Buddy’s about as good as *current* 35 y.o. Klay; and Podz, Moody, JK, GP, and Gui are all slightly better (imo).
Different roles/skillsets, obviously; in some units and some matchups you obv want the elite shooting/spacing Klay or Buddy provide. But the fact that Buddy is cool with playing sporadic minutes and getting yo-yo’d out in favor of Podz, Moody et al. — but staying ready and keeping a super-positive attitude when yo-yo’d back in — is imo a distinct selling point for him over Klay.
LMAO...you wouldn't miss the opportunity for one of your misrepresenting hyperbole's, SLEEPER. Must me one of your kiss-the-FO moments....CONTRAST THAT to my REACTION OF SHEER JOY to DUBS finally putting a game together where everybody performed as they should without the SAVE US STEPH 5 MINUTES....IN a poorly-utilized situation KLAY is still putting up BETTER performances than BUDDY...going at 3.1 r3pters per game at a 40% make rate... his CAREER RATE...I liked it because I enjoyed the laughter...
Podz seems to frequently be the recipient of grenades where teammates pass to him on the perimeter with the shot clock running down and he's forced to find a way to put up a shot. That can't help with the TS%.
Of course, some of that is due to the fact that when Podz is acting as the primary ballhandler, things often stagnate with the ball at the top of the circle so Dubs may be forced into more late shot clock possessions.
He's certainly in a better role now that he's no longer the primary ballhandler. I'd say both of those guys have been in suboptimal roles this season given the dearth of offensive talent on the Heat and the pre-Butler Warriors.
Yeah, Podz' plus skills right now are connecting, rebounding, and defense. Indeed, he is not creating offense for others.
Play him with wings capable of initiating plays, and you have the makings of a great defense and a functional offense. Play him with wings incapable of initiating plays, and you have the makings of a great defense, and a completely non-functional offense.
And if you play him with other high BBIQ players you seem to get a "sum greater than the parts" effect which is probably part of why that Curry/Podz/Moody/Butler/Green lineup was working so well.
Speaking of which, I loved the play where he got a pass ahead under the basket and didn't go up for the layup. He probably could have squeezed one in, but the defense was closing in and he could have easily got swatted. He did a Jimmy Butler move and just passed out of it. Especially at that time of the game, run some offense get a good shot, and let your teammates get set in position to defend appropriately.
Ouch. I watched the game with a friend who kept wishing that they would take JK out of the game and generally did not sound favorable about his prospects. I defended Kuminga, but my friend was certainly right last night.
He just came back after missing 31 games. Some people (not saying you are, this is just something that generally is driving me crazy for the past year or so) are fucking weird about young Dubs players. “Development isn’t linear” is a cliché for a reason, and there are way too many people who seem to want to jump on any poor play from Podz, Kuminga, etc., instead of giving them virtually any grace to figure things out.
It is true. It's just hard when the team is in a spot where it feels like it needs to win nearly every game. When JK turns out to be a negative for the team, it feels hard to justify his development over the urgency of the immediate need to win.
In an ideal world, he never would have gotten hurt and would have gotten plenty of experience and learning in prior to this point. But we have what we have. That's why Kerr gets paid the big dollars.
Indeed, Klay’s championship experience is exactly the case (and only basketball case) for keeping Klay. And yet, no disrespect to the legend, but straight facts… here is his shooting in the biggest games of the last 3 seasons:
Really, ERIC...we are struggling to MAKE the playoffs since he left....and we did not have BUTLER when KLAY was a DUB...
2023-1ST KLAY FULL SEASON POST-INJURY...AGE 32, same as BUDDY IS NOW...33 MPG; LED NBA IN TOTAL MADE 3PTERs/4.4/g; 42% 3PT MAKES; 21.9 PPG; .576 TS...MADE PLAYOFFS
2024-2nd/LAST KLAY FULL SEASON POST-INJURY...NO CONTRACT ALL SEASON/BENCH AND BACK...age 33...29.9 MPG; 37.9 3PT MAKES; 17.9 PPG; .576 TS...MADE PLAY-IN; KLAY WAS IN DALLAS ALREADY...LOL
And Game 1 against the Grizzlies... maybe not the best shooting night overall, and he missed two critical FTs, but made the clutch 3 and the game sealing stop (block?) on Ja.
It *should* have been the game sealing block, but then they got the ball to Klay and he klanked 2FTs, giving Ja another bite at the apple. He got downhill on a switch, and Klay stuck with him just long enough to make it a really tough layup, and may have got a finger on it.
