Injury Recovery Watch on James Wiseman + Santa Cruz Being a Future Option:
First, an update on Wiseman, before discussing the longer-term plan. Friday is an important milestone. It’s the sixth-month mark since his meniscus surgery. The Warriors have cautiously held off on giving him unrestricted clearance to jump and work out at full speed.
October 15 is the date Rick Celebrini and the training staff have targeted as the first possible point they’d give any kind of full go-ahead.
- In a few weeks, Santa Cruz is an option, either for scrimmages behind closed doors or full G League games, I’m told. He could use all the low-stakes game reps he can get and those are more available in Santa Cruz, where an NBA playoff chase isn’t happening. But there’s a chance, considering their thin frontcourt and lack of a lob threat, the Warriors’ coaching staff may prefer having Wiseman as a rotation option as immediately as possible, even for a tiny role.
Dejan Milojević's Own Injury Background (Torn ACL at 19yrs) + Also He's Working with Kevon Looney As Well:
“Maybe this is going to sound stupid, but I was lucky,” Milojević said. “I was way more athletic before injury than after. I had to change my game to think more. When you are very athletic, some situations on the court you solve with your power, with your athleticism. From this injury, I start more analyzing every situation on the court.”
Milojević, undersized, ground-bound but supremely strong and skilled, went on to have a legendary regional career — the Serbian Barkley, he was famously nicknamed — and parlayed that drive and technical post expertise into a head coaching career that helped produce Nikola Jokic, Ivica Zubac, Boban Marjanović and Goga Bitadze out of his Mega Basket program.
That background led him to the Warriors this offseason. He agreed to join Steve Kerr’s staff because Kerr isn’t designating him as just a player development specialist. His fingerprints will touch other areas.
He’s quick to point out that Wiseman isn’t his only project — “I’m also working with Looney!” Milojević said excitedly — and Wiseman isn’t a solo project. Every layer of the organization, from ownership to the front office to all the coaches and vocal veterans, will have a hand and share an opinion on how best to expedite the timeline of this valued young center.
Dejan Milojević Developing Wiseman:
“He’s teaching me the basic fundamentals of the game,” Wiseman said.
“Which is kind of a good thing,” Kerr said. “Dejan is looking at it as a time to take advantage of the opportunity to work on the minutiae.
He may not be able to go live and work on certain drills, but let’s lock in on some of the basic footwork, fundamentals.”
Examples of Fundamentals Training (Specifically Ones Mentioned in Article):
Said Milojević: “What the nice thing about coaching is that every player is different. The biggest part of development is to anticipate what kind of player somebody can be. If you try to copy/paste things, you are not going to be successful. Yeah, of course, there are some moves that several players can do. Fundamentals are the same. All bigs are unique players, unique skills, unique abilities. It would be stupid if you try to make them the same player.”
These are assuredly some of the same simple drills Milojević used with a young Jokic and Zubac, but he says the longer-term organizational approach will be tailored toward Wiseman and the Warriors’ combo needs, not some desire to duplicate his past success.
“I’m not going to try (to turn him into Jokic),” Milojević said. “I’m going to make him James. And it’s not me. It’s the whole organization. Yeah, I’m the guy working with him before and after practice, but we all have a job here, discuss as a team and make decisions as a team. Looney also!”
Steve Kerr's Plan for Wiseman's 2nd Year:
The Warriors overcomplicated Wiseman’s role early last season...He wasn’t — and isn’t — ready to be an Andrew Bogut type, and maybe never will be...But before he went down with the knee injury, they’d found a simplified groove with Wiseman spamming the pick-and-roll almost exclusively and the production ticked up while some of the confusion dissipated. Kerr isn’t hiding his plan to commit to that approach in Wiseman’s second season.
“It means a lot more pick-and-roll, him diving to the rim a lot and becoming that vertical threat in pick-and-roll situations,” Kerr said. “It’ll be easier to do. We have better floor-spacing this year. We have a more defined start to our season in terms of our health and our ability to prepare with a summer, with a real training camp. For the team, I’m talking about. So that when he comes back, whenever it is, we can plug him into a couple of simple actions he can get really good with and start from there.”
Simplify is the term nearly everyone around the organization is using, while also cautioning that they believe Year 3 will be the season Wiseman should take the most significant leap. But there are expectations and an internal need for him to help in this second season, however unfair, if the Warriors want to reach contender status.