I mean ok there were some concerns in summer league after watching Cam straight up ball, but a Bust? Can’t recall a single person calling him that. But if he needs that added fuel, hey who am I to argue.
Brandin Podziemski
@brandinpodziem2
2 years ago at this time I had 17 DNP and only played garbage time, 1 year ago at this time I wasn’t on any draft boards, 5 months ago all I heard was that I was bust. Started the year out of the rotation and now I’m starting for the best franchise in the NBA!
Say what you will for the spirit of competition, but I for one enjoyed seeing the team make light work of weaker opposition this weekend.
One thing I'll say for Portland: I get why teams like to bottom out when they rebuild, and it's obviously a bad idea to get stuck perennially in the late lottery, but I sort of prefer where this team is at, losing games but staying in them, and retaining some competent players. They can (and probably will) still trade Brogdon, Grant, and maybe Ayton at the deadline, but for now they'e got a product I'd be willing to watch as a fan, and that isn't just playing completely unprofessional basketball every night. I imagine many Blazers fans would quibble with this—especially with the limited role Scoot is playing right now—but overall I think they're in a better place than some other recent tank crews have been.
Oh, hey. Dubs just won a back to back, leading by 20+ points late in both games, and allowing the starters to rest for a good chunk of the end of the 4th quarter.
Yes, the victims of this little streak were bad teams. But a crucial step for teams with playoff hopes is destroying the weak teams. Check.
And, run off winning streaks? 5 so far … check.
Beat good teams? Hi Boston! Check.
Demonstrate depth when key players are out or injured? Check.
I see some people talking about looking for trades for Wiggs and Dray, but we need to remember that this was an incredibly easy stretch that we just went through without Draymond. Draymond I think is close to untradeable despite how good we've looked. We're not going to get anyone that can replace what he brings.
Wiggins on the other hand...I still would only trade him if we can get someone that's guaranteed better without giving up too much. Siakam would be one but I don't know who we'll have to tack on to Wiggs to make it happen. I still think Wiggins is important to this team, and his disappearance seems pretty weird. He's shown flashes of the 2022 playoff Wiggs some games, but then will become completely invisible other games. Wiggins at his best I still trust more than Kuminga at this point, esp for the playoffs.
I saw a video on Reddit of Andre tearing into Wiggins for something he did last season. I think Wiggins is missing that kind of leadership from the sideline.
I don't see how they can not be tired of Draymond's... stuff. They love the guy and put up with his antics to get the good that he brings, but it's got to be exhausting dealing with his volatility and wondering if he's going to lose it at a critical time.
That's funny, I was also looking at the Bulls, but was trying to figure out how to get Caruso. Best I could conjure was Wiggins and Looney for Caruso and Vucevic.
Another fit for Wiggins might be the Knicks, and it'd be great to go after Hartenstein except now he's their starter so there's no way.
One of the best rim protecting bigs in the league, solid enough defensively in the perimeter, an elite rebounder, and an excellent passer whose prowess would be fully expressed in the Warriors system.
With that being said, we’ve already got a solid trio in Looney/Saric/TJD so I’d rather we look elsewhere for a scoring guard or a scoring wing with the ability to facilitate.
Not really imo. They’re both lockdown defenders, but Caruso’s more of a guard and GP plays more like a forward. Could play both fairly easily if you wanted. Caruso’s got more of an offensive game than GP as well.
I think if this were a class we'd have to take an incomplete. I can believe Wiggins coming back next game and being his old self, I can believe him never being his old self again, and everything in between. Front office may not have the luxury of waiting, who knows, but to me it seems like let's see what happens when we have the whole team and everyone is getting a chance and against good teams.
I agree with that on Wiggins, I just don’t think it’s worth tacking on a lot of draft capital to get Siakam when we know Wiggins is capable of being the 2nd best player on a championship team.
Yah, Bob fucked that offseason up, big time. He coulda traded JW for something good, re-signed GP2, and still had a mid-level exception to play with. Instead, we got injured GP2 mid-season, and the excellence of JMG.
I'm not so sure about that "much". They were pretty good last year, they just had fewer chances.
Kuminga is making better decisions but not by that much, and Moody is only slightly better. What I think is that they both needed playing time and need more.
> I'm not so sure about that "much". They were pretty good last year, they just had fewer chances.
> Kuminga is making better decisions but not by that much, and Moody is only slightly better. What I think is that they both needed playing time and need more.
And they needed playing time for two different dimensional reasons: 1)To improve skils/acclimate to the NBA and 2)To manifest that the coach did not distrust them. Because, as Kenny "the Jet says, "The coach can't give you confidence. But he can take it away."
