Now that the whipping boy Wiggins revived for one game, I will turn my wrath on Jordan Poole. We all know that Poole is a volume shooter and he has learned to do some other things in his 3 seasons here. But he has suffered from poor scoring efficiency in every season he has played in. Volume shooting and missing a lot has plagued him. It's improved so don't get me wrong, but he cannot be relied on to be consistent yet. He is now holding the worst scoring efficiency stat of all the rotation players. He will probably move to the bench when Klay reappears but starting is going to be a struggle for him. He is also not a great defender but he has quick hands. I like his Steph-like movement off the ball and this could be more useful off the bench. Both Porter and Bjelica are better spot up shooters so they could thrive with Poole's running around and being setup by Poole. Poole could develop to be our prime bench ball handler, facilitating the offense if he is focused not only on his own shot. He shoots way too much. With Iggy also helping facilitate, this could be a very powerful scoring bench and Poole could finally come into his own if he learns to play his role with more discipline.
Duck, Poole, incoming! I would say that Poole is definitely a work in confidence. His shooting confidence, offensive creation and assertiveness are all way up but his perecentages and defense are not, agreed. However, he has shown he might be the hardest worker on the team and I put a lot of hope in that. Obviously the idea is Klay takes his starter role and Poole comes in as instant offense off the bench. But we'll see. One thing he needs to learn is when to drive and when to shoot the three. He's actually really good at getting to the hole. Watching Steph will help. Steph knows how to just keep going to the hole if they're taking away the three, until they adjust and he goes back to the three.
For discussion: If Dray needs a night off, who do we think gets the start? There are really a lot of options:
1. JTA seems like a good candidate to start. He’s familiar with playing that role and knows how to find Curry. He’s also had his minutes curtailed because of all the depth and it’s looked like he’s pressing trying to make things happen in short minutes. (The game Iggy sat and he got more minutes was a notable exception.) Kerr throwing him a bone and letting him start would send a message that he’s still important/appreciated and would seem like the Kerr thing to do.
2. Iggy would give them playmaking and defense, but they probably don’t want to wear him down to start the game.
3. Bjelly would probably do well, but I’m guessing they want him as the only other 5.
4. I could also see OPJ starting in a sort of KD-esque PF role. He’s give them rebounding, but not a lot of playmaking, but they’d have to rely on Poole and Steph for the play-making.
5. Kuminga??!! Very probably not.
6. Something crazy like sliding Wiggins to PF and starting Lee or Moody at wing is possible, but not likely.
Yeah, it'll get spread out, but JTA take most of the new minutes that become available. Though Chicago (without Vucevic & Williams) is not that big, so Warriors have easier chance going small.
I was looking back at the old “my worst take” articles and came across this from Mr Hardee: “Hey! My first viral video! Did you know I recorded this audio on my Playstation 4 microphone because my studio equipment was stolen? A story for another time...” (in reference to the man who didn’t want to play with Steph curry). Can we have the studio stolen equipment woven into a future article?
The Bulls seem to have a solid 6 man rotation... but they are not deep (with Williams out for the season). Get them in foul trouble and/or run them off the floor. If they want to play Vucevic his normal 34MPG, Steph should feast, right?
Heck yea! 30 assists! 39% 3 point shooting on 44 shots! But kinda got torched on the boards (41 boards vs 53). Wait … those are the Timberwolves’ numbers???!!?
A different angle: by the classic numbers the Warriors had an odd/bad game.
- 23 assists
- 27.5 3 point shooting (11 of 40)
Making up for it with good rim work - see rebounding - good defense, smart ball movement, team depth, and all the other things we’ve been discussing.
28% on 40 three point attempts but still shot 47% from the field. Destroyed the Wolves inside and in transition, shout out to KAT and DLo. It was especially fun to see how often they took advantage of DLo defensively, it was miserable trying to talk myself into rooting for him when he was with the Warriors.
last night reminded me of those playoff games against the Pelicans where Dray$ absolutely owned Anthony Davis and had him on a leash by the fourth quarter
DLo deserves credit too, look at him helping out his former team after the Wolves had cut the lead all the way down to 4 (and good recognition by OPJ here too).
Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Another fun game last night for sure. Great too see Looney and Wiggs step up, Porter and Bjeli anchor their minutes, smart plays from Andre, Steph, JTA. So many ways to do damage.
