that stuffed unicorn, Wiseman
made it official: He’ll be joined on
campus next fall by his teammate
Dandridge, and by top-25 wing DJ
Jeffries [See pg. 60 for more on
DJ—Ed.]. For the first time in a
decade, the Tigers should have the
look of a title contender. “Memphis
is gonna be tough next year,”
Wiseman promises. “We’ve got a
lot of top players coming in, and
even though I’ll be a freshman, I’m
trying to just be a leader, learn as
much as possible and elevate my
game to the next level.”
You’d be a fool to bet against
his continued elevation. Holmes,
a fixture on the Memphis hoop
scene who took over for Hardaway
prior to last season, has known
Wiseman for three years. “Y’all
don’t understand how hard this kid
works,” Holmes says. “Just look
at this year, look at his numbers:
Shot like 42 percent from thethree-point line this year, averaged a double-dou-
ble, and in the playoffs he averaged a triple-double.
Double-teamed, tripled-teamed all year, fouled, just
playing through it. He averaged like 10 blocked shots
through the regional tournament—he dominated
games this year by rebounding and blocking shots. His
whole mental approach to the game. His progression
has been amazing.”
His coach expects the nation to see plenty of the
same next year—“I expect a dynamic player, and I
think his numbers are going to be amazing,” Holmes
says—but he still sees ample room for more improve-
ment. Understand, that’s not because there are gaping
holes in Wiseman’s game, but simply because of how
driven the player is to get better at the things he’s
already great at. “It’s just him wanting to be great,” the
coach says. “He doesn’t just want to be an NBA guy—
he wants to be a great. We talk about it all the time,
what his end goal is, and how hard he’s gotta work to
get there.” Back on that unicorn tip, Holmes cites
Wiseman’s rare combination of size, agility, on-court
IQ and guard-like body control in comparing him to
three guys in particular: Kevin Garnett, Marvin Bagley
and Chris Bosh.
It’s almost impossible, when discussing the genera-tional talent and potential of a guy
who’s still in high school (Wiseman
turned 18 in March), to forget that
he’s still technically a high school
kid. Wiseman himself will remind
you, without really trying. He
comes off as a fairly low-key guy,
describing his off-court demeanor
as “funny, careful, very humble.
I just love to have fun.” You saw
it in the unicorn bit at his college
announcement, and you see it in his
easy smile. You see it when he talks
about school in a way that would
seem corny if it wasn’t so clearly
sincere—“I really love school. I
take my education seriously, and I
always stay engaged in class,” he
says—and when he talks about “just
being a regular kid—reading books,
playing video games, just having fun
hanging out with my family.”
And if you were lucky enough
to be at Memphis East on a sunny
day in late March, you saw it when
Grizzlies standout rookie Jaren
Jackson Jr came through to drop
off some hardware.
“Alright, I’m just gonna break it
all the way down,” Wiseman says
a day later. “We were in the locker
room, and Coach told my team-
mates to get out. He said, ‘Let’s
go to the office.’ I’m like, Why am I
going outside? As I peeked my head
out the door, I saw a lot of people,
my teammates, and then as I
opened the door, I saw Jaren Jack-
son with the award.” That’s the Ga-
torade National Player of the Year
award, in case you missed it. “I was
like, this is crazy. It was a random
moment, a surreal moment. I didn’t
even know I was going to win. But
I’m truly blessed.”
A FIBA U16 Americas gold
medal, a McDonald’s invite, that
Gatorade trophy hand-delivered
by a burgeoning NBA star—indeed,
the blessings have already piled
up, and they don’t seem likely to
stop anytime soon. At this point,
the script seems already written:
A year in college, a top-3 draft
spot, and then wait and watch as
he figures out just how high his
ceiling really is. But it’s not written,
of course, not yet. Wiseman will
have to keep working to turn those
blessings into future greatness. He
can’t—and won’t—take the eleva-
tion for granted. SDAVID E. KLUTHO/SPORTS ILLUSTRATED/GETTY IMAGES
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