He's been quite reliable with shots from 10-16 throughout his career, it's just that he's rarely asked to them in game because better options usually are available.
I dunno, I feel like we say that but roo many possessions end with e.g. a Wiggins 24 foot contested 3. To his credit he has made some tough shots but an open Loony midrange would be a better shot.
If Wiggins hits 30% on those jumpers (pretty poor numbers), that's equivalent to a 45% mid-range 2 for Looney (which is a pretty high number). The math just doesn't make sense unless you're elite at mid-range jumpers or you're at the end of the shot-clock.
Steph is probably the only person in the world who misses two simple "catch-and-dribble-into" threes from the logo... and then decides what he needs to do to correct his shot is to layer some basketball ballet on top of it... and then proceeds to adds progressively more complexity and keep swishing them.
This made me watch the Bang Bang OKC game again, and man, the Warriors were down 12 with 4 minutes to go and 4 with 15 seconds to go. And Iguodala iced the FTs to send it to OT.
I've only been watching basketball since 2014-15, so I lack the perspective for this, but where does that year rank in terms of all-time players at their peak? I can't think that there are too many players who attained a higher level than Steph that year. I can definitely say that there are no other sustained peaks that come close to that level (LeBron in the 2018 playoffs, but that wasn't for a whole year) since that time, but historically, how many of those stretches exist?
The last time I remember being wow'd for an entire season was in '02-03 with TMac going nuts that year -- I'm pretty sure he was legit considered better than Kobe by many at that point in time.
There was a similar feel of "what? he's not supposed to do that". I certainly don't put it at the same level as '16 Steph even if you grade TMac on a curve but it's the closest I feel anyone else has come to '16 Steph... I'd still put '21 and '15 Steph ahead of TMac though.
Here's a nice summary of TMac's year:
> That season, McGrady was first in the league in Offensive Box Plus-Minus and the difference between his mark and Shaq’s second-place mark was the same as the gap between Shaq and Jason Terry at 28th. He was also, to that point, just the second player in the 3-point era to post a season with a Usage Rate and Assist Rate above 30 percent — the other was Michael Jordan. And despite carrying all that offensive weight, he was still a net-positive on defense, ranking 55th in Defensive Box Plus-Minus.
I consider 2016 Steph to be the best offensive season in history. (You have to grade Wilt on a curve.) His defense was good too, though not as good as 2014-15, when he was actually very good.
Obviously didn't watch him, but the advanced numbers point towards Wilt being pretty overrated. His scoring rate wasn't as crazy as the raw numbers would tell you (this tweet shows he might not have been the best scorer of his era - https://twitter.com/ElGee35/status/1432434846983282689), and his usage doesn't really scale up well to overall team results - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCKSvjBnCRQ.
Would be interesting to see another person's analysis of Wilt.
I have no idea what to think about Wilt, but I think the fact that Wilt still didn't win the MVP the year he averaged 50ppg says something about what people thought of his play even back then.
But hey, how "overrated" are we talking about when the players compared to Wilt are the literal NBA logo and the Finals MVP namesake? 😀
The key is not comparing directly across numbers (Wilt averaged 50, KD averages 30), but comparing how much better you were relative to your era. That's why Jordan is a better scorer than Steph even though the pure efficiency metrics obviously imply that Steph is much better.
For instance, there are some sports where there is a clear GOAT (ice hockey, cricket, soccer and tennis will probably be in here in a little more time after people internalize how great Messi and Djokovic are) despite there being loads of generations of great players.
True. It's a fool's errand to try and make objective comparisons between players of different eras. If you just want who's capable of the most stuff, it's almost always someone from the latest era because athletic standards keep evolving. But greatness is also about pioneering and being far ahead of one's contemporaries.
The early greats like Wilt and Russell accomplished what they did without the support structures, role models, and institutional knowledge that came afterward. The ones who came after them built on those ideas and institutions, in a the process that continues through the modern game (and outside the game).
We can already see how Steph changed the game and redefined expectations. Modern players have grown, and younger guys like Trae Young have grown up, doing stuff that nobody believed in before Steph showed how successful it could be. And STILL he shows us stuff, all the time, that doesn't feel like it's possible.
That's ultimately a big part of why we like sports, right? We want to witness amazing feats, to revel in the awe and excitement—and sometimes the disappointment—of people trying their utmost to do the very best and redefine what's possible. Whether it's dominating the competition, matching a rival's intensity, setting a new bar or inventing new ways to do old tricks, sports are captivating because people are trying their hardest and as a result, new and surprising things happen all the time. So I'd rather remember all the legends in the pantheon for what they did to inspire us, rather than argue about which one is greater.
