Just in case you thought you thought you had it bad. Brittney Griner is the WNBA star that was jailed in Russia for over 294 days. She also was put into a penal colony cutting material for uniforms for the Soviet armies. She details how when she slept on the cot her legs stuck out through the bars because the cot was way too short. She is one of the tallest WNBA players around 6’9”. They gave her toothpaste which was about 15 years old, but the prisoners put it on the wall to kill the black mold. She also wrote that she had to cut off her dreds because they would get cold and wet and she could never dry them out and the damp was making her sick.
Giner’s memoir "Coming Home," which details her imprisonment in Russia, is set to be released on Tuesday.
Not that anyone asked, but since it's sort of on-topic:
I always tend to root for non-Warriors NBA teams roughly in proportion to the tempo at which their best player operates: Not exactly "pace" in the sense of possessions per game (though I imagine it probably tracks somewhat with that); nor "speed" in the sense of pure athletic burst; but just the force and decisiveness of their attack. The faster and more aggressive, the better. Effective as they often are, I just don't really enjoy watching these "plays-at-his-own-pace," "can't-speed-him-up" guys. It's like they grew up watching Warriors-Rockets, realized they could never be the hero (Curry), and decided to emulate the villain (Harden) instead.
So, current playoff teams I like on this basis: Pacers (Halliburton); Minnesota (Ant)
Teams I dislike on this basis: OKC (Shae); Dallas (Luka)
I'm more neutral on the other teams in this regard, though I'll probably form stronger opinions as the playoffs continue. (Brunson, for instance, is definitely in the mold I tend to like less, but right now he's getting special dispensation for being such an unlikely success story.)
Of course the giant, obvious exception to the rule is Jokic, whom I adore despite his being slow as hell...
Why do teams sign these old old dudes to long contracts? And even throw around assets like draft picks with wild abandon as parts of trades?
- Loyalty (for the re-signings, like I hope the Dubs don’t do for Klay)
- Genuine belief that some fill-in-the-blank 35 year old former all-star has a few more vintage years in him.
- Star power = attendance, tv ratings and hat/t-shirt/hoodie/etc. sales. Quality performance is nice, but this is an entertainment product, and success is driven by fans following the stars. Just like any tv show, movie, rock band, etc.
Which is most important? I think we fans under-value Star Power relative to owners.
Four-year NBA veteran Darius Morris has passed away at the age of 33. Morris played for the Lakers, 76ers, Clippers, Grizzlies and Nets from 2011-2015.
Kyrie has reached another plane of excellence during these past games. An absolute defensive monster, and it hasn’t affected his elite and otherworldly offensive genius. Next level shit.
True but I'm not sure how much it proves. It's a known thing that player efficiency starts on a down trend in one's 30s. I would expect nothing else. There's a reason PJ Tucker could barely get off the bench but used to be a factor. Hasn't this age skew always been the case, more or less? For every Kareem winning a championship at age 98 there's a lot more versions of Jayson Tatum in a prime leading a push. PS Does Al Horford qualify for this list?
So LeBron, Durant, and Kawhi are out in the first round. Not much to cheer for in these playoffs with the Ws home, but we take the small wins as they come.
Will this give Joey Lightyears and MDJ pause before trading Wiggins, Kuminga, Moody, and/or picks away for another 30+ year old "star"? Or they could trade Wiggins and Moody to the Pelicans for Ingram, which works in the trade checker, but does a deal like that actually make the Warriors better?
The thing is, if you get Ingram, what is JK's role?
JK needs to develop wing skills to really be viable in the long run (he's pretty undersized for a four).
I know Kerr keeps plugging JK as a 4, but that's because the shooting, court vision, and passing aren't there yet. If JK is primarily a 4 by the end of next season, I think that's an L for the team development.
So, I think you need to have some minutes at the 3 to let him work into that role.
I'm fine with standing pat with Moody and JK and seeing what happens. As it is now, you could just let both of them go into RFA, and prepare to match whatever offer they get.
Or, (more likely) just sign them to the best extensions you can, and hope their development matches their salary increases.
I think Ham playing Hachimura for Taurean Prince for large stretches of the season didn't make a lot of sense. He was hampered by his roster, but all coaches are to some extent or other. I thought their play against the Nuggets was about as good as you can expect from the two rosters. Still, if you can't point to anything a coach did right, that is a concern. No one is saying look at this system he installed, look at how much they bought in or played harder.
I don’t know enough to complain about rotations or offensive and defensive systems in any way that matters. But I will say one of the main jobs of a Head Coach is being able to manage your roster and locker room, regardless of the players in it. Darvin has never been able to wrangle the team together. Obviously Lebron is tough to wrangle, but thats the job. Its one of the things that makes Kerr so great, being able to manage all of the massive egos that have been on the Warriors.