Rockets have the 2nd best defense in the league and have a very good home record (12-2; lost only to the Warriors and the Hawks at home). The reasons why they aren't on top of the West like the Wolves are because of their road record (3-10) and their offense (22nd in the league).
Has anyone seen my friend? Please understand, we're not very worried yet. He's not exactly missing, but I really haven't seen much of him and I'm getting a *little* worried. Any information you can provide would be great. He's 6'5", his name is Moses. I don't really know where he's been lately.
Moody made the play of the game, in my opinion, when he picked Brogdon clean at half-court and fed Steph for an easy layup. Blazers had just cut the lead to 6 and Dubs were on the verge of a collapse.
I think it's important to recognize roles on this team. Moody has a very similar skill set to Klay, whereas Podz is much more swiss-army knife. So as Klay has been playing well, Moody doesn't get as many minutes. Podz has been taking Wiggs minutes and JK has been taking Dray's minutes, and TJD has been taking Loon/Dray/Saric minutes.
MM is the 4th kid on the outside looking in because Klay has been on a heater.
Kerr is all over it. It wouldn't surprise me to see Moses get more minutes to get untracked. I think that's why he was playing in garbage time last night.
It's kind of nuts. With Podz and TJD pretty much demanding 20 minutes a night now, we're down three rotation-level players and still can't find enough minutes for everyone.
I think it is as simple as Kerr wanting secondary ballhandling on the floor at all times, so when Draymond is out the only other options are Podz/CP3/Joseph so two of those guys (and/or Curry) are always going to be on the floor and then that makes it a lot harder to find playing time for Moody.
After GP2's injury, Moody averaged 25 MPG in the five games they played that Draymond also played in. Since Draymond got suspended against Phoenix, Moody has averaged 17 minutes and that includes some extended garbage time the last two games.
He was the player most affected by Draymond's suspension, I think.
In addition to ball-handling and just bizarrely good rebounding by Podz, there is the additional factor that while Moses has clearly improved, and has improved his off ball movement quite a bit, the offense still runs more fluidly with fewer catch-and-hold-the-ball stops when Klay is moving without the ball (which he has finally decided to do again) and Podz is in. Podz has the highly-rated GS offensive virtue of moving all the time.
I hear you, but he’s also got a way more consistent and larger role this year. Last year he only played in ~75% of games and averaged 13 min per game. This year he’s played in every game, averaging 19 min per game. I’m just happy he’s getting consistent minutes instead of DNPs, even if it seems like he could play a bit more.
The last couple of games had looked like he was afraid, or at least hesitated in shooting threes. The surprised and disappointed me. I think he needs a little encouragement and maybe a bit more success, though he has been playing more recently we are about to see a fairly unique Crunch very few teams and a little of the world history have there been so many players it makes sense to play 12. And that doesn’t include any two-way player time other than after the game is largely over and then they squeezing in their third point, it’s a riddle I would sell if I were her by telling everyone to run more and expend more energy in less minutes with waves of substituting (but that may not be a good workable strategy but players like Clay who are there stride when they have the patience of long minutes )
Well, that last Denver game will be at home. And, by then, TJD will be the clear favorite for MVP, and we won't really have a problem with Jokic. No worries!
I mean, 19 teams are .500 or better, and two of the teams under .500 are the nets and the grizzlies. There’s really just not that many easy games on the schedule, and then half the “easy” games are on the road.
Time for a shoutout to Esteban Kerr. I've been on his case in the playoffs last year and early this year for being too rigid about playing vets, and leaving Kuminga in the witness protection program. I stand by that.
But to Kerr's credit he has now done the difficult thing and increased young minutes at the expense of vet minutes. I could have guessed Wiggins would be benched, heck even my dog was advocating for it; but I did not then expect a three guard Podz-Klay-Steph lineup and it's been kinda genius. And to my mind playing time has really been the only big Stefano Kerr problem. He's been great otherwise. He's been hammering and hammering on fewer-fouls-and-turnovers and whaddaya know, it's working. Fewer of both in recent games and we're winning.
I think Draymond causes a lot of turnovers but not in the usual way. He simply is so devoted to pushing pace, which is the right call; but then he and others are more prone to making mistakes. He's not a turnover machine, that's not my point. It's just easier when CP is walking the ball up. But kudos to TJD and Kuminga and Podz for playing a lot of minutes without fouling, that's crucial. And kudos to Etienne Kerr for excellent coaching.
I don’t really think so, but are Dray and Wiggins now superfluous? With TJD, Podz and JK all stepping up, and CP3 as backup PG/shot creator, it’s got me thinking a lot about what the best rotation is for playoff position and the playoffs. Wiggins and Dray are really expensive 8th/9th men.
