Hoops Tonight - Warriors Outlook: How James Wiseman helps Steph, Draymond & Klay repeat

sent you. Twenty one plus in president Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Permitted parishes only, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia. First online real money wager only. Refund issued as non withdrawalable site credit that expires in fourteen days. Restrictions apply see terms at sports book dot FanDuel dot com.

Gambling problem called one eight hundred, next step or text next step to five three three four two in Arizona one eight eight eight seven eight nine seven seven seven seven or visit CCPG dot org slash chat in Connecticut one eight hundred gambler or visit FanDuel dot com slash RG in Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey, in Virginia one eight seven seven seven seven zero stop in Louisiana one eight hundred to seven zero seven one one seven for confidential

help in Michigan one eight seven seven eight Hope and Why or text hope and Why to four six seven three six nine in New York. In tennessee redline dial one eight hundred eight eight nine nine seven eight nine in Tennessee visit www one eight dot one eight hundred gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, welcome to Hoops Tonight, presented by FANDOL here at the volume. Happy Monday, everybody. I hope all of you guys are having a good start to your week. Today is going to be a

Warriors themed show. I did get to see Jonathan Cominga and Moses Moody in person in Summer League, but as soon as I found out that James Wiseman was gonna be playing last night, I wanted to wait until after I saw James Wiseman before diving into the Warriors guys.

For those of you guys who missed it yesterday, I did a show went for about forty five minutes where I hit on everything else from Summer League, the overall experience, what it was like, all of the RUSS drama with Lebron, all of the other stars and celebrities that showed up, and then I did a deep dive into the top five players in this year's draft, which I got to see one after the other up close and personal at the Thomas and Mac Center. So do not miss that.

If you haven't heard it yet, go to our YouTube channel. You can find it there. Don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel while you're there, so you don't miss any more of our our videos. If for whatever reason you can't get over to YouTube today, you can also find it on our podcast feed, which for the time being is under Lakers Tonight. Last, but not least, don't forget to follow me on Twitter. I underscore Jason LT so you guys can see show announcements and video breakdowns

and things that I do along those lines. So game plan for the Warriors today, Oh quickly give my two cents on the first game that I saw in person. Then we'll go one by one through them, starting with Wiseman, and we'll hate coming good Moody as well. I'll give you guys what I liked from them, what I think they're already great at, and then I'll talk about things that I think that they can improve on over the next couple of years to actually become functional rotation pieces

for this Warrior's team. So let's start with that first game. And it was a big wake up call for Jonathan Cominga and everything I've heard from Warriors people. And what was nice is I've had some friends and Warriors Twitter for a while that I got to meet in person while I was out in Vegas. And you know, the common refrain with Jonathan Cominga is that he's very, very confident.

You know, that's his attitude. His attitude is that of a lot of young basketball players that come up in America in the sense that they are, you know, highly recruited, highly ranked, highly touted, and then they run into a situation where they are no longer the best player on the floor, and sometimes there's a little bit of an

adjustment in terms of their personality and their attitude. And you know, Jonathan Cominga and Moses Moody were sent to Summer League with James Wiseman, not just to get better as basketball players. But because they need reps, you know, the with the the grown up team in Golden State, they don't necessarily get a ton of opportunity. It's inconsistent. You know, one series you're playing Jonathan coming a little bit, the next series you're not seeing him at all. You know,

then Moses Moody will get a lot of run. But then you get in the finals and you don't see any of those guys. Right, this is the best place for them to get reps because real, live game reps are the best way to improve, especially on things that aren't directly related to your skill, things like seeing the floor, things like making reads, attacking closeouts are out of high pick and roll dealing with real intensity and practice. It's

just really difficult to duplicate urgency. Right. So in this in this type of setting, going against fringe NBA players, either soon to be NBA players that are very very talented, like lottery picks, or guys that are scratching and clawing for their opportunity to get an NBA deal. And Jonathan Camingo rolled into that game on Friday night very confident, too confident, and he got punched in them out so to speak, by the players on the floor that were

