I love Kerr to death but I'm sorry. The Warriors young players weren't the problem. In this case, Steve Kerr was the problem. Kuminga averaged the most pts per 36 min than any other rookie in his first year. He averaged over 20pts per 36 min the last 3 months of this season while shooting nearly 60% FG and over 40% from 3. He also earned accolades around the league for guarding and often shutting down the other teams best players. What more can you want? He is one of the more athletically gifted forwards I've seen, and there is a reason other teams want him so badly. Wiseman averaged around 18 and 12 per 36 min since joining the Pistions. Both players have enough raw talent to become all stars in a few years. The fact that Kerr couldn't find a way for these guys to contribute is mind boggling. As we saw in the playoffs with Kuminga, he didn't even want to try. He decided he'd rather lose his way than give Kuminga a chance. I love Kerr to death. But this was extremely disappointing. Had Kuminga and Payton averaged 20 minutes or more per game, we'd be discussing how the Warriors are just 1 player away (an athletic young big man maybe?) from competing for the Championship.
A belated thanks for the article Eric. The loud minority around here that is set on making Kerr out to be the cause of the Warriors ills when it comes to young players are foolish people.
Denver's coach is a motivator; he's lit with fire and is beyond competitve. He has a 300 Mentality. He is aware of Braun's similar mentality; look at Braun, the white boy (he is white no offense) is ripped; he has a work ethic. He has worked to get to the NBA; and that mindset will not change
Denver deserves a ton of credit for that win. They got their one win back already, Jokic was dinged up and in foul trouble. MPJ couldn't hit anything. They could have said, screw it, we did what we needed to do, and folded the tents early (2016 finals the Warriors gave away a game like this).
But nope, that team just scrapped. Malone must be so proud of them.
Jun 10, 2023·edited Jun 10, 2023Liked by Eric Apricot
We can talk about how JK looked in this game and that game in RS and playoffs (because that's all we got). But Kerr doesn't give a F what happens during a game if he doesn't see what he wants to see in practice. If you haven't listened to TK show episode with Kerr that came out after 2nd round loss, I would highly recommend you do so.
Now you can criticize Kerr for giving practices more weightage. But that's how he goes. He played Moody in playoffs after not playing him in RS much because he saw Moody have a breakthrough in practices towards end of the season (source TK show episode). If we are to take his words at face value, by omission, it means he hasn't seen that from JK in practices (yet). May be it's like what mDuo13 mentioned in an earlier comment. (This is pure conjecture on my part) May be JK can't get his motor going in practices.. If that is indeed the case, Kerr needs to change his philosophy.
PS: Kerr is very complementary of JK on defensive end. It's the rebounds and offensive end where things aren't going right. Kerr wants him to be a 4 on offensive end, JK is naturally a 3 but not (yet) as skilled as a 3 should be (as per Kerr). And hence the lack of playing time when Wiggs is available.
Trade Wiggs+Klay and JK will have tons of playing time.
>If you haven't listened to TK show episode with Kerr that came out after 2nd round loss, I would highly recommend you do so.
I appreciate the recommendation, but I'll pass. I guess I'm doing a reverse Kerr; I'm benching Kerr's interview because I don't give an F about what he says in interviews if I don't like what I see in games. <Polite Chuckle> And I don't like what I saw in games this past year.
Well stated. If Kerr had his act together last season and "fixed" the road record problem, we might not be talking trades. He spent the whole season failing to fix the road game problem while, at the same time, unsure what to do with his newbies. And it showed, and as a result the Warriors are sitting with real systemic problems going forward. They'll have to make some miraculous trades this off season to win another championship. It can be done but if Kerr is stuck after draft day with with more rookies - with of course "great potential", Warriors will not win another ring.
