By Ric Bucher
FOX Sports NBA Writer
The performance of a player in Summer League generally doesn’t mean much for teams that have just captured an NBA championship.
James Wiseman and the Golden State Warriors are an obvious exception.
The image of Wiseman, a 7-foot center with elite athleticism and a 7-foot-6 wingspan, looming behind the Hall of Fame core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green has tantalized the team and its fans ever since the night of the 2020 NBA Draft, when Golden State selected him with the overall No. 2 pick.
That image came back into focus last week when Wiseman made his first national TV appearance in nearly 16 months, after returning from a meniscus tear in his right knee. He crushed an alley-oop dunk, blocked a shot at the other end and casually buried a 3-pointer, all within the first 70 seconds.
Focus in on that brief run, go light on the details and the rest of the night and the possibilities would have any Warriors fan dizzy. Which is the direction the headlines and TV broadcasters went in describing Wiseman’s performance against the San Antonio Spurs. The play-by-play broadcaster for the Celtics‘ game said Wiseman had a “great game” against the Spurs, and a dot-com headline said “Wiseman Impresses in 2022 NBA Summer League debut.”
Warriors assistant GM Mike Dunleavy Jr., though, demurred when he was asked what impressed him most about Wiseman in an in-game interview. “Just seeing him out there with a smile on his face is great to see,” he said. “You can see the talent, the size, the length, the speed. For him, it’s just catching up and learning the game.”
Ah, yes, learning the game. That means knowing how to utilize all that talent, size, length and speed. That’s where the pesky details show up. Wiseman, matched primarily against the Spurs’ 6-foot-9 undrafted center Dominick Barlow, finished with 11 points, two rebounds, two blocked shots and three turnovers in 20 minutes.
His numbers were more balanced two nights later against the Celtics, contributing six points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots in nearly 21 minutes, but they weren’t as impressive as those of Celtics center Mfiondu Kabengele, who had 21 points, 13 rebounds and two blocked shots in 28 minutes.
Statistics and box scores, of course, can be misleading, and the Warriors don’t necessarily need Wiseman turning in triple-doubles to help them defend their title next season. They merely need him to show that he has made some sort of progress since being pulled as a starter halfway through his rookie year, then suffering the knee injury and missing all of last season except for three appearances with the team’s G League affiliate, the Santa Cruz Warriors.
So FOX Sports surveyed four rival scouts who were court side for Wiseman’s long-awaited appearance in Las Vegas, asking them to assess what they saw and what their expectations are for him. Perhaps not surprisingly, the responses were decidedly mixed as far as optimism vs. pessimism on his future.
An Eastern Conference scout offered the most upbeat general takeaway.
“He’s had some good moments,” he said. “His body looks good, his mid-range jumper looks good, he’s still a little raw but moving well. He’s got a real chance.”
A second Eastern Conference scout was a little more skeptical.
“It’s not a good sign that Kabengele kicked his ass,” said one Eastern Conference scout bluntly. “[Wiseman] is a good empty-gym workout player. The actual games are the part he struggles with. He has so much physical ability that it would be surprising if he is not eventually a decent player. But he is a ways away now, and he has some flaws that will probably prevent him from living up to his supposed potential.”
Asked to pinpoint those flaws, the scout said, “Slow reactions, bad instincts, bad touch around the basket on anything that’s not a dunk. High center of gravity, weak hands.”
A Western Conference scout pointed out other issues.
“He still struggles with quick reaction moves….
Read More: Boom or bust? Assessing James Wiseman’s Warriors return in Summer League