Dub Nation HQ Comments of Week, plus open thread

you write the comments, we regurgitate the comments with love

Honorary Warriors For Life Induction, Monta Ellis…

As voted by the most dedicated Dub Nation HQers

• Asher B. (6 ♡):

  My name is Asher B. And I approve this message.

  Sure Monta had basketball and sort of personal or contractual weaknesses but when a guy on your team regularly torches other teams especially when he’s small and dynamic you just root for him like crazy.

• Sleepy Freud (4 ♡):

  And he was never very good for us, outside of his one efficient season in ‘07-08 in which he was got most of his O off easy buckets created by Baron and/or SJax. IIRC, in the We Believe run he spent a lot of the key moments observing the grownups from the bench. Overall: .523 true shooting, Westbrick-esque from 3, poor rebounder, meh passer, poor off-ball player. poor defender. The perfect Cohan-Era “star.”

  I totally loved him for a time, tho, shameless laundry-rooter that I am…

• Hashemite Kingdom (3 ♡):

  I liked Monta for the first few years, but he lost me with the moped thing and with "I can't play in the same backcourt with him."

  Contrast with Steph adapting his game as needed when KD arrived on the scene, leading the Ws to two championships.

  I think of Monta as being a little too full of himself and not much of a team player. Definitely not WFL or even HWFL for me.

• Mr.Plow (3 ♡):

  I think with this inclusion into HWFL we can officially say that Monta Ellis finally have it all

Warriors open 2022-23 Preseason in Japan and…

Bradley Beal, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gary Payton II and Nikola Jokic will be back and out for revenge

• Alas Phood Fight (14 ♡):

  I hear every NBA Team is retiring Alen Smailagic's number. Egg on the face for recent DNHQ article giving Bob Meyers and F for that pick. Goes to show, you can't really judge a pick until the player is gone from the league completely. Statue next?

  • Alas Phood Fight (9 ♡):

    Actually, this was probably one of the best things that happened to the FO. To be the owner's son and really get it wrong. Every GM (or FO executive) needs to experience getting it wrong, badly. Mistakes in the draft aren't always losses. Sometimes the learning experience can pay off down the road.

• TwoRingTest (8 ♡):

  I guess we get to find out if we're big in Japan.

• g8tgod (7 ♡):

  The off-season is short when you win a championship...

  I'm excited to see the new configuration and how the pieces will fit together. But I'm not going to lie: It's going to suck to see JTA and GPII in somebody else's uniform.

Warriors Dynasty Drafting: Eric Paschall and Smailagic…

EP was a very likable, high-value pick, but didn't move the dynasty

• vignette17 (15 ♡):

  There was a time where I remember people saying: "Pretend Pashcall was picked #28 instead of Poole to cope with the draft results." And it wasn't indefensible after their rookie seasons.

  And then the rumors came in about Poole being the hardest worker of the offseason, and Paschall being out of shape. And all of a sudden, it's Poole with the ball who's indefensible and Paschall is being traded for cash. The NBA moves fast.

• Sleepy Freud (7 ♡):

  Humbly submitted under “My Worst Take”: I was furious with the FO for reaching for Poole at #28, thereby taking the massive risk that Future Superstar Paschall might not be there for us at #41.

• BadlyBrowned (7 ♡):

  Thought Smiley had some unfortunate injuries that stunted his development.

  Even still and like other have said, being unable to keep their mouths shut about how much they liked him pre-draft and backing themselves into a corner to give up assets to draft him makes that a clear F grade.

  As for Paschall, I can pinpoint the moment I jumped off the wagon, and that was preseason his 2nd year, the moment he took a 3pt shot and his jumper looked exactly the same. Also didn't help that when the Warriors had an in-house scrimmage, they had to hold Paschall out of it for conditioning reasons.