And he scored 19 ppg on 43/39/87 shooting over the course of the whole playoffs. And played some of the last good defense that I remember him playing. He was absolutely a positive for them
Lol, you mean SELECTIVE FACTS are misleading. We would not have even made the playoffs if KLAY had not led the NBA in 3pters, while shooting 42% his first full season back/2023, and 20+ points per games...PLAYOFFS we seem to be having a hard time to make ever since we jerked KLAY AROUND AND HE LEFT.
Not at all. SELECTIVE FACTS, however, without analyses/looking at what else was going on in playoffs series/game(s) in freeing up STEPH/OTHERS due to GRAVITY, SPACING, COVERAGES, for example, are something I am surprised ERIC engaged in. Your desperate comment's triteness does not surprise me.
It is a bit silly, but it's also relevant. I don't read this as suggesting that he's the best shooter in team history or anything silly like that, but more that "this is not just a flash in the pan, folks... this is a real bonafide shooter."
It also shows how he has no qualms about shooting threes as a rookie on a veteran team in a playoff push... he must have confidence, and all this is being realized when teammates pass him the ball.
… and QPost is learning, getting better virtually every game! As he gets bigger and stronger, and his defense improves (Draymond and Jimmy are helping there), he becomes even more,of a threat. His IQ, passing, picking, rolling, rebounding, not withstanding the rookie mistakes, have improved by the minute.
A real keeper, and significant future role player … a new addition to The Dubs ‘current / future’ plan.
Yeah, I mean, usually they are reporting round numbers, like first to 100 assists and 100 rebounds or whatever. This one seems like those Stat Muse ones that pop up sometimes, first game ever with 29 made free throws and 22 three pointers and 10 players playing at least 8.2 minutes
There's a defensive highlights package on YouTube for last night's game. I've never seen that before, it's always offense and maybe one block. THere's no additional commentary but if your friend hasn't seen how Draymond locked up Giannis, or if you want a closer re-look at what the Dubs did on D, it's at:
Podz missed a LOT less time and has already had time to integrate his playstyle with Butler. Was really missing his impact on the Warriors and last night it was evident what he can do.
I still think Kuminga is a ceiling-raiser we are going to need if we want to go all the way. How much we can get from him is very much TBD, but I think the potential is there. But I expect it will be more matchup dependent than Podz's impact.
Kuminga is going to really have to settle in to be that ceiling raiser. We've got a nice 5 game stretch here where he could settle in, and then another 4 game banger against every single likely playoff opponent in succession. This upcoming stretch will be a great prep & test for him. But what I've seen these last few games has been:
1. Calmly playing a role in the SAC game and letting the game come to him in a very advantageous situation.
2. Getting exuberant about his success from the first game and rushing into assuming he's going to have continued success and can take on more in the NYK, DEN, & MIL games.
I hope this is an accelerated version of the start to his season that took 2 months to work through to finding his lane... but he doesn't have 2 months this time, he's got 5 games now until crunch time... assuming the team performs well against the cellar dwellers. He's gotta rediscover that lane. I'm optimistic that he's just knocking off rust, but we'll see quickly if he finds a spot in the rotation... and he was notably absent from the closing lineup last night after Kerr initially penciled him into the closing lineup after the SAC game.
As I was saying yesterday about the Denver loss. It just happens sometimes. The mental focus and intensity will be lacking. Sometimes a broken clipboard can wake them up but sometimes it is just not happening. We didn’t lose because Kerr was outcoached. I haven’t seen the Kerr bashing posts today for some reason.
I have come to peace with the fact that when you are missing your best player or players, they are being replaced by someone who was a star and often the best player until they landed in the NBA.
It also opens up a chance for maybe the 3rd or 4th best player on the team to be the guy that night. A guy like Gordon was a superstar in high school. He can certainly go off once in awhile.
Did you hear Kawakami say (+/-) that, immediately after the DEN game, Kerr could be heard ripping his staff in the coach’s room for their failure to prep the players for no Jokić/Murray? A lot of “I told you so!!” Looks like Kerr sees his assistants as more responsible for the loss than the players. Would explain why Steph looked so disoriented, and also demonstrate the importance of pre-game coaching.
I don’t think it should be so tough for a veteran team like the Warriors to adjust even if it was a complete surprise.
We can’t on one hand laud the hoops IQ of DG, JB, Steph, GPII and Looney and then say oh they couldn’t figure out how to defend that Nuggets group.
It was just one of those nights and we of course always have to find some technical reason for the sleepwalking performance and of course the great game by the Nuggets.