scratching and clawing for their NBA lives. And I was really interested to see how he would respond last night, and I actually thought he responded very well. He brought the physicality rather than letting people bully him. Even though he didn't shoot the ball particularly well, he got involved in so many other different ways on the floor. We're gonna get into that later. In that first game, what Moses Moody was amazing, very very savvy, the ready four

points got to the free throw line of Ton. He is clearly the most NBA ready in terms of being able to play in a playoff rotation. We'll get a little bit further into that later. So let's start with James Wiseman. First of all, I really really liked how they started that started that game with a high pick and roll with Jonathan cominga. Noticed they set the screen

way far out beyond the three point line. I really really like running pick and roll that high away from the basket because it really allows your ball handler and your rollman to get momentum. You know, a guy who's running full speed is is a bigger physical challenge than a guy who's trying to get started, and when you run pick and roll too load to the basket, it can be difficult for guys to really get momentum going towards the rim. Jonathan Comingga comes off the screen and

is barreling down the lane. James Wiseman is barreling down as the roll man. Because Jonathan Cominga is barreling down the lane, the guy in drop coverage has to step up to stop Cominga, which left James Wiseman wide open for the lob. I really liked the play design and just the the idea there. Hey, James Wiseman hasn't played any basketball in a long time. Let's get his confidence going with a play ran for him to start the game. He got that dunk and immediately you could just tell

he was feeling confident. Very next play, going down the floor, Spurs on offense. They were on to pick and roll themselves and James Wiseman is in drop coverage. The ball handler for the Spurs stops to pull up at about twelve feet and James Wiseman gets a block, which is what you're supposed to do in that position as a drop coverage big. You're supposed to drop back contain the role man but dissuade the pull up jump shot, and he demonstrated that he can do that very very well.

A couple of plays later, down down the floor, he hit a nice off the dribble three. You can tell that he was just dripping with confidence at that point, which is good to see because this is a player that you know, you can see kind of drift in and out of games in terms of his physicality and his confidence. And then obviously with him not being on the floor for a while, you start to get some doubts, right, and so to get to see him have some success, that's a great sign. It's just like a breath of

it fresh air. If your warriors fans to know that he can still go out there and can and can compete at a super high level, you could see unbelievable potential.

The combination of length and mobility is super intriguing. Defensively, he blocked or changed three shots in his first shift, two blocks directly, and then he had another play where a guard tried to kind of swoop around him to the right side of the rim, and James dissuaded or disrupted the shot enough to where the guard shot the layup over the rim, that mobility covering ground on the perimeter.

There was even a play where he committed a foul on a three point shooter where obviously he needs to check himself up and not run underneath the shooter, but just the amount of ground he covered to get out to the shooter was really really impressive, and that's gonna be very important in the Golden State scheme, which obviously can get rotation heavy because they have some small guards on the perimeter. He has a really really pretty turnaround

jump shot over his left shoulder. I don't think he's ready going over his right shoulder yet, which we'll get to in just a second, but that turnaround over his left shoulders super super for comfortable and fluid. That's a great sign because that's a go to move that he can that he can have later on in his career. Right, I we need team needs a basket eight seconds on the shot clock. I got a decent matchup bump fade

over that left shoulder. If he can knock that down, that's a really really nice go to move, and it's been to go to move for a lot of the great power forwards and centers in NBA history, very very very you can just you can really just see all of the potential. He's very comfortable dribbling in space, which is good for a big obviously, just like with chet Homegrin,

He's gonna struggle a little bit dribbling in traffic. After his first block at the second possession of the game, he tried to push the ball up in transition, trying to weave in and out people and got ripped. That's gonna happen when you're a big man. We talked about this a little bit yesterday, but when you dribble higher off the ground as a big man, there's just so much more space for the defenders to come in and

take the ball away from you. That's the stuff that he has to learn to take out of his game entirely. You know, like only the eightist perimeter bigs of all time, the Kevin Durance of the world, can comfortably dribble in traffic, and even he can struggle, as you saw against Boston. It's just really really hard for tall guys. But he does look comfortable dribbling when he has space, which will

