I was thinking another stretch 4-5 at roster spot #14 could be wise cos right now Dario’s really the only guy on the roster who does what he does. If they’ve deemed Rudy Gay is washed … Meyers Leonard? Or try to pry Kaminsky out of Europe?
It sure is more fun when the team wins. I have a real good feeling about both these rookies.
There's probably some early season overreactions in here, but I feel like, start of last season we had at least 4 guys on the main roster who were worse than all 13 players on the current roster, 5 if you count Andre because of his lack of availability. I guess maybe we haven't seen enough of Corey Joseph to be certain where he stacks up.
To top it off, several of the other guys on last year's roster started out slow. Donte was awful to begin the season. Klay, Draymond, way worse at the start of last year. GP2 didn't even make it back to the roster until midseason and even then he was a little limited by injury. Moses and Jonathan have certainly grown more reliable in that time.
Wiggins is pretty much the only player that started this season weaker than the previous one.
It's awesome to see basically everyone else, whether a new or returning face, get off to a better start than whoever started the season in their place last time. Clearly the team learned from last year and made appropriate adjustments (roster, training camp, etc).
Nothing personal against Donte, who always played hard for this team, but thinking back I can't believe I talked myself into the idea that he would be a viable replacement for GPII. The lesson I'll take from that experience is that the whole, "If he gives us 80% of Gary's defense, with a bit more ball-handling..." thing is just not adequate to the complexity of the sport or to the value of true outlier skills.
Same. I told myself, “80-90% of Donte’s D with worse finishing but better PG skills and a jumper!” The jumper and PG skills were a bit better with Donte, but man, as you allude to, there’s no replacing GP being one of the 2-3 most elite on-ball defenders in the league. And I think GP’s big edge in athleticism also shows up on the other end of the floor, in his far superior efficiency: .611 career TS (.678 as a Warrior) to Donte’s .551 , on similar volume.
The seemingly marginal differences add up, especially when you have also CP3 to replace Donte’s fairly ordinary playmaking skills.
As a big GP2 fan I was bummed the team didn't want to bring him back. I didn't buy into the "DDV will be an upgraded version" pitch; it seemed more accurate to say he was a budget replacement because the team "couldn't" afford to keep GP2. (I remember looking at Wiseman's salary at the start of the season and being like... well, they could've. By that point I was pretty convinced Wiseman wouldn't be a productive player until after his rookie contract was over anyway.)
Anyway, if you look at DDV as a player who commanded about half as much salary as GP2, that feels actually about right. He can create off the dribble and is a better passer, but as Nellie said, true outlier skills are a different story and you can't just calculate, "more of this, less of that, better overall!"
Plus, Donte couldn't figure out what foot to jump off of for a layup to save his life. He always got his approach steps wrong. A very odd shortcoming for an NBA level player.
I really wish I could find another community like this one to discuss other sports. Reddit and Niners Nation/MCC just don't have the same feel as here. <3
I've been on sports team sites for nearly 20 years now, and for 2-3 year stretches I have found some pretty smart baseball sites and basketball sites, even if DNHQ today is probably the best or second best I've ever found.
I've yet to find a football fan site even approaching readable discourse on average. Not sure if it's the lack of good public analytics, the general popularity of the NFL, or the audience demographics, but NFL team sites seem to aspire to be Youtube comment sections.
With injuries Suns had more limited options, but KD having the ball in end of game scenarios when he is blitzed by people has always been a precarious scenario. I seem to remember Warriors getting some good results vs KD Thunder in that 7 game series in trapping him at the end. When on the Dubs I can't remember for sure if this happened, but I feel like it did. Probably not really his fault and maybe more the physics of being 7 feet tall. But anyway, I'm not sure if I can recall seeing a play quite like that before.
Yeah Spurs did foul him, but that also seems a bit "par for the course" for last minute trapping scenarios. For whatever reason the league as far as I can remember often allows absolute mugging of players who stand still with the ball in final seconds. Not sure why, and I find it pretty annoying myself, but I've never seen any effort from the league to change it.
Edit: I mean it is so bad that often it even works against the defense, where they are intentionally trying to foul but the refs are so adverse to calling a foul in these scenarios that they don't, and time just expires.
IMO there was a bunch of incidental contact, and then KJ went all JK on KD and just legit ripped the ball away. If the refs are going to start calling that type of incidental contact in crunch time where it's not really gaining an advantage, they gotta start calling that in non-crunch time and we're gonna be seeing FT festivals...