• mDuo13 (6 ♡):

  The more I look at how things go, the more I feel like the second round of the draft is nearly meaningless. Undrafted players seem to have a similar success rate to second-rounders, especially late second-rounders. Second round draft picks are thrown into deals like "free bonus" swag and mostly seem to be used to save face because they're "more than nothing" on deals that are otherwise totally one-sided.

  I think as we see the league develop more and more towards a farm-system-like model, second rounders should be viewed as draft picks for the minor league team. Which, I guess is kind of fun in its own way, but it's more surprising than not when a second-rounder moves the needle in a major league game—rookie or otherwise. In that regard, Paschall was a steal.

  Problem was, he was only capable of moving the needle if the other team wasn't ready for him, as became clearer after he had that initial breakout. Between getting beaten off the dribble and being out of position guarding three-point shooters, Paschall's fundamentally unsound defense might have cost us more points than he scored, especially in games against "real competition". Most rookies are like that, but when his second season started looking like more of the same but worse, it became clear that he wasn't going to be part of our championship plans.

  As for the Smiley pick, most stuff has been covered, but the fact that he was occupying a guaranteed roster slot in year 3 was another big opportunity cost that was arguably a worse decision than drafting him in the first place. When he couldn't be counted on to soak minutes at center even when every other Warrior over 6'7" was injured, we knew: he was absolutely a project that should have stayed in Santa Cruz.

• TheseGuysAreF’ingGIANTS! (6 ♡):

  Paschall was a good pick who might have had a different career trajectory if not for the Covid shutdowns. Feels like covid really separated the self motivated workers from others since many of the young guys had to go out of their way to figure out how to get work in. Second round picks weren’t playing with the resources that established guys had during covid.

Open Thread

Warriors Nuggets Game 1

• Nom De Sab (16 ♡):

  Ricky G

  @jrichardgoodman

  Where is all those folks who said anyone can coach the Warriors superteam when KD was there ,y'all have no idea how hard it is to manage superstars when there is is so many on one team, smhdh,

• Asher B. (14 ♡):

  When one visits the espn.com NBA landing page, the most recent score/s are listed. Since June 16th, the only score listed is "GS 103, BOS 90, GS wins series 4-2". I like to go back every now and then to see if any new scores have come in, but alas they haven't, so I'm forced to gaze at that fondly again.

• Sleepy Freud (14 ♡):

  The fact that JP3 finished the playoffs with a **.654 true shooting %** despite cooling off substantially in the last couple series gives a sense of how freakishly electric he was in that Denver series (starting out as our *starting PG*, remember).

  Career playoff scoring:

  Player A: 22.2 pts per 36 on .654 true shooting

  Player B: 23.5 pts per 36 on .541 true shooting

  A is Poole, B is Kobe.

  I’m gonna stand by my earlier assertion that *among all Warriors other than Steph* Poole is my #1 priority to keep around after this season. Not by a lot, but we’re talking “if you twisted my arm.” It’s too bad we couldn’t have signed him to that $20M a year extension that Kawakami and others were whinging about during the season as being too expensive.

• crusty quips (12 ♡):

  Warriors posted a brief thank you video for Bjelica. Gotta love how the team strives to maintain good relations with former players, especially champions.

• Dilly (11 ♡):

  I think we need to give up this fanciful notion that KD will ever be happy.

• Bel (10 ♡):

  Steph is just a kid at heart. A Peter Pan who will never ‘grow up’. What a delightful human being. Dub nation is blessed to have him.

  • AttilaTheHun (9 ♡):

    The cool thing about Steph is he is a kid at heart but also a very mature adult.

• Eric Apricot (10 ♡):

  [Trevion Williams] can dribble pretty well actually (though I don't like him creating off the dribble). He did have a good post-up game for college. He has a three point shot, but it's not one you want him taking.

  So... my best scenario would be Mo Speights on defense (aim high my friends), Draymond passing on offense (low post and elbow and delay spot in slot) plus PNR creation. He didn't run a lot of PNR in college, but logic says with his decent handle and elite vision and passing, he should be fine to great in the short roll.

