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https://dubnationhq.com/p/the-one-millionth-article-about-klay hey is Klay having a hard time or something?

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https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/why-pacers-tyrese-haliburton-is-emerging-as-the-dark-horse-in-nbas-mvp-race/

Yeah, yeah we never would have used the #2 pick on him...However, he was the guy DubNation liked the most. Sigh

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Ruminations from from TJD Atoll. (First, TJD should play more.)

Started watching with the Showtime Lakers. Captain Hook, ballet-legs Worthy, grandmaster Magic…together were magic. Never knew how they did it just awed by the synergies. When Magic retired, so did I, until seeing a warriors game on tv I was struck by the skill, the movement, the synergies. They were playing amazing team basketball. As soon as they started winning, the other head coaches plus a bevy of coachlettes tried to figure out how to stop Curry…tear his clothes, pull down his pants, Box and one, triple team, quadruple team. Whatever works, do it. But the Warriors kept winning. ( Booo 2020).

In 2021 when Curry after winning the title dropped down on the floor and cried, the flash before my eyes was, ‘that’s the end’. Just as when I watched the plane fly into the first world trade center the flash before my eyes was ‘nothing will ever be the same again.’

Since then the league coaches and their coachettes, with a little help from analytics, the college pipelines, and some OOOGs, have evolved new strategies...more long, lean, athletic guys all with the three ball, who can manage screens and stick to their player like limpets. Plus Jokic. Working?

Recently instead of watching great team basketball, we are despairing at Draymond, or mourning Klay’s legs, and Draymond again, or watching Poole dribbling off his knee, his foot, then falling on his face. (Not that he wasn’t a good shooter, of course)…..and Draymond again, and again.

I miss Warriors basketball. I don’t care if they win so much is if they play Warriors basketball. Maybe that’s selfish, or not possible anymore. Don’t know. But nobody ever got fired for loving Warriors team basketball.

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Steph questionable for tomorrow: https://www.si.com/nba/warriors/news/steph-curry-receives-updated-injury-status-vs-thunder

(Apologies if I missed this already being posted)

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From MT-II's piece in the athletic

"An unofficial players meeting seemed to be taking place, enough for the Warriors to close the view of their weight room and practice court with a black curtain. But balls were bouncing. Weights were clanking. Music was playing. And a collection of players were huddled on the court. In the middle was Stephen Curry, his yellow hoodie easy to spot. Chris Paul was in it. Jonathan Kuminga. Gary Payton II, one of the few already fully dressed."

"In times like these for the Warriors, one of the best people to hear from is Kevon Looney, who keeps it realer than a hundred-dollar bill with the line across."

“I wouldn’t say I’m worried,” Looney said, pausing at his locker before pulling his shirt over his head. “Ahhh, I guess you can say worried a little bit because you can’t be losing games like this at home. I think we’ve got enough to be good but we‘ve got to figure it out.”

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Listen as maddening as maybe blowing the one (or twice) chance of getting a franchise altering player was, man I can’t help but think how much of the rest of the league is full of young franchise leading talent. No team is a walk in the park any longer. I get that even in 2016 we had the Trust the Process Sixers almost beat us but that took a herculean effort by their part and a complete off night by ours to get to that point AND we still won. Sucks seeing us get old and slow collectively but the league is in a much better place today than even a decade ago.

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If anybody needed any proof for Steph being in the a top 3 to 5 GOATS of the NBA based on quality and impact - just see how the game is being played now!

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Yeah, the league catching up to the Dubs means everyone is insanely talented and basically all good teams play fun basketball. If this is the new normal, I'll happily continue watching!

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Oh... the Thunder seem like a decent team to watch. But pretty much every time I watch a non-Warriors game, the lack of ball & player movement is jarringly boring.

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We're truly blessed, but there's much more off-ball movement and generally skillful play going on now than even like 6 years ago when spread pnr was at the cutting edge. It's not as chaotic as the W's (said lovingly), but a lot of the action has spread around

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When Steph was asked to come off the bench after injury, he did. When CP was asked to come off the bench, he did. These happen to be the only guys on our team who were ever MVP candidates. I think a coach can’t have sacred lineups. Everyone has to continually earn their place. Sure, a superstar can go through a bit of a shooting slump and there no need to bench him. But we appear to be bearing the point whether this year or the next when reducing the minutes, reducing the starting role for Klay and Wiggins should be considered *on the merits* Meaning that if someone wants to argue that even in a shooting slump Klay is a better overall bet than Moody, fine that’s a debate. But let’s not just think, and I hope Kerr doesn’t just think, of starting, and playing starter minutes as a birthright. Klay is not a Shooting Guard Emeritus. You know what would really amaze and impress me? If Wiggins or Klay went to Kerr and said “I’m liking what I’m seeing from Moody from Saric from Kuminga. How about if I come off the bench for a few games and we see how that goes?” I get it that these are alpha athletes who always think they are the best bet, but they are also good at sacrificing for the team, always have been. It won’t happen but it would sure reduce the pressure on Kerr to bench them

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A lot easier to imagine if Klay isn’t playing for new contract.

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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

It I understand correctly, Dunleavy played a leading if not decisive role is the following: Drafting Podz, drafting TJD, shedding Poole and salary for CP, and acquiring Saric. Giving up on PBJ and Rollins went with that but probably wasn’t the main goal. That seems like actually a hell of a first transaction season, doesn’t it? Can I give that an A plus, given what resources be had to work with?

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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

An A-Plus would have been keeping Steph and trading the rest of the team for Booker, Tatum, AD and Jokic and landing Halliburton and Embiid as backups. People may say "What about the salary cap?", but a great GM figures out how to get $300M in salary into a $120m box. Seriously, TJD looks good and Podz might be too when he loses some youthful over exuberance. Picking up Garuba as a 2-way was a great move as well.

