Do people actually dislike Emmanuel, or is it a joking hate? I always thought it was the latter, but given some of the comments on DubNation HQ I'm no longer sure.
I cant decide which was more destructive. This or Inoue against Fulton but at least Fulton tagged Inoue twice. I have to tell you. We just saw two of the most dominant performances by top fighters whithin the span of 5 days. What a time to be a boxing fan
Yeah this has been the best week in boxing I can remember in I don't know how long. For all of the bullshit boxing makes us suffer, moments like these make it all worth it
Shoutout that Kambosos fight. I dont ever want to see that dude fight on national television ever again. He prepped for that Teofimo fight like the ‘17 Rockets against the Warriors then has ridden mediocrity all the way through
JZ, if you're around, who you got tonight? If I was a betting man, I would have Crawford by TKO in the late rounds, maybe the 10th. I think if it goes to decision, Spence has an advantage on the cards since this is a PBC event and he is their guy. Crawford knows that and will try for the KO
Crawford. The accident slowed Spences reaction time just a millisecond but enoigh to make a difference. Pre accident Spence for sure since hes 147 going on 154
Wow dude. What a one-sided destruction. I don't think pre-accident Spence wins a fight between these two. Crawford was better at everything; stronger, faster, meaner, better footwork, better angles. I think a younger Crawford might stop him a round or two earlier. I know I was singing Inoue's praises earlier this week but this was also one of the most impressive performances I have seen.
Jul 29, 2023·edited Jul 30, 2023Liked by Eric Apricot
On a side note, we’ve all heard of being in the zone, but it’s almost always within the context of offense. All of my life, I’ve been a defense first player but it wasn’t until today that I was in the defensive zone, and realized I was while in it.
It was one of the most incredible feelings in the world. I shifted easily with every move the opposition made, mirroring him and cutting off his driving lanes making him uncomfortable. Beyond that, I wasn’t letting anyone get to their spots and was playing fantastic help defense racking up 9 steals and 5 blocks. I also got dunked on, but we don’t talk about that.
I guess my question is, have any of y’all ever been in the zone? Have any of u been in an defensive zone? How did it feel?
I also was a defensive first player. Never really felt in the zone, but did feel that being defensive I could play aggressive and disruptive in so many different ways. On those occasions when I was feeling mobile and physically able to move as I liked, it gave me the ability to try to take control and dictate what an offensive player was able to do. Not really a feeling of being in a special zone, but physically able to perform as my mind wanted me to.
The only thing that I'm really good enough at to get in the zone is chess. Most of what you're doing while playing chess is trying to calculate 3-4 moves ahead with reasonable accuracy; when you get in the zone this becomes astonishingly effortless. I remember a game in a tournament years ago when an entire variation just appeared in my head all at once without any sort of "I go here, he goes there, oh wait, what about that" kind of thing. One glance and I knew exactly what was going to happen.
Back in the day when I played racquetball I was playing someone I normally beat.
He got up something like 15-3, game is to 21, and I just flipped out internally, was like fuck this, and locked in.
Won the game 21-16. Haha, incredibly satisfying.
----
I also run a lot. When you go downhill in a forest you need to be intentional about every step. Either you are in the zone or you are gonna fall hard; it's a rush.
In ultimate I was the defensive stopper, and saw how much fun defense can be. I've been in the zone lotsa times in various sports. But the first time I can recall was truly special. Playing volleyball, final game for the title, we were down, my turn to serve. I wasn't an especially good server (still am not), but I fell into the zone and served 5 aces in a row for the walk-off win. Amazing!
No Wiggins for most of the season took away a lot of GS limited inside options. I think the post-mortems on last year generally seriously undersell not having Wiggins at full ramp up for the playoffs. He was good, but he was great in 2022. Without him in full 16 game mode, without usable size, and with only Curry to break down D on ball, where is non-three scoring coming from? One of the reasons I believe TJD will get time this early season is his post scoring skill-set. Paul should also be able to help Kuminga get his inside, and he and Saric have done so in the past.
> No Wiggins for most of the season took away a lot of GS limited inside options. I think the post-mortems on last year generally seriously undersell not having Wiggins at full ramp up for the playoffs.