  I fully expect that if he gets the chance to get comfortable in the offense, he will be a plus contributor there. Only question is whether the defense is a dealbreaker.

• Sleepy Freud (10 ♡):

  Stat check: [Poole] was indeed electric v Denver, but I had forgotten how insanely efficient he was v Dallas (and how he was basically great-to-amazing offensively against all four opponents — just had to sit more as the playoffs wore on due to his defensive limitations).

  21.0 ppg on .715 ts v DEN

  17.8 ppg on .575 ts v MEM

  16.4 ppg on .790 ts v DAL

  13.2 ppg on .591 ts v BOS

• Being (9 ♡):

  Land prices on Wiseman Island are skyrocketing. Believe the Hype!

  Friend of DNHQ and occasional contributor Joe Viray analyzes film from J-Dub's rookie season. TLDR: JW generated over 1.3+ points per possession on pick n' roll plays with both Curry and Poole. He will dominate as the roll-man for both Curry and Poole, and as long as Kerr keeps his role simple, will be a huge plus as Looney's backup.

  https://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2022/8/7/23294809/warriors-steph-curry-james-wiseman-film-breakdown

• Eric Apricot (9 ♡):

  [On preseason Japan’s 3am start] Maybe I'll put up a game thread the day before and we can all write in advance the comments we would have written

• Nom De Sab (9 ♡):

  Wardell still having the time of his life.

Warriors on NBCS @NBCSWarriors

Steph's celly with his campers is EVERYTHING 🤣 (via @StephenCurry30)

• Bel (9 ♡):

  Great response to KD ultimatum…

  Joe Tsai@joetsai1999 · 20h

  Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.

• Bel (8 ♡):

  I’m just enjoying the fiascos caused by these prima donna superstar players trying to act like GMs. Lebron who wanted Westbrook to join the Lakers and now is stuck with a Westbrook who isn’t worth his bloated contract. KD and Kyrie who asked for Steve Nash and certain players, and now want out of the supposed mess that they created. I’m just so grateful for our Warrior superstars not interfering in the GM’s job.

• GlueAndBold (8 ♡):

  I take no side in this fight, but I do agree that KD and Kyrie made a bed that they're both trying to avoid sleeping in now.

• Asher B. (8 ♡):

  This just in, rather unexpected: Nets forward Kevin Durant has been traded to the Nets front office for Coach Steve Nash, GM Sean Marks, and cash considerations. Insider reports indicate that point guard Kyrie Irving is "Confused, but that's nothing new."

• Trogdor (8 ♡):

  Those devious jerks [SAC] are using us as their developmental team!!!

• Eric Apricot (8 ♡):

  [On the New Death Lineup] You’ll call it “The Splash Brothers, Splash Cousin, Surly Genius and Redemption Canadian” and you’ll like it

• BadlyBrowned (7 ♡):

  /shrug

  As long as Curry still looks like a Top 5 player in the league, you gotta prioritize that championship window, and I am pretty confident Curry will still be looking good for the next few years.

  Maybe one of the young guys does explode into a star, but chances are it's still not going to be to Curry-levels of All-Time Great, so you want to take advantage of having a guy like Curry while you can.

  That said, I do feel like we're not too far off from giving Klay and Dray the Iguodala-treatment and having to reduce them to like 25mpg in the regular season, which opens up / will require more minutes from the young guys.

• GovernorStephCurry (7 ♡):

  Dude, they had a great roster until KD and Kyrie forced them to waste cap space on DeAndre Jordan and trade all of their assets for Harden. And then they had to dump Jordan's contract with more assets. I'd say they've done what they can around the two.

• Trogdor (7 ♡):

  Memphis and Boston both felt like bad matchups for him even on offense, but the stats show it likely only felt that way because of how electric he had been vs. Denver and Dallas.

  I really wonder what his ceiling is like on the defensive end and what he's doing this offseason to try and get there. If he can add just even a good defensive game to his outstanding offensive toolkit he can really be something special.

