Nice write up Riley, and I assumed Lindy was starting for all the reasons you mentioned.
It’s a testament to OKC’s development process that Waters was a G-League depth piece for them — and an indictment on ours. Hard to argue with the results, and the priority should be winning now, but seeing JK have to go public with his frustrations for minutes last year and Moses being perennially buried on the depth chart is pretty damning of younger players’ development curve in this organization.
I've hesitated to write about Melton but at the risk of repeating things many have said about this roster loss over the past few days, gotta just get it out. I've coveted Melton for our team from afar for 2+ years (I also did this with Theo Ratliff for a few seasons though we never got him.) When he actually signed with us after the Klay 'loss' I was happily stunned and immediately pinned this move as genius/glorious MDJ Exec of the Year gold standardism (Melt AFTER they already got Hield and Anderson?!? C'mon, man!) To see him come in and play so well for a few games, then a minor injury, then a come back a few games later after earning the starting lineup nod by Kerr, and a final insult/injury, the 'sprain' that requires season ending surgery. Sigh and Ugh.
I do believe the Dubs are good enough to withstand this huge loss, and where Goldarn Staid Worrier suggested Melton could/might be signed for the vet minimum next season (hopefulness and PMA at it's finest, I love it!), and some say use the slot for a trade to improve the team before the deadline this season, well, it all makes sense, I guess, and nonsense. And while I would much prefer the former over the latter cause I'm a sentimental boob, I hate to think that's the last game we'll get to see 'Mr. Do Something' play as a Warrior.
Asides:
~Wiggs so effective, joyful, AND looking good in that City Edition jersey, I had to throw down, four easy payments!!! Only the 2nd jersey I've ever purchased, the #22 will be a nice compliment to my #11, still in rotation despite recent events.
~I want to see QP get some minutes against these NBA bigs, hit some 3's, smash, get smashed, use some fouls, and generally work on stuff. I get the minutes thing, it's already stretched to a max, and I am 100% with TJD leading our bigs rotation, and so much that despite Wiggs big game against the Hawk-Tuahs I voted for TJD in the WW poll!!!
Great article, thank you Riley! This helped answer the burning Lindy (why is he starting???) question for me. I’m still not utterly convinced that Moody shouldn’t get the starts, but Kerr is the coach, not me (and thank goodness for that!!).
Wiggins so far is having the kind of year we hoped and as much as anything else besides Melton was raising the ceiling on this team. I think we will see him slide back to the 2 and Kuminga getting more time moving forward instead of Waters as our permanent starting 2 guard. Steve will be once again experimenting with lineups but there are lots of reasons to like that lineup and the biggest reason not to is that Kuminga has been contributing points off the bench next to Hield.
Sadly, that leaves us with a group of wings with suspect handles.
I like the idea of Wiggs-JK-Draymond-TJD core alongside Steph, but don't even know if there is a sample. I also like Lindy as a matchup dependent sniper 3 and D, and think Podz and Hield are fantastic off the bench. When BP's shot starts dropping more consistently the bench will continue to thrive and with hopes improve.
I am NOT a fan of the busy court design. My 2 cents is that it makes the game harder to follow. What's next? Advertising on the court floor? A constantly changing display?
I'll be happier watching the relatively clean tournament court.
They already display ads on the court during the game. I assume they are only visible to the TV audience. They also have ads along the front of the scores desk and in many instances those do change during the course of the game. I keep wondering if they also have ads on the toilets.
Don’t rule out SloMo to consume some of the newly available minutes from Melton’s unfortunate season ending surgery. Anderson is probably the team’s third best passer behind Curry and Dray, and the team is more fluid on offense when he handles the ball. He’s an effective, albeit unorthodox team and man defender, with a troublesome wingspan and he seldom turns the ball over. Maybe most importantly he has an uncanny knack of calming his teammates down when things start to go sideways. I could see his minutes going up.
Literally screaming "NO NO NO NO!!!" at the screen every time he pauses at the 3pt line.
I do kind of love him though, despite myself. So hard to love a former Grizz. But for him, I'll make an exception. He did have that one heat-check 3 game recently (brain too much of a sieve to remember who we played), and I hope he can find his shooting groove more consistently going forward. We're going to need it.
Together with the Putback Twins, there seem to be several players now whose scoring is suspect, in particular from the three. That would be Draymond, Kyle, Gary, and Podz. One might even add Kuminga to this list. That’s over half the team that Kerr is currently playing.
