Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry is confident that new center James Wiseman can have an immediate impact for his team this season.
"For sure," Curry said during a videoconference call with reporters. "What that means -- obviously he's a second [overall] pick so the expectations are usually high comparing him to other top two draft picks in years past. Those comparisons, he's not going to be able to avoid no matter what his average is or how many minutes he's playing. But he's definitely going to contribute and we're gonna hopefully be able to unlock him this year to make us a much better basketball team."
The Warriors are hopeful that Wiseman, who was selected with the second pick in last month's NBA draft, can come in and have early success while veterans Curry and Draymond Green help take some of the inherent pressure that comes for all top prospects and teach him about the league.
"So for him not to get caught up in the hype and the noise -- we know those comparisons are going to happen," Curry said. "But this year's unique, man. He's just coming out of three games in college; no real preseason or real training camp type of experience, so he's going to have to learn a lot really quickly and we're going to have some grace with that, but hopefully he has the opportunity to go out and just compete and get his feet wet and learn on the fly and help us win basketball games. Success for him will be framed a lot of different ways, I think. And it might not be what the stats look like, it might mean him being a part of big meaningful basketball games for us to help us win."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr echoed those sentiments in a Tuesday call with reporters, noting that with the center position the only one that isn't likely already filled -- with Curry, Green, Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre locked into the starting lineup -- Wiseman has a chance to carve out a niche for himself right away.
"James' potential athletically is so dramatic that I imagine he'll have a chance to step in and help us because he's so athletic and dynamic," Kerr said. "But there's a ton to learn, and he doesn't have the value of a summer league, a whole summer of workouts. A lot to catch up on in every respect.
"We just got to do our best. I'm excited for James, but also want to preach caution for everybody not to expect too much too soon because we're just throwing him right into the fire. He played three college games. He's got a lot of things to learn."
While trying to slow the expectations on Wiseman, Kerr noted that veteran center Kevon Looney will be in a more "advanced" place given he has spent five seasons with the Warriors. Looney, who said he is feeling "great" after dealing with a variety of health issues last season, said he is more than willing to help Wiseman learn the NBA game.
"I'm really excited to get James on the team and to help him out," Looney said on a Wednesday conference call. "I think he's going to be a big contributor to this team. He has a lot of talent and a lot of potential. I think his athleticism and his size is something that you can't teach. I think he's going to be really helpful for us, so whatever I can do to show him the ropes -- it's not easy to come in the NBA and play winning basketball right away. All the bigs, playing with Draymond and [Marquese Chriss], I think we all can show him a few things, but he already has the God-given talent. so all the small things, the technical things that we can teach him, I think it's our responsibility to show him those things."
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Warriors' Stephen Curry expects rookie James Wiseman to 'help us win basketball games' - ESPN
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