Anthony Edwards becoming an unstoppable scoring machine had me a little anxious in the second half. But we’ve seen this movie a zillion times - a single excellent player on a weak team is not enough. He will go far! But probably on a different team …
Yep, or, if Edwards is lucky enough to team up with a guy like Steph...look what it did for KD...only time he ever won anything, in spite of 40 point games and his one-of-a-kind, legendary, pure scoring ability.
That's going to be tough because there is only one guy like Steph. It's hard to imagine the T-Wolves attracting an "almost Steph" like Dame, LaMelo or Trae even assuming they were available.
If you squint hard enough, you might be able to see a past inefficient Timberwolf who's doing alright next to Steph... maybe not KD level, but lots better than in his Timberwolves days.
SoS musings; yes, we all know the Warriors have had the easiest schedule in the league to date. It's undeniable. Let me note a few other teams that have also had easy schedules that don't seem to get talked about as much:
#27 Sixers
#26 Suns
#25 Lakers
#24 Jazz
#23 Bulls
#22 Clippers
On a related note, five of the top six teams who have faced the toughest schedules have played the Warriors.
Phoenix and Minnesota have had easier schedules than we have, so it’s deniable that we’ve had the easiest. But yeah, it’s been easy. Gets tougher starting tomorrow.
Worth noting, tho: we have a built-in scheduling advantage over all other teams by virtue of never having to play the Warriors.
According to BBallRef the TWolves are #28 in schedule difficulty. I know there are different systems for estimating a schedule difficulty, but IMO anything in the group above (and us at #30) is in a similar ballpark.
Yup, these strength of schedule things are weird, especially early in the year where it's self fulfilling. If your team is handing out Ls to everyone then it contributes to those teams not having good records when it's like 5 or 10 games in
I must say, I hope we get a 50-70 percent, initially, of KLAY back, and, about 50 percent of what WISEMAN is gonna be in long-term...a bit of injury luck, and we will do our talking in the playoffs....
Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Great stuff, Daniel. LOL...DUBS 10-1...Lead league with a +13.6 Differential, also....Klay and our 7 ft work-in-progress on the way, to boot...Kerr/GM DOING A GREAT JOB...Bummer with Dray's injury; quad contusions very tricky if they are deep/on bone type...I still get reminders where mine was on rainy days, 45 yrs later...Wigs was always capable of this every night; team just needs time to find the right chemistry/balance...hard to do with so many young guys developing talent, but, should be there by the time Klay gets back to work him in with known quantities...gonna be a fun season....sky is the limit, but, we gonna need another big-big....
Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Unaggressive Wiggs with the mild knee injury and lack of game shape is still somehow averaging 21.3 pts on .577 ts. If he’s now going to build on that, cool. But I’ll take those numbers all day when you throw in his ability to guard 1-4 with ease and run all day while being arguably the most durable player in the league.
(Wasn’t someone in here just saying yesterday that he sucks?)
What has frustrated me with Wiggins is a sense of unlocked potential like those little skip-hops to the basket which could and should be dunks. And what worried me ( a little less so now) about the prospect of Playoffs Wiggins was a fear that he could not or would not push himself to leave everything he had out there on the floor. Does he shrink from the fire or let it consume him like Draymond, Klay, Curry, Iguodala.
That's what's frustrated people Wiggins' entire career... here's to hoping that he keeps growing comfortable in the Warriors' rotation. Even if he doesn't, he's still a valuable rotation contributor.
It’s still early in the season. Remember when Poole got his numbers back in order after a few good games? He’s back to 32% from 3 for the season after a few poor shooting nights. Another good few games, and he’s right back there!
Exactly. "Crazy" meaning "crazy how misleading early season stats can be". Poole and Wiggins hadn't even been that bad. Not like they threw some true stinkers so far off that we should be concerned. They'd just been a little below their expected average, and hadn't had the counterbalance game(s) yet.
Wiggins is steady, no stinkers. But if Poole hadn't had that 3 game stretch of 27ppg on good efficiency, he'd be in terrible town for sure. But that seems to be kind of his thing, more variability.
Every day the sample size grows and the averages even out though.
