Thank you for the update you were never required to give us Duby! And I’m not saying anything new when I say that if there ever is something the community here can do to help directly, I hope you let us know. Asking for help is always so hard but you have to remember that *getting* to help is like. The best feeling in the world so. Give us that, ya know?
And as a casual sports fan, I have to say. Keeping perspective is good. But also...
I started watching GSW during some hard times, and it kinda felt like joy on training wheels. It was too small to hurt me but safe enough to make me grin ear of ear, brave enough to pop into a comments section , and getting smiles and nods from strangers when I finally allowed myself to wear a jersey in public.
Humans are resilient creatures and I know there are many paths back to feeling like ourselves.... but from someone who borrowed a path from DNHQ forged by people like you, I hope you find the easy joys unexpectedly and often.
Welcome back Duby Dub Dubs. Sorry to hear of your story. However, at least your family isn’t getting bombed to death like they are in Gaza. Hope in the upcoming United Nations Security Council vote the US doesn’t veto a ceasefire again…we now return you to your regular programming…
Mercury News article from a couple days ago has a great quote:
"Yes, the two timelines are back by anything other than popular demand."
The "two timelines" plan was unofficially shuttered with the departures of Poole, Wiseman, PBJ, and Rollins. But unofficially, it was still alive with the presence of Kuminga and Moody, and bolstered by the additions of Podziemski and TJD. Little did we know how much bolstering they would be doing.
I've decided unilaterally that we've now entered the Three Timelines era, defined by three groupings of players with different trajectories:
1. The olds. Steph, Klay, Draymond, and yes, Chris Paul, are at a point where questions abound about if they've given up too much, especially on defense, to compete. Draymond is kind of a special case, but my view is all of them are still good—even great—a lot of the time, but they don't last as long as they used to. They might need some rest days or at least fewer minutes per game, but convincing Kerr that less is more here is easier said than done.
2. The youngsters. Kuminga, Moody, Podziemski, and TJD are all still a little error-prone but increasingly capable of carrying their own weight in rotation minutes. One or even a couple of them might still grow into stardom.
3. The middle. Looney, Wiggins, and Saric are all known quantities with known strengths and weaknesses, in their prime years physically. Loon is limited athletically and not much of a scorer; Saric is a bit lackluster defensively; Wiggins has tons of potential but rarely lives up to it. None of them are "carry a team" guys, but all of them can be solid contributors. Unfortunately Loon and Wiggs have been performing worse than their previous standard for reasons unknown. We can only guess why that is and if it's something that might resolve itself this season or if it won't. With Wiggins, the way it comes out on the court is baffling (missed shots, fumbled passes, etc.) but my best guess at this point is maybe his heart isn't really in it after all the interpersonal drama. It felt like he really took a leap when he came here, bought into the culture of winning, and found a role he can excel in; but now, with the championship looking far away, his little bro punched and shipped off to DC, uncertainties about accountability for Draymond, his personal matter last year, and a broken rib in the offseason, it wouldn't be shocking if he weren't feeling up for putting in the level of effort it takes to be a champ or even an all-star again.
Bonus: The odd man out: CoJo. Age-wise, he's with the olds; he's on the down-trend of his career. Skill-wise, he's with the youngsters: good enough that he won't tank the team by being in the rotation, and he'll even make some good plays occasionally, but you don't want to have to depend on him.
Wiggs' performance off the bench in the last few games has me wondering if his best role might be as a sixth man. As a starter he has a tendency to play passively, deferring to Steph & Klay. Coming off the bench allows him the freedom to just ball and dominate the opponent's second string.
OT how can the Pistons be this bad? This is a serious question not looking for jokey answers. It seems like they have drafted some interesting young talent. It seems like most of the players have remained healthy. It seems like Monte Williams is a decent coach. It seems like they get good uniforms just like everybody else. And of course they have JW. So what makes the team this bad?
I'd say it does. Outside of being one of their better players, his absence also brought James Wiseman back in the regular rotation and whenever he is on the court, the Pistons's already abysmal net rating is lowered by 5.8. By pythagorean win percentage, a team that plays as well as the Pistons do whenever James Wiseman is on the court is expected to win 10 games in an 82-game season, which is more or less on par to where they "should" be in terms of record. They, like our guys, have dropped a couple of tight games that could have been wins, so it all adds up. If they don't get Duren back quickly, this'll continue.