As I was watching I was comparing the talent of Gordon, Porter and Westbrook to any of the Warriors on the floor. Any given day, like Monday, those 3 can be better than any Warriors 3.
Just to clarify: with the idea of “outcoached,” I was thinking in terms of head-to-head chess match, where Steve’s blowup suggests he couldn’t even show up for the chess match.
I hear you. It’s just so jarring to see a team that was clicking suddenly not know how to play. I guess the rest of the games will show if that was (hopefully) a blip, or that there’s a problem.
I kind of think these chess matches are much more gladiator battles, but that is just me.
As I said too many times, sometimes a team just completely loses it and there is nothing the coach can do. It is a long season. Just like Malone can’t make AG into LeBron whenever he feels like it. It just happens.
You know, I’m hearing more people echo what you’re saying, so it’s sinking in now. Timpf basically said exact same thing, putting it within context of this “weird” part of the season. He pointed out Denver’s bizarre loss to WAS just before Dubs’ loss to them, saying it’s typical.
Agreed. Gordon was also nearly a star in the NBA until he found his best role as the best swiss army knife addition to a good team. Until Jimmy, that is.
For all the frustration of the Buddy Hield experience, he is playing about as well as Klay this season and costs a lot less. If he could regress to his career mean on 3 pt shooting by the end of the season it would be huge.
I'm probably in a distinct minority, but I think Buddy has been playing fine.
He just had that horrendous shooting slump. If that had kept going, you would have had to trade him. But that seems to be over with, and now we're getting more or less what you can expect from him based on past performance.
He brings energy, rim-running, he'll get back on fast breaks (he and Podz are practically the only guys who commit to that), and decent, if spotty, shooting.
Defense is wildly unpredictable, but occasionally very good (and in my eyes, 'good' is happening more often). Rebounds better than Klay, and Steph! (Buddy 5 rbs/36, Steph 4.9/36).
Just don't ask him to be your primary ballhandler. When that happens, I avert my eyes.
For $8.7 million a year, that's a pretty good player.
I think he's been playing better than fine, personally. I do think people need to have realistic expectations and there are times he tries to do too much (either on his own initiative or because the situation calls for it) and that can be a double-edged sword.
> Just don't ask him to be your primary ballhandler
This. I think some of this has been due to the absence of Podz and the loss of Schroder. He can bring the ball up but if there's trapping in the backcourt we really need someone with a better handle to be doing the work.
No, there's no denial about that. The loss of prime Klay was a big impact on this team and I think virtually every Dubs fans agree with that. The loss of the Klay of the past 2.5 seasons though, not so much. It's partially about the physical decline but unfortunately also about the mentality.
I know this is blasphemy, but I would rather have the slow methodical Butler taking over the 4th Q in clutch game instead of the pass-like-balls-on-fire that our turnover twins use !
Sure, that's easy to say after the last two games, so as Sleepy would say, recency bias is a helluv a drug.
There will also be games where Butler is stymied and we're not scoring in the half court and we need some more dynamic passing to break down the defense. If you look at games prior to the last two, the passing from our "turnover twins" was, broadly speaking, great and positively impactful.
If you remove the passing impact of Draymond and Steph we might as well pack it up and go home, however much the turnovers might make you pull your hair out.
Their globetrotter passes are beautiful and utterly demoralizing to the opponent when they're snatching souls in the 3rd quarter, but we've often needed the resolutely fundamental guy in the 4th (Livingston, Mo Buckets, Andre, KD, OPJ...)
Yes, the Warriors offensive philosophy requires everyone to move the ball and so you absolutely need secondary passers (who I would note often benefit from the primary passers and get easier opportunities). This isn't a CP3 or Jokic or Westbrook where there's a passer who dominates the ball and secondary passing is minimized.
not anymore anyway though I sort of miss his brickwork from that running hook shot across the lane. Someday he'll bring it back fixed and working and it's gonna be so much fun.
Juxtapose Drays endless highlight reel from last night with Mobley getting his ankles broken twice in the same play by Harden, and yeah. Dray is not f-ing wrong.
"I look around the league and don't see many players impacting the game on the defensive end the way I do. I don't see many players completely throwing off an entire team's offense the way I do."
I love watching defense and so always pay closer attention Draymond's impact, and this is what I see. Opponents see him on D and often hesitate to attack and so the team plays quite differently. Last night was a prime example of Giannis being 'spooked' and you could see his reluctance with the ball when Draymond was on him.
I don't watch Mobley or the other known defenders so much, so not sure they really have the same impact. Usually people just see one on one defense. Dray does more!