That's a fair point, but it is a sign of poor roster construction that one player going down knocks out your entire inside game. (I'd say the same thing if one player going down knocks out your entire outside game). You should expect one or two players to miss significant time each year. Obviously some players are irreplaceable (Steph, Dray). But you can soften the blow for most everyone else by assuring you have some redundancy in skill/role.
I don't disagree at all - was just pointing out a potential cause of the high three point shot count. The lack of both rebounding/muscle and of lane-attack talent was glaring.
The hardest guy to cover is the player who just passed the ball. Or the guy moving constantly without the ball. Especially if he is on the other side of the court from the ball. Easiest player to focus on is the one who dribbles. Especially if you know he wants to shoot. The reason Kerr begs for the extra pass is because it uncovers the cutter clearly and provides time to see him as the defense plays the ball and provides help on the ball. The defense can't easily help on the cutter. Moreso if there is more than one. With both Klay and Steph in constant motion, the defense has issues.
We looked like the Rockets last year with all the desperate threes hoisted and missed. I really hope this season we will look more like the Warriors of old but a better version (whatever and however that will be).
This is why I was giving Kerr criticism from kuminga island. Steph mentioned it after we got bounced from the playoffs, we had a lack of offensive variety.
Curry klay Wiggins kuminga green imo had the potential to be our most effective lineup. This had proper playoff spacing, a vertical threat for Draymond and 3 solid POA defenders.
Our main issue in the playoffs was offense not defense, even against the kings we struggled to score because we had no spacing, especially when donte and Poole stopped hitting there shots. When you have a lineup with no inside presence, donte who wouldn't attack the rim if his life depended on it, a Draymond green who to this day is still allergic to being aggressive offensively, of course we are going to have to settle for threes.
From what I've read, Kerr has admitted that he blames himself for last year's 'debacle'. This includes not reading the situation of the team, the development of younger players, and the core mafia, their ideas, narrow-mindedness, and his refusal to innovate and move away from his predictability. I've taken the liberty to expand on his 'confessions' but I won't include the political rot of the U.S. Gov't, and its war on Russia and the EU.
SEE this handsome 6'10" Croatian *shoot and score the three*!! WATCH him *pass the ball accurately on the move!!* APPLAUD as he *drives to the hole with force!!* OBSERVE him *rebound on offense with panache!!* MARVEL as he *dribbles with elegant handles!!* NOTE him *playing the two man game with Chris Paul!!*
An incredible offer!!! Act now!!!!!
(Defensive highlights NOT included. Wins sold separately. Playoff success not available. Injury history not included. Watch responsibly. Get hype, but not too hype.)
One thing he seems is decisive, which is excellent. That may cost Kuminga playing time, because Kerr values intelligent decision making and Kuminga is working on it.
I don't really see Saric as directly competing with Kuminga.
I would bet Saric plays 85% of his minutes at 5, and that's something Kuminga just really can't do (he's not a rim defender, and very undersized).
I guess it might affect Kuminga because it pushes Draymond to the 4 more than would otherwise happen, but I'm not even sure that will happen. Mosty I see Saric as providing the relief for Loon and Draymond that we were sorely lacking for most of last year.
The one thing I am pretty sure about is that if Kuminga has put in the work over the summer, he's going to get the chance to show what he can do. There are minutes to be had at the 4, and even at the 3.
Yeah I was definitely impressed with his offensive skills. I think he's kind of an Enes (Kanter) Freedom. Lots of smooth moves on offense, liability on defense. I think, not sure.
As far as D, I haven’t watched him enough to say for sure, but from what I’ve read/seen, he may not be a plus defender, but he gets nowhere near the hate for his (lack of) D that Freedom typically got.
Mr. Freedom is not a great comp for Saric I don't think. It sorta feels like he's the inverse of PJ Tucker from a couple years ago? Someone who can give you hella value on one end of the court, and who you'd rather not rely on for the other half?
Steph is more effective off the ball. They get different looks and higher quality looks with his movement disrupting the defense, and influencing the defensive coverage to shift. Kerr preaches extra pass. Begs for the extra pass. Hopes for the extra pass. They have to get back to giving up the good shot for the great one. Also they likely will have to play a lot of minutes with just Dray as the sole big. So many teams are playing four out and one in.
It is possible for both 1)Steph played off-ball too much in 20-21 and 2)Steph played on-ball too much in 22-23 to both be true. I'm not saying both are. I'm just saying someone "screaming bloody rage" at "too much off-ball" one year doesn't mean they can't find the adjustment was too much.
