Outlook For 2021-22 NBA Season
After shopping around their two lottery picks in this year’s draft, the Golden State Warriors decided to keep both the No. 7 and No. 14 picks to draft both Kuminga and Moody respectively. Using both picks to go after an established star like Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard were definitely moves the Warriors considered, but neither Beal nor Lillard became available in trade talks.
Now, while they have key All-Star talents in Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson, the Warriors are also building for the future now with James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody, with Wiseman being the oldest at 20-years-old.
These three guys offer a lot of potential for the future, but the idea of leveraging them now to try and add more championship-caliber pieces definitely exists. Recently, Ben Simmons trade rumors have gone out of control and the Warriors are a team that has been mentioned as a possible suitor for him. However, owner Joe Lacob does not seem to think Simmons would “fit in well” with what the Warriors are trying to do right now.
Including either Moody or Kuminga in a trade for Ben Simmons is definitely possible, but as of right now, the Golden State Warriors really do like what they have in their rookies. Compared to Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody is definitely a young player who is ready to contribute here and there and is a lot more polished as a rookie because of his shooting abilities.
“Golden State is going to use him [Moses Moody] as a player who can roll off of screens, sit in the corner, and a guy who can spread out opposing defenses to make things easier for Klay and Steph,” the league executive stated. “Moody is going to get shots with those guys on the court next to him, but his biggest learning curve is going to be adapting to a quick pace system and adapting to an offense that is going to require a lot of awareness, ball movement, and knowing where you are.”
Seeing as he is still growing both as a person and as a basketball player, Moses Moody could be limited early on in his career in terms of minutes on the court, but before games, after games, and in practices, the rookie guard is always going to be working out on the court to try and better his overall skill set.
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Right now, Moody is known for being a three-point shooting threat, but he really does not have much more of an identity on the court. Can he be a reliable “3-and-D” player on the wing? Is he a guy that can handle the ball sometimes, especially in transition? Is Moody a player who can open up space for others by driving the ball down the line/in the paint?
These are all questions that will need to be answered about Moody’s game during his rookie season and with Klay Thompson still working his way back to full speed, there is a really strong chance that Moses Moody will get time early on in the season to try and showcase what he can do for this Golden State Warriors team as they look to make another NBA Finals run.
Jordan Poole and Damion Lee are two guys at the shooting guard position who will see a lot of minutes, but Moses Moody can definitely crack these rotations for at least 5-10 minutes per game. In Summer League this offseason, it took Moody a game or two to get used to playing at the “NBA level,” but he really started to play well, as in five games, he averaged 16.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.0 steals, and shot 43.1% from the floor, 38.7% from three-point range.
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Last season, then-rookie James Wiseman averaged 21.4 minutes per game, but the Warriors needed him to play more minutes than they would like because of the weaknesses in their frontcourt. Both Kuminga and Moody will see close to half the minutes Wiseman saw last season, but Moses Moody has caught the eye of the Warriors’ coaching staff this offseason.
