Seeing Ant & Halliburton out there just a cruel reminder how awful that 2020 draft absolutely broke for us. Lots and lots of What Ifs. What If Minny pulls another 2009 draft and ends up taking Wiseman. What If Klay doesn’t blow his Achilles. What If Lavar Ball just keeps his mouth shut leading up to the draft. What if we find just one decent trade back offer. That may have been the true ‘Two Timeline’ catalyst if any of these above mentioned scenarios break our way.
*EDIT Hell even watching this latest Niners preseason game and watching Trey Lance (whose situation ive compared closest to Wiseman) get more and more comfortable with more and more reps just makes me bloody mad at drafting a player that is just downright awful at the nuances of basketball.
He and Wiseman are very similar though. Almost no playing experience. Lance needed to start his rookie year, otherwise he was toast. Only played 16 games since high school.
He'll be a good 3rd QB for the 9ers and probably trade bait. Purdy is their starting choice without doubt. Darnold will probably be his backup. Lance was probably a poor choice for the 9ers who used a top 3 pick in that draft.
Very very similar agreed. Admittedly not a huge NFL fan however have followed Lances career from a distant. Just needs playing time. Processing speed seems robotic first few reps (the Wiseman similarity) but its like everything seems to start clicking as he gets more comfortable. I know the argument here is that Wiseman just needs reps. At this point though I don’t even know if reps alone are enough for James
Notice Brunson pulled in the 4th. Ball goes to Edwards. Closest thing to #30 on the team when it needs a score. Not sure why Kerr doesn't go to Kessler earlier when opponent bigs are giving USA trouble. JJJr is either over worked or at risk for fouling out.
Ant, Reaves, Halliburton, Mikal, Cam Johnson, JJJ, and Portis (Strictly at the 5) should be the ones seeing the bulk of the rotation minutes as we get deep into tournament crunchtime.
Don’t know that I can agree, Ant’s shooting has been absolutely spectacular in isolation in the half court. I haven’t watched the whole game but Germany has just not had an answer for him.
Yeah that double-clutch turnaround 10 footer looked spectacular but is low percentage. A lot of his other stuff wasn’t that level of difficulty. Still, an above-average game in terms of shot results versus quality I would imagine.
Closing lineup Edwards Haliburton Reeves Bridges JJJ. Defense is suffocating, scoring has ground to a halt, USA up three with Edwards going to the line shooting two.
Every pass in a possession has a small chance of being a turnover. The more passes in a possession your team makes, the more turnovers you are likely to make. So yes, unironically that is true. People gotta understand that it's a trade off though.
The fact that the Warriors were *dead last in the NBA in passes per possession* in Mark Jackson’s last season is one of the most remarkable (and damning) stats of that era.
God, I absolutely hated those Jackson teams and I was constantly pounding the gavel for offensive schemes that were more similar to the 98 Supersonics/7 Seconds or Less Suns/2009 Orlando Magic/Post David Robinson Spurs.
Funnily enough though, I was against the firing of Jackson just because I thought he had demonstrated to be a very effective coach who'd helped bring us back into relevance. I just wanted him to hire a forward thinking assistant coach who could help transform the offense lmao.
I tend to think that the team of Jokers would beat a team of Gianises, actually. With the Jokics on offense, there's great passing, shooting, and post play. They'd get the ball into threatening positions and score effectively enough. On defense, they'd have some trouble staying in front of Giannis, but completely packing the paint will prevent the Giannises from scoring consistently, since they have zero outside shooters.
The Steph's, obviously, would get scored on every time... just lob the ball the ball into the post (Steph couldn't prevent the post entry), only attempt layups or short jumpers out of post isolation, and have the other Jokics/Giannises crash the offensive glass strategically with one crashing on the left side of the basket, another crashing the right, and a third crashing the middle... they'd make >60% of shot attempts, OREB >60% of misses, make 80% of putbacks, and OREB 90% of those misses. Yeah, on the 15% of possessions that end in a Curry rebound, the Curry's get a pretty open 3, but that's not enough to overcome the >170 ORTG of the Jokic/Giannis offenses.
This reminds me of that old SNL skit where the Chicago superfans would talk about how Ditka would fare against the Giants, or if the Bears were all 14 inches tall.