• ForeverFoyled (7 ♡):

  Easy for me to say from my couch, but I don't see why he can't get to Steph's level defensively. It will take a lot of work (as it did for Steph), but so far Poole has shown he is willing to work.

  Edit: also, by DBPM he has already gone from terrible (2020), bad (2021), not too bad (2022), average (2022 playoffs). So he is certainly on a good trajectory already.

• Night Night (6 ♡):

  After the fourth ring, I find myself yearning for a Dubs youth movement.

  Winning another chip is certainly possible, but I'd prefer a season that prioritizes the development of Poole, Kuminga, Moody and Wiseman. If one or both of Kuminga/Wiseman explodes, that would almost as good as another ring to me (Poole and Moody are already on their way).

  And hey, we really need our youth movement to secure another chip anyway!

  That said, here's a supercut of Poole's handling wizardry:

• . JP is on another planet with his hesitations, crossovers, stepbacks, impossible finishes, and angular game. Look out for a Donte DiVincenzo cameo as well!

• GlueAndBold (6 ♡):

  KD has clearly tried to have some Nets decision-making clout at times. It feels to me like he's trying to have it both ways, asking for the empowerment, but when it goes badly, absolving himself of it.

• stopnpop (6 ♡):

  You sure? We won a LOT with KD... he was still not happy.

• TwoRingTest (5 ♡):

  Really, the front office has done a remarkable job of threading the needle so far.

  Next year and the following year are when the tough decisions on Dray and Klay (and Poole and Wiggs) will need to be made, but still ... let's celebrate their success and realize that the Dubs are living (finally) with the constraints that 28 of the other teams face every year (Clips, not so much).

  I'm up for the youth movement ... we may not be as good as last year, but who the heck really knows? I think we're going to be better.

  If Wiseman gets to 2/3 of what we eventually hope he will be, and Kuminga continues his development, there's every chance we are significantly better. Moody and Poole are already there, as far as I'm concerned.

• DFiB (5 ♡):

  Yeah… maximizing the window can absolutely be about making it a longer window. Keeping the youngsters is absolutely about maximizing the window.

• Trogdor (5 ♡):

  After the fourth ring I find myself yearning for... mooooaaarrrr riiiingggssss!!!!!

  But I hear what you're saying. In the "two track" model that the team is trying to run, last season definitely prioritized the winning part over the development part. I know it's a balance, but it would be nice to see a bit more of the development end of it this upcoming season. And as you said, we're really going to need that if the team is going to win going into the future.

  The organizational aspect of the whole thing fascinates me. I love that the Warriors are trying to do something that essentially hasn't been done successfully before and aren't just wedded to the traditional ideas of how teambuilding is "supposed" to work. Their innovating has paid big dividends leading up to now, and I think it will continue to do so moving forward.

  Relying on the old guys is nice, and I would really love to see Curry, Klay, and Draymond retire with like seven rings each. However, the reality is that Iguodala's hands aren't what they used to be! We need to get the younger players ready to take over more and more of the load each year.

• GreenDray (5 ♡):

  Will Russ bring cupcakes for everyone first day of Net's training camp?

• ForeverFoyled (5 ♡):

  Hey, that was mostly what I (and probably many other 30-40 year olds) knew for the first 10+ years after starting to pay attention to the Warriors! I will admit, I was a Warriors fan through late 90s- early 2000s, but the quality of product made me a different type of fan. Like, I would go to the game for $5 every once in awhile and watch a handful of games a year. But I wasn't going to devote myself to bearing 80+ games a year of that, which the beautiful bball dubs now demand of me. That much losing definitely has an impact on one though... I remember the "we believe" year, I was all on board for the believing of beating the Mavs. But it never even crossed my mind that there was a possibility that the Warriors could keep it going to make the finals or anything. That was for teams like the Spurs, or the Lakers. Like at that point it was unfathomable to me that the Warriors could be anything other than entertaining spoiler of the #1 seed. Quite a difference between then and the Warriors Invitational!