Random take cause it's summer. I think the 16' season might have been the season I enjoyed the most of the dynasty. Every game was must watch TV and towards the end of the regular season every game was record breaking in different ways.
Dunno if I would say most enjoyable is my favorite but that's a take for another day.
Did anyone else feel that the Warriors were inevitable until last year because they made the other team exhausted with player and ball movement that wore other teams out over the course of a series?
Last year instead of making the extra pass or two that might lead an open corner 3 or a layup, the (above the break?) 3 point shooter took an early shot while Curry was still running at a screen so at least two guys were out of position to get back on D. This led to a much worse Warriors D than previous years, and significantly less defensive stress on the other teams minds and legs.
Klay was one offender of this but
Wiggins, Poole, and Dante were the most egregious over the course of the season.
I think Klay was the worst offender by far. Klay's supposed to be a team leader. When he does it others follow suit. If he hadn't done it, maybe nobody else does, either. And if coach had held Klay accountable, maybe everyone else gets the message.
I believe, with no evidence whatsoever, that Poole was part reason for Klay's bad shot selection towards the end of the season.
Poole was often breaking the whole "good shot to great shot" rhythm that the Warriors used to have. If you're Klay, and you're seeing that, it could lead you to think that the greater shot may not be coming and you may as well take the shot that's right in front of you.
My feeling is that the minutes Curry had to play was the single most significant factor in this playoffs. There were two or three games where he looked just completely gassed by the end of the game.
Kerr had several games with very tight rotations. Plus, Mike Brown just ran us to death (by design) in that first series.
The hope is that having two capable backup PGs, plus Saric, plus some improvement from Kuminga/Moody gives us a longer rotation, so we don't need to play Steph 38+ minutes just to have a shot at a victory. But, regardless of the rotation depth or not, I hope Kerr learned his lesson on overdoing the core minutes. That won't get it done.
Maybe, but the starters are going to slip some. We have to just factor in significant lost time to injuries at this point.
The last time Steph played 70 games was in 2016-2017. That was six years ago. Since then, he's averaged 51 games played a year.
You can certainly argue that not losing Wiggs for a 1/2 of the season will help (and it will), but I don't know that he gets back to the form of two years ago. Sure hope so, though ... we really need his shooting to come around to make the starting unit work better (53% TS percentage in the playoffs).
I bet donte and Poole had some of the league leading percentages of shots from. Beyond the 3 point line not just at it. These are some of those that brought the percentage, especially the win percentage, down. Cp3 can bring up the basketball intelligence % but needs to play mostly point 5 basketball
Yeah, that's one area where the departure of JP stings — his 6.1 fta per 36 was tops on the team last season.
I suspect the hope is that Kuminga (5.8 fta per 36 as a rook, 4.6 career) can fill that role. Moses started getting more aggressive to the rim late in the season, too. Next season both will be a year older, bigger, stronger, and (hopefully) that much more comfortable attacking the rim and getting themselves to the stripe.
Wow, I still can't imagine Kuminga filling in that role. Poole was not hesitant in any way, shape, or form, about going to the basket. Plus Poole's foul shooting was nearly elite. Wiggs and JFK have a long way to go to fill those stats. This will be a make or break season for JFK and Moody. My eye test says Moody has an advantage over him even though their position and roles will be different. I'd love to see Kuminga break out but I can't see it on this team.
> Poole was not hesitant in any way, shape, or form about going to the basket.
And yet JFK as a 19 year old rookie got himself to the line at roughly the same rate as Poole did last season. And Poole at age 19-20 got the line significantly less than Kuminga at a similar age.
Given Kuminga is significantly bigger, stronger and more athletic than JP, seems pretty reasonable to guesstimate he’ll get to JP level at minimum in terms of drawing fouls.
That would be more effective if Kuminga could make his free throws. He shot 65.2% last season. That's not good enough. Moody shot 69.8% this past season but 77.8% as a rookie so there's reason for hope.
Moses shot .812 from the stripe in college, so I’m not worried last year’s number was anything but small sample theater. If you include his 11-12 playoff FT shooting in last year’s number, it’s 738.
Jon’s a bit more concerning, but even if he maxes out more LeBron or Wiggs from the stripe than, say, Kawhi or PG, he can still be a highly effective and efficient scorer who gets us a ton of easy points at the stripe.