I might take the Giannises, cos you couldn’t score on them at all; and while you might think “what about spacing?” on O, you couldn’t keep them off the offensive glass, so they’d basically be playing pattycake at the rim till it went in.
I think the clones pick has to be Giannis. While both Jokic and Steph are players I would probably choose first on an NBA roster for next year only, there would just be too many defensive mismatches with 5 Stephs or 5 Jokics. Giannis could more readily switch 1-5. Of course, spacing would be a nightmare.
Give me 2 Stephs, 2 Giannises, and 1 Jokic over any other combination.
I know it's popular to say guys like Giannis can switch 1-5, the reality is Giannis isn't great guarding a good 1 or 2. But for whatever reason people will focus on how a smaller player can't guard the rim like Giannis but isn't getting cooked by a good 1 or 2 either.
Draymond might be the best guy I've seen in the last ten years guarding 1-5, but he's not as dominant as a Giannis in the paint or as good at guarding a 1 or 2 as say a Jrue Holiday or whoever. But he's probably the best at covering everything with the fewest weaknesses.
I don't really have an answer to the question, it's just a pet peeve of mine.
Giannis, in a real NBA lineup, isn't sticking with a true 1s & 2s cuz he's got imperfect help defenders... but a Giannis that knows he's got a second Giannis that's switching every P&R, a third Giannis on the weak side block ready to rotate, and 2 other Giannises roaming around ready to help the helpers? That guy is going to be just fine guarding 1s & 2s and forcing them to help defense.
If I understand the modern Greek grammar page on Wikipedia, you're right! Giannis should transform into Giannes. Let's not talk about ancient Greek, for which I never had the brain when I actually studied it a decade ago
Wow! I learnt that the collective name for a group of octopus can not be octopi as the 'i' is latin and 'octo' is greek, therefore it should be octopodes.
Yeah, I heard that too! The argument is more that the "pus" in octopus come from the ancient Greek "pous" for foot. Pous turns into podes for its plural, so octopus would be octopodes
Thunder just waived Usman Garuba. I wonder what the chances are of him signing a TWC, probably pretty low, but never know.
Source: https://twitter.com/MikeAScotto/status/1693646457016901828
Late first rounders getting dropped. Him and TyTy Washington.
Unfortunate if we were hoping for the small chance they would drop Bertans or another vet and they would look for a buyout.
Seeing Ant & Halliburton out there just a cruel reminder how awful that 2020 draft absolutely broke for us. Lots and lots of What Ifs. What If Minny pulls another 2009 draft and ends up taking Wiseman. What If Klay doesn’t blow his Achilles. What If Lavar Ball just keeps his mouth shut leading up to the draft. What if we find just one decent trade back offer. That may have been the true ‘Two Timeline’ catalyst if any of these above mentioned scenarios break our way.
*EDIT Hell even watching this latest Niners preseason game and watching Trey Lance (whose situation ive compared closest to Wiseman) get more and more comfortable with more and more reps just makes me bloody mad at drafting a player that is just downright awful at the nuances of basketball.
>>What If Minny pulls another 2009 draft and ends up taking Wiseman?
So ... KAT, Wiseman, and they still trade for Gobert...
Lance is still not good.
He and Wiseman are very similar though. Almost no playing experience. Lance needed to start his rookie year, otherwise he was toast. Only played 16 games since high school.
He'll be a good 3rd QB for the 9ers and probably trade bait. Purdy is their starting choice without doubt. Darnold will probably be his backup. Lance was probably a poor choice for the 9ers who used a top 3 pick in that draft.
Traded up to get 3rd
Very very similar agreed. Admittedly not a huge NFL fan however have followed Lances career from a distant. Just needs playing time. Processing speed seems robotic first few reps (the Wiseman similarity) but its like everything seems to start clicking as he gets more comfortable. I know the argument here is that Wiseman just needs reps. At this point though I don’t even know if reps alone are enough for James
Notice Brunson pulled in the 4th. Ball goes to Edwards. Closest thing to #30 on the team when it needs a score. Not sure why Kerr doesn't go to Kessler earlier when opponent bigs are giving USA trouble. JJJr is either over worked or at risk for fouling out.