Send this tape to Barkley, Shaq, and the other old heads that want to talk about how Dray's just too small and they'd just big boy him all day long. The biggest 2 time giant unstoppable athletic big that nobody can stop because he's too big, strong, and fast... just got dominated by this little guy who's just too immoveable, laterally quick, prescient, and long to consistently beat. Send them the tape of AD getting the same work.
I’m really not liking Kuminga’s hand waving and extended whining to the refs after every wild drive into the teeth of the defense. If you’re blaming, you’re not gaming.
OTOH, Jimmy learning to grift on 4-point plays is priceless.
Ehh he’s usually doing it while running back, I don’t mind it. I also think it’s partially a function of him just trying to settle into the offense again, as well as not being quite as comfortable going up and into defenders or going off of two feet in traffic post-injury yet.
I rewatched the game and he generally played solid defense throughout it but he had one really terrible stretch which is prob what sparked the annoyance..
He stopped a fast break and forced a turnover during crunch time. And in fairness, nobody had reminded him that Podziemski was on his own team, so it stands as a solid defensive play.
Had to go to bed for an early flight, but we just watched it without spoilers the airport, so I’m even later than Attila and g8tgod, but woo hoo! I was pretty sure if we played out-scored them in the non-Steph minutes, we’d have a good chance.
New thread up!
Season TS
Buddy .557
Klay .556
(Ducks flying objects)
I liked it. Your usual INVALID COMPARISONS; used to it, no need to duck:
KLAY LAST TWO SEASONS WITHIN THE WARRIORS OFFENSE SEASON TS
-2023 .576 ..1ST FULL SEASON AFTER INJURY/AGE 32 SAME AS BUDDY IS NOW
-2024 .576 ..WHITHOUT CONTRACT...WHILE JERKED AROUND/BENCH & BACK
CONSISTENCY; something BUDDY has yet to demonstrate...anywhere...
I have no regrets about Klay moving on. Moody is a more than capable starter, and Buddy is as good as current Klay.
We got a little lucky he turned down the offer.
Buddy’s about as good as *current* 35 y.o. Klay; and Podz, Moody, JK, GP, and Gui are all slightly better (imo).
Different roles/skillsets, obviously; in some units and some matchups you obv want the elite shooting/spacing Klay or Buddy provide. But the fact that Buddy is cool with playing sporadic minutes and getting yo-yo’d out in favor of Podz, Moody et al. — but staying ready and keeping a super-positive attitude when yo-yo’d back in — is imo a distinct selling point for him over Klay.
LMAO...you wouldn't miss the opportunity for one of your misrepresenting hyperbole's, SLEEPER. Must me one of your kiss-the-FO moments....CONTRAST THAT to my REACTION OF SHEER JOY to DUBS finally putting a game together where everybody performed as they should without the SAVE US STEPH 5 MINUTES....IN a poorly-utilized situation KLAY is still putting up BETTER performances than BUDDY...going at 3.1 r3pters per game at a 40% make rate... his CAREER RATE...I liked it because I enjoyed the laughter...
It pains me to do this one but:
Season TS
Podziemski .533
Jaquez .532
I haven't watched the Heat ... any theories about what is going on with Jaquez this season?
I know you were really high on him and that he had a great rookie season.
Podz seems to frequently be the recipient of grenades where teammates pass to him on the perimeter with the shot clock running down and he's forced to find a way to put up a shot. That can't help with the TS%.
Of course, some of that is due to the fact that when Podz is acting as the primary ballhandler, things often stagnate with the ball at the top of the circle so Dubs may be forced into more late shot clock possessions.
Yeah, but at least Podz is at 57.4% in the 21 games since he came back from the abdominal injury. It's not GREAT, but it's workable.
He's certainly in a better role now that he's no longer the primary ballhandler. I'd say both of those guys have been in suboptimal roles this season given the dearth of offensive talent on the Heat and the pre-Butler Warriors.
Yeah, Podz' plus skills right now are connecting, rebounding, and defense. Indeed, he is not creating offense for others.
Play him with wings capable of initiating plays, and you have the makings of a great defense and a functional offense. Play him with wings incapable of initiating plays, and you have the makings of a great defense, and a completely non-functional offense.
And if you play him with other high BBIQ players you seem to get a "sum greater than the parts" effect which is probably part of why that Curry/Podz/Moody/Butler/Green lineup was working so well.
Speaking of which, I loved the play where he got a pass ahead under the basket and didn't go up for the layup. He probably could have squeezed one in, but the defense was closing in and he could have easily got swatted. He did a Jimmy Butler move and just passed out of it. Especially at that time of the game, run some offense get a good shot, and let your teammates get set in position to defend appropriately.