…and let’s not discount putting other team’s players in foul trouble. The Warriors combo of fouling a lot and not drawing fouls is such a brutal combo considering points and foul trouble together,
Game 6 was chock full of missed open shots. For all the blathering on about how the Lakers defense was all great... the Warriors generally just sorta missed shots... meanwhile Lonnie @#@%ing Walker was making all the shots. I hate to be like this, but sometimes it's just a make or miss league... and for whatever reason, the Warriors missed their shots. Maybe it's just random dumb luck, maybe it's stress built up from a long emotional season, lack of cohesion within the team, or whatever...
That's how I felt, too. Strategically, I don't think the Dubs failed in the Lakers series. They lost due to either bad luck or a buildup of stress and exhaustion, which starts at least in the Sacramento series and probably back all the way to preseason, or even off-season.
Do you think Sacto will repeat as a contender for the West? It seems they will have picked up some valuable playoff experience and could be better than last season.
I think they will be a playoff team, for sure. Not sure if I'd go so far as "contender" since you can only have so many "contenders" in the league and I am not ready to put them ahead of Denver, Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, or Golden State. They're maybe more of a dark horse. Are they better than at least one of those teams? Probably, although I don't know which ones will falter. And someone else in the west will probably surge, but I dunno if it'll be Sac, Phoenix, one of the LA teams, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, or even Minnesota. Those teams all have plausible cases to some extent. Portland and Utah have clearly signaled otherwise. OKC and the other two Texas teams might be ok this year but are all lacking in playoff experience at best. So, yeah, it's tough, but I think around 5th in the conference sounds right for Sac unless things go pretty bad (e.g. a major Fox/Sabonis injury).
Judging by what I saw last year, they should be better than last year, and they were pretty darned good last year. They are a dark horse in the West. We haven't gotten used to them being a playoff team with high seeding. Mike Brown is doing a great job there and I believe they may have better depth than we do.
I think it is very likely the regular season is going to be harder for them. They’re talented enough that with good health they could do well, but the bar will be raised.
Not only can CP3 offer something different in relief pitching; he is hella gonna find open guys at the three point line with a pass in time on target in the pocket
As long as he can stay healthy enough the potential is there for an improved team from last year. The healthy part is the rub. CP3 will be a downgrade from Poole 100% if he’s not available.
Paul's 4.8 assist/turnover ration v. Poole's 1.5 is a key stat. Paul is going to set up so many more successful plays while also being a scoring threat. If he stays on the team it is going to be very interesting to see how it plays out.
CP3 is like the anti-JP; he slows the game down, takes care of the ball, dishes out assists, takes open shots, and plays adequate defense. Against that, he is old and injury prone and Poole is neither. <p style="font-size: xx-large">IF</p> CP3 is healthy the Warriors are a much better team for having made this trade.
Do people actually dislike Emmanuel, or is it a joking hate? I always thought it was the latter, but given some of the comments on DubNation HQ I'm no longer sure.
No. I'm looking forward to him being annoying for us, rather than against us.
1). Crawford
2). Inoue
3). Usyk
Spence looked like James Wiseman out there
I can't disagree. Bud is for real
I cant decide which was more destructive. This or Inoue against Fulton but at least Fulton tagged Inoue twice. I have to tell you. We just saw two of the most dominant performances by top fighters whithin the span of 5 days. What a time to be a boxing fan
Yeah this has been the best week in boxing I can remember in I don't know how long. For all of the bullshit boxing makes us suffer, moments like these make it all worth it
Shoutout that Kambosos fight. I dont ever want to see that dude fight on national television ever again. He prepped for that Teofimo fight like the ‘17 Rockets against the Warriors then has ridden mediocrity all the way through
JZ, if you're around, who you got tonight? If I was a betting man, I would have Crawford by TKO in the late rounds, maybe the 10th. I think if it goes to decision, Spence has an advantage on the cards since this is a PBC event and he is their guy. Crawford knows that and will try for the KO
Crawford. The accident slowed Spences reaction time just a millisecond but enoigh to make a difference. Pre accident Spence for sure since hes 147 going on 154
Wow dude. What a one-sided destruction. I don't think pre-accident Spence wins a fight between these two. Crawford was better at everything; stronger, faster, meaner, better footwork, better angles. I think a younger Crawford might stop him a round or two earlier. I know I was singing Inoue's praises earlier this week but this was also one of the most impressive performances I have seen.