So much depends on which version of Dray/Wiggs we get. The best, or the worst? I think Wiggins can return to peak form, at least in theory. Draymond might be able to, but I’m less confident of that. Even slightly less than peak Draymond is still probably better than JK or Podz as a starter. But much less than peak/drama causing Dray is increasingly a liability. And then there’s the ‘can GP2 stay healthy’ question to make decisions harder.
Of course moving them is a whole different problem - trading their contracts while their value is at a nadir may be impossible or just super unattractive. So maybe a moot point.
Plenty of time to figure this out with the trade deadline still distant, but I’m sure Warriors management is thinking about this stuff.
Certainly not, but no one in the top ten of the rotation is for a good team. I think it's as you say, a question of which version we get, and how and how often they are used. Wiggins can be a pretty devastating attacker when paired with Steph and Klay, not sure how well he can play with a CP/Saric unit. But the same is true for anyone, like my boy Kuminga. He's of course way better with steph than with not. Get 'em all healthy and let Kerr sort 'em out. And by healthy I mean in spirit and all.
I would argue that Wiggs is more essential to the defense than the offense. When Wiggs is in top form, I still think he's the best on-ball defender we have.
GPII and JK are second and third, in some order (I'd probably give you a different answer in different weeks).
I want to see the new look Warriors play more than the Celtics (sans Kristaps) before I will start considering whether either Andrew or Draymond are superfluous. The team definitely is playing with more energy than the tail of their march of death, but the schedule is softer than my hands. Neither is really replaced by the skillset on display, so it's a value add (assuming they recover their forms). I expect Kerr will largely roll with this rotation if it continues winning after GP2 and Dray get back (esp if they can get the Denver game!)
Could be! I hope/ think that Dray will be on a minutes restriction since he'll be coming back and presumably a bit out of gameday shape. If that's true, they'd probably want him for closing minutes and to keep him off the bench to begin with.
Game shape =/= in shape I think? I know he's working out, but I'd assume the intensity of a game is hard to replicate. That's partially based off players coming back off injury though, so I could be wrong
Kerr will probably revert to the old starting and closing lineups. Kerr will manage Dray out of fear of Dray's response. Anyone here see Dray coming back and being OK with coming off the bench in, say, game 7 of his return?
If they're on like a 18 game winning streak I think they could convince Dray to come off the bench if he's closing. I don't think Draymond is so far gone that he'd sabotage the team if they're playing. I agree they need to be playing very well for that to happen though
I never really watched Podziemski's college tape, all I knew about him was that he was a advanced stats darling but I just assumed with Curry/Klay/CP/GP2/Moody we didn't really need another guard.
From the moment I watched him in summer league, I was pleasantly surprised by his tough defense, good decision making and passing (even with all the turnovers), and satisfied to see that his rebounding had translated. While he struggled with shooting, I hoped that it was just a slump and he'd regain his form.
When I watched Podz in preseason, I was ecstatic to see that his tough defense from Summer League seemingly translated to the actual NBA AND he was cleaning up his turnovers while maintaining his excellent decision making/passing. His scoring was still off and without his shooting being a threat forcing opposing players to close out, his lack of explosiveness was evident. However, I also took notice of Podz's ability to decelerate on the dime and the body control to sliver into open space.
When I've watched Poz this season, I've noticed how his solid defense/excellent rebounding/good decision making and passing has merged together with an efficient three point shot and good deceleration/body control to make a highly effective basketball player. There is a reason why Kerr can't take him off the court. There is a reason why I can't take my eyes off him when he plays.
With both rooks, I'm concerned that their production will follow that rookie trend of: rooks exploding onto scene, opposing teams scout, learn and counter, a lull, then rooks overcome increased pressure (hopefully) etc..
ex: Podz seems comfortable around the rim, teams react and prevent/guard to counter at rim, and he hopefully pulls out his college floater game, and more.
I followed a very similar trajectory to you Arash! BP feels like the steal of the draft based off his draft position; even if he doesn't add anything meaningful to his game, he already feels like a solid role player which I never could have guessed based off his summer league
I think as a natural part of his development, his 3 ball will get more consistent (not that it's bad now), and he can increase his number of attempts a bit. The same with the floater. That will help him compensate for the league scouting him better.
My irrational good feeling has been rather thoroughly substantiated so far.
I have initial belief that my irrational good feeling is becoming an irrationally great feeling.
