A point guard and his big man: Steph Curry, James Wiseman finally practicing the pick-and-roll in Golden State

From the “it’s about time” department, Warriors general manager Bob Myers revealed Monday that two of Golden State’s premier players have started to work on one of the most basic, effective plays in the game of basketball.

Superstar guard Stephen Curry and rookie center James Wiseman were working on the pick-and-roll play, also known as a screen-and-roll, at practice recently, and according to Myers, “They really haven’t even had a chance” to do so until now.

Myers’ comments are from 95.7 The Game’s morning show, The Morning Roast, and gleaned from a tweet by Warriors Reddit.

“Yesterday after practice he was working on a lot of pick-and-roll stuff with Curry. Just the nuances of the screen-and-roll,” Myers said of Wiseman to The Morning Roast. “You’d be surprised how long that takes to figure out. They really haven’t even had a chance to work on so many of these little things.”

It seem ludicrous that the point guard and his new big man have not worked on the screen-and-roll much at all. But on the Warriors, it makes sense.

Coach Steve Kerr favors a motion-based offense, and that leaves little or no opportunity for the standard NBA play, save for when it’s really needed. Think Curry and Draymond Green from the 2019 NBA Finals loss to the Raptors. Those two brought the Warriors back thanks in large part to screen-and-roll, which is almost as old as the game of basketball itself.

So it must be a coincidence that Myers goes on to say in the above-linked-to clip that players have to “tune out” their coach sometime, right?

I honestly think it is purely random, but funny nonetheless.

Will Wiseman and Curry have a chance to try their newly-practiced maneuver in a game? Well, the fact that Curry was practicing at all makes it at least a possibility. Curry was upgraded to “questionable” for Monday night’s game against the Bulls, after missing multiple games with a nasty tailbone contusion.

It’s just a matter of time before we see the play in a game. But it might take a while. It will be up to Kerr as to how often he wants to take a break from his motion-heavy sets with Wiseman in the game. It can only help Wiseman’s confidence to be paired at the hip with Curry on the floor at key moments when Golden State is in dire need of a bucket.

(Photo credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports)