contact on his screens in 2nd half, but somehow not quite rolling in a way that opens up a pocket pass to him. LOTS of room to grow.

• But I *loved* that he caught that inside pass from JK for the dunk. (Yeah I have low expectations for his hands, so what)

• His D was not bad and he was intimidating every shot in the paint. Fouling too, but that’s the room for growth

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Nate In-Game Notes

• I really have no expectations for Wiseman today — really just want to see his energy level on the court, stamina, and how he makes basketball movements. If he doesn’t have that stuff, none of the concerns about fit in the system or anything else matter. Right now, we need to know if we have a player healthy enough to eventually earn NBA minutes.

• SAC has some good talent, but they’re in a bad spot as a young team — they’re likely not the worst team in the west, but they’re probably bottom 5 again … and the teams potentially below them have a boatload of young talent that could end up bring leapfrogging them in 2-3 years. Keegan Murray is a good piece, but they’ve blown so many other draft picks in the last decade that they have no foundation to build on and little to attract free agents. Mike Brown has his work cut out for him…

  • That’s the crazy thing about the Kings decision-making — a lot of it is poor planning, but some of it is also bad luck. Had they not taken Davion Mitchell last year — and I was not a fan of that pick to begin with — it would’ve made a lot more sense to take Ivey this year. Even a Mitchell-Halliburton-Murray combo (if they just really weren’t very high on Ivey for some reason) would’ve made more sense. Their poor choices just seem to compound each other at every turn.

• I never say this about summer league because it usually results in disastrous game play, but I do hope to see Wiseman sort of just have fun being out there today while showing his body is capable of making basketball plays. In the position-decision-execution spectrum, I just want to see him be put himself in position to do things … every now and then lol

• “ Misses shot: Was it a long 3 or a long 2? If not, good job, good effort!” Imagining Wiseman coming out and playing like a seven foot Nick Young is cracking me up. I’m definitely using your rating scale for him for the duration of summer league and preseason! Lol

• Watching his interview on the summer league broadcast … and I just can’t believe someone would willingly give up a player that personable, enthusiastic about the game and eager to learn more with that kind of foundational skill set. I never fully understood that decision, but also admittedly never really looked into it … what was the logic? Did they just not want to eventually have to pay him?

• I know there were people here who were higher on Andrew Nembhard than I was… and watching him today, he’s solid, makes good decisions, and Halliburton even said he’s the guy he’s most excited about! But I, a highly knowledgeable former college intramural all-star, am still just not sure how productive he’ll be in the NBA. Maybe a slightly smaller George Hill is his upside?

• [On Wiseman Island] I’m in! An island dive bar running on generators is a VIIIIIBE … Pull up a stool at the island bar and get yourself some 151!

• @Ghost We’ve seen a made three off the dribble and a fadeaway 2, but not long … are we winning or failing I can’t decide lol

• Yeah I think he’s lacking the strength to do some of the things we’d like him to do in terms of rebounding in traffic or playing through contact; he’s just avoiding contact because he’s agile enough to do so.

• Wonder if someone talked to JW about his screens while he was last sitting — that last 2 screens he set are some of the best I’ve seen from him. They then missed him on a solid post up — good to see him getting a tad more physical to make things happen.

• I am now yelling at my screen for these guys to give JW the damn ball. He’s doing everything he needs to get position and dudes just won’t give him the ball.

• Lol Maybe if we all do it at the same time?

• Kuminga is looking great during this stint. The way we’re seeing guys settle and correct mistakes so quickly is usually a credit to coaching … so kudos to them 🤷🏾‍♂️

• HERO BALL FTW!

• I was just thinking that — I really don’t know if I’ll feel like he’s totally ready until we hear that he’s still standing like 3 days after the end of SL based on the history with this knee

• Kuminga played with much better pace in the fourth … he was still hunting for fouls to some extent, but he showed more touch around the basket and was a little bit more discerning in how he attacked when he picked his spots. I love that he hit JW with that pass as well and I think it would be great to see him do a little bit more facilitating for however long he plays in summer league — we know he can win games as a battering ram at this level of competition simply by virtue of his physical attributes, but I’d like to see him pick apart defenses in different ways. But know question it’s nice to see a young guy take over a game in crunch time so emphatically. This dude has talent for days and it’s gonna be fun watching him develop.

• It *feels* like AD was a more polished ball handler at this stage … or maybe the word I’m looking for is more decisive…? Just seems he was able to create with the ball in his hands a little less awkwardly than Wiseman at the same age … but I could be misremembering…?

• Yeah Spurs defenders were literally walking away from Kuminga at the 3pt line and going to rebound lol Such is the nature of summer league 🤷🏾‍♂️

• I said I had no expectations for Wiseman except basically being present and moving for a whole game so … MISSION ACCOMPLISHED HE’S A HALL OF FAMER. But seriously, given this is summer league competition, when he does get the ball in the post, I’d like to see him eventually be a little more patient and not just default into taking a jumper right away - he can get those any time. Would love to see him use his size to draw fouls take it to the rim… not at all a “concern”, but more just curious to see how he looks when he does something other than just shoot over defenders. But man I’m excited — his fit is so clear right now and we just need to get this dude in game shape.