With the Warriors having bad nights lately, it's made me want to avert my eyes from the wreckage. But that's not all a bad thing, because then I looked around the league more. I am a Dubs fan, but I have never been one to think that being a fan of one team means that I can't enjoy the other teams. I'm just not that strict about it. I like two things about the NBA: 1. The Warriors 2. Great basketball in general.
And it really seems like an exciting time for the league. Adam Silver must be pumped. Great young players, new styles of play, and wayyyyy more teams than usual have a very interesting case to make that they will win it all. As I look at the standings, I think it sounds something like this: East: MIL: "Yo, we're the defending champs and we have Giannis and almost all the pieces back, with Brook Lopez coming back soon. You got a problem with that?" PHI: "Have you seen Embiid play? Have you seen Harden play? Have you seen them together? Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris? We're unstoppable." NETS: "Sure we're low in the standings, but any team with KD coming back today, Ben Simmons coming in to provide defense, and Kyrie Irving a walking bucket, plus nice pieces like Seth Curry and Patty Mills, is to be feared. Have you ever SEEN Kevin Durant play basketball?" BOS: "While everyone's getting headlines, we keep winning. We've been stellar on defense. We've figured it out." CHI: "Lavine, DeRozan, and we're one game out of first in the East with Lonzo and Caruso being injured. Have you SEEN DeRozan's midrange game?" MIA: "That's all cute and all, but WE are the team in first place in the East. We have great depth and coaching, we were right there a couple years ago. Bam, Tyler Herro Jimmy Buckets PJ Tucker Kyle Lowry Duncan Robinson, you do know we are in FIRST place right?" West: SUNS: "We went to the championship last year, and we have the best record in the league. What are we if not the best basketball team right now? We've lost our backcourt for a while, but we have a big cushion on the other teams, so we'll see you in the playoffs. We'll be the ones wearing home court advantage." Warriors: "Second best record in the league, how dreadful. Let's all agonize about it. We've gotten to that point without a game from Wiseman, and with very very limited availability from Draymond Klay Iguodala. Let's do this: In the playoffs we're going to throw Steph Klay Wiggins Draymond and maybe Wiseman, Iguodala, Looney, Kuminga, Poole. You wanna try beating that? Hint: nobody could for years so good luck." MEM: "Ja Morant is just getting better. The other guys are young, hungry, super talented. Dillon Brooks doesn't even play and we just keep winning. JJJ, Bane, Ziaire, Williams, Stevie Adams, we fear NO ONE." UTA: "Guess who the hottest team in the West is. Right. We have a dominant center and play around that with Donovan now getting healthy. We're well rounded and ready to roll." DAL: "Have you SEEN Luka play lately? Do you know how much better we are with Dinwiddie and Bertans than too-tall Porzingis? We play loose and fast and keep winning." DEN: "Michael Porter Jr is starting to practice. Jamal Murray likely will be back for the playoffs. OH DID WE MENTION: Jokic is having a statistical career for the ages and is looking to repeat as MVP." Lakers: "Don't forget we have Westbr-- OK, never mind."
Come on! Can the media get off the Poole psychotherapy?
Who is Jordan Poole? He is a late 1st round pick that was projected to fall late 30s? Even 40s?
He works his A off to improve his game.
He absolutely has 3 level scoring capabilities.
He can get to the line and he makes about all of his free throws.
His FT%, ought to be a good indicator of better 3pt% down the line.
He wasn't DEMOTED to the bench from his role as a starter. That is a freakin' PROMOTION!
Oh, he plays better with Steph, Wiggs, Dray and Looney? Really? Really?? WHO DOESN'T?
Everyone plays better with those guys.
The responsibilities of the 6th Man tower over the responsibilities of the 2 guard with the starters. He has the dual role of being the point guard who can get other 2nd Unit guys going AND being the guy expected to score, damn the other guys. As a starter, he just has to flow. As the 6th Man, he has to be the man. And he has to do it with guys like GP2, D Lee, Moody, JK, JTA & Belly. I'm not throwing shade on anyone. I'm just sayin'. How about Poole-D Lee-Andre-OPJ-Wiseman?
Point being, the 6th Man is a promotion on this team. It's twice the responsibility with half the talent to play with.
And as far as being the starter? Poole plays a game very similar to Curry. Combo guard, balance play making and scoring. If he is patient and plays his cards right, he is the heir to Curry with two future all-stars in JFK & JDub and a helluva player in Moody.
Imagine Poole in 2 more years? Imagine him being the reason the Warriors can reduce Curry's workload a lot going forward. Slowly creeping into his new future role.
I still feel it's a lack of confidence on what to do on offense. When he plays with the starters he knows where hes going to get shots. Hell get open catch and shoot 3s, transition buckets, post split 3s and backdoors and occasional pick and rolls/ isos.
When hes with whatever random bench unit hes with theres alot more uncertainty, is he going to have to pick n roll and create all night? Will he have to iso if the PnRs get switched? The post split doesn't really work/get ran by non steph units, will he have to defer and distribute to klay and porter that night? Hes still young so I feel like this might be an issue hes dealing with since we've seen his consistent production with the starters
I’d be surprised if we see Wiseman playing nba minutes this year. I’m not saying he won’t but the coded language in these interviews indicates he’s nowhere near playing in an nba game and we’ve got 20 games left.