Spence is a shell of himself. He probably needs a move up to 154
On a side note, we’ve all heard of being in the zone, but it’s almost always within the context of offense. All of my life, I’ve been a defense first player but it wasn’t until today that I was in the defensive zone, and realized I was while in it.
It was one of the most incredible feelings in the world. I shifted easily with every move the opposition made, mirroring him and cutting off his driving lanes making him uncomfortable. Beyond that, I wasn’t letting anyone get to their spots and was playing fantastic help defense racking up 9 steals and 5 blocks. I also got dunked on, but we don’t talk about that.
I guess my question is, have any of y’all ever been in the zone? Have any of u been in an defensive zone? How did it feel?
I also was a defensive first player. Never really felt in the zone, but did feel that being defensive I could play aggressive and disruptive in so many different ways. On those occasions when I was feeling mobile and physically able to move as I liked, it gave me the ability to try to take control and dictate what an offensive player was able to do. Not really a feeling of being in a special zone, but physically able to perform as my mind wanted me to.
The only thing that I'm really good enough at to get in the zone is chess. Most of what you're doing while playing chess is trying to calculate 3-4 moves ahead with reasonable accuracy; when you get in the zone this becomes astonishingly effortless. I remember a game in a tournament years ago when an entire variation just appeared in my head all at once without any sort of "I go here, he goes there, oh wait, what about that" kind of thing. One glance and I knew exactly what was going to happen.
Ooooh bro, I'm pretty good at chess myself so I'd love to play with you (whats ur rating?)
Between 2300 and 2400
> The only thing that I'm really good enough at to get in the zone is chess.
> Ooooh bro, I'm pretty good at chess myself so I'd love to play with you (whats ur rating?)
I always smile when I see two posters make a connection. Feels good. Have a good game!
I got $10 on arash
> Chaos_Samedi
I got $10 on arash
I'm just celebrating the camaraderie. But if you are gonna bet, is that with or without a handicap?
Back in the day when I played racquetball I was playing someone I normally beat.
He got up something like 15-3, game is to 21, and I just flipped out internally, was like fuck this, and locked in.
Won the game 21-16. Haha, incredibly satisfying.
----
I also run a lot. When you go downhill in a forest you need to be intentional about every step. Either you are in the zone or you are gonna fall hard; it's a rush.
Being in the zone is the best sports feeling!
In ultimate I was the defensive stopper, and saw how much fun defense can be. I've been in the zone lotsa times in various sports. But the first time I can recall was truly special. Playing volleyball, final game for the title, we were down, my turn to serve. I wasn't an especially good server (still am not), but I fell into the zone and served 5 aces in a row for the walk-off win. Amazing!
No Wiggins for most of the season took away a lot of GS limited inside options. I think the post-mortems on last year generally seriously undersell not having Wiggins at full ramp up for the playoffs. He was good, but he was great in 2022. Without him in full 16 game mode, without usable size, and with only Curry to break down D on ball, where is non-three scoring coming from? One of the reasons I believe TJD will get time this early season is his post scoring skill-set. Paul should also be able to help Kuminga get his inside, and he and Saric have done so in the past.
> No Wiggins for most of the season took away a lot of GS limited inside options. I think the post-mortems on last year generally seriously undersell not having Wiggins at full ramp up for the playoffs.
That's a fair point, but it is a sign of poor roster construction that one player going down knocks out your entire inside game. (I'd say the same thing if one player going down knocks out your entire outside game). You should expect one or two players to miss significant time each year. Obviously some players are irreplaceable (Steph, Dray). But you can soften the blow for most everyone else by assuring you have some redundancy in skill/role.
I don't disagree at all - was just pointing out a potential cause of the high three point shot count. The lack of both rebounding/muscle and of lane-attack talent was glaring.
The operative words in my post were "soften the blow."
It wasn't me!!!
The hardest guy to cover is the player who just passed the ball. Or the guy moving constantly without the ball. Especially if he is on the other side of the court from the ball. Easiest player to focus on is the one who dribbles. Especially if you know he wants to shoot. The reason Kerr begs for the extra pass is because it uncovers the cutter clearly and provides time to see him as the defense plays the ball and provides help on the ball. The defense can't easily help on the cutter. Moreso if there is more than one. With both Klay and Steph in constant motion, the defense has issues.