Perks predicts: How will the Warriors fill…

Our guy @GSWCBA

• Eric Apricot (12 ♡):

  Perks is a free agent, so I do not need to go out to match salaries.

  Also, in no way is this an act of vengeance, but I am working on sending Goofus to The Dream Shake blog for a 2nd round pick that is Top 60 protected and only conveys if 16 is a prime number

• John Butler (11 ♡):

  Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Your attention to detail and tone made it easy to follow. I like that you owned your own preferences but did not make the assertions into arguments.

  This was a great read and I will wonder how it all shakes down over the next month or so

• Alas Phood Fight (10 ♡):

  It's hard to fight the market and the market never expresses true value, it only reflects the public's 'perception' of value. Draymond's value has always been much harder to quantify due to his unique style of play. There is no stat line for leadership, IQ or dirty work. I agree, maybe it's not fair, but its unavoidable. But I wouldn't worry too much about Dray. He is going to make more money post-playing days than anyone else in the league. While he may make less than he deserved on the court, this fact is a contributor to the team winning and that winning has built up his brand and that brand will get him plenty of dollars on the back side of his career.

  But you are correct. I think Klay & Dray are equally important in terms of winning, probably advantage Dray. But 37 points in a quarter has more market cred than a DPOY and that perception isn't likely to change soon. (Gobert aside)

• Perks (GSWCBA) (8 ♡):

  Santos on a two-way is an outside possibility, but my expectation would still be that they just start him in Santa Cruz on a G League deal. They can develop him while maintaining his rights that way and wouldn't need to use a roster spot on him. They historically have liked to split the two-ways between a young developmental project and fringe NBA level, playable in a pinch type older player. Quiñones occupies the developmental spot and I don't expect them to fill both two-ways with projects (part of why I haven't seriously considered Williams although I'm a fan of him). Especially with the existing youth on the roster and keeping the 15th spot open, one of the two-ways should be a guy who can play.

• Goofus (8 ♡):

  I know we’re way over the cap and the luxury tax has already blown our payroll through the roof, but it’s not my money and I’m greedy. Let’s figure out a way to create a roster spot for Perks. Apricot for Perks in a sign-and-trade; who says “no”? Hell, while we’re at it, let’s offer Duby a buyout and since Hardee’s on a 2-way deal, he can be waived, right? That might clear up enough space to sign Viray and Murray and we have a competitive team again.

  The only thing left to do would be to vote on whether Eric, Daniel and Duby qualify as HDNHQFL. (The only flaw in this plan is with Apricot gone, who’d run the poll?)

• Dilly (7 ♡):

  I like KD a little less with every prima donna move he makes.

  The problem is that his buddy Kyrie isn't reliable and can't be depended on. If he were, the Nets would have had no issue signing him to a longer-term contract. He is [apparently] virtually untradeable at this point because no other good team will touch him and no developing team wants its young players exposed to his problematic iissues.

  So, instead of understanding the reasoning behind this, KD requests a trade after Utah gets a ridiculous return for Gobert, which would make any team that wants him have to give up both his value plus 9 or 10 1st round pics / pic swaps. And that would gut most teams of 3-4 good players in addition to their future. All for a 34-year-old player that is injury prone and will be lucky to play 2 1/2 years of the 4 year contract he has now.

  I may have forgotten to include a couple of things, but I think I hit most of the key factors. Besides the fact that his current demand is utter BS.

• Alas Phood Fight (7 ♡):

  Ok, I can see Trevion not getting a roster spot, but I would love to see him get a two-way with either QW getting rewarded for his work and landing a roster spot or moving on to another team. With Curry, Poole, Klay, Moody, the Big Ragu, Rollins & Quinones, we seem to be well stocked on guards. Especially when you consider that 5 of those guys are qualified to play major minutes. (Curry-Poole-Klay eat up all available guard minutes by themselves). When you look at the bigs, Looney, Wiseman, JMG & JK will all have some type of minutes restriction for age or health issues. JK isn't gonna log 28 minutes at center. So, rather than counting players, if you take into consideration likely rotation minutes mixed with nights off and injuries, there are way more minutes available, or the opportunity/need for minutes at the center spot.