Duby Dub Dubs is truly one of the greatest blog bois of all time, and we are blessed to have him on our side. Long live Triple D aka Klay Thompson's best friend!
With all of the losing we've done, the recent win streak hasn't assured us of continuing. Are we questioning what we are witnessing? Can we really win without Draymond? Without a 100% Wiggins effort? Is TJD our lucky charm? Does he really make this team better? I say yes to all of the above.
Draymond's game is slipping. Never mind his foul frame of mind and his physical tactics to express. himself. His GAME is off. He is not an ELITE defender any longer. He may have a stellar game on occasion but all players usually do. He's been scoring more. Anyone want to venture a guess why this is so? We've talked about his offensive decline for years. Why has his shooting returned? One reason is Chris Paul who has taken up the primary assist position nosing out Draymond this season. Paul is not a scorer, per se, and would give us 3 non scorers with Draymond. Draymond has to score as Looney is not that guy. More. points and less defense from Draymond. That would be okay if he was really a scorer which he is not. Up steps Kuminga to outscore Dray. Up steps Klay to complement Steph once again. Up steps the Podz to bring both points and rebounds as well as some assists. Up steps TDJ to execute pnr's, rim protect, and play in the paint. I'm convinced that we are past the Draymond era. Let's see what help he can give to another team. Can he recreate himself somewhere else?
Klay's resurgence is a big part of our winning ways. And, it is taking place without Draymond. Even the Podz loves to set him up. Any real ball handler can do it. Wiggs is another story. He doesn't deserve to be on a Curry team as he doesn't know how to generate the will to win consistently. Just compare him to the Podz. Not the stats, but the energy and team effort. Wiggs is the odd man out here. For me, the bigger picture of the Dubs is without Dray and Wiggs for the final run of the Splash Bros.
There is one issue with the whole premise that this recent winning streak is a sign of our ability to win without Draymond: our defense is nothing short of awful. Over this three-game winning streak, the Warriors have a DRTG of 118.8, which is equal to the Detroit Pistons DRTG for the season. The last couple of games - which were against one team missing one their leading scorers, a tanking teams and a middle of the pack outfit of the East, not to forget that little part - were won on account of a rather hot shooting streak. Outside of the Splash Bros, Wiggins and Saric are shooting above 60% from beyond the arc and Kuminga is above 40% in these games. Call me a cynic if you must, but I don't see that lasting for a long enough time to build a team around.
You're forgetting it was awful with Dray on the floor, too. But, your point is well taken. It is a small sample size that needs expanding. No matter the outcome, I don't want to see Dray back with the Dubs.
The Morant Effect is in effect. Sure, it's only two games, but if you've watched how they play with him on the floor, it becomes obvious he's a top 10 player and team MVP. He's going to make Memphis a force, again. He probably won't have played enough games this season to be a league MVP but he is as important to Memphis as Steph is to Golden State. Makes the West stronger.
Obviously Ja’s a great player and the straw that stirs the Grizzlies drink. But he’s not “AS important to Memphis as Steph is to Golden State” — spiritually, empirically, or otherwise.
As great as he is, it’s also not clear he’s a “Top 10 player” in terms of impact on wins, unless you want to make a case for which of Jokic, Steph, Giannis, Embiid, Luka, LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Butler, Shai, Dame, Haliburton, Fox, Booker, Lillard, Ant et al. he’s clearly better than. At peak level he may be in the mix with the bottom guys on that list, somewhere in the #8-15 range, but let’s see him get his head screwed on straight and show some consistency and leadership (and maybe get out of the second round of the playoffs?) before throwing around words like “League MVP” and “Steph Curry.”
Wizards beat the Blazers 118-117. Wizards nearly threw the game away in the end. Not sure if this matters, but the Wizards had all of their starters play 31-37 minutes tonight.
Dec 22, 2023·edited Dec 22, 2023Liked by Daniel Hardee
Welcome back, Duby. We've missed you.
So sorry to hear about your wife's travails. Will be praying for her and all of your family. May you find grace for this season of new challenges and life springing up from unexpected places.
