Andrew Wiggins, who signed a four-year, $109MM extension before the season, is playing like a star in the early going. He’s averaging 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks through the first three games. Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes Wiggins is playing at the top of his game, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“This is the best I’ve ever seen Wiggs,” Kerr said. “He was an All-Star last year, he helped us win a championship and I think he’s used that momentum that he gained a year ago to kind of springboard into this season.”
We have more on the Warriors:
- Suns coach Monty Williams was “quietly upset” that JaMychal Green joined the Warriors on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Why did he go there?” Williams said.
- The Warriors topped the Kings 130-125 on Sunday in a coaching matchup featuring Kerr and his former top assistant, Mike Brown. Kerr is thrilled that Brown got another head coaching job, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. “He’d always talk about how much he loved this job,” Kerr said. “That’s always what we’d lean on if he didn’t get an interview somewhere. Like, ‘You’ve got a pretty good gig. I’ve got it good. You’ve got it good. We’ll just keep it going.’ But we both felt like he was too talented and too young not to get another chance.”
- In a subscriber-only story, Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated speaks to James Wiseman about his comeback from a knee injury that kept him out of action last season. Wiseman is averaging 11 points and six rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game.
“Why did he go there? ” ummmm maybe to win a f*n championship.. lol
Yeah, that was a pretty stupid question lol
Also, quietly the Warriors had one of the best off-seasons in the NBA adding depth and talent to their already championship roster.
Getting DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green was huge for those team’s depth, they’ll be getting back a healthy Wiseman and Klay should be healthier, and then you have the growth and maturation of Moody and Kuminga on top of it all…
Plus, another under the radar move was acquiring Patrick Baldwin Jr. who was orig8nally a top 5 talent coming out of high school just a year prior..
How sweet it must be to be a Warriors fan..
Warriors fans should know, that all of this ONLY works if Curry plays a relatively healthy regular season and playoffs.
Everyone has seen what happens to Kerr and his team, when they lose Curry to injury ……. they tank.
Um, Ok yeah Mike. You think the Warriors are going to make a serious run without him? All that aside it’s only happened once.
In previous years you might have a point, but this roster is too stacked, they can win without 30, but it would also require Kerr to be good at his job, which he rarely is.
Wiggins is playing well, thats what happens when Curry is getting doubled and tripled and you get left wide open. He’s a gravity merchant, not a star. Check Wiggins’s stats when Curry is off the floor….
^ @AsfaninUK …… good points bro, this might be the “exception” since they’re way too stacked even without Curry ……. and yes, Kerr is way over-rated at his job, got absolutely exposed the season that they tanked.
I think Mike is right to a degree. Everything revolves around Steph Curry with this team. He goes down it’s over.
But Curry cannot win it elsewhere or by himself either. He needs these guys like Thompson, Green, Wiggins, and Iguodala in the past. But yes I would agree if Curry is lost Warriors are going nowhere. He really is that amazing. Homer take, sure. But he is truly a once in a generation talent.
Any team loses their best player will struggle to go all the way. I can’t name 1 team without their best player that wouldn’t struggle. Curry is so good he makes everyone around him even better. Just ask Wiggins about that.
@mike.honcho I mean, isn’t that common sense, you lose one of the best players in the world and your team isn’t likely to meet their original expectations!?
No Championship team ever wins their year if they had lost their best player…
I’m not exactly sure what point you’re trying to make??
@richardc …….. The point is, you can lose your top guy, yet still be competitive and not tank.
When last they lost Curry to injury, they still had Green, DLo/Wiggins, etc …… they had 2 all-stars on their roster at most points of the season, 2 more than most teams in the NBA – yet they tanked, Kerr was exposed as having no clue whatsoever without Curry.
Not true Green was out for almost half the year. Wiggins/Dlo was no all star at that time. 11 of those players no longer on a NBA team or over seas playing. Poole was a rookie. It looked more like a G team than a NBA team. No coach could have won with that team. They even had a worse bench than Lakers have now.
@ARC2 …….. Draymond played 66% of the games that season. He’s a known All Star at that point.
DLo was an All Star just a season back …… DLo’s replacement, Wiggins was always a quality player, scored almost 20ppg that season.
Let’s call as it is, Draymond is a great player, but his greatness (aside from his defense) lies in his impeccable fit with Steph & Klay. That season, there was no Steph & Klay, no coincidence that he struggled …… but still he was there 66% of the games and he had some pieces with him (DLo/Wiggins), enough to win more than 15 games.
I put the blame on Kerr …….. he was exposed, he can’t coach a lick without a full deck. He & Myers chose the easy way out, they tanked.
@ mike:
So in your opinion Kerr tanking for a couple of early draft choices that resulted in Kuminga and Moody was unintentional?
Seems wrong.
Yes, but you also have to remember wheb a team is built around a specific player, it is very difficult to replace said player and remain competitive…
But, yes, I certainly can agree with your sentiment there. That is different than the point I originally thought you were trying to make.
A team can be competitive without its main star, but there still aren’t very many title winning teams that remain competitive if you take off their best players…
I’m not sure that is really fair to say of Kerr…
What all do hide. It’s not an illusion until it is.
Maybe the Suns should have made a better offer for JaMychal?
It should be a good game tonight, both Booker and Steph are playing well early.
The NBA is funny in the early going. Anybody can beat any team right now. But yes glued to the TV tonight for sure.
Want to see James Wiseman go against Deandre Ayton. Want to see Wiggins guard Booker and see if Thompson still has his defense against Booker at times. Should be entertaining.
Also, will Curry be able to score on Mikhail Bridges? Can the Warriors slow down Cam Johnson’s pure shooting? That guy can shoot it I tell you.
Bridges more likely to be on Wiggins or Thompson than Curry. Can Chris Paul defend Curry would be the question. Looney will be more on Ayton so can Looney keep Ayton out of the paint.