I think the issue is the the non-KJ guy (not sure who it was) likely scraped KD in the eye area, which then made KD lose control for a second and put the ball in position for KJ to snatch it.
I don't think there's really an issue in calling his foul in non-crunch time, I mean generally I think scraping someone's eye is supposed to be a foul. But it's also a hard foul to identify because it generally amounts to only a few mm of contact, even though impactful. And in crunch time refs seem to more often lean on "if I'm not 100% sure there is contact, let it go"
I thought the eye scrape was from KJ and after he'd already stolen the ball, but maybe you're right that Jones got him right beforehand. Most players who've been scratched in the eye really react strongly. KD did not react very strongly... even afterward he was just sorta checking on it, not like "omg I just got scratched in the eyeball, and that @#$@#$% hurts!"
Brilliant E1P, so clear and shows off CP3’s marshaling of the youngins. And so delightful to see these rooks get this run. I don’t think last year’s two rookies ever showed us much. TJD and Podz are already so promising. Going to be a fun year!
Game thread now open: https://dubnationhq.com/p/game-5-gsw-vs-sacramento-plus-open
Warriors Injuries: Dario Saric: Questionable (Hip), Klay Thompson: Questionable (Knee), Jonathan Kuminga: Questionable (Knee)
Link: https://www.kolotv.com/sports/betting/2023/11/01/kings-vs-warriors-nba-injury-report/
I was thinking another stretch 4-5 at roster spot #14 could be wise cos right now Dario’s really the only guy on the roster who does what he does. If they’ve deemed Rudy Gay is washed … Meyers Leonard? Or try to pry Kaminsky out of Europe?
Wasn't there some unsavory thing about ML a while back? I don't remember the details.
He used an antisemitic word while gaming (i think). In the piece of reporting that I saw last year, he's done everything right since.
Shooting wing or Meyers Leonard, I'd be OK with.
I agree that we need a backup for Dario somehow. The way he plays, he's going to be injured at some point (like now, if the hip keeps him out).
It sure is more fun when the team wins. I have a real good feeling about both these rookies.
There's probably some early season overreactions in here, but I feel like, start of last season we had at least 4 guys on the main roster who were worse than all 13 players on the current roster, 5 if you count Andre because of his lack of availability. I guess maybe we haven't seen enough of Corey Joseph to be certain where he stacks up.
To top it off, several of the other guys on last year's roster started out slow. Donte was awful to begin the season. Klay, Draymond, way worse at the start of last year. GP2 didn't even make it back to the roster until midseason and even then he was a little limited by injury. Moses and Jonathan have certainly grown more reliable in that time.
Wiggins is pretty much the only player that started this season weaker than the previous one.
It's awesome to see basically everyone else, whether a new or returning face, get off to a better start than whoever started the season in their place last time. Clearly the team learned from last year and made appropriate adjustments (roster, training camp, etc).
Nothing personal against Donte, who always played hard for this team, but thinking back I can't believe I talked myself into the idea that he would be a viable replacement for GPII. The lesson I'll take from that experience is that the whole, "If he gives us 80% of Gary's defense, with a bit more ball-handling..." thing is just not adequate to the complexity of the sport or to the value of true outlier skills.
Same. I told myself, “80-90% of Donte’s D with worse finishing but better PG skills and a jumper!” The jumper and PG skills were a bit better with Donte, but man, as you allude to, there’s no replacing GP being one of the 2-3 most elite on-ball defenders in the league. And I think GP’s big edge in athleticism also shows up on the other end of the floor, in his far superior efficiency: .611 career TS (.678 as a Warrior) to Donte’s .551 , on similar volume.
The seemingly marginal differences add up, especially when you have also CP3 to replace Donte’s fairly ordinary playmaking skills.
As a big GP2 fan I was bummed the team didn't want to bring him back. I didn't buy into the "DDV will be an upgraded version" pitch; it seemed more accurate to say he was a budget replacement because the team "couldn't" afford to keep GP2. (I remember looking at Wiseman's salary at the start of the season and being like... well, they could've. By that point I was pretty convinced Wiseman wouldn't be a productive player until after his rookie contract was over anyway.)
Anyway, if you look at DDV as a player who commanded about half as much salary as GP2, that feels actually about right. He can create off the dribble and is a better passer, but as Nellie said, true outlier skills are a different story and you can't just calculate, "more of this, less of that, better overall!"