really help him when he's attacking slower, lumbering bigs. That will give him space and then, last but not least as a positive, he's a real vertical spacing threat. The guy can catch everything around there. And there were several plays in this game where people threw him lobs in traffic where he didn't have the opportunity to dunk it, but he could just go up and snatch it over everybody and then come down and make a play off of that. Lots and lots and lots of really good

foundational pieces in James Wiseman's game. That said, he does have a lot to work on, and so I wanted to take a couple of minutes here to point out the things that he needs to get better at for him to really be a functional center in UH in this Golden State system. First of all is seeking out contact. He's got a little bit of that Anthony Davis syndrome where he likes to be Kevin Durant. He likes to be a finn ass big, and there's nothing wrong with

having that in your game. It's actually a huge plus. Anthony Davis, the perimeter big was a huge part of how the Lakers won the championship in two thousand twenty. It's a it's an awesome weapon to have as a team, but you've got to be both. You've got to also be able to fight for better post up position not get pushed off of spots. He definitely was catching the ball further away from the basket than you'd like on

your post up moves seeking contact. There was a play in the second quarter where he cut from the top of the key and caught just about like two U two U two aligns up the lane line on the right block, and he catches the ball and he does a power dribble, but he doesn't initiate contact, and then he goes up with a left handed hook and he

misses it. The whole point of a power dribbles to help you control the basketball while initiating contact, you're pounding the basketball and dropping your shoulder into the guy's chest. If you do that, he'll fall back a couple of feet, which then allows you to go over the top with the hook, as opposed to if he's standing there and you have to shoot over the top of him, it's a much much more difficult shot. Get Learning to love that contact is a huge part of what makes a

dominant NBA big. Actively seeking out that contact The reason why that's important is most of the best bigs in the league do and so if you're playing against the big that loves to initiate contact and you don't, then you're more likely to get pushed off your spots and they'll be the aggressor on you, and when you start to lose that battle, it can work out poorly for you in the long run. So definitely getting more physical with the basketball, fighting for post up position, and then

Um in post in the post moves themselves. Even with his little fade away over his left shoulder, he's kind of just turning and firing right now. I'd like to see him use his right hand to pound a dribble into the guy's chest and then go up into that shot, because that will allow him to not have to fade away so much. UM one other area where he needs to learn to seek out contact more his box outs.

He has a tendency to just kind of like look up at the rim and put his hands up then rather than to turn around, find a man box out and then go to the ball. Um. We talked about this a lot on the show during the playoffs, but at the end, since the NBA has gone more towards three point shooting. It's been more important than ever for bigs to box out rather than to go to the ball.

You know, back up in time fifteen years, the average distance of an NBA shot was so much closer to the rim that you had so many fewer long rebounds, and so in that case, big men were more capable of just jumping over everybody to try to grab rebounds. And in that era, James Wiseman could have been great at that specific thing. But in this era, it's a lot of long rebounds, so you need your guards to help crash and it's become more important than ever for

guys to box out. And that's something that James Wisemen is gonna have to get much better at. He only had two rebounds in twenty minutes. The Spurs had eleven offensive rebounds in twenty minutes last night, so that he's just got to be a more impactful rebounder, which he can do by being more physical. That's gonna be the big thing to watch with him all season long. Just pay close attention to him during the game and how how often he is the aggressor physically seeking contact rather

than being the guy who's being aggressed, if that makes sense. Um, his role on on on this particular Warriors team is gonna look a lot like kevn Looney, right Like, That's the thing you gotta understand is he's not gonna come in and be Anthony Davis. He's not gonna come in and be LaMarcus Aldridge's not gonna come in and be Kevin Garnett with a bunch of post touches and a ton of offense, offense ran directly through him. He's trying to fit into an existing championship team that is already

having an issue with players competing for shots. Right Like Andrew Wiggins was the second best player on that championship team last year. He's gonna be the kind of guy that's gonna need a certain amount of offense run through him, like he demonstrated he can do and last year's playoff runt. Right. Clay Thompson, first full year back from injury, He's gonna want to get back to the level of usage that

