James Wiseman was held scoreless in the Golden State Warriors' 123-109 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Christmas Day. He didn't even take a single shot. Head coach Steve Kerr doesn't seem to mind too much.
The Warriors head coach was asked about what he thought of Wiseman's performance. Kerr was effusive in his praise of the young center for playing defense the right way and making an impact in the limited minutes he had on the floor, via Anthony Slater:
“He was great defensively,” said the Warriors coach on James Wiseman. “Great. Just patrolling the paint. Staying in between the ball and the basket, but still being able to cover the roll man. Playing the cat and mouse game, he had several plays where he just went vertical. He was in the right spots, went vertical. That's a big obstacle in your way.
“His ability to do that without fouling is crucial to his place in our rotation. That's the beauty of his three weeks in Santa Cruz. They worked on that every single day.”
James Wiseman has played in just 16 games in his third Warriors season thus far. He's averaging 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game. It's his defense that has lagged behind and had him falling out of the Warriors' rotation.
Given his physical tools and nurturing organizational environment in Golden State, James Wiseman has all he needs to find success. It's not coming right away, but he's learning to play the way Steve Kerr needs him to in order to stay on the court for the defending champs.
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