Plus, Donte couldn't figure out what foot to jump off of for a layup to save his life. He always got his approach steps wrong. A very odd shortcoming for an NBA level player.
Moral of the story: GPII needs to = WFL
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2023/10/nba-player-athleticism-physicality-evolution/675802/
(I can't remember if someone posted this here, or if I found it on my own...so here it is maybe again)
Great article.
Can you summarize for us pleebs stuck behind the pay wall?
https://www.removepaywall.com works
Having so much fun with the contrast of styles -- and the winning, of course. It feels like the joy is back and properly weaponized. :-)
"What's on the menu today Chef?"
"Something a bit different. A Chrispy stack of Spanish Spam pickled rolls with a side of flexed mussels."
"And for dessert?"
"Oh, one excellent plate of Epic Apricot Delight!!!"
I really wish I could find another community like this one to discuss other sports. Reddit and Niners Nation/MCC just don't have the same feel as here. <3
I've been on sports team sites for nearly 20 years now, and for 2-3 year stretches I have found some pretty smart baseball sites and basketball sites, even if DNHQ today is probably the best or second best I've ever found.
I've yet to find a football fan site even approaching readable discourse on average. Not sure if it's the lack of good public analytics, the general popularity of the NFL, or the audience demographics, but NFL team sites seem to aspire to be Youtube comment sections.
Spurs got a clutch win in the final seconds against the Suns in Phoenix. Both teams are now 2-2.
With injuries Suns had more limited options, but KD having the ball in end of game scenarios when he is blitzed by people has always been a precarious scenario. I seem to remember Warriors getting some good results vs KD Thunder in that 7 game series in trapping him at the end. When on the Dubs I can't remember for sure if this happened, but I feel like it did. Probably not really his fault and maybe more the physics of being 7 feet tall. But anyway, I'm not sure if I can recall seeing a play quite like that before.
Spurs actually fouled him, but Frank Vogel should've called a timeout instead of letting the Suns inbound.
Yeah Spurs did foul him, but that also seems a bit "par for the course" for last minute trapping scenarios. For whatever reason the league as far as I can remember often allows absolute mugging of players who stand still with the ball in final seconds. Not sure why, and I find it pretty annoying myself, but I've never seen any effort from the league to change it.
Edit: I mean it is so bad that often it even works against the defense, where they are intentionally trying to foul but the refs are so adverse to calling a foul in these scenarios that they don't, and time just expires.
IMO there was a bunch of incidental contact, and then KJ went all JK on KD and just legit ripped the ball away. If the refs are going to start calling that type of incidental contact in crunch time where it's not really gaining an advantage, they gotta start calling that in non-crunch time and we're gonna be seeing FT festivals...
I think the issue is the the non-KJ guy (not sure who it was) likely scraped KD in the eye area, which then made KD lose control for a second and put the ball in position for KJ to snatch it.
I don't think there's really an issue in calling his foul in non-crunch time, I mean generally I think scraping someone's eye is supposed to be a foul. But it's also a hard foul to identify because it generally amounts to only a few mm of contact, even though impactful. And in crunch time refs seem to more often lean on "if I'm not 100% sure there is contact, let it go"
I thought the eye scrape was from KJ and after he'd already stolen the ball, but maybe you're right that Jones got him right beforehand. Most players who've been scratched in the eye really react strongly. KD did not react very strongly... even afterward he was just sorta checking on it, not like "omg I just got scratched in the eyeball, and that @#$@#$% hurts!"
Brilliant E1P, so clear and shows off CP3’s marshaling of the youngins. And so delightful to see these rooks get this run. I don’t think last year’s two rookies ever showed us much. TJD and Podz are already so promising. Going to be a fun year!
Have I mentioned how much I love basketball season? Or E1Ps?
You can have your summer months ... give me an E1P and a glass of eggnog.
Wait.. we can have eggnog already?
In my area it always comes out right before Halloween. If you can get it, Southern Comfort vanilla spice is by far the MVP of nogs.
I was wondering the same thing. I haven't seen it yet. Maybe TRT is making it from scratch.
I'm in Boise, and it was in my Albertson's (Safeway) in the first week of October. Surprised the hell out of me.
Needless to say, I picked up a carton. If they had Eggnog Anonymous, I'd be there.
I've seen it in sm qty at Safeway and even airport Costco
Word
Based on the description of the play and players the only thing I would have been certain of several months ago was that it could not be the warriors