Dec 11, 2022·edited Dec 12, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot
Pretty satisfying win, but the Celtics will play better next time we see them. Horford being out gave us a lot more leeway to take advantage of their bigs in drop position, and Tatum had maybe the worst game I've seen him play against us. Their percentage on 3's was mercifully low, which was only partly from us defending them well. Having Wiggins back will help us too of course.
Still, I love to see how Kuminga's BBIQ (or maybe just focus?) has improved because it's really paying off. His assist numbers are getting to be very solid, while still scoring and rebounding too! Looney and Draymond are incredible on defense especially when the refs are as generous on contact as they were last night (admittedly, they let maybe a bit *too much* go uncalled, but it was ok). Actually, probably my favorite thing about that crazy Kuminga dunk in the video is you can see in the replay, Tatum whacked him across the head and arms, causing the ball to bounce maybe out of bounds... but no whistle, so he just grabs the ball and dunks it. Great dedication to keep playing rather than complain about the obvious no-call.
Donte has such an old school PG feel about him. He only takes 3s in rhythm or under pressure from the clock and on his drives he’s pass first even when he gets good penetration. I was frustrated at first by his hesitancy near the rim but he definitely keeps the offense rolling. 🙂
So very glad to see Kuminga getting his minutes and thriving. What has frustrated me about Kerr and others is the prior view, that Kuminga is young and prone to error, so let's not play him.
First of all, he can't learn if he doesn't play. Trial and error.
But also: every single player has flaws. Steph can't protect the rim. Draymond can't shoot. Giannis can't hit free throws. And Kuminga stands in the wrong spot or doesn't make the right read or fouls. The goal is not to wait until players are perfect. It's to determine if, on balance, it's worth it to play them despite their flaws, and try to minimize their flaws -- for example by never having Looney in position to be a shooter. With Kuminga, even assuming he learns nothing new this year, I think Kerr should view him as a terrific on-ball defender, a good finisher at the rim with some spectacular potential in spots, a solid rebounder, a good but not great passer and screener, and an occasional ball handler. That's a lot of really good things, so good that they far outweigh his weakness, which is not knowing enough. The same has not yet been shown to be true, in my view, about Wiseman. His weaknesses such as slow to close out to shooters, or difficulty finishing through contact, are built into his physicality and harder to overcome despite assets like nice shooting touch, good lob threat. So when he plays it becomes a net negative... ya know?
“The MVP candidate, who has looked motivated this season by his NBA Finals struggles, was back in the doghouse. This time, Rocco’s owner chained him to it.” ---MTII
Will Kerr start to substitute DDV for Poole to close quarters when we don’t need scoring like he began doing with GP2. It could solve an issue with sloppy play and accelerate DDV’s integration.
Does anyone impartial (let's not consider the league impartial) keep track of violations called/not-called by player or team? Off-the-ball blocking/holding; traveling; double dribble; push-offs; illegal screens (or legal screens called "illegal")....
Several times I have seen a player catch the ball, dribble once stop look around and start dribbling again Happens all too often in a Pro Sport with Ref's who should know the first thing about this sport I learned in the first grade..
This was always the plan, right? The FO planned for JK, MM, and JW to step up this season and provide quality minutes. They just didn’t expect the utter collapse of the bench unit to start the season. Jk and MM were not full rotation players to end the season - they were spot players. They shouldn’t have been expected to be full rotation players to start the season. They should’ve been expected to grow into that role and we’re finally seeing it now. Jk has made the leap. MM is still making the leap but we can all see immense progress. The FO should’ve brought Damian and JTA back to solidify the early season and they obviously whiffed on JMG, the back up stretch 5.
Kuminga is becoming a very useful player for the W's at exactly the right moment. We are learning just how hard the team must play to repeat their championship run. Those losses to teams which should be bottom dwellers are due to playing with the wrong level of intensity. If those are wins, GS is right there atop the conference.
Dec 11, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball
I entirely like this award winning site but for me there is nothing like an Eric Apricot video and I woke up hoping for Kuminga. There is a reason I pay $5 a month rather than $50 a year- its the extra for appreciation.
In terms of basketball- the Warriors win changes the entire tableau- they are no longer a struggling loser who used to be champion but clearly are on the move. And they no longer need to trade their young players for Poetl- I never thought they should- they can be patient as Wiseman develops because Kuminga fills a hole. Only JaMichael Green remains a challenge , he needs to start making threes to open his game and start fouling less- which I think I see happening
Low key under rated part of the first 1/3 of the season: Kuminga's defensive emergence has to invoke fear in the rest of the league. If this team has historically had a soft spot, it hasn't been that we are undersized (despite what the talking heads say, we rarely lose to size); we tend to lose unexpectedly to young, physical, hyper athletic teams with lots of energy.
It isn't clear that anyone in the league other than Giannis is more athletic than Kuminga, Wiggins and Draymond. and Klay was the best 2 way guard in the league before his injuries.
GSW can now legitimately send out 4 wings capable of lock down defense and a point guard who is now an above average defender.
Dec 11, 2022·edited Dec 11, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot
As great as JK was in the 4th quarter he had a pretty rough 3rd but the extended minutes he's earning can hopefully even out his play. I'm pleasantly surprised how quickly he has become so much more valuable than JaMichael.
Dec 11, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot, punk basketball
Another enjoyable E1P, Mr. Apricot. And another stellar celebration audit.
I was up so high last night that I didn't go to bed until nearly 3am. Dill and the kittens had all been asleep for hours and woke up to eat again before I finally called it a night. None of us are moving much this morning.