In the last 10 years, the Warriors have had one of the greatest culminations of ownership, GM, coaching, and player success that the league has ever seen. A lot here seem to think it's: have Curry, lol, win. Personally I don't think that, and feel if Curry was drafted by a Minnesota or whoever, he might still be ringless. But he was drafted by the dubs, and the aforementioned combination of elite aptitude at every level of the organization allowed him to accumulate 4 rings (so far). Every team is going to make mistakes, like every team that passed on Draymond and Jokic and allows them to go to the second round.
What I think Eric is trying to convey here is important for that inncessenant critics. The teams that actually made the finals, they aren't even dreaming of allowing a player of the age and development like Kuminga, Moody to touch the floor. Kerr actually played Moody a fair amount, and is still demonized -- it is a bit hard to even imagine how much hatred Spo or Malone would garner here, when they play young players far less than even Kerr would.
And that is why the Warriors started winning titles from the day Curry was drafted… oh wait, the Warriors had a losing record for three straight years after he was drafted, and didn’t even crack 30 wins in two of them.
And in all but 1 of those stinky years, Curry played at least 70+ games, so don’t try to use the injury excuse.
You know how Jordan never even made an NBA finals until the Bulls drafted Scottie Pippen? Well, Curry never even played a playoff game until the Warriors drafted Klay and Draymond. The latest of those two was the Draymond draft, which happened in Curry’s fourth year in the league, hence the cutoff point of the first 3 years after Curry was drafted.
It’s not all about Curry. If you leave Curry as the last man of the playoff starters and make him carry a team of scrubs, he won’t even sniff the conference finals, let alone win a title. He’s undeniably the biggest part of the success here, but it isn’t and has never been just about him.
The schedule may be similar to recent years, but without a horse in the race it's painfully apparent how slow the game schedule is. It's hard enough to get myself excited to watch Miami v Denver, maybe the least interesting matchup since Miami v Dallas. But then when you add on this wacky schedule where I have to nap 2 days straight between games, it's just too much. I say give a day or two more rest between series, but bring back the every-other -day finals schedule so we can at least keep track of this thing!
Echoing Loon Gehrig in that these might be famous last words, but this Finals series more than anything is a perfect highlight of both the central virtue and central deficiency of this Jimmy Butler-led version of the Miami Heat.
Their central virtue: They absolutely have the floor of a serious playoff contender, especially on the mental side.
Their central deficiency: They absolutely do not have the ceiling of a serious championship contender, especially in terms of talent.
In a nutshell: if you are a team that has elite talent but doesn’t show up, you will get caught out and beaten by this Heat team, because they rarely if ever fail to show up. But if you are a team that has elite talent and are mentally on point, you will beat this Heat team, because they do not possess the talent to consistently go blow for blow with the absolute best of the best.
That is why, for all the praise people give them, I did not ever rate the Heat’s chances of winning this series highly at all. And now, I would be surprised if this series went beyond 5 games.
The conundrum the Heat face going forward is this: Is it possible for them to add the necessary talent needed to seriously compete with the biggest stars and most talented teams of the NBA without sacrificing the underdog street fighter identity that makes the current Heat who they are? Or are they doomed to always be an also-ran whose only chance of ever winning a title will depend entirely on injury luck (like Milwaukee) or on rival superstars failing to perform (like Boston)?
Yeah ... Miami has been at a talent deficit ever since Bosh had to retire. And for a while, they had this bad habit of throwing too much money at role players, which tied their hands more than was needed.
IIRC, Miami tried very hard to get another star to pair with Butler last summer, but they never found a deal that worked.
Yeah this game was sort of like game 7 last year for them. The defense (and sometimes unforced opposition mistakes) gave them so many chances, but the offense just wasn't enough when it mattered.
Man for all the talk about trades and blowing things up, can’t help but think that maybe just maybe we could have given Denver a run for their money in the Conference Finals
I think this Denver team was beatable by the Dubs. But, they would need Poole and Klay to not perform absolutely abysmally. If they were their 2022 selves, sure that would be a fun matchup. But in this playoffs they weren't close to that level. Can they be again? We will see.
I think we could have. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I think CBA shenanigans/tax implications are going to force us to trade Poole for a shorter and/or more tradable contract.