Steph's late season surge was one of the most amazing runs of basketball that I've ever seen. As my grandma put it, Steph is like if basketball greatness and basketball porn got married.
Translation: He's an all time great player who is also insanely fun to watch.
Unfortunately that pill doesn’t make a dent in the public health arena. It will halve the rate of hospitalizations if someone gets Covid. (You’re twice as likely to be admitted for Covid care if you have Covid and don’t take the pill) It probably won’t do anything to decrease the spread of disease.
The vaccines make it eight times less likely you get the disease and much less likely that you’re a link in a chain of contagion that leads to another’s death or long term illness. The vaccines also make it forty times less likely to be hospitalized and 47 times less likely to die from Covid.
Oral medications that help to treat the disease are a fantastic step in the right direction and will be part of the future that makes us able to live like we used to. But, at this point, they are nowhere near as important as are the vaccines to saving lives.
OK. A dent. It certainly could be part of the endgame where few people die of Covid because some combination of natural immunity, vaccine immunity and antiviral drugs turn it into something akin to the flu. Until we get there, preventing spread is most important and vaccines and masks are the best tools for that job.
Them: “It’ll be even easier to hide a microchip in a pill!”
Me: “No problem! The chip should pass right through you. Just to be safe, you really should carefully examine all of your fecal matter until you locate the microchip. This could take as long as month for it to pass, so leave no stool unturned.”
I think he got it. The timeline matches up well. October 13 is the deadline and if he got it Thursday after practice that'd be two weeks. Or maybe he got it during the off day yesterday and would be affected for a day but wouldn't have to miss the preseason game on October 15th.
The Warriors probably won't tell us though, we'll have to figure it out for ourselves.
If he got the shot, I’m imagining no announcement until Wiggins walks out opening night wearing a giant day glo bandage on his upper arm with Fauci’s face on it. Milk that drama
I see your point, but if his point is that the media shouldn’t have been prying into this, I think he’s naive to think a starter potentially missing games isn’t a story they should cover.
Actually, that’s not bad, and looks like a lot of NBA veterans guarding him. Steph cooked PG13 similarly in that massive Clippers comeback game, which I know because I just rewatched it :)
Yeah, until biting on the fake, he was with him. Watching the clips of Kuminga so far, his defensive balance and footwork doesn’t just look good “for a guy his size” or “for a rookie”; it just looks good. He kind of reminds me of a powerful Livingston the way he kinda glides around quickly, but gracefully.
Looney is absolutely silking the mid range jump shot in practice. If he can incorporate that into his game, that would be amazing!!
He's been quite reliable with shots from 10-16 throughout his career, it's just that he's rarely asked to them in game because better options usually are available.
I dunno, I feel like we say that but roo many possessions end with e.g. a Wiggins 24 foot contested 3. To his credit he has made some tough shots but an open Loony midrange would be a better shot.
A lot of those late-in-the-clock Wiggins jumpers are long 2’s, which, to Sword’s point below, is extra bad.
If Wiggins hits 30% on those jumpers (pretty poor numbers), that's equivalent to a 45% mid-range 2 for Looney (which is a pretty high number). The math just doesn't make sense unless you're elite at mid-range jumpers or you're at the end of the shot-clock.
JFK must quit the habit to try, in every situation, the most difficult possible pass.
8P (in italian Otto means eight) knows how to shoot.
On video, JP 27/33 on lightly contested 3s . That’s 82%.
At’ll do.
Three minutes of Steph being holy shitballs amazing in practice today.
(Teaser: I guess Steph’s gonna be the primary lob target until Wiseman’s back.)
https://youtu.be/dpBrqINgjP0
Steph is probably the only person in the world who misses two simple "catch-and-dribble-into" threes from the logo... and then decides what he needs to do to correct his shot is to layer some basketball ballet on top of it... and then proceeds to adds progressively more complexity and keep swishing them.
This made me watch the Bang Bang OKC game again, and man, the Warriors were down 12 with 4 minutes to go and 4 with 15 seconds to go. And Iguodala iced the FTs to send it to OT.
