216 Comments

USA defeats Jordan 110 to 62.

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

In fairness, MJ is now 60 years old.

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And going 1-5, it's amazing he still got 62...

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Aug 29, 2023Liked by Daniel Hardee

There's talk on the street, it sounds so familiar

Great expectations, everybody's watching you

People you meet they all seem to know you

Even your old friends treat you like you're something new

Jonny Kum Lately

The new kid in town

Everybody loves you

So don’t let them down…

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You look in Kerr's eyes

You hope that he'll let you play

Fearless rebounding, here we go again

But after a while, you're looking the other way

It's those ungrabbed boards that do you in

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There’s so many things you should have told Kerr

But night after night the Warriors got older, just older

Tears on your shoulder….

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

When you're out there on on the floor, where Draymond can find you.

Like a circle goes around,

You were lost until you rebounded,

that's what it comes down to.

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

Where you been lately? There's a new kid in town

Asher B. loves him, don't he?

He's holding him, while Steph's still around.

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author

WHAT SONG IS THIS

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

I don't know, but I'm going to try and love again.

(which, BTFW, is a great song). RIP, Randy Meisner.

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

Random thought. I wonder how long it will be until the NBA or NBA + other league team up to make their own streaming app that is the only source for content.

They could have their cake and eat it too. I would pay for such a service and ads are baked into the game, so they could make the ad revenue directly.

Seems inevitable at this point.

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How would they get that bag of broadcasting money though? I imagine some of that high price tag is due to the exclusivity of the content.

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Probably not a great idea. You need at least some free-ish content to bring in new fans.

Look what has happened to newspapers. They had huge 'fanbases', but as soon as other free content was available, and they had to paywall to charge money to deliver their service, they started withering on the vine.

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Fair point. I use to read articles from The Atlantic. Ever since to a pay wall model, they are dead to me. Enough services are already getting my money as it is.

I wasn't thinking about how all the other content brings in the viewership required at the scale of sports

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Are ads not a viable business model? I just don't get why more companies don't go that route, but I'll admit I don't really understand the dynamics.

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I used to be in the similar / same situation, but Apple News+, if you have an Apple device, is actually very reasonably priced and gets me past a lot of paywalls with included content, all without using a trick to circumvent paywalls. Scientific American, The Atlantic, Wired, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, SF Chronicle & LA Times, The Guardian, and many other magazines and papers are available on it. We need to support some good media, and the $9.99 a month is worth it to me, particularly since it's shared for the whole family. We have no other news subscriptions.

Here's a somewhat outdated but fair review / overview: https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/1/18287637/apple-news-plus-review-subscription-magazine-service-pricing-features

The only thing I really miss on it are The Athletic and the NYT, but I'm not that fond of the latter anyway.

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Wow. thanks for that tip!

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A stand alone service would be too cost prohibitive. I mean the whole business formula would have to be overhauled. These corps bundle all their foofie channels on the back of a few that bring in the eyeballs. Think college football in relation to say college tennis. Then certain programming pulls in a good chunk of those eyevalls. NBA pulling their product from the likes of TNT and ESPN to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars would be devastating to both the carriers and to the NBA. The NBA would have to charge like 15 bucks per game to get anything back

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https://t.co/g5s7M8KaYN

If this man ties up one of our 2-ways or worse yet a roster spot, I’m going to be irked.

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Brandon Ingram is averaging 3.5/2.5/2.5 as a starter for the US, and he’s an all-star player in the NBA. LQ not playing great in FIBA doesn’t concern me much, especially on a two-way. Worst case he doesn’t perform well and they cut him part way through like Jeff Downtin a couple years ago. Are there better candidates out there you want us to snag in his place?

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I hate to break it to you, but…

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Shoutout to the other Warrior LJ Figueroa with the similar statline

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Love Jonny, he oozes potential and is an exciting player. He has come a good way in his second year and I think he will improve enough in his third year to stay on the court. Rooting for the kid.

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[OT] I invented a NEW Pick And Roll Defense | BBallBreakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA5C-43ifbA

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Looks like a gimmick that could work against HS teams, but NBA teams would pick that apart... except HS players are relatively bad 3pt shooters that aren't nearly as much of a threat, but somewhat decent dribblers and athletes able to attack downhill if given a wide open lane to do so...

I could see something like this working as a gimmick for a few possessions against an unprepared team, but not more than that...