Love the article. Sometimes it seems, both in life and in lineup construction, to aim for least bad rather than most good. Meaning that Waters seems to be rising because he is acceptable to good or even really good in all aspects. He plays defense not spectacularly, but not catastrophically. His passing and floor game, ditto. His shooting is elite. And Kerr loves his BBIQ and feel, that's obvious from his interviews and just knowing Kerr. I know I heard him say something like "he just knows how to play basketball," or similar, but even if I hadn't, I could hear him thinking it. We all could.
Podz also has a feel, that's fair. But as mentioned in the article, this year Podz seems unable to dunk on a nerf basket unguarded. GPII has elite defensive skills but in the metric of least bad vs. most good, his bad isn't as worth it. Moody? I don't even know. If he got traded to a bad team I could believe he would be a 25 point a night dominant defender just as readily as I can believe he'd again end up on the bench with few minutes. I just don't know. I get paid to evaluate talent but I am coming up short. I know you all count on me but I'm just not sure with Moody.
So Waters jumped a spot from the deep bench to the starting lineup and instead of lamenting this development, I vote we all hail this Lindy Hop.
Great article. It really comes down to Lindy v. Moody for the starting spot. Podz is the backup PG, it makes sense for him to stay with the 2nd unit. GP2 is too limited on offense, though I can see him getting spot starts against teams with 2 quick guards (Cleveland, Philly, Utah, etc). Hield is ideal as the stereotypical 6th man bench scorer.
I'm a huge Moody stan so I'll push back against Lindy being the "natural replacement" -- I think Moody is the better overall player. Lindy might be a *slightly* better shooter (38% - 37% career), but Moses has been *slightly* better in a small sample this year. I think Moses is a stronger defender overall, though neither one of them can really stay in front of quicker guards - Trae got past Lindy at will, even if the scoring results weren't quite there, he did have 11 assists.
Haven't seen enough of Lindy to judge his handle, and while Moses can't really take guys 1-on-1, he's shown massive improvement attacking closeouts and finishing at the rim this year. Haven't seen Lindy do that - not saying he can't, but haven't really seen it.
Also important is that Lindy is 27 and Moses is 22, so it's much more likely that he will see greater in-season development and improvement by the time we get to the playoffs if he gets more minutes.
Basically, I think Moody is the better player now and significantly more likely to be the better player by the end of the year. Lindy certainty deserves rotation minutes, I just would rather Moody gets the ~25 Lindy has been getting instead of ~15.
Good post. I share a similar view with you. Now, what do we do with Melton's contract? Do we really re-sign him?, or is it time for that consolidation trade many have been thinking about? If we continue winning with all hands aboard, that contract becomes expendable. We still have needs that it could help fill, ie., another big guy or ball handler. Is Reece Beekman someone to keep our eye on?
First option will be to trade Melton if it helps us this season - I expect this to happen close to the Feb deadline. Second would be to sign him at vet min for next year (assumes 2 years of injuries makes him very tainted goods). Third is to wave goodbye, sadly, at the end of the season.
Nice work, Riley. Smooth writing style - easy to read but still full of meaty observations and commentary.
One slight correction - Dubs didn't sign DLo as a free agent - he was obtained in a sign-and-trade in the KD deal with the Nets. Dubs then dumped DLo to be with his friend KAT on the Wolves for Wiggs and the pick that became JK.
Appreciate that so much! And technically you’re correct, which is the best kind of correct! What I was trying to convey was that Melton makes the most money of any player the Warriors acquired who was a free agent directly before joining the team since DLo, irrespective of the mechanism that actually allowed them that player to become a Dub. Was trying to highlight that hadn’t acquired a player who controlled their destiny for more than a tax-payer midlevel in years! It’s been minimums, guys like Donte or the trade for CP3.
Well said. Wiggs looks to be in the best shape I've seen him. He looks alert and more aggressive. Let him loose, Kerr! He's our best 2nd option for scoring. Can do it all, so just do it.
Nice write up Riley, and I assumed Lindy was starting for all the reasons you mentioned.
It’s a testament to OKC’s development process that Waters was a G-League depth piece for them — and an indictment on ours. Hard to argue with the results, and the priority should be winning now, but seeing JK have to go public with his frustrations for minutes last year and Moses being perennially buried on the depth chart is pretty damning of younger players’ development curve in this organization.
I really enjoyed this article.
