Kuminga in FIBA Africas; Baldwin, Rollins, Wiseman out for California Classic

[video/notes/quotes from first Summer League practice]

Jonathan Kuminga is currently in Alexandria, Egypt, set to play for the national team of the Democratic Republic of Congo. His brother, Joel Ntambwe, is also on the team and the two of them will be on the Golden State Warriors’ Summer League team in Las Vegas, NV next week. DRC was supposed to play yesterday in the first of three games at the FIBA Africas Qualifier, but per FIBA, “the inability of Kenya to reach Alexandria, Egypt in time, the game of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 African Qualifiers between Congo DR and Kenya scheduled for today will not take place.” The game was effectively cancelled.

Today’s game, DRC vs Senegal, is scheduled to start at 1:30PM PDT. We will have coverage and live commentary on our YouTube channel. Also check our Twitch at Twitch.tv/LetsGoWarriors for a feed which may or may not happen.

The California Classic also kicks off at Chase Center today. We will probably stay online with our live chat, with our inspiration Dean Chambers with the philosophical commentary of the team’s off-season roster moves so far. Ergo from the DRC game with JK which starts at 130p and probably ends around 330p, there could be postgame coverage, then Dean (and I) will bridge the gap to tipoff of California Classic at 430p, then we’ll have live commentary coverage of Warriors vs Sacramento Kings. Not sure if I’ll cover postgame as it will be a very long day.

Also at the California Classic, the NBA will be testing its new “take foul” rule (one free throw and the ball back):

Below the following collection of videos of interviews from the first Summer League practice on Wednesday, with Warriors California Classic head coach Seth Cooper, then Moses Moody, James Wiseman, Patrick Baldwin, Ryan Rollins, Justinian Jessup and Les Quinones are the notes & quotes. See info below: Rollins is out through the end of Vegas, Wiseman won’t play until towards the end of Vegas, and Baldwin won’t play until the start of Vegas. So what started as an extremely formidable Summer League roster, on paper, now has been extremely depleted.

DISCLAIMER: These are all just notes for my main workflow of YouTube videos, tweeted by beatwriters. I used to transcribe every interview but it became too tedious and not worth the investment for the small amount of views we got on the soundbites on YouTube. The links to the tweets are not available because sometimes I don’t use the full tweet and just having a ton of tweets on this website imo isn’t aesthetically pleasing and gets away from the main goal: transferring information (not so much entertainment) asap.

• Warriors announce that Ryan Rollins, their recently drafted guard, has a foot fracture in his fifth metatarsal. Discovered during his on-boarding physical. Won't compete in summer league. A blow for a combo guard they have plans of potentially putting on 15-man roster. (Anthony Slater)

• Patrick Baldwin Jr. is doing some on-court activity and practicing, but won’t play in the California Classic games. TBD if he'll play in Vegas Summer League. (Madeline Kenney, Kendra Andrews)

• James Wiseman is doing full on-court work and practice, but will not participate in the California Classic. It’s the goal for him to play in Las Vegas, the Warriors say. They want to use as many practices as possible to ramp up, instead of games, so he’d be ready for Vegas. (Kendra Andrews)

• Seth Cooper says James Wiseman is having a lot of fun at practice, working back into playing. There’s still a lot of optimism in the organization about Wiseman’s future: “It was great to see him running around, smiling, dunking.” (Kylen Mills)

• Moses Moody will play for the Warriors summer league team this weekend. Jonathan Kuminga won't. He is back in the Congo. His brother is competing for the national team. Kuminga will meet Warriors in Vegas and possibly play SL there. (Anthony Slater)

• Patrick Baldwin, Jr., aka “PBJ”, says his ankle feels good. He went through various drills today at practice. (Jason Dumas)

• Patrick Baldwin Jr on feeling the championship culture: “You definitely feel the championship energy the second you walk in that gym...” (Chris Alvarez)

• Rollins says he was surprised to hear he had a stress fracture going through his physical -- he didn't feel it. Sitting out summer league is more precautionary. (Shayna Rubin)

• Ryan Rollins said his foot hasn't been bothering him or affecting his play, and the Warriors are shutting him down this summer for precautionary reasons. (CJ Holmes)

• Patrick Baldwin Jr. immediately brings up the Warriors’ “winning culture” when asked about his reaction to being drafted by Golden State. (Dalton Johnson)

• Baldwin prefers being called Patrick or PBJ, but not Pat because that is what his father goes by. He also described himself as “6’10 who can pass, dribble and shoot. And a son of a coach so that comes with making the right play.” (Jason Dumas)

• Ryan Rollins mentions Shaun Livingston as a long point guard who has inspired his game, and also brought up Jordan Poole as a player he watches a lot: “I am a smooth player. A smooth playmaker.” He also mentioned his upbringing in the West Side of Detroit. (Dalton Johnson, Jason Dumas)

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