he had before his injury. Right, Jordan Pool, you know this is gonna be yet another year where he's gonna be looking to make another leap and looking to make another great offensive impression. Right, So in this particular group, his role is going to be similar to Looney. What does Looney do for the Warriors. He's a very versatile defensive player who protects the rim well, can switch out to wings and guards and cover ground on the perimeter, and then on the offensive end of the floor, he's

a beast attacking the offensive glass. That was one of the best weapons that Golden State had in this playoff runt. So if you want to take minutes, right, because we gotta find minutes for all these people. So if Draymond is going to play a certain amount of minutes at the five and a certain amount ements at the four, and then the minutes that Draymond's at the four, Looney's

gonna play the five. You know, Wise, he's got to find a way to cram himself in there somehow, right, and the best way for him to do that is to get really good at doing the stuff that Looney does, so that he can have the opportunity to be in there and flash all the potential that he has elsewhere on the floor as a perimeter shooter, and with all of his length and athleticism, it's just important for him

to understand his role and to dive into that. His best pathway two minutes will be the little things, not all the high end stuff. The high end stuff is down the line for you, which is great. You're a young basketball player. You've got a long career ahead of you. He's gonna get his opportunities to play no matter what.

My guess is that there's gonna be a lot of pressure from the front office on Steve Kerr to play James Wiseman and Jonathan Cominga, even if Kerr doesn't see them as rotation playoff players here, He's gonna get his opportunity. But in order for him to be in the actual playoff rotation, those are the things that he's gonna have to be able to prove. Offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, defending without fouling. Committed seven fouls in twenty minutes last night

undercut at three point shooter. He's gonna have to figure that out, set some illegal screens. Those are little details that he's gonna have to figure out in order to make the playoff rotation. So onto, Jonathan Comica, like I said, he had a bit of a wake up call in that in that first game, but he was so much more physically aggressive in game two. He was the guy seeking contact and it was honestly, really really impressive on both ends of the floor to see him do that.

He has really really astounding hang time. There are a bunch of players where he would get into the lane and jump into a guy's chest, wait for that person to come down while he's still in the air, and then finish over the top. That's just you know, everyone talks about dunking as it comes to athleticism, and like I've always told all the young players that I coach here in Tucson, like dunking is the most overrated talent

that there is in all of basketball. And I was a dunker, had like fifteen twenty dunks when I was in college. But like they're just they're they're two points, but they're usually produced by something else. So usually produced by a player getting into the lane and dropping it off to you or you'll I had a handful of driving dunks or a handful of tip slams, but they're not there's there's nowhere near enough there to build a

game around. You have to build your game around things that are replicable on a possession by possession basis, where your athleticism helps you a lot in a functional way to help a basketball team on a possession by possession basis is crashing the glass as a rebounder. Right, that's hanging time. Like I was just talking about with Jonathan Comingo, the ability to finish over the top of defenders on

plays that aren't dunks. Had a really nice and one in that second quarter where he want into traffic and elevated over everybody, waited for guys to come down, and went up with his left hand off the glass. There's just like with James Wiseman, just a ton of tantalizing potential on defense. Uh, when he gambled a little bit too much, got out of position a few times, but when he actually sat in his stance and slid his feet and played physical without fouling, he was downright disruptive

on on the spurs perimitive players. Now, this is a different level of talent than what he'll face in the NBA that he has faced in the NBA, But I like what I'm seeing from him defensively. I think that's the place where he's most ready right now. I just think he's got so much, he's got so far to go elsewhere on the floor. Um, you know, he's getting a lot of reps with the ball in his hand.

Here in summer league, you can see him basically running point, bringing the ball up the floor, running high pick and roll, running dribble handoffs, doing these sorts of things and making reads. And he's not good at it yet, right Like, it's seven assistant, ten turnovers through two games, a lot of sloppiness, really struggling to shoot the basketball. But he's getting reps and that's all that matters. Like, when it comes to those things like ball handling, you can work on it

at the gym. You know, shooting you can work on at the gym. But when it comes to making reads against the real defense that's actually running a real defensive scheme and trying to stop you, the only way to get better at that is just to do it time and time again. So I thought it was really smart for Golden State to stick these guys in Summer League, get the ball incoming his hands, and just give him