I have no opinion on Ham. He coached the players he had. He signed up for the Lakers shit show. Inevitable that he’d be blamed for any failure, no matter what he did.
Let's start with PG's player option for just under $49M, way more than Klay made this season.
Add to that PG is from L.A. and loves playing with the Clips. So he's not opting out of that deal unless he can get a new contract with the Clips for even more $ or can sign with someone else for a lot more, which would put his deal in the financial stratosphere. He won't opt in if he thinks he'll be traded because if he's gone anyway, he can make more money opting out.
But he can't get that money from the Warriors. If we let both Klay and CP walk and buy out Looney, we can get below the tax but still won't have enough cap space to sign a $50+M player.
For PG to agree to an extension and sign-and-trade would also mean a nice raise, and we'd have to send a very serious package to L.A. I think the idea that they'd take CP's current deal (nobody will unless they want an expiring for 2025 cap space) or Wiggs (damaged goods) is pretty delusional. Oh yeah, and if we get him in a sign-and-trade, we are hard-capped, which means we MUST get below the cap — with PG.
So unless we want to give up Draymond, JK, MM, and a chunk more to get to $50+M, we can't afford to trade for PG, even if he wanted to come here.
Not until 2025. But even if he was, how could we afford him? It's the same if he opts out.
We need to be able to pay him and still stay under the cap - not under the tax or the aprons but the base cap. Our total 2024-25 cap allocation is $249,265,900. We are only about $2.7M into the luxury tax but we are currently $108M over the 2024-25 salary cap.
That includes $30M for CP (not guaranteed, so we can waive him); contracted raises for Steph, JK, MM; and the $3M that is guaranteed of Kevon's $8M. It also includes $9M for GP2 on a player option, which presumably he will pick up because he'd be foolish not to. It does NOT include Klay because he's UFA.
So we're $108M to the bad side of the cap even if we let Klay walk and buy out Loon.
PG can make $48.8M if he picks up his option. I don't know that he'd get a max if he declined the option — the Clips reportedly (per Woj) do not want to pay the max — but he's gonna get a nice bag. Let's say he ends up at $54M for argument's sake.
Then to sign PG as a FA we'd have to cut $162M in salary. And Klay and Loon are already gone. We can get $30M of that by waiving CP3. We still have to cut another $132M in this scenario.
Harden probably didn't know it, but he needed just *one made three* tonight to pass Ray Allen for #2 all-time in career threes (playoffs + regular season).
True. I look at the leader board and think, damn, Steph really hasn't played as many games/minutes as a lot of his 'peers.' I find that sorta of encouraging going forward.
Don't get too encouraged. He hasn't played as many minutes to a large extent because he gets hurt every year, and as he ages, that's not likely to get better. And Kerr pretty much has to ride that horse as much as he can unless the team gets rebuilt to where he has a viable alternative.
My pet theory about that is most of those teams (including GSW) relied on vets to rest during the season and go all out in the playoffs (see: LeBron in the East). But there was too much competition and the teams had to go all out too early and couldn’t reach another gear for the playoffs/play-ins.
Our Podz picks up his first “hardware”: bronze medal in the NBA Hustle Award.
1. Alex Caruso
2. Scottie Barnes
3. BP
4. Lu Dort
5. Grant Williams
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/40070089/bulls-alex-caruso-honored-nba-hustle-award
I'm down to take a shot at Lonzo ball, will be be playing next season?
Just in case you thought you thought you had it bad. Brittney Griner is the WNBA star that was jailed in Russia for over 294 days. She also was put into a penal colony cutting material for uniforms for the Soviet armies. She details how when she slept on the cot her legs stuck out through the bars because the cot was way too short. She is one of the tallest WNBA players around 6’9”. They gave her toothpaste which was about 15 years old, but the prisoners put it on the wall to kill the black mold. She also wrote that she had to cut off her dreds because they would get cold and wet and she could never dry them out and the damp was making her sick.
Giner’s memoir "Coming Home," which details her imprisonment in Russia, is set to be released on Tuesday.
BG is 6’9” btw.
Thnx, corrected.
Not that anyone asked, but since it's sort of on-topic:
I always tend to root for non-Warriors NBA teams roughly in proportion to the tempo at which their best player operates: Not exactly "pace" in the sense of possessions per game (though I imagine it probably tracks somewhat with that); nor "speed" in the sense of pure athletic burst; but just the force and decisiveness of their attack. The faster and more aggressive, the better. Effective as they often are, I just don't really enjoy watching these "plays-at-his-own-pace," "can't-speed-him-up" guys. It's like they grew up watching Warriors-Rockets, realized they could never be the hero (Curry), and decided to emulate the villain (Harden) instead.