  In addition, part of the value of your end bench is how they can contribute to the health of your stars and rotation guys. You just need someone to eat minutes so Dray and Loon are not stretched in the regular season. We can't gamble every year on Center Depth. We did last year and Dray missed 30+ games due to injury. We were lucky that the injury happened when it did. But maybe we aren't as lucky next time. We only have 2 legit regular season centers. So adding a third on a two-way is pretty cheap insurance at the position.

  Lastly, while I continue crusading for Trev, we haven't had a gifted passing big in addition to Draymond since Bogut. Many bigs who could efficiently and reliably move the ball on offense, but no truly gifted passers. Trevion is a gifted passer. And, putting on my A-Hole businessman hat, I would want Draymond to understand that he isn't the only big guy on the team who can pass guys open.

  Draymond's gifts as a passer are incredible. But so is the drop-off of a skill set when he comes off the floor. When Curry comes off the floor, Poole comes in and we get a pretty decent imitation of Curry's skill set. But when Draymond comes off, your offense changes dramatically. It would be nice to put a guy in there for Dray who could mimic some of his offensive skill set. We know there is a cliff drop on the other side of the ball, but its a cliff drop regardless. I see Looney/Trevion as Draymond split into two players. Wiseman will develop on his own and be his own creature. But in Looney/Trevion, you can replicate Draymond's skill set on each side of the court.

  That's my take. Good Morning Thread.

• crusty quips (6 ♡):

  I think that based on everything that the front office has said to fans and reporters would suggest that there is almost no chance of them trading Wiseman this season. They think that he can be a positive value to this team and open up a vertical dimension they have previously lacked. There is reason for the CS and the FO to be optimistic about his development. If this season does not go well for JW, I could see that being more of a realistic conversation in the future but the team is definitely not ready to write off their investment in him just yet.

Dub Nation HQ Comments of Week, plus open…

Bill Russell and JaMychal Green edition

• Goofus (6 ♡):

  Warriors posted this yesterday, but I didn’t see it shared here yet: Kuminga’s dunk mix tape

• A certain member’s gonna need a box of Kleenex because this is straight up basketball porn…and he had all these highlights in less than 1200 minutes.

  • Being (9 ♡):

    I expected this to be mostly wide open cuts, but to my surprise there were quite a few where he just beats his man off the dribble or in the post. So, I decided to re-watch and compile.

    *****************

    There were three main categories of dunks:

    Wide open cuts: 9

    JK beats his defender: 9

    JK outruns everyone in Transition: 8 (one self-created)

    There was also one from an O-reb: 1

    *****************

    So, if you give JK half credit for transition dunks b/c random bench player may also have been quick enough to get down court, no credit for the wide open cuts (any dunker can take advantage of Curry gravity), then over half of those dunks are self-created due to either his athleticism in transition or ability to beat the defender either in the post(2) or perimeter(7). That's amazing and a lot more than I expected.

    *****************

    Details below:

    Dunk #1: Wide open cut - Wiggs drive, draws 2, kick

    Dunk #2: Beats defender(post) - also beats help

    Dunk #3: Wide open cut - pick and roll (Klay draws double)

    Dunk #4: Beats defender (perim big from screen) - also beats help.

    Dunk #5: Wide open cut - Curry screen

    Dunk #6: Beats defender (perim big from screen)

    Dunk #7: Transition

    Dunk #8: Beats defender (perim big from screen) - also beats help.

    Dunk #9: Transition

    Dunk #10: O-reb

    Dunk #11: Beats defender (perim)

    Dunk #12: Transition (JK w/steal)

    Dunk #13: Transition

    Dunk #14: Wide open cut - defensive lapse (ball watching)

    Dunk #15: Wide open cut - defensive lapse (transition?)

