Dub Nation HQ Rooting Guide, Play-in: OKC vs NOP, CHI vs TOR. Plus open thread.

Random season endings

Eric Apricot

Apr 12, 2023

253

You can also read the complete Dub Nation HQ Rooting Guide for Other Teams.

SB Nation GIF @SBNationGIF

STEPH CURRY IS EATING POPCORN

Playoff Matchup Considerations

The winner of OKC vs NOP goes on to fight the loser of MIN vs LAL for the #8 seed. This team would face DEN, and then possibly the winner of LAC vs PHX, and then finally might play GSW in the Western Conference Finals. So there are very close to zero matchup implications for GSW.

And now on to the petty stuff…

Oklahoma City Thunder

Ex-Warriors

None

Friends

None.

Unrequited Love

Jalen Williams was the runner-up in our 2022 DNHQ Draft Tournament, barely losing. There wasn’t a good chance that he’d drop to #28, but OKC took no chances by grabbing him unexpectedly high at #12.
A lot of people wanted Josh Giddey in 2021 (he was just edged out in the second round by Bouknight of all people).
Parts of Dub Nation really wanted to acquire Isaiah Joe. Jared Butler lost in the first round of the 2021 DNHQ Draft Tourney, but he was #13 on my board.

Warriors Villains

Maybe the whole OKC franchise, which was born out of oil fracking moguls essentially defrauding Seattle out of their Supersonics team.

Petty Rivalries

They’ve all barely been in the league, no time to build up rivalries…

Team Grudges

OKC was the best team in the early GSW dynasty and an outstanding foil to bring out the best from Game 6 Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. Also thanks for alienating Kevin Durant, and hosting Russell Westbrook's peak petulant stat-padding seasons. But now OKC is in a long rebuild, so who can really be too mad today. The current group of players seem likable enough.

New Orleans Pelicans

Ex-Warriors

Head Coach Willie Green got his start on the GSW coaching staff.

Unrequited Love

Parts of Dub Nation really wanted to acquire Trey Murphy III.
E.J. Liddell was the winner of the 2022 DNHQ Draft Tournament. He missed the season with a torn ACL and is now on a NOP two-way contract.

Warriors Villains

None.

Petty Rivalries

GM David Griffin was the architect of the LeBron Cavs 2.0. In retrospect, he had quite a lot on his plate, with LeBron extorting the Cavs to go all in every year, with Kyrie Irving being Kyrie, and controversial owner Dan Gilbert. He managed to handle the Anthony Davis extortion smoothly, rebuilding the team almost instantly.
CJ McCollum. Had Dynasty-era KD on a podcast and then kept stirring the pot on Twitter.
Jose Alvarado should be drifting into Annoying territory, but he seems to mostly use his powers to irritate Chris Paul, so he’s okay with us.
Larry Nance Jr played a minor role on the LeBron Cavs superteam.

Team Grudges

None?

Chicago Bulls

Ex-Warriors

None.

Friends

None.

Unrequited Love

Many in Dub Nation have pined for Alex Caruso.
Dalen Terry was a sleeper pick in the 2022 Draft and made it into the 2022 DNHQ Draft Tourney People’s Choice Group.

Warriors Villain (and Friend)

Patrick Beverley. Brash, chirpy, hard-nosed defender who has had lots of moments on-court mocking the Warriors and, well, everyone else. He irritated the Warriors in the playoffs both as a Rocket (through 2017) and Clipper. Even villains can have a soft side, as he is also a good friend of Stephen Curry. He gained credibility in Dub Nation through his rivalry with Chris Paul. Recently he talked about going to sleep early to guard Steph Curry and eating a nice steak dinner before guarding CP3.

Petty Rivalries

None. Hard to work up any emotions about this team.

Team Grudges

Being a joyless underachieving team is not grounds for a team grudge.

Toronto Raptors

Ex-Warriors

Otto Porter Jr. Played a huge role in the 2022 Championship. He’ll always be an Honorary Warrior For Life in my book, but on this site, he did not make the cut due to his short time with the team. Signed a big contract with TOR and then went out for the season with a foot injury.
Chris Boucher and Gary Trent Jr. were both on Warriors rosters and are used by the most neurotic Warriors fans as two examples of management incompetence. It sounds a little weird now, but when they each had their breakout moments, the prisoner-of-the-moment wailing was loud. I’ve written extensively (see name links) about why GSW couldn’t keep them.
Jeff Dowtin. Impressed in the 2021 Summer League, then was stolen away by ORL, then was grabbed by GSW on a two-way for part of 2021 before being waived.

Friends

None.

Unrequited Love

Scottie Barnes was the winner of the 2021 DNHQ Draft Tourney (he was placed in the special Boss Fight round as he was unlikely to drop to #7). TOR made sure of that, grabbing him way up high at #4.
Parts of Dub Nation have pined for Precious Achiuwa, Jakob Poeltl, Christian Koloko and Joe Wieskamp.

Warriors Villains

None

Petty Rivalries

Will Barton. The eyeball says he’s a Warriors Killer, even if the stats don’t back that up.

Team Grudges

Hard to get too mad at Canadians. It was pretty uncool when some loud Raptors fans celebrated KD’s injury in the 2019 Finals. It was also damn annoying at the end of the 2019 Finals when a bunch of Raptors fans stayed in the stands way overtime singing O Canada to close down Oracle Arena for good. But watching TOR spend several years in NBA purgatory has taken the edge off.