I’m sure someone has a better idea though I love when you say, you have an irrationally good feeling But want to acknowledge when you first wrote it I thought that good feeling was irrational
The post game pressers are typically pretty dull, but last night’s had a few juicy tidbits. Podz was talking about how the current starting group is working - he and JK take the two most difficult defensive assignments and that frees up Steph and Klay to conserve energy and focus on offensive opportunities. Something to watch for.
I mean I don't really know if that can be it if the two guys they replaced were Wiggins and Draymond. I think Wiggins was really just dragging down the team with his poor play tbh. Klay is being credited for better shot selection but maybe it's because the shots are generally easier without Wiggins on the floor stinking it up.
That's interesting; I hadn't really thought about Wiggs' problems being a direct cause of Klay's bad shot selection. It could at least be a contributing factor because the offense was breaking down, and Klay would shoot out of desperation. I don't think that's the whole reason — I think Klay did have passing opportunities he didn't take — but yeah, maybe that is part of it.
Wiggins was firing away and never passing. Klay probably figured his bad shots were better than a Wiggins bad shot or turnover. Now Klay seems to trust that the ball will move to a good shot if he gives it up so he’s even anticipating passes he can make even as the ball is swinging to him.
Get a black hole out of the lineup and suddenly everyone is playing and moving with more energy and trust.
Wiggins work better with the bench group as the guy to score and Cp3 setting him up for better shots. Our starting group needs everyone to screen and pass multiple times each possession for a better shot.
Kuminga is doing this more as of late as shown in his increased asts.
Steph as GOAT?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgRwpuDivl4
Gil's Arena debates.
I mean ok there were some concerns in summer league after watching Cam straight up ball, but a Bust? Can’t recall a single person calling him that. But if he needs that added fuel, hey who am I to argue.
Brandin Podziemski
@brandinpodziem2
2 years ago at this time I had 17 DNP and only played garbage time, 1 year ago at this time I wasn’t on any draft boards, 5 months ago all I heard was that I was bust. Started the year out of the rotation and now I’m starting for the best franchise in the NBA!
I don’t think there was much bust talk here, but there was a lot on Twitter/Youtube.
A lot of concern about his shot, though. I thought his shooting might cause him not to stick. Plus his defense was a question mark.
I'm sure he heard a lot of negativity.
Is this real?
Say what you will for the spirit of competition, but I for one enjoyed seeing the team make light work of weaker opposition this weekend.
One thing I'll say for Portland: I get why teams like to bottom out when they rebuild, and it's obviously a bad idea to get stuck perennially in the late lottery, but I sort of prefer where this team is at, losing games but staying in them, and retaining some competent players. They can (and probably will) still trade Brogdon, Grant, and maybe Ayton at the deadline, but for now they'e got a product I'd be willing to watch as a fan, and that isn't just playing completely unprofessional basketball every night. I imagine many Blazers fans would quibble with this—especially with the limited role Scoot is playing right now—but overall I think they're in a better place than some other recent tank crews have been.
Simons is not winning lead player material. I’d be bummed if My team might be building around him
Oh, hey. Dubs just won a back to back, leading by 20+ points late in both games, and allowing the starters to rest for a good chunk of the end of the 4th quarter.
Yes, the victims of this little streak were bad teams. But a crucial step for teams with playoff hopes is destroying the weak teams. Check.
And, run off winning streaks? 5 so far … check.
Beat good teams? Hi Boston! Check.
Demonstrate depth when key players are out or injured? Check.
They’re giving us hope!
5 games is the longest current win streak in the West and 2nd only to the Bucks’ 7 game streak
'Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul' !
Happy holidays, everyone!
“And sings the tune without the words / and never stops at all”
To you, too!
I see some people talking about looking for trades for Wiggs and Dray, but we need to remember that this was an incredibly easy stretch that we just went through without Draymond. Draymond I think is close to untradeable despite how good we've looked. We're not going to get anyone that can replace what he brings.
Wiggins on the other hand...I still would only trade him if we can get someone that's guaranteed better without giving up too much. Siakam would be one but I don't know who we'll have to tack on to Wiggs to make it happen. I still think Wiggins is important to this team, and his disappearance seems pretty weird. He's shown flashes of the 2022 playoff Wiggs some games, but then will become completely invisible other games. Wiggins at his best I still trust more than Kuminga at this point, esp for the playoffs.
I saw a video on Reddit of Andre tearing into Wiggins for something he did last season. I think Wiggins is missing that kind of leadership from the sideline.
Iirc, That was during the finals after Wiggins fell asleep on an inbound. He needs more than that, I think
I wondered if he lost something after the way the Punch was handled and JP was traded. That was his best friend on the team.
I don’t really want to trade anyone, but:
If Wiggins is traded, I’ll just assume the team is operating with more knowledge about what’s going on with him than we do and be ok with it.