Yep, Steph's 50 pointer took him from number 7 in scoring to number 2...another one last night would have jumped him over KD for the league lead...his 25 pt showing, last night, lost him some ground, but, is still at number 2....
Hey, uh, Utah? Why are you losing to Indiana on your home court, with no injuries?
Exhibit A: Jordan Clarkson, 2-10 from three in this game, and this year 23% from three, down from 34% last year. Keep shootin' Jordan.
He will. Without a doubt.
Now that the whipping boy Wiggins revived for one game, I will turn my wrath on Jordan Poole. We all know that Poole is a volume shooter and he has learned to do some other things in his 3 seasons here. But he has suffered from poor scoring efficiency in every season he has played in. Volume shooting and missing a lot has plagued him. It's improved so don't get me wrong, but he cannot be relied on to be consistent yet. He is now holding the worst scoring efficiency stat of all the rotation players. He will probably move to the bench when Klay reappears but starting is going to be a struggle for him. He is also not a great defender but he has quick hands. I like his Steph-like movement off the ball and this could be more useful off the bench. Both Porter and Bjelica are better spot up shooters so they could thrive with Poole's running around and being setup by Poole. Poole could develop to be our prime bench ball handler, facilitating the offense if he is focused not only on his own shot. He shoots way too much. With Iggy also helping facilitate, this could be a very powerful scoring bench and Poole could finally come into his own if he learns to play his role with more discipline.
Duck, Poole, incoming! I would say that Poole is definitely a work in confidence. His shooting confidence, offensive creation and assertiveness are all way up but his perecentages and defense are not, agreed. However, he has shown he might be the hardest worker on the team and I put a lot of hope in that. Obviously the idea is Klay takes his starter role and Poole comes in as instant offense off the bench. But we'll see. One thing he needs to learn is when to drive and when to shoot the three. He's actually really good at getting to the hole. Watching Steph will help. Steph knows how to just keep going to the hole if they're taking away the three, until they adjust and he goes back to the three.
For discussion: If Dray needs a night off, who do we think gets the start? There are really a lot of options:
1. JTA seems like a good candidate to start. He’s familiar with playing that role and knows how to find Curry. He’s also had his minutes curtailed because of all the depth and it’s looked like he’s pressing trying to make things happen in short minutes. (The game Iggy sat and he got more minutes was a notable exception.) Kerr throwing him a bone and letting him start would send a message that he’s still important/appreciated and would seem like the Kerr thing to do.
2. Iggy would give them playmaking and defense, but they probably don’t want to wear him down to start the game.
3. Bjelly would probably do well, but I’m guessing they want him as the only other 5.
4. I could also see OPJ starting in a sort of KD-esque PF role. He’s give them rebounding, but not a lot of playmaking, but they’d have to rely on Poole and Steph for the play-making.
5. Kuminga??!! Very probably not.
6. Something crazy like sliding Wiggins to PF and starting Lee or Moody at wing is possible, but not likely.
Any other ideas?
Kerr is more likely to start me than Kuminga, based on his past approach to young players, but we'll see.
Lol I guessed Andre in the preview :)
JTA for sure.
Yeah, it'll get spread out, but JTA take most of the new minutes that become available. Though Chicago (without Vucevic & Williams) is not that big, so Warriors have easier chance going small.
I was looking back at the old “my worst take” articles and came across this from Mr Hardee: “Hey! My first viral video! Did you know I recorded this audio on my Playstation 4 microphone because my studio equipment was stolen? A story for another time...” (in reference to the man who didn’t want to play with Steph curry). Can we have the studio stolen equipment woven into a future article?
Hahah absolutely
So... looking ahead:
The Bulls seem to have a solid 6 man rotation... but they are not deep (with Williams out for the season). Get them in foul trouble and/or run them off the floor. If they want to play Vucevic his normal 34MPG, Steph should feast, right?
Kerr must be pissed.
If the Warriors keep this up he's going to forced to coach the All-Star Game again.
That was back in the day when we were going all the time. He's had a two year span of missing the playoffs. I think he'll enjoy it. (If it happens).
Can he just let the players coach themselves (again)?
Uh oh, wife’s awake….better look busy…..see y’all
Alas
I knew him well
We're literally one random ending short of being undefeated right now.
Headline/ Iguodala Puts End to Random Endings
Geez... they need a JR Smith technical foul in there and I think LeBron’s head would explode.