The missed call (failure to inbounds with 8 seconds left, OKC down 3 ), if gotten right, would have given the Dubs the ball up 3 with 8 seconds left in the game. Would they have won? Who knows … but probably.
IIRC, the Cavs also had six players on the floor at the end of the ‘16 Finals Should have been a technical and Warrior ball with a chance to tie it with a three. 😠
I still don’t get why they didn’t check to see if we called a timeout. They do that all the time. Actually I forget if they reviewed it or not when that whole lebron timeout while reeves was losing the ball thing happened.
Lakers are 1-5 since they won the IST and have lost four games in a row to the Spurs, Knicks, Bulls, and T-Wolves. The rest of this month is gonna be a very tough stretch for the Lakers:
12/23- @ Thunder
12/25- vs. Celtics
12/28- vs. Hornets
12/30- @ Wolves
12/31- @ Pelicans
The only easy game for this month is against the Hornets.
TBH I haven't seen any Pistons games during their losing streak outside of ours but this clip makes sense. Just horrid effort from the team and especially Cade.
Thank you for the update you were never required to give us Duby! And I’m not saying anything new when I say that if there ever is something the community here can do to help directly, I hope you let us know. Asking for help is always so hard but you have to remember that *getting* to help is like. The best feeling in the world so. Give us that, ya know?
And as a casual sports fan, I have to say. Keeping perspective is good. But also...
I started watching GSW during some hard times, and it kinda felt like joy on training wheels. It was too small to hurt me but safe enough to make me grin ear of ear, brave enough to pop into a comments section , and getting smiles and nods from strangers when I finally allowed myself to wear a jersey in public.
Humans are resilient creatures and I know there are many paths back to feeling like ourselves.... but from someone who borrowed a path from DNHQ forged by people like you, I hope you find the easy joys unexpectedly and often.
Now we know who Steph pointed to in the crowd after his moon ball three: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/nba/pacers/2023/12/21/steph-curry-gives-reggie-millers-son-the-best-christmas-present-ever/71999477007/
Welcome back Duby Dub Dubs. Sorry to hear of your story. However, at least your family isn’t getting bombed to death like they are in Gaza. Hope in the upcoming United Nations Security Council vote the US doesn’t veto a ceasefire again…we now return you to your regular programming…
Disgusting post.
You really want to bring that subject into this thread?
Mercury News article from a couple days ago has a great quote:
"Yes, the two timelines are back by anything other than popular demand."
The "two timelines" plan was unofficially shuttered with the departures of Poole, Wiseman, PBJ, and Rollins. But unofficially, it was still alive with the presence of Kuminga and Moody, and bolstered by the additions of Podziemski and TJD. Little did we know how much bolstering they would be doing.
I've decided unilaterally that we've now entered the Three Timelines era, defined by three groupings of players with different trajectories:
1. The olds. Steph, Klay, Draymond, and yes, Chris Paul, are at a point where questions abound about if they've given up too much, especially on defense, to compete. Draymond is kind of a special case, but my view is all of them are still good—even great—a lot of the time, but they don't last as long as they used to. They might need some rest days or at least fewer minutes per game, but convincing Kerr that less is more here is easier said than done.
2. The youngsters. Kuminga, Moody, Podziemski, and TJD are all still a little error-prone but increasingly capable of carrying their own weight in rotation minutes. One or even a couple of them might still grow into stardom.
3. The middle. Looney, Wiggins, and Saric are all known quantities with known strengths and weaknesses, in their prime years physically. Loon is limited athletically and not much of a scorer; Saric is a bit lackluster defensively; Wiggins has tons of potential but rarely lives up to it. None of them are "carry a team" guys, but all of them can be solid contributors. Unfortunately Loon and Wiggs have been performing worse than their previous standard for reasons unknown. We can only guess why that is and if it's something that might resolve itself this season or if it won't. With Wiggins, the way it comes out on the court is baffling (missed shots, fumbled passes, etc.) but my best guess at this point is maybe his heart isn't really in it after all the interpersonal drama. It felt like he really took a leap when he came here, bought into the culture of winning, and found a role he can excel in; but now, with the championship looking far away, his little bro punched and shipped off to DC, uncertainties about accountability for Draymond, his personal matter last year, and a broken rib in the offseason, it wouldn't be shocking if he weren't feeling up for putting in the level of effort it takes to be a champ or even an all-star again.