Same with Draymond. Wouldn’t blame them for being sick of his shit.
I’d be alright with CP3 going, because Podz is making him increasingly less important.
I don't see how they can not be tired of Draymond's... stuff. They love the guy and put up with his antics to get the good that he brings, but it's got to be exhausting dealing with his volatility and wondering if he's going to lose it at a critical time.
I’ve got my eyes on Demar Derozan or Zach Lavine for Wiggins.
That's funny, I was also looking at the Bulls, but was trying to figure out how to get Caruso. Best I could conjure was Wiggins and Looney for Caruso and Vucevic.
Another fit for Wiggins might be the Knicks, and it'd be great to go after Hartenstein except now he's their starter so there's no way.
Everyone here knows my love for Hartenstein.
One of the best rim protecting bigs in the league, solid enough defensively in the perimeter, an elite rebounder, and an excellent passer whose prowess would be fully expressed in the Warriors system.
With that being said, we’ve already got a solid trio in Looney/Saric/TJD so I’d rather we look elsewhere for a scoring guard or a scoring wing with the ability to facilitate.
Wouldn't Caruso obviate GP's role?
Not really imo. They’re both lockdown defenders, but Caruso’s more of a guard and GP plays more like a forward. Could play both fairly easily if you wanted. Caruso’s got more of an offensive game than GP as well.
Yes. If/when healthy.
I think if this were a class we'd have to take an incomplete. I can believe Wiggins coming back next game and being his old self, I can believe him never being his old self again, and everything in between. Front office may not have the luxury of waiting, who knows, but to me it seems like let's see what happens when we have the whole team and everyone is getting a chance and against good teams.
I agree with that on Wiggins, I just don’t think it’s worth tacking on a lot of draft capital to get Siakam when we know Wiggins is capable of being the 2nd best player on a championship team.
Plus Siakam would be a very expensive rental on an expiring deal.
I agree. I am not in the mood to trade anyone, myself.
There is talk about trading you?
My kids have been agitating for it for years but they can’t get anyone to take me on.
That's the problem. You can want to make a trade, but you still need a partner...
Didn't Sleepy try to trade you a year or two ago?
They haven't attached enough compensation. Those 1-20 protected FRP's just don't move the needle enough.
Salaries don't match
Always.
So far the only offer is Dr. Phil, so no deal.
But what if they threw in Frasier??
(jk, obviously AB is untouchable)
Here is your 'things are better now' moment:
Last year, when we were down players, we were playing (bigs to smalls): Wiseman/JMG, Lamb (and later in the season, Moody), and Ty.
This year, we are playing: TJD/Saric, JK/Moody, and Podz/CP3 (edit: and Cojo, but not much).
Yah, Bob fucked that offseason up, big time. He coulda traded JW for something good, re-signed GP2, and still had a mid-level exception to play with. Instead, we got injured GP2 mid-season, and the excellence of JMG.
Ty was good though
No argument. I was bummed he left. He's better than Cojo (so far).
He’s a much better scorer, but cojo’s a much better defender. Think it’s a bit of a wash tbh.
Wow. That was so much worse. Good reminder post
And JK and Moody are much improved vs last season.
I'm not so sure about that "much". They were pretty good last year, they just had fewer chances.
Kuminga is making better decisions but not by that much, and Moody is only slightly better. What I think is that they both needed playing time and need more.
> I'm not so sure about that "much". They were pretty good last year, they just had fewer chances.
> Kuminga is making better decisions but not by that much, and Moody is only slightly better. What I think is that they both needed playing time and need more.
And they needed playing time for two different dimensional reasons: 1)To improve skils/acclimate to the NBA and 2)To manifest that the coach did not distrust them. Because, as Kenny "the Jet says, "The coach can't give you confidence. But he can take it away."
They are much more consistent. Kuminga seems to have completely stopped letting bad calls take him out of the play, which is a big change to my eye
Last night at times I thought JK showed handles he did not have last season.
> They are much more consistent. Kuminga seems to have completely stopped letting bad calls take him out of the play, which is a big change to my eye
Maybe Dray will learn that skill someday.
Maybe always playing with an edge, which seems to be contagious around Draymond, has some negatives.
I think there’s a saying that applies here about old dogs, 3 weeks of counseling, and new tricks
Nice little puff piece vid about the three kids:
https://youtu.be/CGMvucY2qBs?si=5cLuXw6rsh_uzRy0
I enjoyed that. Thanks
Strength of schedule played: http://powerrankingsguru.com/nba/strength-of-schedule.php
1. Spurs (4-24)
2. Kings (17-11)
3. Warriors (15-14)
4. Celtics (22-6)
5. Rockets (15-12)
6. Cavaliers (17-13)
7. Bulls (13-18)
8. Hawks (12-17)
9. Raptors (11-18)
10. Pistons (2-27)
...