We looked like the Rockets last year with all the desperate threes hoisted and missed. I really hope this season we will look more like the Warriors of old but a better version (whatever and however that will be).
This is why I was giving Kerr criticism from kuminga island. Steph mentioned it after we got bounced from the playoffs, we had a lack of offensive variety.
Curry klay Wiggins kuminga green imo had the potential to be our most effective lineup. This had proper playoff spacing, a vertical threat for Draymond and 3 solid POA defenders.
Our main issue in the playoffs was offense not defense, even against the kings we struggled to score because we had no spacing, especially when donte and Poole stopped hitting there shots. When you have a lineup with no inside presence, donte who wouldn't attack the rim if his life depended on it, a Draymond green who to this day is still allergic to being aggressive offensively, of course we are going to have to settle for threes.
From what I've read, Kerr has admitted that he blames himself for last year's 'debacle'. This includes not reading the situation of the team, the development of younger players, and the core mafia, their ideas, narrow-mindedness, and his refusal to innovate and move away from his predictability. I've taken the liberty to expand on his 'confessions' but I won't include the political rot of the U.S. Gov't, and its war on Russia and the EU.
Now available!!! Dario Saric "Welcome to the Warriors" highlight package!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLbulU9GRM0
SEE this handsome 6'10" Croatian *shoot and score the three*!! WATCH him *pass the ball accurately on the move!!* APPLAUD as he *drives to the hole with force!!* OBSERVE him *rebound on offense with panache!!* MARVEL as he *dribbles with elegant handles!!* NOTE him *playing the two man game with Chris Paul!!*
An incredible offer!!! Act now!!!!!
(Defensive highlights NOT included. Wins sold separately. Playoff success not available. Injury history not included. Watch responsibly. Get hype, but not too hype.)
He's got a wider variety of shots than I thought he had ... that little floater is nice.
One thing he seems is decisive, which is excellent. That may cost Kuminga playing time, because Kerr values intelligent decision making and Kuminga is working on it.
I don't really see Saric as directly competing with Kuminga.
I would bet Saric plays 85% of his minutes at 5, and that's something Kuminga just really can't do (he's not a rim defender, and very undersized).
I guess it might affect Kuminga because it pushes Draymond to the 4 more than would otherwise happen, but I'm not even sure that will happen. Mosty I see Saric as providing the relief for Loon and Draymond that we were sorely lacking for most of last year.
The one thing I am pretty sure about is that if Kuminga has put in the work over the summer, he's going to get the chance to show what he can do. There are minutes to be had at the 4, and even at the 3.
Fair
Yeah I was definitely impressed with his offensive skills. I think he's kind of an Enes (Kanter) Freedom. Lots of smooth moves on offense, liability on defense. I think, not sure.
Saric’s main selling point is his perimeter shooting and passing. Kanter/Freedom provided neither of those things.
…
As far as D, I haven’t watched him enough to say for sure, but from what I’ve read/seen, he may not be a plus defender, but he gets nowhere near the hate for his (lack of) D that Freedom typically got.
Mr. Freedom is not a great comp for Saric I don't think. It sorta feels like he's the inverse of PJ Tucker from a couple years ago? Someone who can give you hella value on one end of the court, and who you'd rather not rely on for the other half?
Best comp for Saric is Bjeli. Good shooter, good passer, slow defender, smarter than your average bear.
Do you think Saric is as good as Bjelica was?
Agreed but I'm on Team Paul. Pricy but at his best could be the difference this year.
All these years of experience hating the guy: surely they are worth something. I have the chops, I want to play.
Steph is more effective off the ball. They get different looks and higher quality looks with his movement disrupting the defense, and influencing the defensive coverage to shift. Kerr preaches extra pass. Begs for the extra pass. Hopes for the extra pass. They have to get back to giving up the good shot for the great one. Also they likely will have to play a lot of minutes with just Dray as the sole big. So many teams are playing four out and one in.
It is possible for both 1)Steph played off-ball too much in 20-21 and 2)Steph played on-ball too much in 22-23 to both be true. I'm not saying both are. I'm just saying someone "screaming bloody rage" at "too much off-ball" one year doesn't mean they can't find the adjustment was too much.
