Over in the W, Bay Area native Chelsea Gray is on a burner of truly epic proportions. For the playoffs (an admittedly very small sample of six games so far), she's averaging 24 points and almost 8 assists on 63/60/89 shooting. That's a TS% of 76. I was rooting for her opponent (the Storm) in the last round, and it was pure torture. She makes every. single. shot.
For those who haven't seen her play, it's definitely not a delirious Steph- or Klay-esque experience, despite the numbers. She's much more deliberate than that—a somewhat odd player with a lot of herky-jerk YMCA moves and an absolutely automatic fadeaway midrange jumper. The NBA player she most resembles is maybe Chris Paul (?), but she's a bit bigger and stronger, relatively speaking, and probably takes a couple more threes per game. There's maybe even a bit of a KD vibe—though they're extremely dissimilar in most other ways—just because of the insane, robotic efficiency. If that sounds not super fun to watch, I wouldn't argue too strenuously, but it has been impressive. She eliminated Sue Bird, and it definitely felt like a passing of the point guard torch in that league.
> There’s optimism that [Ryan] Rollins will be ready for camp, per sources, but the team will know more about his status in the next couple of weeks as everything ramps up.
Sep 6, 2022·edited Sep 6, 2022Liked by Eric Apricot
This might be my favorite off-season highlight reel yet. Athletic Alchemy put together over 12 minutes of Kevon Looney being awesome in the 2022 playoffs. I’ve said before that Draymond is irreplaceable, but if you had to have someone take on his role, Looney would be the guy and now I believe it even more.
Watching this shows off his total grasp of the Warriors’ offense. Although the offense doesn’t typically run through him, he has an almost Jokic-like awareness of where all his teammates are at all times and makes countless great (and quick) decisions, especially when he catches the ball while cutting and immediately finds even better looks than calling his own number.
Memphis played us really well in game 6 for the first 3 quarters. Probably one of the better fights put up against us during this dynasty but that's the difference between champions and newcomers. They spent all of their energy pressing up and being overly aggressive on their rotations to a point where they had no energy left to do anything else like rebound the ball. Kevon Olajuwon took full advantage.
With the comfort of knowing GP2 came back for the Finals, we won, and he got his bag, I am less incensed at Dillon Brooks' flagrant foul. That is, it's easier to untangle the rage at him for his intentions vs. the impact it had on the Warriors' playoffs.
I am sure this is colored by the fact that I have been playing in a new game and I've committed several fouls where I got a lot more arm than ball and there was awkward silence. Sure, an NBA player should be expected to be under more control than me, but they really were not intentional, though you could call them lazy.
> The 18-year old Wembanyama, who recently measured 7-foot-4 barefoot with an 8-foot wingspan
Not sure if that's new info... but that's craaaaaazy
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/34537113/victor-wembanyama-projected-no-1-pick-2023-nba-draft-match-another-star-prospect-scoot-henderson-nevada-exhibitions-source-says
Over in the W, Bay Area native Chelsea Gray is on a burner of truly epic proportions. For the playoffs (an admittedly very small sample of six games so far), she's averaging 24 points and almost 8 assists on 63/60/89 shooting. That's a TS% of 76. I was rooting for her opponent (the Storm) in the last round, and it was pure torture. She makes every. single. shot.
For those who haven't seen her play, it's definitely not a delirious Steph- or Klay-esque experience, despite the numbers. She's much more deliberate than that—a somewhat odd player with a lot of herky-jerk YMCA moves and an absolutely automatic fadeaway midrange jumper. The NBA player she most resembles is maybe Chris Paul (?), but she's a bit bigger and stronger, relatively speaking, and probably takes a couple more threes per game. There's maybe even a bit of a KD vibe—though they're extremely dissimilar in most other ways—just because of the insane, robotic efficiency. If that sounds not super fun to watch, I wouldn't argue too strenuously, but it has been impressive. She eliminated Sue Bird, and it definitely felt like a passing of the point guard torch in that league.
Now for the important stuff: the Warriors NBA2K23 ratings
https://twitter.com/GSWReddit/status/1567179200175669248?s=20&t=hRJoLKSKV3y2KodlEDUGdw
I’m not sure I’d give Wiggins a higher dunk rating than Kuminga, though Wiggs definitely threw down the higher leverage dunks
Love Loon - "Kevon Looney Brings the Championship Trophy to Milwaukee" https://youtu.be/9K2RgLc97d4
As a committed Bandwagner, I feel obliged to post some fuel from Dirk for the simmering Jon vs. Franz debate: https://streamable.com/5xquu3
From Anthony Slater (and Shams for some reason):
> There’s optimism that [Ryan] Rollins will be ready for camp, per sources, but the team will know more about his status in the next couple of weeks as everything ramps up.
https://theathletic.com/3570673/2022/09/06/warriors-free-agent-workouts/
Also, does the tweet I just posted imply the Warriors have an inkling that Iguodala is not coming back? Or just them doing due diligence?
> The Warriors are bringing in several veteran free agents for workouts this week, including:
◻️ Ben McLemore
◻️ Elfrid Payton
◻️ Rondae Hollis-Jefferson
◻️ Kenneth Faried
> Story with @ShamsCharania and @anthonyVslater:
https://twitter.com/TheAthletic/status/1567218791825776640
I fast-forwarded through Game 5 in real life, so I'm already good on that front...
This might be my favorite off-season highlight reel yet. Athletic Alchemy put together over 12 minutes of Kevon Looney being awesome in the 2022 playoffs. I’ve said before that Draymond is irreplaceable, but if you had to have someone take on his role, Looney would be the guy and now I believe it even more.
Watching this shows off his total grasp of the Warriors’ offense. Although the offense doesn’t typically run through him, he has an almost Jokic-like awareness of where all his teammates are at all times and makes countless great (and quick) decisions, especially when he catches the ball while cutting and immediately finds even better looks than calling his own number.
Enjoy! https://youtu.be/UQlQs8Ik698
Memphis played us really well in game 6 for the first 3 quarters. Probably one of the better fights put up against us during this dynasty but that's the difference between champions and newcomers. They spent all of their energy pressing up and being overly aggressive on their rotations to a point where they had no energy left to do anything else like rebound the ball. Kevon Olajuwon took full advantage.
With the comfort of knowing GP2 came back for the Finals, we won, and he got his bag, I am less incensed at Dillon Brooks' flagrant foul. That is, it's easier to untangle the rage at him for his intentions vs. the impact it had on the Warriors' playoffs.
I am sure this is colored by the fact that I have been playing in a new game and I've committed several fouls where I got a lot more arm than ball and there was awkward silence. Sure, an NBA player should be expected to be under more control than me, but they really were not intentional, though you could call them lazy.