James Wiseman made his Detroit Pistons debut Wednesday night in Boston. On a team of bigs, he was the biggest and longest. It didn’t take long to show he may also be the most offensively skilled.
Certainly, Wiseman is the team’s most versatile on that end of the floor. But then that was evident watching him in Golden State, despite his limited minutes as a member of the Warriors.
That limited time wasn’t his fault, though, as injury and circumstance were to blame. That limited time — he’d played 60 games in almost three seasons before his Pistons debut — was easy to spot on the court.
Such as when he got doubled on the block in the first half and spun into more traffic, getting his shot swatted instead of kicking it to Alec Burks on the opposite wing. Burks had his hands up. No Celtic was within 10 feet.
At some point he’ll spot Burks, or Livers, or whomever else is stationed on the weak side. That’s the hope anyway. That’s also the gamble.
OMARI SANKOFA II:James Wiseman leaves room for growth in Detroit Pistons debut: ‘I can do better’
Wiseman hasn’t played enough — meaning he hasn’t shown enough — to know whether he’ll ever see the floor that way, and whether he’ll ever feel the floor in a way that will allow him to take exploit his natural advantages: size, length, touch (especially around the rim) and ball skill.
Boston doubled Wiseman at that moment because he’d already scored from the opposite block over two defenders. He’d also taken his defender off the dribble from the elbow and, with one dribble and two loooooong steps, finished at the rim easily.
In other words, he was showing glimpses of the skill he showed in even fewer glimpses in Golden State. The difference during his Pistons’ debut is that he didn’t have Steph Curry and Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to worry about.
He could seek out buckets freely, without worry of benching, without concern of deviating from a system that had produced four NBA championships. And if he turned the ball over, as he did when he forced a tough shot instead of passing to Burks, he knew he wasn’t going to get benched.
The stakes are lower here. That should liberate Wiseman to see what he can be.
What he can be is still hard to say. Wiseman scored 11 points Wednesday night. He showed patience on a jump hook, ball skill on the drive from the elbow, touch on a baseline jumper and quickness on a spin move in the second half that led to an easy layup.
On that play, Wiseman gathered the ball on the left block and immediately went at Grant Williams, who is six inches shorter. Williams fell back to the floor when Wiseman turned and lowered his shoulder, trying to draw a charge. It was a flop and a no-call, as it should have been.
Other than the force in the second half, Wiseman didn’t force shots. He took them when he had them. And while he looked lost defensively at times, especially off the ball, he also showed good lateral movement when switched onto perimeter scorers, most notably when he shadowed Jayson Tatum as he drove into the lane, forcing Boston’s all-star to kick the ball out.
“I can do better,” he told reporters after the game. “My wind got to me a little bit. I’mma do way better once I get my conditioning up and stuff.”
Want-to is the first step toward can-do, and desire and commitment have never been issues for the young big.
“He’s going to be a good fit for us,” Pistons coach Dwane Casey told reporters, “his length, his size, once he gets back into game condition (and) gets used to playing basketball again.”
Casey liked the way Wiseman protected the rim.
“Even if he didn’t block shots, he was there,” he said. “He was a big body and deterred some shots. Once he gets a feel for what we’re doing offensively — spacing, where to be, where to go — he’s going to contribute on both ends of the floor.”
How much is the question. It’s always the question. Golden State decided not much, at least not for a team that believes its title-contending window is open.
But for the Pistons?
Wiseman will get plenty of runway to show he can take off, to show he can learn where to be defensively when he’s not guarding the ball, to show he can rebound, particularly in traffic, to show he can learn to use his length and bounce and relative quickness.
To show he can play basketball, not just that he has tools that theoretically allow him to play basketball. Because he has those in bunches, even without the stickiest hands, even with the weight he’s carried as 2020’s No. 2 overall pick, and now the weight of being traded by an organization that has developed a handful of prospects into stars over the years.
His mentals will be as critical as his hands moving forward. And his reps will be just as critical.
Wiseman checked in to the game having played fewer career minutes than fellow Memphis product Jalen Duren, despite being almost two years his senior. He wanted to make an impression. He also wanted to score.
“I was trying to get my shot off, really, because I hadn’t shot in such a long time,” he said. “I started feeling it, and really, most of my points come in the paint, anyway. I just move towards that more.”
Scoring is his most obvious gift. Showing a gift is a tidy way to show you belong. Belonging is what he craves, like most young players, and like most young players who feel they haven’t gotten a chance.
Which Wiseman has not. Through no fault of his own.
He has that chance now. It began on the same court where his former team won a title eight months ago. He didn’t play the night the Warriors clinched against the Celtics.
But he played Wednesday night. Then kept playing, the most minutes he had in almost two months. In that time, he showed why the Pistons traded for him, and why they were willing to gamble.
It’s up to him to show he was worth it.
Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.