Through the first 16 games of his rookie season, 2020 No. 2 overall draft pick James Wiseman has been in the starting lineup for the Golden State Warriors. On Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, that will change.
After back-to-back losses, Steve Kerr is opting to start veteran center Kevon Looney in place of Wiseman. After averaging 11.8 points on 50.3% shooting from the field with 6.1 rebounds and 14 blocks in 21.4 minutes per game as a starter, Wiseman will shift behind Looney in the frontcourt rotation.
During Golden State’s recent two-game slide, Kerr’s starting lineup has surrendered a nine-point lead in the first quarter of each contest. On Saturday, the Warriors fell down 19-2 against the Utah Jazz in the first seven minutes of the opening quarter.
During his pregame presser on Monday, Kerr said he hopes the decision to start Looney will get the Warriors off to a better start while helping establish a defensive-minded identity.
I am going to change the starting lineup and the rotation a little bit. I’m going to start Looney instead of James. Basically, you guys have heard me all year talk about trying to establish ourselves as a defensive team, and the last two games have been really disappointing defensively. Particularly right out of the gate in the first quarter when we gave up 41 to the Knicks, I think and 38 to Utah.
So, I’m going to go with my veteran center, my veteran group together. That group happens to be our best defensive five on the season, that combination. The hope is we can get off to a better start just flip-flopping James and Loon. Start Loon, bring James off the bench. As I said, continue to try to pound home the identity to this group – that we have to be a defensive-minded team if we’re going to be any good.
I’m mindful of all the talk and lots of suggestions, everybody wants to weigh in — do we need this, do we need that, do we need to put more shooting around people. I’m well aware of all that chatter, but I will continue to return to the theme that I’ve tried to hammer home from day one — we got to be good defensively. And we’ve not been good the last couple of games. So this is a subtle change and we will see if it makes a difference.
Via @NBCSWarriors on Twitter:
Steve Kerr explains why he's replacing Wiseman with Looney in the Warriors' starting lineup. pic.twitter.com/LbbvyZUy6I
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) January 26, 2021
In 16 games, Looney is averaging 3.8 points on 69.4% shooting from the field with 3.7 boards and 1.3 assists per game in 14.1 minutes off the bench.
The Warriors are slated to open a two-game series with the Timberwolves on Monday at 7 p.m. PST at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
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