Season TS
Westbrook .541
Kuminga .536
Ouch. I watched the game with a friend who kept wishing that they would take JK out of the game and generally did not sound favorable about his prospects. I defended Kuminga, but my friend was certainly right last night.
He just came back after missing 31 games. Some people (not saying you are, this is just something that generally is driving me crazy for the past year or so) are fucking weird about young Dubs players. “Development isn’t linear” is a cliché for a reason, and there are way too many people who seem to want to jump on any poor play from Podz, Kuminga, etc., instead of giving them virtually any grace to figure things out.
It is true. It's just hard when the team is in a spot where it feels like it needs to win nearly every game. When JK turns out to be a negative for the team, it feels hard to justify his development over the urgency of the immediate need to win.
In an ideal world, he never would have gotten hurt and would have gotten plenty of experience and learning in prior to this point. But we have what we have. That's why Kerr gets paid the big dollars.
Eww
You're killing me, Sleeps.
You're going to get a visit from Dino-sty Klay, you know.
Yeah but here's what you're about to be told that you missed:
Klay is *A Winner*. He has *Learned How to Win*. He is *A Champion*. He *Knows What it Takes to Win.* His team is *Struggling to Make the Play-In.*"
You forgot to use all caps.
TRUE.
THAT IS NOT THE ONLY FALSEHOOD YOU NEED TO CORRECT
False. I don't need to correct anything.
Lol...clearly that is a sign of true greatness...
Indeed, Klay’s championship experience is exactly the case (and only basketball case) for keeping Klay. And yet, no disrespect to the legend, but straight facts… here is his shooting in the biggest games of the last 3 seasons:
2022 Finals G6. 5-20
2023 Rd 1 SAC G6 8-20
2023 Rd 1 SAC G7 4-19
2023 Rd2 LAL
9-25
11-18
5-14
3-11
3-12
3-19
2024 playin SAC 0-10
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/t/thompkl01/gamelog-playoffs/
Game 6 against the Grizzlies was just as big imo, and he was great.
Okay, give him a pass for 2022, as he was key. That leaves a painful record since then
Really, ERIC...we are struggling to MAKE the playoffs since he left....and we did not have BUTLER when KLAY was a DUB...
2023-1ST KLAY FULL SEASON POST-INJURY...AGE 32, same as BUDDY IS NOW...33 MPG; LED NBA IN TOTAL MADE 3PTERs/4.4/g; 42% 3PT MAKES; 21.9 PPG; .576 TS...MADE PLAYOFFS
2024-2nd/LAST KLAY FULL SEASON POST-INJURY...NO CONTRACT ALL SEASON/BENCH AND BACK...age 33...29.9 MPG; 37.9 3PT MAKES; 17.9 PPG; .576 TS...MADE PLAY-IN; KLAY WAS IN DALLAS ALREADY...LOL
And Game 1 against the Grizzlies... maybe not the best shooting night overall, and he missed two critical FTs, but made the clutch 3 and the game sealing stop (block?) on Ja.
Steph had the game-sealing block on Ja…
It *should* have been the game sealing block, but then they got the ball to Klay and he klanked 2FTs, giving Ja another bite at the apple. He got downhill on a switch, and Klay stuck with him just long enough to make it a really tough layup, and may have got a finger on it.
He led the team in minutes in that 2022 playoff run if I recall correctly, wouldn't have been able to do it without him.
And he scored 19 ppg on 43/39/87 shooting over the course of the whole playoffs. And played some of the last good defense that I remember him playing. He was absolutely a positive for them
It pains me to like this... but facts are facts...
Lol, you mean SELECTIVE FACTS are misleading. We would not have even made the playoffs if KLAY had not led the NBA in 3pters, while shooting 42% his first full season back/2023, and 20+ points per games...PLAYOFFS we seem to be having a hard time to make ever since we jerked KLAY AROUND AND HE LEFT.
Ow.
Dude, trigger warning.
TOO LATE...I shot the sheriff/FO...and his deputies/gang...lol
This fact is bad for dino's health.
Not at all. SELECTIVE FACTS, however, without analyses/looking at what else was going on in playoffs series/game(s) in freeing up STEPH/OTHERS due to GRAVITY, SPACING, COVERAGES, for example, are something I am surprised ERIC engaged in. Your desperate comment's triteness does not surprise me.
Tidbit about Post from the Chron write-up:
Post has 53 triples in his first 31 career games, the most in franchise history
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/warriors/article/jimmy-butler-takes-over-leads-steph-curry-less-20228351.php
Being 24 helps the "first career games" stats.