So, current playoff teams I like on this basis: Pacers (Halliburton); Minnesota (Ant)
Teams I dislike on this basis: OKC (Shae); Dallas (Luka)
I'm more neutral on the other teams in this regard, though I'll probably form stronger opinions as the playoffs continue. (Brunson, for instance, is definitely in the mold I tend to like less, but right now he's getting special dispensation for being such an unlikely success story.)
Of course the giant, obvious exception to the rule is Jokic, whom I adore despite his being slow as hell...
Why do teams sign these old old dudes to long contracts? And even throw around assets like draft picks with wild abandon as parts of trades?
- Loyalty (for the re-signings, like I hope the Dubs don’t do for Klay)
- Genuine belief that some fill-in-the-blank 35 year old former all-star has a few more vintage years in him.
- Star power = attendance, tv ratings and hat/t-shirt/hoodie/etc. sales. Quality performance is nice, but this is an entertainment product, and success is driven by fans following the stars. Just like any tv show, movie, rock band, etc.
Which is most important? I think we fans under-value Star Power relative to owners.
....this comment and your handle could not be more on point 🤣
Selling tickets is the name of the game for owners. If you can win a chip while doing it, all the better.
Four-year NBA veteran Darius Morris has passed away at the age of 33. Morris played for the Lakers, 76ers, Clippers, Grizzlies and Nets from 2011-2015.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1786817727820173575
Only these players in the remaining playoff teams are in the regular rotation and are 30 or older:
Mike Conley (Wolves)- 36 years old
Jrue Holiday (Celtics)- 33 years old
Kyrie Irving (Mavericks)- 32 years old
Rudy Gobert (Wolves)- 31 years old
KCP (Nuggets)- 31 years old
Pascal Siakam (Pacers)- 30 years old
Kyrie has reached another plane of excellence during these past games. An absolute defensive monster, and it hasn’t affected his elite and otherworldly offensive genius. Next level shit.
True but I'm not sure how much it proves. It's a known thing that player efficiency starts on a down trend in one's 30s. I would expect nothing else. There's a reason PJ Tucker could barely get off the bench but used to be a factor. Hasn't this age skew always been the case, more or less? For every Kareem winning a championship at age 98 there's a lot more versions of Jayson Tatum in a prime leading a push. PS Does Al Horford qualify for this list?
So LeBron, Durant, and Kawhi are out in the first round. Not much to cheer for in these playoffs with the Ws home, but we take the small wins as they come.
The old man teams are disappearing this season. Here come the kids.
Will this give Joey Lightyears and MDJ pause before trading Wiggins, Kuminga, Moody, and/or picks away for another 30+ year old "star"? Or they could trade Wiggins and Moody to the Pelicans for Ingram, which works in the trade checker, but does a deal like that actually make the Warriors better?
Kerr basically benched Ingram during FIBA, so what makes us think that the Dubs would part with players and the remaining few assets for that dude?
Ingram is a slow-motion KD with mid-range and no perimeter shot - defense is good when he exerts the energy tho.
Not a needle mover, imo.
The thing is, if you get Ingram, what is JK's role?
JK needs to develop wing skills to really be viable in the long run (he's pretty undersized for a four).
I know Kerr keeps plugging JK as a 4, but that's because the shooting, court vision, and passing aren't there yet. If JK is primarily a 4 by the end of next season, I think that's an L for the team development.
So, I think you need to have some minutes at the 3 to let him work into that role.
I'm fine with standing pat with Moody and JK and seeing what happens. As it is now, you could just let both of them go into RFA, and prepare to match whatever offer they get.
Or, (more likely) just sign them to the best extensions you can, and hope their development matches their salary increases.
The green light is lit after a coach’s challenge.
Challenge successful.
As expected, Darvin Ham is a gone doggie.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/03/sport/lakers-fire-head-coach-darvin-ham/index.html
Deep Thoughts by Phil Handy
He has a good reputation. Apparently they fired the entire coaching staff. I guess none of the coaches could sink a 3 when they need one.
I think firing the whole staff is typical, isn’t it? A new head coach usually gets to choose his own assistants
Lakers. All in on LeBron and AD. And everyone else is expendable. Heck, probably AD, too.
Do you think Ham did a bad job? Seems like no coach makes them happy nowadays.
I think Ham playing Hachimura for Taurean Prince for large stretches of the season didn't make a lot of sense. He was hampered by his roster, but all coaches are to some extent or other. I thought their play against the Nuggets was about as good as you can expect from the two rosters. Still, if you can't point to anything a coach did right, that is a concern. No one is saying look at this system he installed, look at how much they bought in or played harder.