After watching the Wiseman footage of him getting closer, I wonder if there’s another player in the league who makes dunking look easier than Wiseman? I don’t know if there’s anyone who combines that size, length and easy athleticism/explosiveness than JW.
It doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll produce like we hope, but holy shit he’s a physical specimen.
Mar 3, 2022·edited Mar 3, 2022Liked by punk basketball
Recommendations for other legitimate analysis sites/sources/writers? I only see the Athletic. E,g. What/ who is your favorite (after the present publication, of course).
Athletic Alchemy was speculating that Poole might resent his treatment vs. that of Wiggins. If that’s true, I wouldn’t blame him. Poole works his ass off and gets yanked if he screws up where Wiggins jogs up and down the court with close to zero sense of urgency. If Poole took as many face-away long long 2’s as Wiggins, he’d never hear the end of it, yet Wiggins is an all star on a max contract so it’s cool 🤷🏼♂️
I appreciate the actual game analysis instead of feeding into the too-common soap opera/telenovela/reality show approach. C'mon, we don't actually know if Poole is "silently bitter", "disgruntled", "unhappy", or "not bought in." Sure, pride and pouting are real things, but so is a player's comfort in their rhythm and role in the game. And maybe other teams scouted him because he was looking so good early on?
Is it as simple as - most people play better with Steph than without? Steph has a special knack for elevating team mates games on offense. More motion, more space, more time to execute
With the Warriors having bad nights lately, it's made me want to avert my eyes from the wreckage. But that's not all a bad thing, because then I looked around the league more. I am a Dubs fan, but I have never been one to think that being a fan of one team means that I can't enjoy the other teams. I'm just not that strict about it. I like two things about the NBA: 1. The Warriors 2. Great basketball in general.
And it really seems like an exciting time for the league. Adam Silver must be pumped. Great young players, new styles of play, and wayyyyy more teams than usual have a very interesting case to make that they will win it all. As I look at the standings, I think it sounds something like this: East: MIL: "Yo, we're the defending champs and we have Giannis and almost all the pieces back, with Brook Lopez coming back soon. You got a problem with that?" PHI: "Have you seen Embiid play? Have you seen Harden play? Have you seen them together? Tyrese Maxey, Tobias Harris? We're unstoppable." NETS: "Sure we're low in the standings, but any team with KD coming back today, Ben Simmons coming in to provide defense, and Kyrie Irving a walking bucket, plus nice pieces like Seth Curry and Patty Mills, is to be feared. Have you ever SEEN Kevin Durant play basketball?" BOS: "While everyone's getting headlines, we keep winning. We've been stellar on defense. We've figured it out." CHI: "Lavine, DeRozan, and we're one game out of first in the East with Lonzo and Caruso being injured. Have you SEEN DeRozan's midrange game?" MIA: "That's all cute and all, but WE are the team in first place in the East. We have great depth and coaching, we were right there a couple years ago. Bam, Tyler Herro Jimmy Buckets PJ Tucker Kyle Lowry Duncan Robinson, you do know we are in FIRST place right?" West: SUNS: "We went to the championship last year, and we have the best record in the league. What are we if not the best basketball team right now? We've lost our backcourt for a while, but we have a big cushion on the other teams, so we'll see you in the playoffs. We'll be the ones wearing home court advantage." Warriors: "Second best record in the league, how dreadful. Let's all agonize about it. We've gotten to that point without a game from Wiseman, and with very very limited availability from Draymond Klay Iguodala. Let's do this: In the playoffs we're going to throw Steph Klay Wiggins Draymond and maybe Wiseman, Iguodala, Looney, Kuminga, Poole. You wanna try beating that? Hint: nobody could for years so good luck." MEM: "Ja Morant is just getting better. The other guys are young, hungry, super talented. Dillon Brooks doesn't even play and we just keep winning. JJJ, Bane, Ziaire, Williams, Stevie Adams, we fear NO ONE." UTA: "Guess who the hottest team in the West is. Right. We have a dominant center and play around that with Donovan now getting healthy. We're well rounded and ready to roll." DAL: "Have you SEEN Luka play lately? Do you know how much better we are with Dinwiddie and Bertans than too-tall Porzingis? We play loose and fast and keep winning." DEN: "Michael Porter Jr is starting to practice. Jamal Murray likely will be back for the playoffs. OH DID WE MENTION: Jokic is having a statistical career for the ages and is looking to repeat as MVP." Lakers: "Don't forget we have Westbr-- OK, never mind."
ok friends, GT schedule to run in about 20 minutes. Please help move the crew over when it happens!
Come on! Can the media get off the Poole psychotherapy?
Who is Jordan Poole? He is a late 1st round pick that was projected to fall late 30s? Even 40s?
He works his A off to improve his game.
He absolutely has 3 level scoring capabilities.
He can get to the line and he makes about all of his free throws.