Bonus: The odd man out: CoJo. Age-wise, he's with the olds; he's on the down-trend of his career. Skill-wise, he's with the youngsters: good enough that he won't tank the team by being in the rotation, and he'll even make some good plays occasionally, but you don't want to have to depend on him.
Wiggs' performance off the bench in the last few games has me wondering if his best role might be as a sixth man. As a starter he has a tendency to play passively, deferring to Steph & Klay. Coming off the bench allows him the freedom to just ball and dominate the opponent's second string.
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something GPII
Heartiest wishes for Mrs D-Cube's health.
Sorry to hear about your troubles. Do take care of yourself as well - find pockets of time just for yourself .
OT how can the Pistons be this bad? This is a serious question not looking for jokey answers. It seems like they have drafted some interesting young talent. It seems like most of the players have remained healthy. It seems like Monte Williams is a decent coach. It seems like they get good uniforms just like everybody else. And of course they have JW. So what makes the team this bad?
May be they don't have enough and/or right vets.
Probably doesn't make a huge difference, but Duren has been out a couple weeks and he's one of their better players
I'd say it does. Outside of being one of their better players, his absence also brought James Wiseman back in the regular rotation and whenever he is on the court, the Pistons's already abysmal net rating is lowered by 5.8. By pythagorean win percentage, a team that plays as well as the Pistons do whenever James Wiseman is on the court is expected to win 10 games in an 82-game season, which is more or less on par to where they "should" be in terms of record. They, like our guys, have dropped a couple of tight games that could have been wins, so it all adds up. If they don't get Duren back quickly, this'll continue.
Duby Dub Dubs is truly one of the greatest blog bois of all time, and we are blessed to have him on our side. Long live Triple D aka Klay Thompson's best friend!
With all of the losing we've done, the recent win streak hasn't assured us of continuing. Are we questioning what we are witnessing? Can we really win without Draymond? Without a 100% Wiggins effort? Is TJD our lucky charm? Does he really make this team better? I say yes to all of the above.
Draymond's game is slipping. Never mind his foul frame of mind and his physical tactics to express. himself. His GAME is off. He is not an ELITE defender any longer. He may have a stellar game on occasion but all players usually do. He's been scoring more. Anyone want to venture a guess why this is so? We've talked about his offensive decline for years. Why has his shooting returned? One reason is Chris Paul who has taken up the primary assist position nosing out Draymond this season. Paul is not a scorer, per se, and would give us 3 non scorers with Draymond. Draymond has to score as Looney is not that guy. More. points and less defense from Draymond. That would be okay if he was really a scorer which he is not. Up steps Kuminga to outscore Dray. Up steps Klay to complement Steph once again. Up steps the Podz to bring both points and rebounds as well as some assists. Up steps TDJ to execute pnr's, rim protect, and play in the paint. I'm convinced that we are past the Draymond era. Let's see what help he can give to another team. Can he recreate himself somewhere else?
Klay's resurgence is a big part of our winning ways. And, it is taking place without Draymond. Even the Podz loves to set him up. Any real ball handler can do it. Wiggs is another story. He doesn't deserve to be on a Curry team as he doesn't know how to generate the will to win consistently. Just compare him to the Podz. Not the stats, but the energy and team effort. Wiggs is the odd man out here. For me, the bigger picture of the Dubs is without Dray and Wiggs for the final run of the Splash Bros.
Dray is scoring better than last championship year.
He still single handedly busts 3 on 1. Let's see TDJ defend post ups of Yokic, Embid, AD.
His problem is availability and playing fast and lose.
TDJ does have a role to play.
>>> Why has his shooting returned? One reason is Chris Paul who has taken up the primary assist position nosing out Draymond this season
Most of his threes made are in the starting lineup and at start of halves. So CP3 doesn't factor in. May be he is rested. May be he worked.
There is one issue with the whole premise that this recent winning streak is a sign of our ability to win without Draymond: our defense is nothing short of awful. Over this three-game winning streak, the Warriors have a DRTG of 118.8, which is equal to the Detroit Pistons DRTG for the season. The last couple of games - which were against one team missing one their leading scorers, a tanking teams and a middle of the pack outfit of the East, not to forget that little part - were won on account of a rather hot shooting streak. Outside of the Splash Bros, Wiggins and Saric are shooting above 60% from beyond the arc and Kuminga is above 40% in these games. Call me a cynic if you must, but I don't see that lasting for a long enough time to build a team around.