Why not both?
Yes, bloody rage no matter what. Good suggestion.
Random take cause it's summer. I think the 16' season might have been the season I enjoyed the most of the dynasty. Every game was must watch TV and towards the end of the regular season every game was record breaking in different ways.
Dunno if I would say most enjoyable is my favorite but that's a take for another day.
Did anyone else feel that the Warriors were inevitable until last year because they made the other team exhausted with player and ball movement that wore other teams out over the course of a series?
Last year instead of making the extra pass or two that might lead an open corner 3 or a layup, the (above the break?) 3 point shooter took an early shot while Curry was still running at a screen so at least two guys were out of position to get back on D. This led to a much worse Warriors D than previous years, and significantly less defensive stress on the other teams minds and legs.
Klay was one offender of this but
Wiggins, Poole, and Dante were the most egregious over the course of the season.
Poole was the worst offender by far, I feel like Poole's destructive effect to last year's team has been undersold.
I think Klay was the worst offender by far. Klay's supposed to be a team leader. When he does it others follow suit. If he hadn't done it, maybe nobody else does, either. And if coach had held Klay accountable, maybe everyone else gets the message.
I believe, with no evidence whatsoever, that Poole was part reason for Klay's bad shot selection towards the end of the season.
Poole was often breaking the whole "good shot to great shot" rhythm that the Warriors used to have. If you're Klay, and you're seeing that, it could lead you to think that the greater shot may not be coming and you may as well take the shot that's right in front of you.
Maybe. But Klay was ball-hogging and bricking from the opening tip of the season. By the end of the season the destructive habits were baked in.
My feeling is that the minutes Curry had to play was the single most significant factor in this playoffs. There were two or three games where he looked just completely gassed by the end of the game.
Kerr had several games with very tight rotations. Plus, Mike Brown just ran us to death (by design) in that first series.
The hope is that having two capable backup PGs, plus Saric, plus some improvement from Kuminga/Moody gives us a longer rotation, so we don't need to play Steph 38+ minutes just to have a shot at a victory. But, regardless of the rotation depth or not, I hope Kerr learned his lesson on overdoing the core minutes. That won't get it done.
If CP3 buys in, the second unit is gonna be an asset and the dubs are gonna go back to crushing teams in the regular season.
Playoffs are a different beast of course.
If?
Maybe, but the starters are going to slip some. We have to just factor in significant lost time to injuries at this point.
The last time Steph played 70 games was in 2016-2017. That was six years ago. Since then, he's averaged 51 games played a year.
You can certainly argue that not losing Wiggs for a 1/2 of the season will help (and it will), but I don't know that he gets back to the form of two years ago. Sure hope so, though ... we really need his shooting to come around to make the starting unit work better (53% TS percentage in the playoffs).
Wiggins played 37 games. We lost him for more than half the season
Thanks, corrected.
Wiggins was killing it at the beginning of the season… then had almost no ramp up ahead of the postseason. He’s gonna be fine next season.
I bet donte and Poole had some of the league leading percentages of shots from. Beyond the 3 point line not just at it. These are some of those that brought the percentage, especially the win percentage, down. Cp3 can bring up the basketball intelligence % but needs to play mostly point 5 basketball
We need someone better at getting to the foul line. It'd be nice if Wiggs could regain his early career form for both FTA and %.
Yeah, that's one area where the departure of JP stings — his 6.1 fta per 36 was tops on the team last season.
I suspect the hope is that Kuminga (5.8 fta per 36 as a rook, 4.6 career) can fill that role. Moses started getting more aggressive to the rim late in the season, too. Next season both will be a year older, bigger, stronger, and (hopefully) that much more comfortable attacking the rim and getting themselves to the stripe.
Wow, I still can't imagine Kuminga filling in that role. Poole was not hesitant in any way, shape, or form, about going to the basket. Plus Poole's foul shooting was nearly elite. Wiggs and JFK have a long way to go to fill those stats. This will be a make or break season for JFK and Moody. My eye test says Moody has an advantage over him even though their position and roles will be different. I'd love to see Kuminga break out but I can't see it on this team.
> Poole was not hesitant in any way, shape, or form about going to the basket.
And yet JFK as a 19 year old rookie got himself to the line at roughly the same rate as Poole did last season. And Poole at age 19-20 got the line significantly less than Kuminga at a similar age.