    Dunk #16: Transition

    Dunk #17: Wide open cut - Curry gravity

    Dunk #18: Wide open cut - defensive lapse (Curry watching)

    Dunk #19: Wide open cut - Curry gravity

    Dunk #20: Transition

    Dunk #21: Wide open cut - Curry pnr

    Dunk #22: Beats defender (perim) - also beats rim protection help.

    Dunk #23: Beats defender(post)

    Dunk #24: Beats defender (perim) - also beats rim protection help, but set up by drive and kick.

    Dunk #25: Transition

    Dunk #26: Transition

    Dunk #27: Beats defender (perim) - also beats help (help kinda screens original defender).

• Asher B. (9 ♡):

  Hard to think of something more deliberately clickbaity than "Steph is one-dimensional." Steph is like some sci-fi movie tesseract or whatnot with so many dimensions, the human mind can't comprehend them all.

  I mean literally ALL he does is shoot threes off of catch and shoot opportunities created by others. OK not ALL, he also creates his own threes of the dribble. But that's it. Nothing else. Well, except he also drives to the rim and finishes at elite levels. DONE. Well, the best midrange shots and floaters. BUT NOT ONE OTHER ASPECT TO HIS GAME. OK? OK? OK then. Well, I mean, except that he's a phenomenal passer who will find the hot hand and the open guy dozens of times a game, or just keep the ball moving to the right spot. BUT NO OTHER DIMENSIONS. Unless you count being a great help defender. BUT THAT'S OUR ENTIRE LIST. Unless you count being a great guard rebounder. SEE HOW ONE-DIMENSIONAL THIS CLOWN IS???? Sorry, I forgot to add insanely great handles. NO MORE DIMENSIONS HERE. Well, there's also having the greatest fitness in the game and using that to keep defenses exhausted. And being double-teamed at half court to have the greatest gravity in the game BUT THAT'S IT, DIMENSIONALLY DEFICIENT. Oh wait and providing proven calm leadership, poise, a killer instinct and endless big shots in the clutch.

• Dilly (9 ♡):

  I would argue that "NBA player" Mike James [who is not good enough as a player to play in the NBA any longer] only has the ability to see one dimension. Therein lies the issue.

• Eric Apricot (8 ♡):

  KD also hand-picked Nash as coach and hand-kicked out Kenny Atkinson. Who galvanized the GSW schemes this year, so thanks KD, but still, a crappy look to be feuding with your chosen coach.

• Eric Apricot (7 ♡):

  I'm in the middle of reading this interesting piece.

Are there really 'win now' draft picks in the late-20s?

• Basically, the older win-now draft picks in the late 1st are sticking in the league at a lower rate than the younger picks.

• Chasing Rings... (7 ♡):

  “Welcome back to The Draymond Green Show, Honeymoon Edition!”

• Asher B. (6 ♡):

  This report sponsored by Aren't You Glad Your Team is Sane?

• E2148 (6 ♡):

  I was wondering when you were going to post this Sab.

  So to summarize: KD lobbies for Nash to take the HC job, stumps for Harden when his bestie Kyrie wants to get paid, demands a trade because Harden wanted out and Ky is still unreliable, and now threatens to hold out if he doesn’t get traded or Nash isn’t fired?

  Bold strategy Cotton, let’s see if it pays off.

  What a shitshow in Brooklyn

• Alas Phood Fight (6 ♡):

  Hanging on by a thread.

  Not that we are starving for content in this thing they call the off-season, but damn. How many times can I listen to the Lowe Post interview of Steve Kerr. How many times can I watch Windy get intriguingly evasive about Utah? How many times can I watch Perk use sign language to answer the question, "How many more titles will the Warriors win?" You know what they say, "The first thread is free." Next thing you know, you are selling your girlfriends clothes at Buffalo Exchange for a new Explain One Play by the guy selling Apricots on the corner. The cracks of the whips used by Byzantine monks mark the time until a new thread. The Brooklyn Monks roam the streets calling, "Bring out your dead!" while the living scrape their empty bowls.

