The Warriors officially announced that Wiseman was reimbursed for the season, and it seems that the team has suffered another heavy blow, because Wiseman is a big center, and if he can make a healthy comeback, he can more or less help the Warriors to impact the championship. After all, at present, their lineup, the weakest position is the No. 5 position.
However, in the eyes of head coach Kerr, Wiseman will not enter his personnel rotation plan even if he recovers, because the current Warriors lineup has enough personnel depth to play in the No. 5 position.
Cole said in an interview: "I don't think about adding big players, we are still happy with the lineup, we have Green, Looney, Bjelica and Cuminga, who can play center forward in the small lineup, and Otto Porter can also"!
In Kerr's view, the Warriors will be more inclined to play small lineups, and there are many players on the team who have the ability to top the No. 5 position, so Wiseman does not need to rush to return, and even if he returns, it will be difficult to squeeze into his regular rotation.
In fact, compared to looking forward to Wiseman's return, perhaps the amazing performance brought by another supernova in the Warriors' team has surprised Kerr even more.
Ahead of the game against the Hawks, Kerr made another change of lineup for the starters, Poole, Thompson, Wiggins, Green, and Cumminga!
This change of formation is quite surprising, in addition to the other 4 people starting without controversy, Cumminga was also put into the starting lineup without Green and Wiggins, and it was replaced by center Looney, which is indeed a bit surprising.
You know, Looney has played 101 consecutive regular season starts before this game, and since last season, he has been the Warriors' iron starting force.
However, while the 101 starting record looks set to continue, Kerr made an unexpected change, putting rookie Cumminga into the starting lineup, partnering with Dream Green to play a small lineup.
So far this season, Cumminga, as a rookie, has shown the ability to seize opportunities at the top of the Warriors championship team, and has won Kerr's trust.
So far this season, he has played in 60 games, made nine starts, averaged 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game, and scored in double figures in 26 of them. In the last game against the Heat, he started 30 minutes and contributed 22 points and 5 rebounds, becoming one of the heroes of the win.
But in previous games, Cumminga appeared in the starting lineup, all because of the main rotation or injury, and he appeared more in the starting No. 3 or No. 4 position, but this time, Kerr rarely pushed him to the starting No. 5 position, and squeezed out Looney's 101 consecutive starts, it is not difficult to see that in Kerr's mind, Cumminga has become an important member of the Warriors' rotation, and will also become one of the key factors in the Warriors' playoff lineup.
If you play the traditional lineup, only one Looney in the No. 5 position is obviously not enough, but Kerr's strength lies precisely in his ability to use the perfect combination of the traditional lineup and the small lineup to avoid the weakness of the No. 5 position. This time, Looney was removed and replaced by Cumminga and Green, which is obviously Kerr preparing for the playoffs in advance.
Because Cumminga has proven that he can contribute far more than a rookie can bring, his mature performance on the pitch deserves more responsibility from Kerr. If this attempt yields good results, Cumminga clearly has a chance to be a weapon for Kerr to lead the team to the championship in the playoffs.