Given Kuminga is significantly bigger, stronger and more athletic than JP, seems pretty reasonable to guesstimate he’ll get to JP level at minimum in terms of drawing fouls.
The future is unknown so I won't comment further on how Kuminga fits into the Kerrior's Way. This is a tough club to crack.
That would be more effective if Kuminga could make his free throws. He shot 65.2% last season. That's not good enough. Moody shot 69.8% this past season but 77.8% as a rookie so there's reason for hope.
Moses shot .812 from the stripe in college, so I’m not worried last year’s number was anything but small sample theater. If you include his 11-12 playoff FT shooting in last year’s number, it’s 738.
Jon’s a bit more concerning, but even if he maxes out more LeBron or Wiggs from the stripe than, say, Kawhi or PG, he can still be a highly effective and efficient scorer who gets us a ton of easy points at the stripe.
…and let’s not discount putting other team’s players in foul trouble. The Warriors combo of fouling a lot and not drawing fouls is such a brutal combo considering points and foul trouble together,
Game 6 was chock full of missed open shots. For all the blathering on about how the Lakers defense was all great... the Warriors generally just sorta missed shots... meanwhile Lonnie @#@%ing Walker was making all the shots. I hate to be like this, but sometimes it's just a make or miss league... and for whatever reason, the Warriors missed their shots. Maybe it's just random dumb luck, maybe it's stress built up from a long emotional season, lack of cohesion within the team, or whatever...
This
Even Jeff Van Gundy was acknowledging this during the game… it was infuriating
That's how I felt, too. Strategically, I don't think the Dubs failed in the Lakers series. They lost due to either bad luck or a buildup of stress and exhaustion, which starts at least in the Sacramento series and probably back all the way to preseason, or even off-season.
Do you think Sacto will repeat as a contender for the West? It seems they will have picked up some valuable playoff experience and could be better than last season.
I think they will be a playoff team, for sure. Not sure if I'd go so far as "contender" since you can only have so many "contenders" in the league and I am not ready to put them ahead of Denver, Milwaukee, Boston, Miami, or Golden State. They're maybe more of a dark horse. Are they better than at least one of those teams? Probably, although I don't know which ones will falter. And someone else in the west will probably surge, but I dunno if it'll be Sac, Phoenix, one of the LA teams, New Orleans, Memphis, Dallas, or even Minnesota. Those teams all have plausible cases to some extent. Portland and Utah have clearly signaled otherwise. OKC and the other two Texas teams might be ok this year but are all lacking in playoff experience at best. So, yeah, it's tough, but I think around 5th in the conference sounds right for Sac unless things go pretty bad (e.g. a major Fox/Sabonis injury).
Judging by what I saw last year, they should be better than last year, and they were pretty darned good last year. They are a dark horse in the West. We haven't gotten used to them being a playoff team with high seeding. Mike Brown is doing a great job there and I believe they may have better depth than we do.
Agreed with you in general, but I don't think Dallas isn't lacking in playoff experience. They're probably lacking in vibes, though.
Yeah, I mentioned Dallas earlier in the "someone will probably surge" category; the "other" Texas teams I meant are Houston and San Antonio.
I can't read, thanks for the correction!
I think it is very likely the regular season is going to be harder for them. They’re talented enough that with good health they could do well, but the bar will be raised.
Not only can CP3 offer something different in relief pitching; he is hella gonna find open guys at the three point line with a pass in time on target in the pocket
As long as he can stay healthy enough the potential is there for an improved team from last year. The healthy part is the rub. CP3 will be a downgrade from Poole 100% if he’s not available.
Paul's 4.8 assist/turnover ration v. Poole's 1.5 is a key stat. Paul is going to set up so many more successful plays while also being a scoring threat. If he stays on the team it is going to be very interesting to see how it plays out.
CP3 is like the anti-JP; he slows the game down, takes care of the ball, dishes out assists, takes open shots, and plays adequate defense. Against that, he is old and injury prone and Poole is neither. <p style="font-size: xx-large">IF</p> CP3 is healthy the Warriors are a much better team for having made this trade.
He doesn’t have a problem playing fast. Teams he’s been on just often haven’t in the past, but odds are good he’s more than willing to up the tempo.
If he keeps up that kind of stay and otherwise plays like he has and stays healthy, I sure hope he stays on the team.