That fact is silly.
It is a bit silly, but it's also relevant. I don't read this as suggesting that he's the best shooter in team history or anything silly like that, but more that "this is not just a flash in the pan, folks... this is a real bonafide shooter."
It also shows how he has no qualms about shooting threes as a rookie on a veteran team in a playoff push... he must have confidence, and all this is being realized when teammates pass him the ball.
… and QPost is learning, getting better virtually every game! As he gets bigger and stronger, and his defense improves (Draymond and Jimmy are helping there), he becomes even more,of a threat. His IQ, passing, picking, rolling, rebounding, not withstanding the rookie mistakes, have improved by the minute.
A real keeper, and significant future role player … a new addition to The Dubs ‘current / future’ plan.
"Yo! Pass the ball to Steph!"
"But... I'm open and I shoot a better percentage than him... so..."
I'm waiting for Steph to pass up the open 3 to get the ball to Post with the game on the line...
Yeah, I mean, usually they are reporting round numbers, like first to 100 assists and 100 rebounds or whatever. This one seems like those Stat Muse ones that pop up sometimes, first game ever with 29 made free throws and 22 three pointers and 10 players playing at least 8.2 minutes
Post is silly so that checks out
Mostly I just wanna know what that circular tattoo on his shoulder is.
Maybe he doesn't want people knowing about the circular thing, doesn't like his tattoos being visible, did you ever consider that?
You are just feeding my need to know.
There's a defensive highlights package on YouTube for last night's game. I've never seen that before, it's always offense and maybe one block. THere's no additional commentary but if your friend hasn't seen how Draymond locked up Giannis, or if you want a closer re-look at what the Dubs did on D, it's at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CucuKbXcqZk
It's glorious to see. Thanks for bringing this over, Asher.
Agreed! Im so bothered by nba 10 min game highlights that completely leave out defense. Always looking for defensive stuff.
Last night was the finest hour of the Butlerian Jihad.
It could have marked a turning point in the season on the heels of a crushing "all-in" home loss to Denver.
The offense looked stagnant, out of ideas, but somehow we ended up pulling away down the stretch.
So proud of Jimmy, Draymond, Buddy, and everyone who stepped up at this critical juncture.
Bonus points for the Dune reference. 👏🏾
Right now the return of Podz is feeling much more impactful to our chances in the playoffs than the return of Kuminga
Podz missed a LOT less time and has already had time to integrate his playstyle with Butler. Was really missing his impact on the Warriors and last night it was evident what he can do.
I still think Kuminga is a ceiling-raiser we are going to need if we want to go all the way. How much we can get from him is very much TBD, but I think the potential is there. But I expect it will be more matchup dependent than Podz's impact.
Kuminga is going to really have to settle in to be that ceiling raiser. We've got a nice 5 game stretch here where he could settle in, and then another 4 game banger against every single likely playoff opponent in succession. This upcoming stretch will be a great prep & test for him. But what I've seen these last few games has been:
1. Calmly playing a role in the SAC game and letting the game come to him in a very advantageous situation.
2. Getting exuberant about his success from the first game and rushing into assuming he's going to have continued success and can take on more in the NYK, DEN, & MIL games.
I hope this is an accelerated version of the start to his season that took 2 months to work through to finding his lane... but he doesn't have 2 months this time, he's got 5 games now until crunch time... assuming the team performs well against the cellar dwellers. He's gotta rediscover that lane. I'm optimistic that he's just knocking off rust, but we'll see quickly if he finds a spot in the rotation... and he was notably absent from the closing lineup last night after Kerr initially penciled him into the closing lineup after the SAC game.
This feels right. Game to game Podz will do more to help us win, but there are some games we can’t win without Kuminga playing well.
+1
I especially like the part about being matchup-dependent.
While they are both bold, only Podz is a glue guy.
If you pronounce “Gui” as “Gooey”, he seems like the ideal glue guy.
That’s the case even if you don’t pronounce it that way. 😜
Ghee is kind of like butter glue
As I was saying yesterday about the Denver loss. It just happens sometimes. The mental focus and intensity will be lacking. Sometimes a broken clipboard can wake them up but sometimes it is just not happening. We didn’t lose because Kerr was outcoached. I haven’t seen the Kerr bashing posts today for some reason.
I have come to peace with the fact that when you are missing your best player or players, they are being replaced by someone who was a star and often the best player until they landed in the NBA.
It also opens up a chance for maybe the 3rd or 4th best player on the team to be the guy that night. A guy like Gordon was a superstar in high school. He can certainly go off once in awhile.