Famous last words, maybe, but Miami just lost a home game where Gordon and Brown outscored Murray and Jokic, who missed time in the 1st half with the ankle tweak and was in foul trouble most of the 4th. MPJ is 3-22 from 3 in the series. Is the series over Monday?
Miami, by record and by appearance, are like the Dubs this year. There are good players, but it's really hard to see them as a championship team. Who knows, maybe they come back and do it. But if not, they aren't much different than the dubs -- a team that sucked in the regular season, tried to turn it on in the playoffs, and failed.
Interesting comparison and right from your angle. But I tend to think of them as mirror images: The Heat have the chemistry/cohesiveness but not the talent; the Warriors have the talent but not the chemistry/cohesiveness. The Heat always play hard. The Warriors... don't.
They are the most fun team to watch this playoffs. And Mr. Apricot just conveniently laid out the lengths they were willing to go to this year to ensure everyone was fully locked in. Glad to see it paying off with beautiful play and a win from the title.
I love Kerr to death but I'm sorry. The Warriors young players weren't the problem. In this case, Steve Kerr was the problem. Kuminga averaged the most pts per 36 min than any other rookie in his first year. He averaged over 20pts per 36 min the last 3 months of this season while shooting nearly 60% FG and over 40% from 3. He also earned accolades around the league for guarding and often shutting down the other teams best players. What more can you want? He is one of the more athletically gifted forwards I've seen, and there is a reason other teams want him so badly. Wiseman averaged around 18 and 12 per 36 min since joining the Pistions. Both players have enough raw talent to become all stars in a few years. The fact that Kerr couldn't find a way for these guys to contribute is mind boggling. As we saw in the playoffs with Kuminga, he didn't even want to try. He decided he'd rather lose his way than give Kuminga a chance. I love Kerr to death. But this was extremely disappointing. Had Kuminga and Payton averaged 20 minutes or more per game, we'd be discussing how the Warriors are just 1 player away (an athletic young big man maybe?) from competing for the Championship.
A belated thanks for the article Eric. The loud minority around here that is set on making Kerr out to be the cause of the Warriors ills when it comes to young players are foolish people.
Denver's coach is a motivator; he's lit with fire and is beyond competitve. He has a 300 Mentality. He is aware of Braun's similar mentality; look at Braun, the white boy (he is white no offense) is ripped; he has a work ethic. He has worked to get to the NBA; and that mindset will not change
Denver deserves a ton of credit for that win. They got their one win back already, Jokic was dinged up and in foul trouble. MPJ couldn't hit anything. They could have said, screw it, we did what we needed to do, and folded the tents early (2016 finals the Warriors gave away a game like this).
But nope, that team just scrapped. Malone must be so proud of them.
Is JK shaving yet? If not, may be that's the difference. Braun for sure does shave well.
I’m sensing a shaving sponsorship in his future, but what brand could it be?
I like Braun ... he does kind of look like a caricature of a 50's basketball player, but he plays much smarter than any rookie really should.
Not afraid to stick his nose in the paint, not afraid of the moment, hustles everywhere.
A lot to like about his game.
We can talk about how JK looked in this game and that game in RS and playoffs (because that's all we got). But Kerr doesn't give a F what happens during a game if he doesn't see what he wants to see in practice. If you haven't listened to TK show episode with Kerr that came out after 2nd round loss, I would highly recommend you do so.
Now you can criticize Kerr for giving practices more weightage. But that's how he goes. He played Moody in playoffs after not playing him in RS much because he saw Moody have a breakthrough in practices towards end of the season (source TK show episode). If we are to take his words at face value, by omission, it means he hasn't seen that from JK in practices (yet). May be it's like what mDuo13 mentioned in an earlier comment. (This is pure conjecture on my part) May be JK can't get his motor going in practices.. If that is indeed the case, Kerr needs to change his philosophy.