Still cant believe they won that game hahaha
that spin move into an elbow 3 was sick
I've only been watching basketball since 2014-15, so I lack the perspective for this, but where does that year rank in terms of all-time players at their peak? I can't think that there are too many players who attained a higher level than Steph that year. I can definitely say that there are no other sustained peaks that come close to that level (LeBron in the 2018 playoffs, but that wasn't for a whole year) since that time, but historically, how many of those stretches exist?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bvTPxCOfjdE
Loved this video essay.
The last time I remember being wow'd for an entire season was in '02-03 with TMac going nuts that year -- I'm pretty sure he was legit considered better than Kobe by many at that point in time.
There was a similar feel of "what? he's not supposed to do that". I certainly don't put it at the same level as '16 Steph even if you grade TMac on a curve but it's the closest I feel anyone else has come to '16 Steph... I'd still put '21 and '15 Steph ahead of TMac though.
Here's a nice summary of TMac's year:
> That season, McGrady was first in the league in Offensive Box Plus-Minus and the difference between his mark and Shaq’s second-place mark was the same as the gap between Shaq and Jason Terry at 28th. He was also, to that point, just the second player in the 3-point era to post a season with a Usage Rate and Assist Rate above 30 percent — the other was Michael Jordan. And despite carrying all that offensive weight, he was still a net-positive on defense, ranking 55th in Defensive Box Plus-Minus.
https://fansided.com/2020/11/09/tracy-mcgrady-2002-03-evolutionary-leap/
I consider 2016 Steph to be the best offensive season in history. (You have to grade Wilt on a curve.) His defense was good too, though not as good as 2014-15, when he was actually very good.
Obviously didn't watch him, but the advanced numbers point towards Wilt being pretty overrated. His scoring rate wasn't as crazy as the raw numbers would tell you (this tweet shows he might not have been the best scorer of his era - https://twitter.com/ElGee35/status/1432434846983282689), and his usage doesn't really scale up well to overall team results - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCKSvjBnCRQ.
Would be interesting to see another person's analysis of Wilt.
/shrug
I have no idea what to think about Wilt, but I think the fact that Wilt still didn't win the MVP the year he averaged 50ppg says something about what people thought of his play even back then.
But hey, how "overrated" are we talking about when the players compared to Wilt are the literal NBA logo and the Finals MVP namesake? 😀
Wilt is considered one of the greatest players of all time, one of the greatest scorers of all time. The baseline is way higher obviously.
Interesting… I don’t have much opinion about Wilt. It’s so hard to compare across eras and pro basketball was really small time until Bird-Magic.
The key is not comparing directly across numbers (Wilt averaged 50, KD averages 30), but comparing how much better you were relative to your era. That's why Jordan is a better scorer than Steph even though the pure efficiency metrics obviously imply that Steph is much better.
For instance, there are some sports where there is a clear GOAT (ice hockey, cricket, soccer and tennis will probably be in here in a little more time after people internalize how great Messi and Djokovic are) despite there being loads of generations of great players.
True. It's a fool's errand to try and make objective comparisons between players of different eras. If you just want who's capable of the most stuff, it's almost always someone from the latest era because athletic standards keep evolving. But greatness is also about pioneering and being far ahead of one's contemporaries.
The early greats like Wilt and Russell accomplished what they did without the support structures, role models, and institutional knowledge that came afterward. The ones who came after them built on those ideas and institutions, in a the process that continues through the modern game (and outside the game).
We can already see how Steph changed the game and redefined expectations. Modern players have grown, and younger guys like Trae Young have grown up, doing stuff that nobody believed in before Steph showed how successful it could be. And STILL he shows us stuff, all the time, that doesn't feel like it's possible.
That's ultimately a big part of why we like sports, right? We want to witness amazing feats, to revel in the awe and excitement—and sometimes the disappointment—of people trying their utmost to do the very best and redefine what's possible. Whether it's dominating the competition, matching a rival's intensity, setting a new bar or inventing new ways to do old tricks, sports are captivating because people are trying their hardest and as a result, new and surprising things happen all the time. So I'd rather remember all the legends in the pantheon for what they did to inspire us, rather than argue about which one is greater.
AKA “just another Saturday” for Unanimous
Just one minuscule correction, Facundo Compazzo is Argentine so he is South American, not European
Good point… all the Real Madrid play made me think of him as Euro
In Euroleague he was one of the greatest flopper i have seen in my life
Steph's late season surge was one of the most amazing runs of basketball that I've ever seen. As my grandma put it, Steph is like if basketball greatness and basketball porn got married.