I don’t know enough to complain about rotations or offensive and defensive systems in any way that matters. But I will say one of the main jobs of a Head Coach is being able to manage your roster and locker room, regardless of the players in it. Darvin has never been able to wrangle the team together. Obviously Lebron is tough to wrangle, but thats the job. Its one of the things that makes Kerr so great, being able to manage all of the massive egos that have been on the Warriors.
Well, what Lakers coach lasted since LeBron joined that team? Kerr lasted because Steph doesn’t have the same ego as Lebron.
I have no opinion on Ham. He coached the players he had. He signed up for the Lakers shit show. Inevitable that he’d be blamed for any failure, no matter what he did.
Warriors pick up Paul George, put Wiggins in a trade package to pick up someone pretty decent, and you then say ...?
Paging Rick Celebrini, paging Rick Celebrini.
PG13 was pretty invisible tonight against the Mavs. Certainly didn't seem like a #1 guy in a win-or-go-home game.
It's been a brutal time to watch aging stars get outplayed by much younger, and much cheaper, talent
Just wait till next season on Dub Island 😬
Lets hope lacob is not stupid and trade our YGs for old stars
I'd say the premise of picking up PG is somewhere between far-fetched and delusional. Respectfully.
Because?
Let's start with PG's player option for just under $49M, way more than Klay made this season.
Add to that PG is from L.A. and loves playing with the Clips. So he's not opting out of that deal unless he can get a new contract with the Clips for even more $ or can sign with someone else for a lot more, which would put his deal in the financial stratosphere. He won't opt in if he thinks he'll be traded because if he's gone anyway, he can make more money opting out.
But he can't get that money from the Warriors. If we let both Klay and CP walk and buy out Looney, we can get below the tax but still won't have enough cap space to sign a $50+M player.
For PG to agree to an extension and sign-and-trade would also mean a nice raise, and we'd have to send a very serious package to L.A. I think the idea that they'd take CP's current deal (nobody will unless they want an expiring for 2025 cap space) or Wiggs (damaged goods) is pretty delusional. Oh yeah, and if we get him in a sign-and-trade, we are hard-capped, which means we MUST get below the cap — with PG.
So unless we want to give up Draymond, JK, MM, and a chunk more to get to $50+M, we can't afford to trade for PG, even if he wanted to come here.
oh i thought he was a ufa
Not until 2025. But even if he was, how could we afford him? It's the same if he opts out.
We need to be able to pay him and still stay under the cap - not under the tax or the aprons but the base cap. Our total 2024-25 cap allocation is $249,265,900. We are only about $2.7M into the luxury tax but we are currently $108M over the 2024-25 salary cap.
That includes $30M for CP (not guaranteed, so we can waive him); contracted raises for Steph, JK, MM; and the $3M that is guaranteed of Kevon's $8M. It also includes $9M for GP2 on a player option, which presumably he will pick up because he'd be foolish not to. It does NOT include Klay because he's UFA.
So we're $108M to the bad side of the cap even if we let Klay walk and buy out Loon.
PG can make $48.8M if he picks up his option. I don't know that he'd get a max if he declined the option — the Clips reportedly (per Woj) do not want to pay the max — but he's gonna get a nice bag. Let's say he ends up at $54M for argument's sake.
Then to sign PG as a FA we'd have to cut $162M in salary. And Klay and Loon are already gone. We can get $30M of that by waiving CP3. We still have to cut another $132M in this scenario.
Ain't gonna happen.
Mavericks beat the Clippers 114-101.
Harden probably didn't know it, but he needed just *one made three* tonight to pass Ray Allen for #2 all-time in career threes (playoffs + regular season).
He went 0-6. 😂
Surprising how many more minutes Harden has played than Steph.
https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask?q=nba+players+all-time+leaders+in+total+3+pointers
Harden has twice as many FTs made, and 50% more turnovers.
Steph's had a lot of injuries, including almost an entire season (except 5 games).
True. I look at the leader board and think, damn, Steph really hasn't played as many games/minutes as a lot of his 'peers.' I find that sorta of encouraging going forward.
Don't get too encouraged. He hasn't played as many minutes to a large extent because he gets hurt every year, and as he ages, that's not likely to get better. And Kerr pretty much has to ride that horse as much as he can unless the team gets rebuilt to where he has a viable alternative.
How fitting. We all remember when he went 2-13 from 3 and his team missed 27 straight 3s against us in 2018.
Good times.
NBA Pacific Division teams had the best aggregate record in the league - 68 games above .500
None of them made it past the first round
My pet theory about that is most of those teams (including GSW) relied on vets to rest during the season and go all out in the playoffs (see: LeBron in the East). But there was too much competition and the teams had to go all out too early and couldn’t reach another gear for the playoffs/play-ins.
Derrick Jones Jr. reminds me a lot of 2022 GP2.
Clippers are doing a "hack-a-Lively."
At least until the 2 minute mark