I've hesitated to write about Melton but at the risk of repeating things many have said about this roster loss over the past few days, gotta just get it out. I've coveted Melton for our team from afar for 2+ years (I also did this with Theo Ratliff for a few seasons though we never got him.) When he actually signed with us after the Klay 'loss' I was happily stunned and immediately pinned this move as genius/glorious MDJ Exec of the Year gold standardism (Melt AFTER they already got Hield and Anderson?!? C'mon, man!) To see him come in and play so well for a few games, then a minor injury, then a come back a few games later after earning the starting lineup nod by Kerr, and a final insult/injury, the 'sprain' that requires season ending surgery. Sigh and Ugh.
I do believe the Dubs are good enough to withstand this huge loss, and where Goldarn Staid Worrier suggested Melton could/might be signed for the vet minimum next season (hopefulness and PMA at it's finest, I love it!), and some say use the slot for a trade to improve the team before the deadline this season, well, it all makes sense, I guess, and nonsense. And while I would much prefer the former over the latter cause I'm a sentimental boob, I hate to think that's the last game we'll get to see 'Mr. Do Something' play as a Warrior.
Asides:
~Wiggs so effective, joyful, AND looking good in that City Edition jersey, I had to throw down, four easy payments!!! Only the 2nd jersey I've ever purchased, the #22 will be a nice compliment to my #11, still in rotation despite recent events.
~I want to see QP get some minutes against these NBA bigs, hit some 3's, smash, get smashed, use some fouls, and generally work on stuff. I get the minutes thing, it's already stretched to a max, and I am 100% with TJD leading our bigs rotation, and so much that despite Wiggs big game against the Hawk-Tuahs I voted for TJD in the WW poll!!!
#DNHQRULESOK
Agree. But right now Post is not hitting his threes, doing everything else though.
Great article, thank you Riley! This helped answer the burning Lindy (why is he starting???) question for me. I’m still not utterly convinced that Moody shouldn’t get the starts, but Kerr is the coach, not me (and thank goodness for that!!).
Wiggs, 0 turnovers (along with 27 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks). That's a solid box score.
Better than solid. It's great to see Wiggs bounce back.
Wiggins so far is having the kind of year we hoped and as much as anything else besides Melton was raising the ceiling on this team. I think we will see him slide back to the 2 and Kuminga getting more time moving forward instead of Waters as our permanent starting 2 guard. Steve will be once again experimenting with lineups but there are lots of reasons to like that lineup and the biggest reason not to is that Kuminga has been contributing points off the bench next to Hield.
Sadly, that leaves us with a group of wings with suspect handles.
I like the idea of Wiggs-JK-Draymond-TJD core alongside Steph, but don't even know if there is a sample. I also like Lindy as a matchup dependent sniper 3 and D, and think Podz and Hield are fantastic off the bench. When BP's shot starts dropping more consistently the bench will continue to thrive and with hopes improve.
I am NOT a fan of the busy court design. My 2 cents is that it makes the game harder to follow. What's next? Advertising on the court floor? A constantly changing display?
I'll be happier watching the relatively clean tournament court.
They already display ads on the court during the game. I assume they are only visible to the TV audience. They also have ads along the front of the scores desk and in many instances those do change during the course of the game. I keep wondering if they also have ads on the toilets.
That court design is so damn good. Can they just have it be the default one? Maybe with a color tweak to be less Pelicans-esque, I suppose.
Don’t rule out SloMo to consume some of the newly available minutes from Melton’s unfortunate season ending surgery. Anderson is probably the team’s third best passer behind Curry and Dray, and the team is more fluid on offense when he handles the ball. He’s an effective, albeit unorthodox team and man defender, with a troublesome wingspan and he seldom turns the ball over. Maybe most importantly he has an uncanny knack of calming his teammates down when things start to go sideways. I could see his minutes going up.
Too bad his shooting has been horrendous this season.
Literally screaming "NO NO NO NO!!!" at the screen every time he pauses at the 3pt line.
I do kind of love him though, despite myself. So hard to love a former Grizz. But for him, I'll make an exception. He did have that one heat-check 3 game recently (brain too much of a sieve to remember who we played), and I hope he can find his shooting groove more consistently going forward. We're going to need it.
In an 11 man rotation not all of the players need to be knockdown shooters.
Yep (Looney and TJD def aren't knockdown) but with Slo's 26% 3-pt rate, he just shouldn't be shooting it 2.3 times/game.
Together with the Putback Twins, there seem to be several players now whose scoring is suspect, in particular from the three. That would be Draymond, Kyle, Gary, and Podz. One might even add Kuminga to this list. That’s over half the team that Kerr is currently playing.
I'm finding it difficult to lament the Laker loss to Orlando. I have tried, it's not working.