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Man Canada looking like the Warriors circa 2017-2019. Falls behind early, hits a switch, blows out opponents. Good for them.

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

They’d be even more fearsome with Wiggs!

One of the early signs to me that Wiggs was quietly starting to mature into a legit “16-game player” was the Olympic qualifiers two years ago. Team Canada just missed qualifying, but Wiggs looked like their best player on both ends in the games I watched — tougher, more poised, and more confident in crunchtime than I had remembered him. Basically, the guy we ended up seeing in the ‘22 playoffs.

If/when they ever get their full squad, SGA + Jamal Murray + Wiggs is a helluva big three (with a great supporting cast in Olynyk, Dort, Barrett, Powell, Brooks, Alexander-Walker et al.)

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Noah Lyles on the NBA “World Champions”, did folks already share their thoughts on here?

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Non-story of the year. The comment wasn't that inflammatory; the responses of NBA players were mild. The question has no practical significance. They really don't have anything else to talk about right now, apparently.

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

Quite a bit; see below "OT Cute little controversy. Noah Lyles just won the gold [...] " for some spirited discussion started by @Asher B

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My answer before we set our roster was Trade him Immediately. My answer now that our roster is set is “I have no idea” I’m leaning towards him getting inconsistent minutes and being shipped off next offseason at a much lower value but wouldn’t be surprised if he carves himself out a niche in the rotation. I will say that unlike my feelings on Moody, if Kuminga ends up being shipped out its because he just couldn’t quite find a role with Kerr not because I think hes a bad player.

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I appreciate your talent for clearly explaining your views, even when those views run counter to most folks' understanding! It's very refreshing to read, and provides food for thought.

That said, I was under the impression that the second unit portion is decently geared towards what JK does well? What am I missing about role mismatch?

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Rebounding, Perimeter Defense, Moving the Ball. Yeah on paper if you include Paul and Saric in the second unit hes is primed to take a leap. Unfortunately i dont know if he’ll be able to do those things with any degreeof consistency hence why i Wouldnt be surprised if hes a cog come playoffs or if hes traded after the season ends

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I readily agree with those areas for improvement if he wants to force starters type minutes from Kerr, particularly in the playoffs.

Given what JK does well already, what do you think he'd get? My assumption is JK can get 18 mpg off his current productivity on a deeper team.

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Could you explain what reasoning you have for not liking Moody as a. player?

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

Sure. Ive explained it previously but in short i dont think hes good enough of a shooter to play the 2 and too slow and unathletic (relative to basketball) to play the 3. Inversely defensively don’t think hes strong or athletic enough to guard 3s with any degree of consistency and too slow to guard the 1s and 2s. His ‘skillset’ is gonna require highly specialized matchups: the type that has him playing lots of minutes for one game and sitting on the bench for the next few. The issue IMO with Kuminga is Similar except that I think he does certain things very well and unfort the things that Kerr wants him to fill a need on he doesn’t do as well. Thats the possible issue that I see with him

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" I dont think hes good enough of a shooter to play the 2"

I can understand this position, given that his FT% average from college onward is 76% which is 5% below the league average for SG and he's 1% below league average from three despite having a mostly catch and shoot shot diet.

"Too slow and unathletic (relative to basketball) to play the 3."

Offensively, if Moody's shot can translate, he's already demonstrated the capacity to effectively/athletically attack off the catch and he's already demonstrated the ability to jump when given time to load up. Moody was in the 90th percentile off screens, 68th percentile in hand offs, 65th percentile in cuts, 55th percentile in spot up, and 51rst percentile in transition. Overall, he seems to be effective (admittedly in a short sample size).

Defensively, Moody's footspeed is definitely a touch too slow playing defense, however, I think its important to recognize that Moody's 7'1 wingspan can cover for this weakness with good footwork. While Moody did not due that for his rookie/half of second year, towards the end of the second year he had dramatically improved in this regard. (https://theswishtheory.com/nba/2023/08/the-defensive-growth-of-moses-moody/). Overall, he was in the 61rst percentile in defending spot ups, the 56th percentile when defending pick and roll ball handlers, and in the 99th percentile when defending isolation (admittedly with a small sample size). In all of these major metrics for defense, he's above average so not too slow/unathletic to play the 3.

"His ‘skillset’ is gonna require highly specialized matchups"

I disagree entirely. I think Moody's skillset is going to be highly translatable since he's looking to be a strictly 3nD player. My main problem with Moody is that he lacks tertiary skillsets which can accentuate that 3nD mold like being good at rebounding (a la Josh Hart) or passing (Joe Ingles). He needs to develop those skills in order to become a good player.