His FT%, ought to be a good indicator of better 3pt% down the line.
He wasn't DEMOTED to the bench from his role as a starter. That is a freakin' PROMOTION!
Oh, he plays better with Steph, Wiggs, Dray and Looney? Really? Really?? WHO DOESN'T?
Everyone plays better with those guys.
The responsibilities of the 6th Man tower over the responsibilities of the 2 guard with the starters. He has the dual role of being the point guard who can get other 2nd Unit guys going AND being the guy expected to score, damn the other guys. As a starter, he just has to flow. As the 6th Man, he has to be the man. And he has to do it with guys like GP2, D Lee, Moody, JK, JTA & Belly. I'm not throwing shade on anyone. I'm just sayin'. How about Poole-D Lee-Andre-OPJ-Wiseman?
Point being, the 6th Man is a promotion on this team. It's twice the responsibility with half the talent to play with.
And as far as being the starter? Poole plays a game very similar to Curry. Combo guard, balance play making and scoring. If he is patient and plays his cards right, he is the heir to Curry with two future all-stars in JFK & JDub and a helluva player in Moody.
Imagine Poole in 2 more years? Imagine him being the reason the Warriors can reduce Curry's workload a lot going forward. Slowly creeping into his new future role.
The kid is alright.
CANNONBALL!!!!
I still feel it's a lack of confidence on what to do on offense. When he plays with the starters he knows where hes going to get shots. Hell get open catch and shoot 3s, transition buckets, post split 3s and backdoors and occasional pick and rolls/ isos.
When hes with whatever random bench unit hes with theres alot more uncertainty, is he going to have to pick n roll and create all night? Will he have to iso if the PnRs get switched? The post split doesn't really work/get ran by non steph units, will he have to defer and distribute to klay and porter that night? Hes still young so I feel like this might be an issue hes dealing with since we've seen his consistent production with the starters
If we lose tonight, I'm going to rename the splash brothers the flash (y-thingy) brothers.
I’d be surprised if we see Wiseman playing nba minutes this year. I’m not saying he won’t but the coded language in these interviews indicates he’s nowhere near playing in an nba game and we’ve got 20 games left.
Thompson questionable (but said yesterday he's going to play)
Lee questionable (quad contusion apparently)
Moody probable
Bjelica not listed on the injury report, and Iguodala still out.
After watching the Wiseman footage of him getting closer, I wonder if there’s another player in the league who makes dunking look easier than Wiseman? I don’t know if there’s anyone who combines that size, length and easy athleticism/explosiveness than JW.
It doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll produce like we hope, but holy shit he’s a physical specimen.
Recommendations for other legitimate analysis sites/sources/writers? I only see the Athletic. E,g. What/ who is your favorite (after the present publication, of course).
Athletic Alchemy was speculating that Poole might resent his treatment vs. that of Wiggins. If that’s true, I wouldn’t blame him. Poole works his ass off and gets yanked if he screws up where Wiggins jogs up and down the court with close to zero sense of urgency. If Poole took as many face-away long long 2’s as Wiggins, he’d never hear the end of it, yet Wiggins is an all star on a max contract so it’s cool 🤷🏼♂️
I appreciate the actual game analysis instead of feeding into the too-common soap opera/telenovela/reality show approach. C'mon, we don't actually know if Poole is "silently bitter", "disgruntled", "unhappy", or "not bought in." Sure, pride and pouting are real things, but so is a player's comfort in their rhythm and role in the game. And maybe other teams scouted him because he was looking so good early on?
Not sure if this has already been shared. May be Wiggs and Poole have just been missing trash talk to spice up their basketball life 🙂
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/warriors/steve-kerr-draymond-green-already-trash-talking-practice-return-nears
Mavericks stats:
Offense:
25 in points scored (106.7)
28 in points in paint (42.5)
26 in fastbreak points (10.1)
16 in offensive efficiency
19 in shooting % (45.7%)
21 in three point % (34.4%)
5 in two point % !!!!!!!!!!!! (54.1%)
25 in off. rebound % (21.3%)
4 in def. rebound % !!!!!!!!!!!!! (78.5%)
16 in total rebound % (49.8%)
1 in opponent blocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (3.8)
3 in opponent steals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (7.0)
18 in assists (23.5)
3 in turnovers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (12.6)
Defense:
2 in points allowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (103.4)
16 in opponent points in paint (46.9)
15 in opponent fastbreak points (12.0)
6 in defensive efficiency!!!!!!!!!!
14 in opponent shooting % (45.5%)
4 in opponent three point % !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (33.7%)
13 in opponent two point % (52.6%)
27 in blocks (4.2)
24 in steals (7.0)
7 in opponent assists!!!!!!! (23.3)
18 in opponent turnovers (13.6)
Is it as simple as - most people play better with Steph than without? Steph has a special knack for elevating team mates games on offense. More motion, more space, more time to execute
Poole wouldn’t start for most teams in the league so I don’t know that his silent bitterness about being a bench player is warranted.
https://twitter.com/gswreddit/status/1499405315049099266?s=21