Good, because you celebrate it, not lament. I know you’re being tongue in cheek though.
And you tried because....? :-P
Revenge for the '09 Finals!
Love the article. Sometimes it seems, both in life and in lineup construction, to aim for least bad rather than most good. Meaning that Waters seems to be rising because he is acceptable to good or even really good in all aspects. He plays defense not spectacularly, but not catastrophically. His passing and floor game, ditto. His shooting is elite. And Kerr loves his BBIQ and feel, that's obvious from his interviews and just knowing Kerr. I know I heard him say something like "he just knows how to play basketball," or similar, but even if I hadn't, I could hear him thinking it. We all could.
Podz also has a feel, that's fair. But as mentioned in the article, this year Podz seems unable to dunk on a nerf basket unguarded. GPII has elite defensive skills but in the metric of least bad vs. most good, his bad isn't as worth it. Moody? I don't even know. If he got traded to a bad team I could believe he would be a 25 point a night dominant defender just as readily as I can believe he'd again end up on the bench with few minutes. I just don't know. I get paid to evaluate talent but I am coming up short. I know you all count on me but I'm just not sure with Moody.
So Waters jumped a spot from the deep bench to the starting lineup and instead of lamenting this development, I vote we all hail this Lindy Hop.
Great article. It really comes down to Lindy v. Moody for the starting spot. Podz is the backup PG, it makes sense for him to stay with the 2nd unit. GP2 is too limited on offense, though I can see him getting spot starts against teams with 2 quick guards (Cleveland, Philly, Utah, etc). Hield is ideal as the stereotypical 6th man bench scorer.
I'm a huge Moody stan so I'll push back against Lindy being the "natural replacement" -- I think Moody is the better overall player. Lindy might be a *slightly* better shooter (38% - 37% career), but Moses has been *slightly* better in a small sample this year. I think Moses is a stronger defender overall, though neither one of them can really stay in front of quicker guards - Trae got past Lindy at will, even if the scoring results weren't quite there, he did have 11 assists.
Haven't seen enough of Lindy to judge his handle, and while Moses can't really take guys 1-on-1, he's shown massive improvement attacking closeouts and finishing at the rim this year. Haven't seen Lindy do that - not saying he can't, but haven't really seen it.
Also important is that Lindy is 27 and Moses is 22, so it's much more likely that he will see greater in-season development and improvement by the time we get to the playoffs if he gets more minutes.
Basically, I think Moody is the better player now and significantly more likely to be the better player by the end of the year. Lindy certainty deserves rotation minutes, I just would rather Moody gets the ~25 Lindy has been getting instead of ~15.
💯
Good post. I share a similar view with you. Now, what do we do with Melton's contract? Do we really re-sign him?, or is it time for that consolidation trade many have been thinking about? If we continue winning with all hands aboard, that contract becomes expendable. We still have needs that it could help fill, ie., another big guy or ball handler. Is Reece Beekman someone to keep our eye on?
We won't find out for at least three weeks but things could get interesting after Dec. 15.
First option will be to trade Melton if it helps us this season - I expect this to happen close to the Feb deadline. Second would be to sign him at vet min for next year (assumes 2 years of injuries makes him very tainted goods). Third is to wave goodbye, sadly, at the end of the season.
Nice work, Riley. Smooth writing style - easy to read but still full of meaty observations and commentary.
One slight correction - Dubs didn't sign DLo as a free agent - he was obtained in a sign-and-trade in the KD deal with the Nets. Dubs then dumped DLo to be with his friend KAT on the Wolves for Wiggs and the pick that became JK.
Appreciate that so much! And technically you’re correct, which is the best kind of correct! What I was trying to convey was that Melton makes the most money of any player the Warriors acquired who was a free agent directly before joining the team since DLo, irrespective of the mechanism that actually allowed them that player to become a Dub. Was trying to highlight that hadn’t acquired a player who controlled their destiny for more than a tax-payer midlevel in years! It’s been minimums, guys like Donte or the trade for CP3.
Agree and you make a great point about Melton wanting to go to Dubs AND getting paid
Soothed my soul to see Wiggs so thoroughly in his bag last night. Keep it up, #22. Rooting for ya!
Two games in a row! Wiggins was fantastic. So locked in. Looking forward to an E1P featuring Wiggs.
Well said. Wiggs looks to be in the best shape I've seen him. He looks alert and more aggressive. Let him loose, Kerr! He's our best 2nd option for scoring. Can do it all, so just do it.