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It's good to remember that Moody is just 21, and a lot of his game is and will be based on BBIQ rather than overwhelming athleticism a la JK. If the playoffs were an indicator, we should see significant improvement this season but he has time to develop beyond that.

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I hope you're right. I like Moses, and I like that he seems to have that knack for making winning plays. If he can improve as a passer and/or rebounder. that would solidify his value to Kerr ball.

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Unlike your feelings on Moody, your Kuminga takes are only mildly silly. 😊

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so, just for future reference, how do you like your crow; baked? fried?

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I was asked similar questions after not wanting to draft Wiseman especially after that 1st game against Milwaukee his rookie yr. As with Wiseman (and Paschall as the Draymond replacement) lets let the season play out. And as I did w/ Wiseman, ill root hard for Moody and Kuminga to succeed even if it means “eating crow” in the end.

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Almost nobody here wanted to draft Wiseman and the the consensus was pretty much to trade down and draft Halliburton. In retrospect LaMello would have been the better choice but it was by no means clear at the time and Wiseman might have amounted to something without illness, injury, and being generally mishandled by the Warriors. How many players have come straight out of high school, which is pretty much what Wiseman did, and been good NBA players? Again, in retrospect, it makes you wonder what in the hell the Warriors were thinking when they made him the starting center.

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

I *badly* wanted to draft Wiseman (though I liked Haliburton a lot, too). I was actually worried Minny might take Big Jim and force us to choose between Edwards and LaMelo.

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In retrospect, I wish they would have saved us from ourselves.

I was cautious about Wiseman -- just too short of a resume -- but drank the kool-aid on his possibly being a generational talent. Hard to pass up a guy that could be the next David Robinson.

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Au contraire (i think thats how you spell it) Apricot’s Draft Pick Tourney begs to differ

8. Tyrese Haliburton vs 5. James Wiseman (50.1%-49.9%) Insanely close, a single Twitter vote margin. LGW support pulls it out at the last second.

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That doesn't really prove your point. That poll is based on the assumption that the Warriors have to draft the #2 pick. That 50% of LGW voters preferred Haliburton to Wiseman as the #2 pick I think is a pretty clear indication that they would have been thrilled to be able to move down and draft Haliburton at #12 where he eventually ended up and get some other asset instead of Wiseman. Whether by choice or simply not being able to find a trading partner, the Warriors ended up with the #2 pick.

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I also didn't want to draft Wiseman, or Kuminga for that matter, but I think Kuminga (unlike Wiseman) has shown a ton of promise. Like you say, it wouldn't be that surprising if he carved out a niche in the rotation (especially since he already did last year). Moody I think has a much higher floor than Kuminga and I will be surprised if he doesn't carve out a niche in the rotation this year. Looks like crow's on the menu for one of us! I'll take mine fried please.

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If I didn't eat crow (I wanted Wiseman), I'd starve.

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I wanted Wiseman too. I said at the time if we wanted to go big, draft Wiseman; otherwise Haliburton. (We knew Edwards was going #1 to MN.) I thought Wiseman had a sky-high ceiling if we were patient. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.

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Interested to see what happens this year for Kuminga in his age 21 season. For a lot of young developmental wings (Kawhi, Paul George, Jaylen Brown) who eventually became stars 21 was NOT the breakthrough year to a star. But it was a significant developmental year where they became full fledged rotation guys.

If Kuminga is forcing Kerr's hand to play him 25+ minutes a night that will be a great sign for his potential upside. And that's where the responsibility lies in my opinion. With Kuminga.

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I think JK has one year to prove he's worthy of a big extension, and then one more year to show that he can be the Dubs' superstar of the post-Steph era. If he doesn't do both, he'll likely get shopped.

The second timeline is now looking fairly bare-bones, and I doubt that Podz can be the lead guard of a future championship contender, unless he pulls off an unexpected Nash.

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I made a comparison between Kuminga and Harrison Barnes earlier, and I'm really hoping JK can develop into a player the Warriors are happy to give that max contract to, not a player who goes elsewhere to get that bag and stagnate.

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Agree, and I'm betting JK is going to be a no brainer rotation player with decent minutes, and also that Kerr will be thrilled.