You're forgetting it was awful with Dray on the floor, too. But, your point is well taken. It is a small sample size that needs expanding. No matter the outcome, I don't want to see Dray back with the Dubs.
The Morant Effect is in effect. Sure, it's only two games, but if you've watched how they play with him on the floor, it becomes obvious he's a top 10 player and team MVP. He's going to make Memphis a force, again. He probably won't have played enough games this season to be a league MVP but he is as important to Memphis as Steph is to Golden State. Makes the West stronger.
(Career per 100 poss.)
MEM with Ja on court: +3.5
MEM with Ja on the bench: +1.0
Ja net +2.5
====
GS with Steph on court: +8.1
GS with Steph on the bench: -2.8
Steph net: +10.9
====
Obviously Ja’s a great player and the straw that stirs the Grizzlies drink. But he’s not “AS important to Memphis as Steph is to Golden State” — spiritually, empirically, or otherwise.
As great as he is, it’s also not clear he’s a “Top 10 player” in terms of impact on wins, unless you want to make a case for which of Jokic, Steph, Giannis, Embiid, Luka, LeBron, Durant, Kawhi, Butler, Shai, Dame, Haliburton, Fox, Booker, Lillard, Ant et al. he’s clearly better than. At peak level he may be in the mix with the bottom guys on that list, somewhere in the #8-15 range, but let’s see him get his head screwed on straight and show some consistency and leadership (and maybe get out of the second round of the playoffs?) before throwing around words like “League MVP” and “Steph Curry.”
I like exaggerating...........
But! Lil Wayne says he's the next face of the league!
Too bad we played them 0 times while some teams got multiple free wins off them already
It's the way the cookie crumbles........
Just checked and Houston beat them 3 times, Dallas 2W 1 lost, Minny and Suns both beat them twice.
Wizards beat the Blazers 118-117. Wizards nearly threw the game away in the end. Not sure if this matters, but the Wizards had all of their starters play 31-37 minutes tonight.
Quite a finish happening here...
Oh, boy… 2 point game with 3m left, and JP3 gets called for a flopping tech.
Would not hate to see this go to OT
Welcome back, Duby. We've missed you.
So sorry to hear about your wife's travails. Will be praying for her and all of your family. May you find grace for this season of new challenges and life springing up from unexpected places.
NBA Admits Missed Calls in Warriors vs. Celtics Game: https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/nba-admits-missed-calls-in-warriors-vs-celtics-game
(Both favoring Boston)
How about this one on Dec. 8?
https://official.nba.com/l2m/L2MReport.html?gameId=0022301222
The missed call (failure to inbounds with 8 seconds left, OKC down 3 ), if gotten right, would have given the Dubs the ball up 3 with 8 seconds left in the game. Would they have won? Who knows … but probably.
IIRC, the Cavs also had six players on the floor at the end of the ‘16 Finals Should have been a technical and Warrior ball with a chance to tie it with a three. 😠
I still don’t get why they didn’t check to see if we called a timeout. They do that all the time. Actually I forget if they reviewed it or not when that whole lebron timeout while reeves was losing the ball thing happened.
Wolves beat the Lakers 118-111. Wolves move to 21-6 and 12-1 at home while the Lakers fall to 15-14 and 5-10 on the road.
We could surpass the LOLkers soon
How bout that IST ship?
Banners fly forever (TM). 😆
Lakers are 1-5 since they won the IST and have lost four games in a row to the Spurs, Knicks, Bulls, and T-Wolves. The rest of this month is gonna be a very tough stretch for the Lakers:
12/23- @ Thunder
12/25- vs. Celtics
12/28- vs. Hornets
12/30- @ Wolves
12/31- @ Pelicans
The only easy game for this month is against the Hornets.
https://twitter.com/KevinOConnorNBA/status/1738003821123744087
TBH I haven't seen any Pistons games during their losing streak outside of ours but this clip makes sense. Just horrid effort from the team and especially Cade.
That's really discouraging that see. Is Monty going to make it through new years?
Doubt it TBH