USA holds on at the end despite some questionable decision-making down the stretch as Germany turned up the heat.
The Wagner Group gave them a very hard time.
Ant, Reaves, Halliburton, Mikal, Cam Johnson, JJJ, and Portis (Strictly at the 5) should be the ones seeing the bulk of the rotation minutes as we get deep into tournament crunchtime.
I’m not that confident in Porter at this point im his career…
How you surviving the heat, Abaddon.
A bit creaky at the finish here. Some tape the coaches will be able to use here.
JJJ in a league with fewer fouls is a helllll of a force on defense
Haliburton's half court possessions are so much better than Ant's. Can't argue with Ant's transition threat though
Don’t know that I can agree, Ant’s shooting has been absolutely spectacular in isolation in the half court. I haven’t watched the whole game but Germany has just not had an answer for him.
He's been hitting, but I don't know how sustainable it is. He's never been a great iso scorer, although he's still growing so maybe he's gettin there
Yeah that double-clutch turnaround 10 footer looked spectacular but is low percentage. A lot of his other stuff wasn’t that level of difficulty. Still, an above-average game in terms of shot results versus quality I would imagine.
That pull up 3 with like 20 seconds on the shot clock left had me pulling my hair out. It went in, but horrendous shot
I mean I love Haliburton and how he runs the show.
Notice where Brunson was at crunch time.
Closing lineup Edwards Haliburton Reeves Bridges JJJ. Defense is suffocating, scoring has ground to a halt, USA up three with Edwards going to the line shooting two.
Edwards taking over, game is tied!
The pull-up jump shooting has been spectacular.
USA nice run to cut it to three behind some inspired play by Haliburton, Edwards, and Reeves.
Anyone know how to stream the USA/Germany game that is on now?
I found a crappy link on YouTube…
https://www.youtube.com/live/ZszLdbXaI_g?feature=share
Team USA struggling a bit, down 7 right now.
Thanks. Went to sleep before seeing this.
Now down 14… Germany is packing the paint and letting the US shoot open three pointers that they’re clanking.
https://x.com/thewarriorstalk/status/1692725975748927522?s=46&t=uin-bDCpAMkWQkABBJ4tFA
Harry Giles after working out for us.
Awesome stuff as always, Joe!
Any chance this will become a regular series? Given the content, maybe you could give it a catchy moniker like "Explain Three Plays"...
Yup, called it “The Golden Breakdown” back in the day. Have yet to think of a moniker but for now I’ll let the writing speak for itself.
Bon (think French) Joe-V
I mean, you're halfway there.
The Joe-lden Breakdown
The Joe-lden Viray-kdown
I keep reading that like a Joe Biden without the B.
We used to call it “Golden Breakdown” and “E1P” when we were writing together at GSOM. Not sure if he’s still using that name at that other site…
USAB wins comfortably against Greece. Only blemish was the flurry of turnovers when they lost focus after getting the lead.
Hmm, that seems familiar.
Do you know where I can find the box scores to these games?
https://www.usab.com/gamecast?id=1649
Anthony Edwards leading all scorers with 21. Josh Hart with 9 rebounds in 15 minutes.
Thanks.....
So the source or cause of the Warriors turnovers is Kerr! 🤣
Every pass in a possession has a small chance of being a turnover. The more passes in a possession your team makes, the more turnovers you are likely to make. So yes, unironically that is true. People gotta understand that it's a trade off though.
The fact that the Warriors were *dead last in the NBA in passes per possession* in Mark Jackson’s last season is one of the most remarkable (and damning) stats of that era.
God, I absolutely hated those Jackson teams and I was constantly pounding the gavel for offensive schemes that were more similar to the 98 Supersonics/7 Seconds or Less Suns/2009 Orlando Magic/Post David Robinson Spurs.
Funnily enough though, I was against the firing of Jackson just because I thought he had demonstrated to be a very effective coach who'd helped bring us back into relevance. I just wanted him to hire a forward thinking assistant coach who could help transform the offense lmao.
It really is amazing to realize that he was singlehandedly repressing a dynasty lol.