18. Lakers (16-14)
19. Pelicans (17-13)
20. Clippers (17-12)
...
26. Blazers
27. 76ers
28. Heat
29. Suns
30. Bucks
I keep writing off the Rockets - but maybe I shouldn't.
Rockets have the 2nd best defense in the league and have a very good home record (12-2; lost only to the Warriors and the Hawks at home). The reasons why they aren't on top of the West like the Wolves are because of their road record (3-10) and their offense (22nd in the league).
Who’s their defensive anchor?
Sengun is my guess. They also have Smith Jr., Tate, and Brooks playing great defense as well.
Celts have an easier sched coming up? Uh-oh.... And Bucks 'last'? Hmmmm...
Has anyone seen my friend? Please understand, we're not very worried yet. He's not exactly missing, but I really haven't seen much of him and I'm getting a *little* worried. Any information you can provide would be great. He's 6'5", his name is Moses. I don't really know where he's been lately.
Moody made the play of the game, in my opinion, when he picked Brogdon clean at half-court and fed Steph for an easy layup. Blazers had just cut the lead to 6 and Dubs were on the verge of a collapse.
I think it's important to recognize roles on this team. Moody has a very similar skill set to Klay, whereas Podz is much more swiss-army knife. So as Klay has been playing well, Moody doesn't get as many minutes. Podz has been taking Wiggs minutes and JK has been taking Dray's minutes, and TJD has been taking Loon/Dray/Saric minutes.
MM is the 4th kid on the outside looking in because Klay has been on a heater.
Here's my not-so-wild guess.
Kerr is all over it. It wouldn't surprise me to see Moses get more minutes to get untracked. I think that's why he was playing in garbage time last night.
It's kind of nuts. With Podz and TJD pretty much demanding 20 minutes a night now, we're down three rotation-level players and still can't find enough minutes for everyone.
I think it is as simple as Kerr wanting secondary ballhandling on the floor at all times, so when Draymond is out the only other options are Podz/CP3/Joseph so two of those guys (and/or Curry) are always going to be on the floor and then that makes it a lot harder to find playing time for Moody.
After GP2's injury, Moody averaged 25 MPG in the five games they played that Draymond also played in. Since Draymond got suspended against Phoenix, Moody has averaged 17 minutes and that includes some extended garbage time the last two games.
He was the player most affected by Draymond's suspension, I think.
In addition to ball-handling and just bizarrely good rebounding by Podz, there is the additional factor that while Moses has clearly improved, and has improved his off ball movement quite a bit, the offense still runs more fluidly with fewer catch-and-hold-the-ball stops when Klay is moving without the ball (which he has finally decided to do again) and Podz is in. Podz has the highly-rated GS offensive virtue of moving all the time.
You posted something similar yesterday and it’s a great observation. Yeah, I think this is the primary reason.
I actually liked how he got some baseline midrange jumpers last game. Also had that steal+assist. Feels like the slow burn will pay off eventually.
Can you describe him a little more? Is he an upbeat guy? Or does he seem a bit ...
Mercurial? Unpredictable? Temperamental? Emotional?
Nah. My boi is solid as the Rock of Gibraltar
Oh he's Moody alright but in a good way. Don't ask me what the heck that means.
As in Kool - Moo -Dee?
I hear you, but he’s also got a way more consistent and larger role this year. Last year he only played in ~75% of games and averaged 13 min per game. This year he’s played in every game, averaging 19 min per game. I’m just happy he’s getting consistent minutes instead of DNPs, even if it seems like he could play a bit more.
The last couple of games had looked like he was afraid, or at least hesitated in shooting threes. The surprised and disappointed me. I think he needs a little encouragement and maybe a bit more success, though he has been playing more recently we are about to see a fairly unique Crunch very few teams and a little of the world history have there been so many players it makes sense to play 12. And that doesn’t include any two-way player time other than after the game is largely over and then they squeezing in their third point, it’s a riddle I would sell if I were her by telling everyone to run more and expend more energy in less minutes with waves of substituting (but that may not be a good workable strategy but players like Clay who are there stride when they have the patience of long minutes )
https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/warriors-christmas-day-clash-vs-nuggets-kicks-off-brutal-stretch/1684354/
Next 5 games: Denver, Miami, Dallas, Orlando, Denver, average winning rate of .628.