  The off-season. Adam Silver, have pity.

Juan Toscano-Anderson and Baron Davis…

Dub Nation has spoken

• Chasing Rings... (8 ♡):

  Thanks all of you who are still in here for staying in the DNHQ gym and helping me work on my fan game this off season. It would have been easy to rest on last seasons monu-Mental post Championship high and come back out of shape for preseason. But that's not The Warriors Way.

  I'm working on getting my OG Thread ❤️ % up around the 90% mark (currently around 60%). The creators don't get enough credit and let's face it, it's the easiest ❤️ to make.

  My post game needs a bit of work; more consistent and efficient takes, add in some OT fadeaways, and try and kick it out to open up for and get others involved.

  Any other feedback let me know.

  Looking forward to my Sophomore Season!

• crusty quips (6 ♡):

  I think the way the vote broke for KD should underscore that HWFL is NOT just an award for the best players who have played for the Warriors or even the biggest contributors to their titles. It's a recognition that also measures your impact on the community, your relationship with the fans, your esteem in the eyes of your teammates, and other such hard-to-quantify but undoubtedly real aspects of what make someone an indelible part of this Warriors organization. That's why KD isn't a HWFL and JTA is (though I still voted for KD; to me his moodiness and his wanderlust do not detract from the dedication to winning during his time here and his sacrifice for the team in their last finals run).

• Eric Apricot (6 ♡):

  I kind of like the odd nature of the list. Like the Hall of Fame, there are some super weird decisions and it's blatantly unscientific, as it should be

  Also, Giannis most definitely was more popular in Dub Nation than KD at the time of the polling. Barry was not remotely close to HW and probably still isn't. I stand by these as accurate reflections of vocal Dub Nation at those polling times, even if I didn't support the decisions

• Eric Apricot (5 ♡):

  Some people have speculated on whether certain players would make HWFL. Every poll is a moment in time, but we have already polled (I'll let you guess where this is publicly available): "everyone from We Believe" and KD and the results are not exactly what people guessed.

  (spoiler alert in case you want to guess or stay unspoiled)

  .

  .

  .

  .

  Baron Davis. 88 / 0 / 12 / 0

  Monta Ellis. 82.3 / 1.6 / 14.5 / 1.6

  Jason Richardson. 78.5 / 3.2 / 14.6 / 3.8

  Matt Barnes. 76.1 / 0.9 / 22.1 / 0.9

  Coach Don Nelson. 72.6 / 2.8 / 22.6 / 1.9

  Al Harrington. 69.6 / 6.4 / 21.1 / 2.9

  Stephen Jackson. 68.1 / 2.8 / 26.4 / 2.8

  Andris Biedrins. 63.2 / 2.3 / 27.6 / 6.9

  Kevin Durant. 69.5 / 10.5 / 18 / 2

• Asher B. (4 ♡):

  I think we need to get absurdly ahead of this Warrior For Life thing for the sake of offseason fun. So I'm starting up the Future Warrior For Life betting pool. Now, we know that the Core Four are locks. But which of the following less proven players is most likely to earn future WFL status from the voters? Place your bets or critique my oddsmaking:

  Nico lol Mannion 10000-1, Justinian Jessup 1000-1,, Mac McLung 100-1, Santos 85-1, Patrick Baldwin 75-1, Rollins 75-1, JaMaychal Green 50-1, Moody 40-1, Donte 15-1, Wiseman 15-1, Kuminga 10-1, Poole 5-1.

  Caeser's is taking the bets. (The casino. Not the salad.)

  Parlay!! Kevin Durant, if he is never in a Dub uniform again, 10-1. (If he had never played for another team he'd be a lock). If he perish the thought ever is in a Dub uniform again --- then what?