Jason Timor’s too players in the NBA:
1. Joker 2. Steph 3. Giannis
Though experiment: If you could clone them and make a team of 5 Jokers, Stephs or Gianisses, which team would be the best?
I tend to think that the team of Jokers would beat a team of Gianises, actually. With the Jokics on offense, there's great passing, shooting, and post play. They'd get the ball into threatening positions and score effectively enough. On defense, they'd have some trouble staying in front of Giannis, but completely packing the paint will prevent the Giannises from scoring consistently, since they have zero outside shooters.
The Steph's, obviously, would get scored on every time... just lob the ball the ball into the post (Steph couldn't prevent the post entry), only attempt layups or short jumpers out of post isolation, and have the other Jokics/Giannises crash the offensive glass strategically with one crashing on the left side of the basket, another crashing the right, and a third crashing the middle... they'd make >60% of shot attempts, OREB >60% of misses, make 80% of putbacks, and OREB 90% of those misses. Yeah, on the 15% of possessions that end in a Curry rebound, the Curry's get a pretty open 3, but that's not enough to overcome the >170 ORTG of the Jokic/Giannis offenses.
This reminds me of that old SNL skit where the Chicago superfans would talk about how Ditka would fare against the Giants, or if the Bears were all 14 inches tall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9NO24hbe8Q
I might take the Giannises, cos you couldn’t score on them at all; and while you might think “what about spacing?” on O, you couldn’t keep them off the offensive glass, so they’d basically be playing pattycake at the rim till it went in.
How about two Stephs, two Giannises, and a Jokic?
(Lol, exactly what Vignette17 said!)
BTW, The Athletic also has Jokic, Steph, and Giannis in its top tier (1A).
https://theathletic.com/4784508/2023/08/18/nba-player-tiers-kevin-durant-giannis-jokic-curry/
I think the clones pick has to be Giannis. While both Jokic and Steph are players I would probably choose first on an NBA roster for next year only, there would just be too many defensive mismatches with 5 Stephs or 5 Jokics. Giannis could more readily switch 1-5. Of course, spacing would be a nightmare.
Give me 2 Stephs, 2 Giannises, and 1 Jokic over any other combination.
I know it's popular to say guys like Giannis can switch 1-5, the reality is Giannis isn't great guarding a good 1 or 2. But for whatever reason people will focus on how a smaller player can't guard the rim like Giannis but isn't getting cooked by a good 1 or 2 either.
Draymond might be the best guy I've seen in the last ten years guarding 1-5, but he's not as dominant as a Giannis in the paint or as good at guarding a 1 or 2 as say a Jrue Holiday or whoever. But he's probably the best at covering everything with the fewest weaknesses.
I don't really have an answer to the question, it's just a pet peeve of mine.
Giannis, in a real NBA lineup, isn't sticking with a true 1s & 2s cuz he's got imperfect help defenders... but a Giannis that knows he's got a second Giannis that's switching every P&R, a third Giannis on the weak side block ready to rotate, and 2 other Giannises roaming around ready to help the helpers? That guy is going to be just fine guarding 1s & 2s and forcing them to help defense.
My top 7 would be 3 Stephs, 2 Jokers, and 2 Giannises (Gianni?)
Since Giannis is Greek it might be Giannes (e.g. analysis – analyses)?
If I understand the modern Greek grammar page on Wikipedia, you're right! Giannis should transform into Giannes. Let's not talk about ancient Greek, for which I never had the brain when I actually studied it a decade ago
Wow! I learnt that the collective name for a group of octopus can not be octopi as the 'i' is latin and 'octo' is greek, therefore it should be octopodes.
Yeah, I heard that too! The argument is more that the "pus" in octopus come from the ancient Greek "pous" for foot. Pous turns into podes for its plural, so octopus would be octopodes
... This team would crush even the dream team
It would be known as The Nightmare
Imagine a triple split action with stephs. Just give up. The nightmare play 😂
And it would end the wisdom of "no one ever got fired for staying with Steph"
I take Steph's head and mind over Jokic.
This article is so informative that I subscribed to DNHQ for a year. Thank you for simplifying basketball plays for the rest of us.
Now imagine next year with one Stephen Curry running the show and the team coached up in actions that amplify his gravity....