PS: Kerr is very complementary of JK on defensive end. It's the rebounds and offensive end where things aren't going right. Kerr wants him to be a 4 on offensive end, JK is naturally a 3 but not (yet) as skilled as a 3 should be (as per Kerr). And hence the lack of playing time when Wiggs is available.
Trade Wiggs+Klay and JK will have tons of playing time.
>If you haven't listened to TK show episode with Kerr that came out after 2nd round loss, I would highly recommend you do so.
I appreciate the recommendation, but I'll pass. I guess I'm doing a reverse Kerr; I'm benching Kerr's interview because I don't give an F about what he says in interviews if I don't like what I see in games. <Polite Chuckle> And I don't like what I saw in games this past year.
Well stated. If Kerr had his act together last season and "fixed" the road record problem, we might not be talking trades. He spent the whole season failing to fix the road game problem while, at the same time, unsure what to do with his newbies. And it showed, and as a result the Warriors are sitting with real systemic problems going forward. They'll have to make some miraculous trades this off season to win another championship. It can be done but if Kerr is stuck after draft day with with more rookies - with of course "great potential", Warriors will not win another ring.
In the last 10 years, the Warriors have had one of the greatest culminations of ownership, GM, coaching, and player success that the league has ever seen. A lot here seem to think it's: have Curry, lol, win. Personally I don't think that, and feel if Curry was drafted by a Minnesota or whoever, he might still be ringless. But he was drafted by the dubs, and the aforementioned combination of elite aptitude at every level of the organization allowed him to accumulate 4 rings (so far). Every team is going to make mistakes, like every team that passed on Draymond and Jokic and allows them to go to the second round.
What I think Eric is trying to convey here is important for that inncessenant critics. The teams that actually made the finals, they aren't even dreaming of allowing a player of the age and development like Kuminga, Moody to touch the floor. Kerr actually played Moody a fair amount, and is still demonized -- it is a bit hard to even imagine how much hatred Spo or Malone would garner here, when they play young players far less than even Kerr would.
Herro got a lot of minutes in the Orlando bubble finals run
It's Curry and always been about curry
And that is why the Warriors started winning titles from the day Curry was drafted… oh wait, the Warriors had a losing record for three straight years after he was drafted, and didn’t even crack 30 wins in two of them.
And in all but 1 of those stinky years, Curry played at least 70+ games, so don’t try to use the injury excuse.
You know how Jordan never even made an NBA finals until the Bulls drafted Scottie Pippen? Well, Curry never even played a playoff game until the Warriors drafted Klay and Draymond. The latest of those two was the Draymond draft, which happened in Curry’s fourth year in the league, hence the cutoff point of the first 3 years after Curry was drafted.
It’s not all about Curry. If you leave Curry as the last man of the playoff starters and make him carry a team of scrubs, he won’t even sniff the conference finals, let alone win a title. He’s undeniably the biggest part of the success here, but it isn’t and has never been just about him.
Th GOAT didn’t win until he had a team around him either. It’s a team sport. Doesn’t mean having that GOAT player should be undervalued.
Not sure where in his statement you got the idea he was undervaluing Curry’s contributions.
A recent example is the 2020-21 season. We had Steph, Wiggs, and Draymond but not Klay, and we lost the play-in and failed to make the playoffs.
Good analysis. But to be fair to Bones Hyland, he was the 26th pick, while Wise was a 2nd. James /ought/ to be worth more picks.
It's honestly more of a complement to Bones that a sizeable portion of us would have expected him to fetch more than Wiseman in a dump off
Some more Kuminga footage of him playing some NBA Open Run.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPcVfrtRa7o
Looks like he’s having a lot of fun. Any other young warriors there?
Hard to get up for this NBA Finals; happy for Coach Malone. The biggest question of this Series seems to be ''WHO is the Chris Tucker of the NBA''....
Im up for the games themselves. There are no interesting side stories at all though which makes me wish they played every other day.