a ton of reps. The reason why that's specifically important is playing in the Warriors system alongside Steph Curry requires you to constantly make high level reads. This was the issue they had with Kelly Ubre two years ago. Right, They brought in a guy who was one of their better defensive players because of his athleticism, so they needed him. But then on the offensive end of the floor, he just didn't flow with the Warriors system. The ball would

stick with him sometimes when he would attack closeouts. He would like remember that stretch to start the year where all he had made was dunks and missed every other shot he took for like for like a week, right, like that, Like he just he struggled. In the read and react system of Golden State. The vast majority of teams are going to trap the high pick and roll with Steph Curry or mess up on their rotations to send multiple defenders to step or to Clay running off

of pin downs. Right, So the Warriors are constantly operating in a four on three situation. And you know that's That's part of why Draymond Green has been so valuable over the years is when he's the guy who operates as the short roller there, he's so good at making reads, but it's usually more than one read, especially against a good defense. Draymond will roll down the lane and Jonathan Cominga's man will step into the lane and he'll kick

it out to Commina. Now it's on Comino to either knock down a shot or to further attack the clothes out and make reads. So this is why it's important for him to have the ball in his hands a

lot in Summer League. He needs to get as many reps as possible and making those reads because in order for him to eventually make the playoff rotation for Golden State, Steve Kerr and Steph Curry and Draymond and Clay are gonna have to trust him to be able to make reads when the defenses is sending extra attention towards the stars. One last note or two last notes. He's got to get better with the shooting. Obviously, he's one for seven

from three last night, seven for eighteen from the line. Now, there's two ways to look at that. The good news is is one he's getting to the line a lot, which is a great sign. We talked about this a little bit with Pala Bankara Bancho on Saturday Saturday. Right, Like, if a team is fouling you all the time, every time we're rolling down the lane, that's a sign that

they're struggling to keep you in front. The first instinct as a defender when you get beat is to reach out and grab, and that's why if a guy's going to the line a lot, it's typically a sign that he's got the defender off balance consistently and he's getting into spots. Secondly, one for seven from three is at least confident he's rising and firing. He's not doing the Ben Simmons thing where he just doesn't take the shot right.

But in order for him to eventually realize his full potential, that's going to have to be his biggest area for improvement is shooting and touch, very similar to the stuff we were talking about with Josh Kiddy yesterday. In terms of his form up top, it looks fine. He's got a good release. You want to see a little bit more dip with the legs a little He's a little bit upright on his shooting motion. But right now he

does have decent forms. So I do think he will project to be a good defensive player, especially excuse me, a good shooter, especially in Golden State, surrounded by the motivation he has from Stephen Clay to do so last, but not least. We talked a little bit about this

at the beginning, but his attitude. You know, I always used this as an example, like you need to you know, it helps to have a humbling experience as a basketball player for you to you know, make changes, right Like I the I tell the story a few times, but I was trying to play professionally in my mid twenties and and I got a deal with this league in India and they were gonna paying me a thousand bucks a week. Was the first one that was enough for me to quit my job, and so I signed the deal.

I was gonna do it. And uh. I went into uh this like camp that they had and I played against this like six eight dude from Toronto who was like just as good, if not better, at everything that I do. And he was six ft eight and like, I struggled against him in our individual matchups. And it was a major, like humbling experience for me. And in the months after that, I put in so much more work to get better because I had to realize, like, oh, like this dude who's not even an NBA player, is

so much better than me. Right now, I have to get better. That would help me like wake up, right, And uh, that's kind of what I'm hoping for from Jonathan Cominga, Like he's been kind of hyped up throughout most of his career, lottery pick, all of these things. He needs to be humbled a little bit. And so having that rough first game um on on Thursday night or Friday night, and then struggling to shoot the ball again last night, like hopefully that will help him realize, like, hey,

you're John the Cominga, your lottery pick. You've got the potential to be like a better, more athletic version of Jalen Brown. That's all on the table for you. But you have to get so much better at these things. And so it's the sooner he understands that and humbles himself and really dives into the work of it all, then that's that that will be the biggest thing that pushes him in that direction, and his attitude will be

the big thing to watch there. If he has many more nights like Friday night where he walks into the arena kind of just expecting to walk into the gym and dominate without actually you know, attacking the basketball game, that'll be a sign that he hasn't quite learned that lesson yet, no judgment there. He's a kid, Okay, like I I that lesson. I just told you I was like twenty four when that happened. So like he's a kid, he's he's got a lot to learn. There's no judgment there.