Not saying this about your post, but I almost feel like some fans are suggesting that Kerr is rooting for the young players to fail, and was happy Wise and JP got shipped out. I can't imagine he'd be anything but delighted if JK and MM make a leap and heck, TJD and even Podz are very playable.

Hopefully we are both delighted this year. How many days until Oct???

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Agree that Kerr wants these guys to succeed. Why wouldn't he?

But I'm guessing that he was at least relieved when Wise and Poole got shipped out. There was pressure to play those guys, and they were high variance to say the least. They just weren't reliable.

He's probably also not sorry that Rollins and PBJ are elsewhere. Nothing against those guys, but there were so many projects, and the Warriors just don't have enough minutes to develop them all.

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Man, I'm dreaming big on TJD.

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Me too. Admittedly it might just be my desperation for more help up front after striking out on Wiseman, albeit TJD is a different type of player (4/5 but undersized at the 5).

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JFK was always going to be the MAN, but the patient GSW organization performed due diligence in the Wiseman Equation, and while some of those minutes later last season benefitted Kuminga, the dude needs to be on the floor, he makes things happen, and his mistake/learning curve ratio seems to be tilting toward the latter. How about a quick to mind lineup with CP3 running it out to Wiggs (2) Kuminga (3) Dray (4) Looney (5)??? I'm smelling blood, errr, buckets and boards!!! #dubnation #webelieve

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How about CP3 running it out to Kuminga, Klay, Moody or GP2, and Saric? I like that much better. I imagine Kerr will mix and match so we'll see different combinations. You know how Steve likes to experiment, especially early in the season.

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Removed (Banned)Aug 29, 2023
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I love it's bizarro world flavor. I'd be fascinated to watch it's defensive perimeter play, too.

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I voted B but would've voted B and A if that were an option. On the whole, he had a good year and made progress, and yes, he's got holes in his game. But Kerr should not have sat him so much after his regular season showing. He earned more of a chance in the playoffs than Kerr gave him.

I will say this: some of this is results based. If they had won a championship, I would concede that what Kerr did was better. But they didn't. So Kerr left himself open to criticism. It's not that I think JK should have gotten carte blanche out there, but explain to me again why Wiggins with cracked ribs was a better choice than Kuminga against the Lakers. I don't get that at all.

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Yup

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Yep, agree with this

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OT: Just published our latest video, Cordoba! (The city in Spain, not the Chrysler car.) Beautiful city and the gorgeous Mosque Cathedral is alone is worth the visit: https://youtu.be/JBTptL9q_NU?si=JXcGd7Bp_p7j91PN (7.5 minutes) Our journey through Spain will continue in Sevilla.

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Aug 28, 2023·edited Aug 28, 2023

Please send some video of the Calatrava bridge.

My recommendation is: dinnertime stroll in the crowded plazas to see how people actually live in Seville; and churros on street corners with the students at night

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I’ve been working on the Sevilla video and there is indeed a shot of the Alamilo bridge, designed by Calatrava, so you’re in luck 😁

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https://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2023/game/2808/Brazil-Spain#tab=boxscore

Gui Santos played 9 minutes against Spain, scored 7 points on 2 shots and got a rebound.

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Baby Gui-sus is coming along just fine.

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His shot is reeeeeally nice for a guy his size, both from three and from the stripe. I think/hope that’s gonna be his NBA calling card.

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Aug 29, 2023·edited Aug 29, 2023

If he can improve his dribble a little bit, he's going to be a killer secondary ballhandler.

The shot will pull the defender out to him, he can drive by, and I think he'll end up being a pretty good passer off the dribble. And he can finish at the rim.

Basically a lot of what Klay has been trying to do lately, but (I think) with higher effectiveness.

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Removed (Banned)Aug 29, 2023
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From your lips ...

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I posted this buried in the comments of the last article, but it belongs here:

JK’s projection as a shooter:

https://theswishtheory.com/nba/2023/07/jonathan-kuminga-future-shooter/

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Encouraging!

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Aug 28, 2023·edited Aug 28, 2023

This one and the Moody one are really kicking off my "welcome back to the NBA season cycle". This one isn't as content rich as the Moody one (https://theswishtheory.com/nba/2023/08/the-defensive-growth-of-moses-moody/), but inject them all straight into my veins... they're fantastic.

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Agreed. The Moody one was more analytic, and this one is more descriptive.

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Good stuff

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All eyes will be on JK but methinks Moses will take the leap into Steve's rotation full time before him. I'm guessing JK will really put it together towards the 2nd half of the season.

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