Great win last night.
Did you hear Kawakami say (+/-) that, immediately after the DEN game, Kerr could be heard ripping his staff in the coach’s room for their failure to prep the players for no Jokić/Murray? A lot of “I told you so!!” Looks like Kerr sees his assistants as more responsible for the loss than the players. Would explain why Steph looked so disoriented, and also demonstrate the importance of pre-game coaching.
Like I said it wasn’t Kerr’s fault 😄
I don’t think it should be so tough for a veteran team like the Warriors to adjust even if it was a complete surprise.
We can’t on one hand laud the hoops IQ of DG, JB, Steph, GPII and Looney and then say oh they couldn’t figure out how to defend that Nuggets group.
It was just one of those nights and we of course always have to find some technical reason for the sleepwalking performance and of course the great game by the Nuggets.
As I was watching I was comparing the talent of Gordon, Porter and Westbrook to any of the Warriors on the floor. Any given day, like Monday, those 3 can be better than any Warriors 3.
Just to clarify: with the idea of “outcoached,” I was thinking in terms of head-to-head chess match, where Steve’s blowup suggests he couldn’t even show up for the chess match.
I hear you. It’s just so jarring to see a team that was clicking suddenly not know how to play. I guess the rest of the games will show if that was (hopefully) a blip, or that there’s a problem.
I kind of think these chess matches are much more gladiator battles, but that is just me.
As I said too many times, sometimes a team just completely loses it and there is nothing the coach can do. It is a long season. Just like Malone can’t make AG into LeBron whenever he feels like it. It just happens.
You know, I’m hearing more people echo what you’re saying, so it’s sinking in now. Timpf basically said exact same thing, putting it within context of this “weird” part of the season. He pointed out Denver’s bizarre loss to WAS just before Dubs’ loss to them, saying it’s typical.
Agreed. Gordon was also nearly a star in the NBA until he found his best role as the best swiss army knife addition to a good team. Until Jimmy, that is.
For all the frustration of the Buddy Hield experience, he is playing about as well as Klay this season and costs a lot less. If he could regress to his career mean on 3 pt shooting by the end of the season it would be huge.
I'm probably in a distinct minority, but I think Buddy has been playing fine.
He just had that horrendous shooting slump. If that had kept going, you would have had to trade him. But that seems to be over with, and now we're getting more or less what you can expect from him based on past performance.
He brings energy, rim-running, he'll get back on fast breaks (he and Podz are practically the only guys who commit to that), and decent, if spotty, shooting.
Defense is wildly unpredictable, but occasionally very good (and in my eyes, 'good' is happening more often). Rebounds better than Klay, and Steph! (Buddy 5 rbs/36, Steph 4.9/36).
Just don't ask him to be your primary ballhandler. When that happens, I avert my eyes.
For $8.7 million a year, that's a pretty good player.
He has tried hard to do everything, not just shoot, all season IMO.
Shooting has been very inconsistent but he has not just hung his head and sulked.
I really think that he will be more comfortable in his place on this team and shoot much better next season.
I agree. He's definitely not a high BBIQ guy, but it seems like he's learning. I expect better next season, too (if we keep him, and I hope we will).
I think he's been playing better than fine, personally. I do think people need to have realistic expectations and there are times he tries to do too much (either on his own initiative or because the situation calls for it) and that can be a double-edged sword.
> Just don't ask him to be your primary ballhandler
This. I think some of this has been due to the absence of Podz and the loss of Schroder. He can bring the ball up but if there's trapping in the backcourt we really need someone with a better handle to be doing the work.
I don't think he can really drive and dish. Once he starts dribbling into traffic, it's nervous time.
You're in a distinct minority
It's not our fault everyone else is wrong!
No, it isn't. A lot of fans are just really slow to realize changing trends until they have already been ongoing for weeks, sometimes months.
Some are even forever in denial about KLAY'S premature LOSS IMPACT on this team...
No, there's no denial about that. The loss of prime Klay was a big impact on this team and I think virtually every Dubs fans agree with that. The loss of the Klay of the past 2.5 seasons though, not so much. It's partially about the physical decline but unfortunately also about the mentality.
and even if his shot is spotty, it has to be respected, which is key for spacing.
OTOH, his teammates sure do seem to gripe at him a lot during stoppages.
I know this is blasphemy, but I would rather have the slow methodical Butler taking over the 4th Q in clutch game instead of the pass-like-balls-on-fire that our turnover twins use !
Sure, that's easy to say after the last two games, so as Sleepy would say, recency bias is a helluv a drug.