Didn't realize they had a game today but down in SCW (Edited now that game is over):
PBJ: 25 pts / 5 reb / 9-12 FG / 1 tov / 6-9 3pt / +13
Wiseman: 24 pts / 16 reb / 2 ast / 3 blk / 3 tov / 2 pf / 11-13 FG / +0
Rollins: 24 pts / 9 reb / 7 ast / 2 tov / 1 stl / 5 pf / 9-20 FG / +12
Pretty satisfying win, but the Celtics will play better next time we see them. Horford being out gave us a lot more leeway to take advantage of their bigs in drop position, and Tatum had maybe the worst game I've seen him play against us. Their percentage on 3's was mercifully low, which was only partly from us defending them well. Having Wiggins back will help us too of course.
Still, I love to see how Kuminga's BBIQ (or maybe just focus?) has improved because it's really paying off. His assist numbers are getting to be very solid, while still scoring and rebounding too! Looney and Draymond are incredible on defense especially when the refs are as generous on contact as they were last night (admittedly, they let maybe a bit *too much* go uncalled, but it was ok). Actually, probably my favorite thing about that crazy Kuminga dunk in the video is you can see in the replay, Tatum whacked him across the head and arms, causing the ball to bounce maybe out of bounds... but no whistle, so he just grabs the ball and dunks it. Great dedication to keep playing rather than complain about the obvious no-call.
Donte has such an old school PG feel about him. He only takes 3s in rhythm or under pressure from the clock and on his drives he’s pass first even when he gets good penetration. I was frustrated at first by his hesitancy near the rim but he definitely keeps the offense rolling. 🙂
So very glad to see Kuminga getting his minutes and thriving. What has frustrated me about Kerr and others is the prior view, that Kuminga is young and prone to error, so let's not play him.
First of all, he can't learn if he doesn't play. Trial and error.
But also: every single player has flaws. Steph can't protect the rim. Draymond can't shoot. Giannis can't hit free throws. And Kuminga stands in the wrong spot or doesn't make the right read or fouls. The goal is not to wait until players are perfect. It's to determine if, on balance, it's worth it to play them despite their flaws, and try to minimize their flaws -- for example by never having Looney in position to be a shooter. With Kuminga, even assuming he learns nothing new this year, I think Kerr should view him as a terrific on-ball defender, a good finisher at the rim with some spectacular potential in spots, a solid rebounder, a good but not great passer and screener, and an occasional ball handler. That's a lot of really good things, so good that they far outweigh his weakness, which is not knowing enough. The same has not yet been shown to be true, in my view, about Wiseman. His weaknesses such as slow to close out to shooters, or difficulty finishing through contact, are built into his physicality and harder to overcome despite assets like nice shooting touch, good lob threat. So when he plays it becomes a net negative... ya know?
“The MVP candidate, who has looked motivated this season by his NBA Finals struggles, was back in the doghouse. This time, Rocco’s owner chained him to it.” ---MTII
Will Kerr start to substitute DDV for Poole to close quarters when we don’t need scoring like he began doing with GP2. It could solve an issue with sloppy play and accelerate DDV’s integration.
Does anyone impartial (let's not consider the league impartial) keep track of violations called/not-called by player or team? Off-the-ball blocking/holding; traveling; double dribble; push-offs; illegal screens (or legal screens called "illegal")....
Several times I have seen a player catch the ball, dribble once stop look around and start dribbling again Happens all too often in a Pro Sport with Ref's who should know the first thing about this sport I learned in the first grade..
This was always the plan, right? The FO planned for JK, MM, and JW to step up this season and provide quality minutes. They just didn’t expect the utter collapse of the bench unit to start the season. Jk and MM were not full rotation players to end the season - they were spot players. They shouldn’t have been expected to be full rotation players to start the season. They should’ve been expected to grow into that role and we’re finally seeing it now. Jk has made the leap. MM is still making the leap but we can all see immense progress. The FO should’ve brought Damian and JTA back to solidify the early season and they obviously whiffed on JMG, the back up stretch 5.
JW might get there by the end of the season.
Kuminga is becoming a very useful player for the W's at exactly the right moment. We are learning just how hard the team must play to repeat their championship run. Those losses to teams which should be bottom dwellers are due to playing with the wrong level of intensity. If those are wins, GS is right there atop the conference.
I entirely like this award winning site but for me there is nothing like an Eric Apricot video and I woke up hoping for Kuminga. There is a reason I pay $5 a month rather than $50 a year- its the extra for appreciation.
In terms of basketball- the Warriors win changes the entire tableau- they are no longer a struggling loser who used to be champion but clearly are on the move. And they no longer need to trade their young players for Poetl- I never thought they should- they can be patient as Wiseman develops because Kuminga fills a hole. Only JaMichael Green remains a challenge , he needs to start making threes to open his game and start fouling less- which I think I see happening
Low key under rated part of the first 1/3 of the season: Kuminga's defensive emergence has to invoke fear in the rest of the league. If this team has historically had a soft spot, it hasn't been that we are undersized (despite what the talking heads say, we rarely lose to size); we tend to lose unexpectedly to young, physical, hyper athletic teams with lots of energy.
It isn't clear that anyone in the league other than Giannis is more athletic than Kuminga, Wiggins and Draymond. and Klay was the best 2 way guard in the league before his injuries.
GSW can now legitimately send out 4 wings capable of lock down defense and a point guard who is now an above average defender.
That was immensely enjoyable
Championship level multi tasking for the win!
As great as JK was in the 4th quarter he had a pretty rough 3rd but the extended minutes he's earning can hopefully even out his play. I'm pleasantly surprised how quickly he has become so much more valuable than JaMichael.
Another enjoyable E1P, Mr. Apricot. And another stellar celebration audit.
I was up so high last night that I didn't go to bed until nearly 3am. Dill and the kittens had all been asleep for hours and woke up to eat again before I finally called it a night. None of us are moving much this morning.