Translation: He's an all time great player who is also insanely fun to watch.
A possible mid-season solution to the Wiggins dilemma?
https://www.newser.com/story/311697/merck-announcement-brings-us-step-closer-to-a-covid-pill.html?utm_source=part&utm_medium=uol&utm_campaign=rss_top
Unfortunately that pill doesn’t make a dent in the public health arena. It will halve the rate of hospitalizations if someone gets Covid. (You’re twice as likely to be admitted for Covid care if you have Covid and don’t take the pill) It probably won’t do anything to decrease the spread of disease.
The vaccines make it eight times less likely you get the disease and much less likely that you’re a link in a chain of contagion that leads to another’s death or long term illness. The vaccines also make it forty times less likely to be hospitalized and 47 times less likely to die from Covid.
Oral medications that help to treat the disease are a fantastic step in the right direction and will be part of the future that makes us able to live like we used to. But, at this point, they are nowhere near as important as are the vaccines to saving lives.
Also, wouldn’t potentially cutting hospitalizations in half be at least a bit of a dent?
OK. A dent. It certainly could be part of the endgame where few people die of Covid because some combination of natural immunity, vaccine immunity and antiviral drugs turn it into something akin to the flu. Until we get there, preventing spread is most important and vaccines and masks are the best tools for that job.
Them: “It’ll be even easier to hide a microchip in a pill!”
Me: “No problem! The chip should pass right through you. Just to be safe, you really should carefully examine all of your fecal matter until you locate the microchip. This could take as long as month for it to pass, so leave no stool unturned.”
https://www.nba.com/amp/warriors/news/warriors-host-open-practice-presented-chase-saturday-october-9
So, Wiggins would miss this, except it is before the mandate start date.
I think he got it. The timeline matches up well. October 13 is the deadline and if he got it Thursday after practice that'd be two weeks. Or maybe he got it during the off day yesterday and would be affected for a day but wouldn't have to miss the preseason game on October 15th.
The Warriors probably won't tell us though, we'll have to figure it out for ourselves.
If he got the shot, I’m imagining no announcement until Wiggins walks out opening night wearing a giant day glo bandage on his upper arm with Fauci’s face on it. Milk that drama
And crudely sewn sutures where he cut himself open to dig out the microchip.
I had this image of him going to the doctor with a fake arm hanging from his sleeve, like a Whizzinator but for vaccines. Call it the Wiggzinator.
By Jove, you’re onto something!
Good god almighty
Post Vaccine symptoms?
Please may this be vaccine symptoms…or a hangover. Either is fine by me!
May br. But could be Covid or Flu
Yesterday being the exact deadline to get a shot without missing games seems too correlated to be coincidental.
It was always going to be easy. He’d explore his options until forced into the only sensible thing. Which he’ll do quietly.
If he had just got it the day after the religious exemption was denied he could’ve avoided the confrontation on media day.
The story was already leaked before they made that decision. The Warriors did Wiggins dirty imo.
I don’t think so. What seems more important to him even then shot/no shot is his privacy. That’s what the confrontation was about.
He didn’t want to avoid confrontation. He wanted to make it clear that he didn’t want to discuss anything about this decision for him.
If he ends up getting the shot, I don’t see much harm done here. Not going to beat a guy up because he didn’t do something on my approved timeline.
I see your point, but if his point is that the media shouldn’t have been prying into this, I think he’s naive to think a starter potentially missing games isn’t a story they should cover.
Assuming he did get it... hopefully so.
I am not throwing away my…shot!
Jab steps…
Conspiracy theory: Steph gets a bonus for faking guys out of their shoes if they don't wear Under Armour.
Ha ha! "Welcome to NBA, rook". This video has half a millions views!!
"Kuminga shuts down Steph, forcing him into a low-percentage long two"
Fun stuff, appetite whetting… can’t wait for the season to start.
Steph did travel… but didn’t have to.
If JK becomes decent at defending guards on the perimeter... wow.
Actually, that’s not bad, and looks like a lot of NBA veterans guarding him. Steph cooked PG13 similarly in that massive Clippers comeback game, which I know because I just rewatched it :)
Yeah, until biting on the fake, he was with him. Watching the clips of Kuminga so far, his defensive balance and footwork doesn’t just look good “for a guy his size” or “for a rookie”; it just looks good. He kind of reminds me of a powerful Livingston the way he kinda glides around quickly, but gracefully.