The schedule may be similar to recent years, but without a horse in the race it's painfully apparent how slow the game schedule is. It's hard enough to get myself excited to watch Miami v Denver, maybe the least interesting matchup since Miami v Dallas. But then when you add on this wacky schedule where I have to nap 2 days straight between games, it's just too much. I say give a day or two more rest between series, but bring back the every-other -day finals schedule so we can at least keep track of this thing!
Echoing Loon Gehrig in that these might be famous last words, but this Finals series more than anything is a perfect highlight of both the central virtue and central deficiency of this Jimmy Butler-led version of the Miami Heat.
Their central virtue: They absolutely have the floor of a serious playoff contender, especially on the mental side.
Their central deficiency: They absolutely do not have the ceiling of a serious championship contender, especially in terms of talent.
In a nutshell: if you are a team that has elite talent but doesn’t show up, you will get caught out and beaten by this Heat team, because they rarely if ever fail to show up. But if you are a team that has elite talent and are mentally on point, you will beat this Heat team, because they do not possess the talent to consistently go blow for blow with the absolute best of the best.
That is why, for all the praise people give them, I did not ever rate the Heat’s chances of winning this series highly at all. And now, I would be surprised if this series went beyond 5 games.
The conundrum the Heat face going forward is this: Is it possible for them to add the necessary talent needed to seriously compete with the biggest stars and most talented teams of the NBA without sacrificing the underdog street fighter identity that makes the current Heat who they are? Or are they doomed to always be an also-ran whose only chance of ever winning a title will depend entirely on injury luck (like Milwaukee) or on rival superstars failing to perform (like Boston)?
Yeah ... Miami has been at a talent deficit ever since Bosh had to retire. And for a while, they had this bad habit of throwing too much money at role players, which tied their hands more than was needed.
IIRC, Miami tried very hard to get another star to pair with Butler last summer, but they never found a deal that worked.
Yeah this game was sort of like game 7 last year for them. The defense (and sometimes unforced opposition mistakes) gave them so many chances, but the offense just wasn't enough when it mattered.
Man for all the talk about trades and blowing things up, can’t help but think that maybe just maybe we could have given Denver a run for their money in the Conference Finals
I think this Denver team was beatable by the Dubs. But, they would need Poole and Klay to not perform absolutely abysmally. If they were their 2022 selves, sure that would be a fun matchup. But in this playoffs they weren't close to that level. Can they be again? We will see.
And Wiggins not to have fractured ribs
And we would have to show up on the road.
AMEN.....It is what it WAS....
Sigh. Guys not being on the same page really killed the team this year
I think we could have. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I think CBA shenanigans/tax implications are going to force us to trade Poole for a shorter and/or more tradable contract.
Champions League tomorrow. Saturday, I feel like an Inter fan.
And 24 hrs Le Mons
Famous last words, maybe, but Miami just lost a home game where Gordon and Brown outscored Murray and Jokic, who missed time in the 1st half with the ankle tweak and was in foul trouble most of the 4th. MPJ is 3-22 from 3 in the series. Is the series over Monday?
[Of course, Denver did lose their last home game]
Miami, by record and by appearance, are like the Dubs this year. There are good players, but it's really hard to see them as a championship team. Who knows, maybe they come back and do it. But if not, they aren't much different than the dubs -- a team that sucked in the regular season, tried to turn it on in the playoffs, and failed.
Interesting comparison and right from your angle. But I tend to think of them as mirror images: The Heat have the chemistry/cohesiveness but not the talent; the Warriors have the talent but not the chemistry/cohesiveness. The Heat always play hard. The Warriors... don't.
Probably.
No doubt, the best team won and will win this series. Denver should/could be the big dog in the West. With Murray back, they are the team to beat.
Not that it's exactly surprising, but dang is Denver's amazing when they're fully locked in
They are the most fun team to watch this playoffs. And Mr. Apricot just conveniently laid out the lengths they were willing to go to this year to ensure everyone was fully locked in. Glad to see it paying off with beautiful play and a win from the title.