The Golden State Warriors seem to have reached a decision about the priority for the remaining games this season, an insider claims — developing their promising rookie comes first, and winning second.
Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle broke down the recent announcement from Warriors head coach Steve Kerr about a big change to the starting lineup, and what it could mean for the rest of the season. He concluded that the Warriors are ready to give up what small hopes there may have been for a title run and instead start focusing on the future.
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Warriors Signal Change
After a season of going into and coming out of the starting lineup, rookie center James Wiseman got a public endorsement from Kerr this week. The Warriors coach announced that the big man would be in the starting lineup the rest of the way, noting that they wanted to spend the remaining time focusing on his development. At 22-22, the Warriors remain on the edges of the playoff race in the Western Conference, currently 3.5 games out of the No. 6 spot that would allow them to avoid the play-in tournament.
“There’s 29 games left, it feels like a good time to get him into the lineup … We’ve tried a lot of different rotations,” Kerr said, via SB Nation’s Golden State of Mind. “We just feel like after [43 games], James has come along really well. He’s picked up a lot of the concepts. It’s really important now, especially given the absences — missing the 10, 11 games with the wrist, the last three games with COVID protocol — he needs to be out there.”
By announcing yesterday that James Wiseman would start the rest of the season, Steve Kerr showed that, as much as the Warriors might want to reach the playoffs, they’re more concerned about next season.
As Ostler noted, the announcement seems to be a tacit admission from the Warriors that there will be no NBA championship this season. The team sees Wiseman as a “Big Project,” Ostler wrote, and are willing to sacrifice some wins over the short term for the chance of turning him into a major player who will help fuel future title runs.
“To be a great team next season, the Warriors will need Wiseman to be a big-dog NBA center, and he’s not there yet,” Ostler wrote. “The final 28 regular-season games can be a fantastic crash course for him, but he’s got to play heavy minutes, alongside the best guys.”
Warriors Commit To Wiseman
With the NBA deadline arriving, there have been a number of reports connecting the Warriors to various major players, from Houston Rockets guard Victor Oladipo to New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball. Through all of these various rumors has been a common thread — any major trade would require the Warriors to part with either Wiseman or the top-three protected draft pick coming from the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of last year’s D’Angelo Russell trade.
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The Warriors do not appear to be parting with either. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Connor Letourneau reported that conversations with the Rockets over Oladipo came to an abrupt end when Wiseman’s name came up.
“The Rockets would want one of the Warriors’ top assets, the 2021 pick from Minnesota or [James] Wiseman, both of which are conversation-enders for Golden State,” Letourneau wrote.
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Warriors Prioritizing Rookie’s Development Over Winning Games: Report