There wasn’t much to be excited about Thursday night after the Warriors were blown away by the Sacramento Kings, 141-119, at the Golden 1 Center for their third straight loss.
Slow defense and energy, combined with the electric play from Kings playmaker De’Aaron Fox, held the Warriors off the jump, with rookie starting center James Wiseman in particular having a rough night.
Wiseman had eight rebounds, but amassed just six points, as well as five turnovers and four personal fouls in 29 minutes in the loss. After being called up for his fourth foul in the third quarter, a downcast Wiseman appeared to receive a pep talk from teammates Juan Toscano-Anderson and Eric Paschall as he made his way to the bench.
Toscano-Anderson carried that same energy to his post-match press conference with reporters, where he fiercely defended the young center.
“This kid is 19,” Toscano-Anderson said. “The NBA is the best league in the world. There are so many people criticizing him, and I just don’t get it.
“He is at the top of his profession. I just feel like if you’re not at the top of your profession then why are you criticizing a 19 year old kid? So I just stay in his ear. I tell him to have fun, he worked so hard, his family sacrificed so much to get him to this point and make his dream come true.
” It’s hard. Like I said, it’s the NBA, it’s the best league in the world. You are going to have ups and downs. It’s a learning curve for him. I just keep telling him to smile. Like, I’m still learning to play in this league and more. ”
That’s quite the passionate response from Toscano-Anderson, but it comes with good reason. Wiseman was constantly watched throughout his rookie campaign. Part of that stems from the expectation of being the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Another part comes from the prestige surrounding the Warriors franchise and the pressure Golden State is under to return to championship form as Steph Curry is still in his prime.
But Wiseman faced a steep learning curve throughout the year. Growing pains were always going to arise along the way, especially after playing just three college games before being drafted.
“It was a tough game for him,” Kerr told reporters after the game. ” He is 19 years old. He’s in the NBA. This is how it goes. You have to take your bumps.
“James is going to get a lot better. That’s why we have to play with him. He has to be there, get those minutes, feel the speed of the game. It just takes time, especially for the big guys. “
Obviously, Warriors are being sold on Wiseman in the future, and for good reason. Despite a roller coaster season that saw him sidelined twice for COVID-19 precautions and various injuries that kept him out for weeks at a time, Wiseman still managed to earn a promotion in Golden State’s starting team, and he’ll likely stay there for the rest of the season.
And despite what outside talks may say, Wiseman’s teammates aren’t worried about his long-term projections. In fact, they can’t wait to be there.
“He’ll be fine,” Toscano-Anderson said. “Like I said, and I’ll stick to my words, this kid will be a freak for years to come. “
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With Kukushkin leading the set 6-5, Draper appeared in distress and had his heart rate checked in court by medical staff before deciding to continue. Draper’s return was short lived as he fell to the ground while trying to keep the ball in play on the point of play, rolling onto his back as medics quickly came to his aid. With Kukushkin sealing the set 7-5, Draper retired.
Growing tension between the ATP Tour and a group of disgruntled players came to a head on Wednesday night when Vasek Pospisil – the leader of the splinter group – left the Miami Open amid a swearing rant against the referee of Arnaud Gabas chair. Unusually for an angry player, Pospisil was not complaining about a line call – but rather about ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi. “Yesterday an hour and a half, the president of ATP yelled at me at a players meeting for trying to unite the players,” said Pospisil, after losing the first set to the United States McKenzie McDonald. “For an hour and a half. The head of ATP. Get him out here. FA——. Gabas replied: “That is enough. If you need to tell him anything, then get out of this court. To which Pospisil said, “Why am I here? If you want to leave me by default, I’ll be happy to continue this whole organization. The men’s Grand Slam has to be three sets – that’s the only way to save Roger Federer and Andy Murray. The explosion came after several days of meetings that had failed to produce a united platform from which players could challenge ATP leadership. There have been plenty of complaints – about everything from the cash prizes in Miami, which are down 60%, to the frozen ranking system and protocols in the various tournament bio-bubbles. As always in tennis, it’s one thing to identify problems and quite another to solve them. This sport is a nest of nested systems – which could be a good thing if these systems worked together seamlessly. Unfortunately, as former ATP president Etienne de Villiers said this week, “everyone is suspicious of everyone. To use a very eloquent Wordsworthian expression, it’s a ratf -. Telegraph Sport understands that Gaudenzi made precisely that point to Pospisil when the two met on Tuesday night at a players’ meeting at the Miami basketball court, with an audience that also included the CEO of the ATP, Massimo Calvelli. Gaudenzi and Calvelli were at dinner when they were called in to see Pospisil by a few players. According to sources, the meeting can be boiled down to Pospisil listing his grievances, then Gaudenzi daring him to give the solutions and asking if he really thinks tennis’s deep-rooted problems – which were spelled out this week in a Bloomberg report – could be so easily resolved. (The Bloomberg report suggests that the main problem lies in tennis “which accounts for only 1.3% of the total value of television and sports media rights in the world, a smaller share than golf, hockey or cricket” .) Who got the best or worst in the basketball court reunion will be a matter of opinion. Almost everyone in tennis agrees that ATP leaders have been almost invisible during the Covid crisis. On the other hand, Pospisil seems to have struggled to create a compelling alternative to the admittedly distant way of doing things of ATP, and his explosion on the ground can hardly be called a statesman. As for the meeting itself, the Open Court website reported: “Gaudenzi and his company really sued him. [Pospisil]. They called him things like “ignorant”, “uneducated” – lovely things like that. Open Court reporter Stephanie Myles added that Pospisil was reportedly in tears afterwards and was still “shaken” when he took to the pitch. Pospisil posted an apology after the game on social media. “I want to sincerely apologize for my behavior on the Miami field earlier today,” he said. “I disrespected the game I love and I’m so sorry. By way of explanation, I felt deeply pissed off during a meeting between the players and ATP officials last night, and underestimated the toll these emotions took on me until what I get on the field today.
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