Heck yea! 30 assists! 39% 3 point shooting on 44 shots! But kinda got torched on the boards (41 boards vs 53). Wait … those are the Timberwolves’ numbers???!!?
A different angle: by the classic numbers the Warriors had an odd/bad game.
- 23 assists
- 27.5 3 point shooting (11 of 40)
Making up for it with good rim work - see rebounding - good defense, smart ball movement, team depth, and all the other things we’ve been discussing.
It's pretty impressive to win by double digits when the other team outshoots you from the 3 point line like that.
F yeah
28% on 40 three point attempts but still shot 47% from the field. Destroyed the Wolves inside and in transition, shout out to KAT and DLo. It was especially fun to see how often they took advantage of DLo defensively, it was miserable trying to talk myself into rooting for him when he was with the Warriors.
Really makes me wonder about KAT... puts up good numbers, but got absolutely beasted by Wiggins and Looney... not a good look.
I can't think of a single player in the league that reminds me more of Joe Barry Carroll.
last night reminded me of those playoff games against the Pelicans where Dray$ absolutely owned Anthony Davis and had him on a leash by the fourth quarter
LaMarcus Aldridge too. Dray pushed him around like he was boarding a full Muni.
Blake Griffin, too
DLo deserves credit too, look at him helping out his former team after the Wolves had cut the lead all the way down to 4 (and good recognition by OPJ here too).
https://youtu.be/dSOy-mOEmik?t=426
"Hey, I don't want to move at all so can you cover both these guys for me" lol
I guess we know why Draymond couldn't be bothered to give a shit when DLo was on the Warriors lol
That's not fair. He did turn his body (away from the ball) and raised his arm to point.
The play right after that is nasty by the way, I really like Reid for the Wolves.
Dubs had 16 assists at the half. Things got bad once Dray got hurt, but somehow they managed to right the ship.
Iguodala logged 5 assists after Dray went out. So good to have him back in the fold
Another fun game last night for sure. Great too see Looney and Wiggs step up, Porter and Bjeli anchor their minutes, smart plays from Andre, Steph, JTA. So many ways to do damage.
Anthony Edwards becoming an unstoppable scoring machine had me a little anxious in the second half. But we’ve seen this movie a zillion times - a single excellent player on a weak team is not enough. He will go far! But probably on a different team …
Yep, or, if Edwards is lucky enough to team up with a guy like Steph...look what it did for KD...only time he ever won anything, in spite of 40 point games and his one-of-a-kind, legendary, pure scoring ability.
That's going to be tough because there is only one guy like Steph. It's hard to imagine the T-Wolves attracting an "almost Steph" like Dame, LaMelo or Trae even assuming they were available.
Much more likely is he becomes a FA and goes wherever the money is that year.
If you squint hard enough, you might be able to see a past inefficient Timberwolf who's doing alright next to Steph... maybe not KD level, but lots better than in his Timberwolves days.
Wiggins looked seriously pumped up after that first dunk on KAT. Andre and GPII are just out there having fun like a couple of kids on the playground.
Bring in the waaaaaaaaambulance: https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/blazers-damian-lillard-unloads-on-nbas-rule-change-the-way-the-game-is-being-officiated-is-unacceptable/
Personally, I love all the no calls. Keep the refs on the floor to separate players after hard fouls and that’s about it
and have you noticed how mellow Draymond’s gotten toward the refs now that they’re just letting them play
Great point! That and he just seems like more of a mellow dad, but I think you are definitely on to something.
Draymond getting the toddler training? Yeah, he'll have learned to move on from a manufactured crisis. :-P
Lol...I rarely engage on officiating, but, last night....well, let's just say one guy really showed... the color GREEN....
Also maybe you'd be guarded more closely (hence more fouls) if you were making your shots.
Hey, if they're calling it, you'd be smart to take advantage.
Yep, that offensive ''shoulder'' foul on Wigs was ridiculous, as was the foul on a clean steal one of our bigs delivered...
And the Steph charge. Pretty sure these refs could have starred in clueless.
And the crazy Porter box out foul.
That was bonkers.
