154 Comments
Aug 1, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Got my tix for the California Classic. I'm so excited! Let's GOOOOOO Warriors!

True, by "Warriors" I mean "a few baby Dubs plus a bunch of hopefuls I had to google." But they're wearing the colors and that's good enough for me. I can't wait to cheer them on.

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Watching kuminga in high school he has a lot more feel for the game and moves then I expected, he looked a little stiff and lost in the g league but maybe things were still a little fast for him, watch him play cade and scottie in high school he was giving scottie buckets off the dribble to the point where they had to double him

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My biggest questions heading into free agency.

Is Poole slotted at the 2 to cover for Klay while Klay is not playing or on restricted minutes? And when Klay is back, will Poole revert to his best role (as displayed end of season) as the lead guard (pg) in the second unit?

If I am a veteran FA PG, I would like to know if how this is going to play out. Will it be a repeat of Wannamaker, a lot of minutes first half of season until Dubs realize they are better served with Poole in that role and now you're fighting for minutes?

Is there an FA PG on the market who will come in on a VetMin or TPMLE that will do the job better than Poole and if so, could Poole's development be stunted by taking the ball out of his hands - which we all know he likes (we likes, too)?

It's a quality problem to have. I believe Poole developed faster than their general game plan and there remains internal resistance to give him the keys to the second unit. Do they need more play making? Yes. But by giving non-Curry rotation minutes to a new FA PG (added play making), you subtract play making from Poole by moving him off ball.

Meyers/Kerr need to define Poole's role. 6th man combo guard playing in any and all rotations (somewhat less structured) or Back-up PG, taking all non-Curry rotation minutes first, then logging added minutes with Curry second (more reliable minutes). I prefer the latter since I don't want to see a minute of basketball without either Curry or Poole on the floor. Anywho, defining Poole's role has an immediate impact on what they do in free agency.

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Can FA start already?

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Aug 1, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIRnlnPdKzA

Kuminga vs Moody in high school

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Now that the Rockets have drafted Garuba and Sengun, you guys reckon they let go of Wood? He has 2 years remaining on his contract so this year is likely the peak of his value (unless he re-signs).

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>UFA SF Kelly Oubre Jr. has interest in the #Spurs, with his camp believing he would be a good fit in San Antonio and would flourish under Pop and the developmental staff, a league source said.

https://twitter.com/tom_orsborn/status/1421545607165054976?s=20

Spurs have a buttload of cap space, so yeah, don't count on an Oubre S&T

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It’s weird seeing the sentiment that Kuminga should be developed as a 4 or 4/5. Small forwards who can guard multiple positions, generate shots and free throws , handle the ball, get out in transition, etc. are the most coveted and generally valuable type of player in the game. Kuminga already spent his time with the Ignite - which would have been his senior year of high school - defending guards and wings and working on his shot creation and passing after drawing the defense in. Doubling down on that developmental path is by far the highest-upside way to go, until you are absolutely sure that he can’t be a wing.

Was he inefficient in the G League? Sure. Is getting your ass kicked in low-stake situations a good way to accelerate a player’s development, as long as his confidence holds up? Yes. He had growing pains playing against older professional athletes, and now he’s had an off-season to improve, and will now have Summer League and training camp to improve further.

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why did Jerry West leave the Warriors. Was it to make room for the owners son in the scouting department? (snark)...Someone wrote here recently about how the Warriors were all about relationship, but I wonder what happened there. I know that their former physical trainer left for Atlanta, and I recall at the time that it was because the Warriors were not willing to pay her top dollar. Not sure if that is true or not, but I was very surprised at the time they let her go.

I am even more surprised they lost Jerry West/let him go.

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I haven’t been combing the message boards so sorry in advance if this was already said. I think the comparison that makes most sense for Kuminga is Rudy Gay. Perfect basketball frame with skills that really looks good to the eye test. All the pluses and minuses line up.

The positive viewpoint is when Rudy Gay went to the Spurs later in his career he crafted his game towards winning pretty quickly. Can Kuminga figure that out right away w the right org and vets leading the way? Can he apply his incredible tools to the relatively simple job of being a role player and grow beyond that in the optimal/winning way over time?

The flip side is Rudy Gay joined what had been a really good Memphis team. Ran by Jerry West with Mike Fratello as coach. They traded Shane Battier for the draft rights to Rudy Gay. They took a very veteran team low ceiling 49 win team and tried to retool around prime Pau Gasol and Mike Miller w young guys. They were in the lottery for the next five years.

They did a fantastic job of collecting talented assets (Jerry West really knows his sh!t). Those teams had Gasol, Miller, Gay, Kyle Lowry and Mike Conley. But it didn’t come together right and the next good Grizzly team only had Mike Conley left.

I think it’s a really interesting parallel. People miss Jerry West and bemoan the loss of the proven genius, but I see a very similar swing. Let’s hope the different mix here gets a better outcome.

It’d also be really interesting if we ended up w Rudy Gay and he (and Wiggins) mentored Kuminga on how to navigate some of the pitfalls they hit.

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author

I’m going to watch a whole Kuminga game. Pray for me.

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Lacob quotes (from Slater’s article as reported by Shiller). He seems to be making it pretty clear that he doesn’t want to burn up roadmap for a marginal improvement:

…owner Joe Lacob is adamant that the Warriors aren't as fixated on trading for another superstar as the media and fan narrative would suggest, and that it's unlikely such a move is in the cards for Golden State.

“And I know this isn’t popular with a lot of people," Lacob told The Athletic's Anthony Slater. "They think we ought to go get the next star. We already have the stars. And we have a payroll that’s — and I’ve said this when I was interviewed before, but nobody listened. It’s very unlikely, I’ve said that we’re not going to trade for anybody that people are expecting. Very unlikely. It’s not impossible. But if it was going to be somebody, it was going to be somebody really great. It was going to be a big trade. It’s unlikely.”

Lacob knows the clock is ticking on the Curry-Thompson-Green window, but he also knows the Warriors have to plan for life after the championship core. Adding Kuminga and Moody to 2020 No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman is a good way to start planning for the next step.

“So the more likely path — and the path that I think, as an owner, I feel most comfortable with, quite frankly — is to bridge the gap to the future,” Lacob told Slater. “We’ve got three or four contracts and big players that are still in their early 30s, still have quite a bit of time to go, especially in this day and age. If we can kind of have a Wiseman and a Kuminga and a Moody and a Poole (help in the meantime). They don’t have to be awesome next year. With a great investment in our player development staff, we just want them to show great potential.”

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People pointing out that we traded D’Lo for Wiggins and Kuminga makes me more ok with pick; they’d already won the player trade, so the pick was playing with house money.

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What’s the current info on Wiseman’s condition and timing to return? No summer league it looks like but then what? My Internet skills are failing me.

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2 things

1. Wiseman hitting 3s unlocks our offense so much more then him trying to force it in the post with no footwork, yes we want him rolling off screens and in the bunkers spot at times but with poole and kuminga getting to the rim at will in the 2nd unit if wiseman can sit corner and hit a decent clip our 2nd unit becomes unstoppable, especially with paschall out there.

2. Paschall and kuminga have similar driving games but I'm still bullish on paschall. He was a good defender in college and I dont see why he cant become a solid 3-4 defender in the league. We will see if he has committed to changing his jumper, if he does the dude is going to be a problem

Poole, lee/moody, kuminga/jta/paschall at the 3-4, with a floor spacing wiseman at the 5 is a really hard lineup to stop

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We won the first California Classic and it is most crucial that we go back to our winning ways in that tournament. Can't claim the entire Golden State and then not dominate the California Classic, after all.

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