I keep waiting for the easy part of the schedule to show up. I guess the last week was it, back to the grind.
Well, that last Denver game will be at home. And, by then, TJD will be the clear favorite for MVP, and we won't really have a problem with Jokic. No worries!
Brace yourself: they may only win four of five
Yep, I agree. That dang ORL game is clearly a trap!
(wrote that and then looked at their record - yikes!)
I mean, 19 teams are .500 or better, and two of the teams under .500 are the nets and the grizzlies. There’s really just not that many easy games on the schedule, and then half the “easy” games are on the road.
Time for a shoutout to Esteban Kerr. I've been on his case in the playoffs last year and early this year for being too rigid about playing vets, and leaving Kuminga in the witness protection program. I stand by that.
But to Kerr's credit he has now done the difficult thing and increased young minutes at the expense of vet minutes. I could have guessed Wiggins would be benched, heck even my dog was advocating for it; but I did not then expect a three guard Podz-Klay-Steph lineup and it's been kinda genius. And to my mind playing time has really been the only big Stefano Kerr problem. He's been great otherwise. He's been hammering and hammering on fewer-fouls-and-turnovers and whaddaya know, it's working. Fewer of both in recent games and we're winning.
I think Draymond causes a lot of turnovers but not in the usual way. He simply is so devoted to pushing pace, which is the right call; but then he and others are more prone to making mistakes. He's not a turnover machine, that's not my point. It's just easier when CP is walking the ball up. But kudos to TJD and Kuminga and Podz for playing a lot of minutes without fouling, that's crucial. And kudos to Etienne Kerr for excellent coaching.
It’s particularly remarkable how Kanga has suddenly gone from overfouling to almost never fouling
Wonder how much of it is refs allowing more contact vs an actual change in how he’s defending.
And how much of that is not having Dray screaming at them the whole game.
In general 5v5 is easier to play (and win) than 8v5
"LIVE" Steph Curry & Chris Paul Duel In Christmas Classic | NBA Classic Game | NBA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQxm6yUAjMQ
For a moment I misread this as “Duet in Christmas Classic” — would have wanted to see that!
I don’t really think so, but are Dray and Wiggins now superfluous? With TJD, Podz and JK all stepping up, and CP3 as backup PG/shot creator, it’s got me thinking a lot about what the best rotation is for playoff position and the playoffs. Wiggins and Dray are really expensive 8th/9th men.
So much depends on which version of Dray/Wiggs we get. The best, or the worst? I think Wiggins can return to peak form, at least in theory. Draymond might be able to, but I’m less confident of that. Even slightly less than peak Draymond is still probably better than JK or Podz as a starter. But much less than peak/drama causing Dray is increasingly a liability. And then there’s the ‘can GP2 stay healthy’ question to make decisions harder.
Of course moving them is a whole different problem - trading their contracts while their value is at a nadir may be impossible or just super unattractive. So maybe a moot point.
Plenty of time to figure this out with the trade deadline still distant, but I’m sure Warriors management is thinking about this stuff.
are Dray and Wiggins now superfluous?
Certainly not, but no one in the top ten of the rotation is for a good team. I think it's as you say, a question of which version we get, and how and how often they are used. Wiggins can be a pretty devastating attacker when paired with Steph and Klay, not sure how well he can play with a CP/Saric unit. But the same is true for anyone, like my boy Kuminga. He's of course way better with steph than with not. Get 'em all healthy and let Kerr sort 'em out. And by healthy I mean in spirit and all.
I would argue that Wiggs is more essential to the defense than the offense. When Wiggs is in top form, I still think he's the best on-ball defender we have.
GPII and JK are second and third, in some order (I'd probably give you a different answer in different weeks).
Defense has been worsening and it’s mostly hidden because of bad opponents. Dray and wig essential
Good Wiggs essential. Bad Wiggs made D atrocious
I want to see the new look Warriors play more than the Celtics (sans Kristaps) before I will start considering whether either Andrew or Draymond are superfluous. The team definitely is playing with more energy than the tail of their march of death, but the schedule is softer than my hands. Neither is really replaced by the skillset on display, so it's a value add (assuming they recover their forms). I expect Kerr will largely roll with this rotation if it continues winning after GP2 and Dray get back (esp if they can get the Denver game!)
I hope you’re right about the new starting 5, but I doubt it. I’d bet that Dray will be back in the starting lineup replacing Podz when he returns.
Could be! I hope/ think that Dray will be on a minutes restriction since he'll be coming back and presumably a bit out of gameday shape. If that's true, they'd probably want him for closing minutes and to keep him off the bench to begin with.