There will also be games where Butler is stymied and we're not scoring in the half court and we need some more dynamic passing to break down the defense. If you look at games prior to the last two, the passing from our "turnover twins" was, broadly speaking, great and positively impactful.
If you remove the passing impact of Draymond and Steph we might as well pack it up and go home, however much the turnovers might make you pull your hair out.
there is a time and place for that - almost 3 quarters of that - this team cannot afford to play that style in the end with the OGs
> as Sleepy would say, recency bias is a helluv a drug.
*Socrates!
Their globetrotter passes are beautiful and utterly demoralizing to the opponent when they're snatching souls in the 3rd quarter, but we've often needed the resolutely fundamental guy in the 4th (Livingston, Mo Buckets, Andre, KD, OPJ...)
Yes, the Warriors offensive philosophy requires everyone to move the ball and so you absolutely need secondary passers (who I would note often benefit from the primary passers and get easier opportunities). This isn't a CP3 or Jokic or Westbrook where there's a passer who dominates the ball and secondary passing is minimized.
not at all. I agree. Just like Iguodala occasionally did in the early dynasty years.
I might even throw Podz in there. He's not going to get a wild hair and take a 25 footer with 10 left on the shot clock.
not anymore anyway though I sort of miss his brickwork from that running hook shot across the lane. Someday he'll bring it back fixed and working and it's gonna be so much fun.
I don't know, Podz' hair has been pretty wild this season
He's not wrong: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44311897/warriors-draymond-green-wants-another-defensive-player-year-award-makes-case-vs-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo
Juxtapose Drays endless highlight reel from last night with Mobley getting his ankles broken twice in the same play by Harden, and yeah. Dray is not f-ing wrong.
Draymond from the above article:
"I look around the league and don't see many players impacting the game on the defensive end the way I do. I don't see many players completely throwing off an entire team's offense the way I do."
I love watching defense and so always pay closer attention Draymond's impact, and this is what I see. Opponents see him on D and often hesitate to attack and so the team plays quite differently. Last night was a prime example of Giannis being 'spooked' and you could see his reluctance with the ball when Draymond was on him.
I don't watch Mobley or the other known defenders so much, so not sure they really have the same impact. Usually people just see one on one defense. Dray does more!
Send this tape to Barkley, Shaq, and the other old heads that want to talk about how Dray's just too small and they'd just big boy him all day long. The biggest 2 time giant unstoppable athletic big that nobody can stop because he's too big, strong, and fast... just got dominated by this little guy who's just too immoveable, laterally quick, prescient, and long to consistently beat. Send them the tape of AD getting the same work.
10-3 gets us to 50 wins, but winning out gets us to 53-29, the record that our last championship team had.
I’m really not liking Kuminga’s hand waving and extended whining to the refs after every wild drive into the teeth of the defense. If you’re blaming, you’re not gaming.
OTOH, Jimmy learning to grift on 4-point plays is priceless.
Ehh he’s usually doing it while running back, I don’t mind it. I also think it’s partially a function of him just trying to settle into the offense again, as well as not being quite as comfortable going up and into defenders or going off of two feet in traffic post-injury yet.
Kuminga can be a beast but he sure gave the coaches a lot of tape to review with him.
MESSAGE DELIVERED VIA POSTMAN LONG-DISTANCE EXPRESS:
How Sweet It IS! Happiness is STEPH RESTING, BUTLER BUSTING, PODZ WITH A 3 POINT SHOT, HIELD FINDING IT, KUMINGA ARSE-KICKING, ET AL BUCKETS OF JOY!
Post was really pissin me off with his defense throughout this game.
He had some rough moments and some good moments on defense. He’s a quick learner and his shooting makes up for a lot of it anyways
I rewatched the game and he generally played solid defense throughout it but he had one really terrible stretch which is prob what sparked the annoyance..
He stopped a fast break and forced a turnover during crunch time. And in fairness, nobody had reminded him that Podziemski was on his own team, so it stands as a solid defensive play.
I'm kinda on Team Post on that play because the big goofus is just running back toward the basket and Podz wheels and barrels right into him.
I think he’s more of a galoot than a goofus, but I’m sure he’ll take that as a compliment.
We shall defer to your unique expertise in this matter.
#galootwafel
Well sure, but that's not as funny :)
Had to go to bed for an early flight, but we just watched it without spoilers the airport, so I’m even later than Attila and g8tgod, but woo hoo! I was pretty sure if we played out-scored them in the non-Steph minutes, we’d have a good chance.
I am late but have not forgotten my duty: E1P! E1P! E1P! We dehorned the Bucks, at least for a night!