Those are just things I want Warriors fans to keep an eye on in terms of him reaching his ultimate potential. Um last, but not least, Moses Moody. You can tell the game is slowed down for him. He's very under control. Um. You guys probably heard this this phrase before and it seems like a basketball cliche, but there's truth to it. Like, when the game is too fast for you, you struggle to make decisions. A lot of times you can see

guys rushing. They'll they'll make a kickout pass, but before you need to, like you could make one more advanced table to pull the health defender in more you can make that kickout pass, or like you'll be open and you'll rush the shot as opposed to taking your time

to knocking it down. You get a little bit of drible penetration and instead of patiently working your way into the lane, you just fly into the lane like a cannon and you're out of control right like when you can you can see with players like Moody, the game is slowed down for them. They're very under control. They never rush anything. They're always going where they want to go, rather than allowing the defense to send them where they

want them to go. Um. The reason why that's so impressive and important is you, as the Warriors, you lost Auto Porter and you lost Gary Payton this summer, and they were two guys who were significant rotation pieces in your playoff run. Tweeted this out and said it on the show before. But Gary Payton, in particular, his on off numbers for the Warriors in the playoffs were jarring. There was so so much better with him on the

floor than when he was off the floor. So those are two very important roles that they need to fill. And I don't think Kaming is ready for this year, and and I uh and James Wiseman obviously can't play the wing. So you need to fill these two spots. And it you have Dante DiVincenzo as a as a free agent signing, but you still have that other spot you need to fill. And Moses Moody to me, looks like the guy that's ready. He plays the game slow and under control. Like I just said, he's got the

shooting touch. He was fort last year for the entire regular season on wide open threes. That's great, especially for a player his size. He was three for six in his game that he played in Summer League. He's got a low ceiling, like this guy is not going to be a star, but he's a classic Warriors wing. Even plays like an old guy. But he's a guy that they can put on the wing, that they can trust to make smart reads in four on three situations, who can knock down the three when they're open, and he

plays the game slow and under control. I think he's the guy that's seamless, slides into that out of border junior role, and then I think you'll see Dante DiVincenzo kind of slide into that Gary Payton roll. So overall, to kind of put a bowl on it, all three guys are well, let's focus on the first two. Wiseman and Cominga have star potential, absolute star potential, and they

have things right now that they're very good at. Cominga as a perimeter defensive player, I think he's going to be a good option there for the Warriors this year. James Wiseman with his length and athleticism on defense's ability to stretch the floor, those are real skills that he has right now. But they both have gaping holes that they have to fix. Comingo with his decision making and with his shooting. James Wiseman, with his physicality and his

rebounding and his ability to defend without fouling. Those are gaping holes that will keep them out of the playoff rotation unless they fix those holes this season, They're gonna have tons of reps. They're gonna get all of training camp. I read a report yesterday that they're gonna have them play more games in Summer League to get them more reps. So they have lots of time to figure it out. But those are the things that they have to figure out in order to make the rotation. Moses Moody is

ready right now. I think he can slide into that role. I think he can do what Otto Porter Jr. Did, So that's that's a good fit there. Um. You know, I had some people ask me about Mac McClung. I watched a bunch of him last year because he was with the Lakers like his game. Totally solid G league guard, but he's not an NBA player. Uh And again, I'm not trying to discredit the guy. He's like. He's he's very very good at what he does. He's just not quite good enough to do what he's doing at the

NBA level. So I wouldn't worry about him in terms of the Warriors roster this year, my guests, as he'll end up playing in the G League. All right, guys, that is all I have for today. Um, I'm not sure what else we got going on this week, but follow me on Twitter and underscore Jason LT and I'll send out some show announcements as soon as I know. As always, I appreciate you guys a support and I'll see you next time. The volume