He won’t be out of shape
Game shape =/= in shape I think? I know he's working out, but I'd assume the intensity of a game is hard to replicate. That's partially based off players coming back off injury though, so I could be wrong
Kerr will probably revert to the old starting and closing lineups. Kerr will manage Dray out of fear of Dray's response. Anyone here see Dray coming back and being OK with coming off the bench in, say, game 7 of his return?
If they're on like a 18 game winning streak I think they could convince Dray to come off the bench if he's closing. I don't think Draymond is so far gone that he'd sabotage the team if they're playing. I agree they need to be playing very well for that to happen though
I never really watched Podziemski's college tape, all I knew about him was that he was a advanced stats darling but I just assumed with Curry/Klay/CP/GP2/Moody we didn't really need another guard.
From the moment I watched him in summer league, I was pleasantly surprised by his tough defense, good decision making and passing (even with all the turnovers), and satisfied to see that his rebounding had translated. While he struggled with shooting, I hoped that it was just a slump and he'd regain his form.
When I watched Podz in preseason, I was ecstatic to see that his tough defense from Summer League seemingly translated to the actual NBA AND he was cleaning up his turnovers while maintaining his excellent decision making/passing. His scoring was still off and without his shooting being a threat forcing opposing players to close out, his lack of explosiveness was evident. However, I also took notice of Podz's ability to decelerate on the dime and the body control to sliver into open space.
When I've watched Poz this season, I've noticed how his solid defense/excellent rebounding/good decision making and passing has merged together with an efficient three point shot and good deceleration/body control to make a highly effective basketball player. There is a reason why Kerr can't take him off the court. There is a reason why I can't take my eyes off him when he plays.
> There is a reason why Kerr can't take him off the court. There is a reason why I can't take my eyes off him when he plays.
It’s the hair?
It's quite the improvement over DDV....
Turns out we got a lottery pick this year
With both rooks, I'm concerned that their production will follow that rookie trend of: rooks exploding onto scene, opposing teams scout, learn and counter, a lull, then rooks overcome increased pressure (hopefully) etc..
ex: Podz seems comfortable around the rim, teams react and prevent/guard to counter at rim, and he hopefully pulls out his college floater game, and more.
Fun stuff.
I followed a very similar trajectory to you Arash! BP feels like the steal of the draft based off his draft position; even if he doesn't add anything meaningful to his game, he already feels like a solid role player which I never could have guessed based off his summer league
I think as a natural part of his development, his 3 ball will get more consistent (not that it's bad now), and he can increase his number of attempts a bit. The same with the floater. That will help him compensate for the league scouting him better.
For what it’s worth,Eric, you might mention:
My irrational good feeling has been rather thoroughly substantiated so far.
I have initial belief that my irrational good feeling is becoming an irrationally great feeling.
I’m sure someone has a better idea though I love when you say, you have an irrationally good feeling But want to acknowledge when you first wrote it I thought that good feeling was irrational
The post game pressers are typically pretty dull, but last night’s had a few juicy tidbits. Podz was talking about how the current starting group is working - he and JK take the two most difficult defensive assignments and that frees up Steph and Klay to conserve energy and focus on offensive opportunities. Something to watch for.
I mean I don't really know if that can be it if the two guys they replaced were Wiggins and Draymond. I think Wiggins was really just dragging down the team with his poor play tbh. Klay is being credited for better shot selection but maybe it's because the shots are generally easier without Wiggins on the floor stinking it up.
> Klay is being credited for better shot selection but maybe it's because the shots are generally easier without Wiggins on the floor stinking it up.
That is quite possible.
That's interesting; I hadn't really thought about Wiggs' problems being a direct cause of Klay's bad shot selection. It could at least be a contributing factor because the offense was breaking down, and Klay would shoot out of desperation. I don't think that's the whole reason — I think Klay did have passing opportunities he didn't take — but yeah, maybe that is part of it.
Wiggins was firing away and never passing. Klay probably figured his bad shots were better than a Wiggins bad shot or turnover. Now Klay seems to trust that the ball will move to a good shot if he gives it up so he’s even anticipating passes he can make even as the ball is swinging to him.
Get a black hole out of the lineup and suddenly everyone is playing and moving with more energy and trust.
Wiggins work better with the bench group as the guy to score and Cp3 setting him up for better shots. Our starting group needs everyone to screen and pass multiple times each possession for a better shot.
Kuminga is doing this more as of late as shown in his increased asts.
Also Podz mentioning how Klay playing the right way since the LA game has made life for him and JK easier LOL
Yea that was funny, the kid name-dropping!
Taking one of the hardest defensive assignments is NOT something I had on my “Podz rookie year” bingo card.