Reminded me of the infamous Harden foul where he just leaned over the guy and was literally riding on his back and the guy got called for a foul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_z5Ro6bSSQ
SoS musings; yes, we all know the Warriors have had the easiest schedule in the league to date. It's undeniable. Let me note a few other teams that have also had easy schedules that don't seem to get talked about as much:
#27 Sixers
#26 Suns
#25 Lakers
#24 Jazz
#23 Bulls
#22 Clippers
On a related note, five of the top six teams who have faced the toughest schedules have played the Warriors.
Does SoS take into account home vs away games?
I figure it helps that the Warriors have only left California once so far.
As far as BBallRef (where I got this from) the glossary doesn't indicate what goes into the rating.
Phoenix and Minnesota have had easier schedules than we have, so it’s deniable that we’ve had the easiest. But yeah, it’s been easy. Gets tougher starting tomorrow.
Worth noting, tho: we have a built-in scheduling advantage over all other teams by virtue of never having to play the Warriors.
According to BBallRef the TWolves are #28 in schedule difficulty. I know there are different systems for estimating a schedule difficulty, but IMO anything in the group above (and us at #30) is in a similar ballpark.
Though could you imagine Draymond guarding Draymond. That would be fun...
Draymond would do a very good job.
It’s early, it’ll even out soon, especially after we play the bulls and nets in coming days
Yup, these strength of schedule things are weird, especially early in the year where it's self fulfilling. If your team is handing out Ls to everyone then it contributes to those teams not having good records when it's like 5 or 10 games in
I must say, I hope we get a 50-70 percent, initially, of KLAY back, and, about 50 percent of what WISEMAN is gonna be in long-term...a bit of injury luck, and we will do our talking in the playoffs....
NO DOUBT. It is what is, and Steph is not a perennial MVP and uncrowned King of the game for the last 8 years; or, don't you know...
Great stuff, Daniel. LOL...DUBS 10-1...Lead league with a +13.6 Differential, also....Klay and our 7 ft work-in-progress on the way, to boot...Kerr/GM DOING A GREAT JOB...Bummer with Dray's injury; quad contusions very tricky if they are deep/on bone type...I still get reminders where mine was on rainy days, 45 yrs later...Wigs was always capable of this every night; team just needs time to find the right chemistry/balance...hard to do with so many young guys developing talent, but, should be there by the time Klay gets back to work him in with known quantities...gonna be a fun season....sky is the limit, but, we gonna need another big-big....
Unaggressive Wiggs with the mild knee injury and lack of game shape is still somehow averaging 21.3 pts on .577 ts. If he’s now going to build on that, cool. But I’ll take those numbers all day when you throw in his ability to guard 1-4 with ease and run all day while being arguably the most durable player in the league.
(Wasn’t someone in here just saying yesterday that he sucks?)
What has frustrated me with Wiggins is a sense of unlocked potential like those little skip-hops to the basket which could and should be dunks. And what worried me ( a little less so now) about the prospect of Playoffs Wiggins was a fear that he could not or would not push himself to leave everything he had out there on the floor. Does he shrink from the fire or let it consume him like Draymond, Klay, Curry, Iguodala.
That's what's frustrated people Wiggins' entire career... here's to hoping that he keeps growing comfortable in the Warriors' rotation. Even if he doesn't, he's still a valuable rotation contributor.
Crazy how his first really good game can get all his numbers back in order.
It’s still early in the season. Remember when Poole got his numbers back in order after a few good games? He’s back to 32% from 3 for the season after a few poor shooting nights. Another good few games, and he’s right back there!
Exactly. "Crazy" meaning "crazy how misleading early season stats can be". Poole and Wiggins hadn't even been that bad. Not like they threw some true stinkers so far off that we should be concerned. They'd just been a little below their expected average, and hadn't had the counterbalance game(s) yet.
Wiggins is steady, no stinkers. But if Poole hadn't had that 3 game stretch of 27ppg on good efficiency, he'd be in terrible town for sure. But that seems to be kind of his thing, more variability.
Every day the sample size grows and the averages even out though.
Yep, Steph's 50 pointer took him from number 7 in scoring to number 2...another one last night would have jumped him over KD for the league lead...his 25 pt showing, last night, lost him some ground, but, is still at number 2....
Bingo, Sleepy. Defense a big difference-maker....especially when Klay gets back, we should be loaded on offense....
*21.3 point per 36