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Isn’t that what S ranked is for?

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There’s A Plus and then there’s turning water into wine

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That's true. There were some of the free agents he probably wanted to sign like Javale McGee and Eric Gordon, but they chose to sign with other teams instead.

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Yep. And add “not inking Klay to a pricy extension” to the list.

You could arguing extending Dray long-term was a mistake (imagine 3+ more years of the latest shenanigans?), but then I think that was largely about appeasing Steph, and no one can ever begrudge that.

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I’m fine with 3+ more years of the Draymond of this season. Either he’s really good and him missing games is impactful for us so we want him on the team, or he’s not good and him missing games doesn’t harm the team. Either way the energy and intensity he brings is something I want the warriors to have, and we don’t have anyone else on the team who has shown they can provide it.

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Yeah no one else on the team does what he does but if we didn’t sign him or if we traded him who could we get?

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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

As far as free agency we could get a vet min player because we still would be over the cap and the tax apron. Trades... dunno. But it would have to be sign and trade, which would hard cap the other team.

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I guess Dillon Brooks was a free agent lol

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And he's shooting >50% from 3...

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He's not taking a lot of shots like he used to when he was with Memphis, hence the high shooting %age. He hardly takes threes, but when he does, he makes them.

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Blowing Draymond’s measly 45% out of the water smh

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No one ever got fired for appeasing Steph

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Games to pay attention for tonight:

Spurs vs. Kings, Blazers vs. Lakers, Jazz vs. Suns, Clippers vs. Rockets

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Here's one of my hypotheses: Teams and players have got much better at screen navigation over the last 10 years, and specifically around how to defend the Warriors famed split cuts... and complaints about moving screens have been been successful in getting them called.

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https://twitter.com/MontePooleNBCS/status/1725617808200159660

Steph practiced today and is questionable for tomorrow. GP2 is OUT.

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deletedNov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023
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It doesn't help that it's run by tech Willy Wonka

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not willy wonka but a right wing antisemetic mofo pos.

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With a fragile ego. Make one little joke about him, and he'll ban you.

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thank goodness I never used that twit and will never use X either

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Question for the collective - there have been a number of comments about how Podz can't play point guard. His assist numbers looked great in the preseason. What am I missing?

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If guys cut he finds them, like Gui’s first NBA basket!

I support the Pod PG experiment!

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He’s connecting plays more than initiating them, imo. He’s not creating an advantage from nothing.

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Every day on this site I learn a bit more about basketball and am very thankful for it.

After reading through several expert BBIQ commentary from posts here over the seasons, I would like to present my very simple and two cents summary of our defensive woes and see if it makes sense to you all

Teams seem to have figured out a simple but effective formula to beat the warriors defense. The basic ingredients are

1. A good to great dribble penetrator : e.g. shai, Mitchell, garland, booke, antman…

2. A decent threat near the rim: Cavs, OKC, Wolves, all have them

3. Average 3-pt shooter on the perimeter - and this does not need any great catch-and-shoot type player like Klay.

Let me explain why?

1. The dribble penetrator forces the defense to collapse. This leads to the ball being kicked out to the perimeter.

2. The perimeter player can take a virtually-uncontested shot with plenty of time to position feet and shoot and DOES NOT need to take the much harder Catch-and-shoot, i.e. one motion, shot.

3. Why do they have plenty of time to plonk their feet and shoot? Well because the dubs have players who cannot leave their collapsed position fast enough or with enough length, to disturb the shooter.

4. Consequently, even generally low % shooters are hitting 3’s at a % that we thought is normally reserved for Steph and Klay and that is going to kill the DUBS every time.

My counter to this would be (e.g. the zone versus on-ball defensive approaches)

1. Zone: Let the dribble penetrator take shots and not collapse the pocket so much and live with a 2 point shot instead of a 3-pt shot. I feel Kerr and the supporting coaches are badly coaching this aspect of the game since this could be easily addressed with in game analytics and quick adjustments - like DONT collapse the pocket.

2. On-ball: Some of the time, hound the dribble penetrator with on-ball defense like GP2 - unfortunately we cannot do it for 48 minutes with the construction of our squad.

3. Have extreme rim protection so the dribble penetrator is not comfortable - unfortunately we really don’t have this either - maybe Dray is the only one

Happy to learn more from the comments. Note that the Warrior offense does not work like this and so we rarely have this way to score!

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For #3, not here to bash Steve's rotations, but TJD has been pretty good protecting the rim so far, so maybe some help is coming there if they can figure out how to get him on the court.

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I was traveling and mercifully missed all of the games from the last 2 weeks though I inflicted the highlights on myself. I went in to the season posting the obvious; if Steph is healthy for most of the season, the Warriors are a playoff team, if he isn't, they aren't. In the meantime, I would kind of like to see a CP3, Klay, Wiggins, JK, Looney starting lineup to see if they can get Klay and Wiggins back on track. I'd also like to see them bring Garuba up from the G-league to eat a few minutes at PF.

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That is the starting unit Steve is using, except Dario is at the 5 instead of Loon.

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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

And I think that makes a big difference. I assume that CP3 is more comfortable with Saric, but Wiggins, Thompson, and Kuminga need those bone jarring, perfectly legal, and absolutely not moving screens that Looney sets. I'm no basketball wizard, but Kerr ought to be able to come up with a "semi motion" offense that lets CP3 dribble the ball waiting for one of those guys to get open off a screen.

[Edit: and also I suspect the defense is better with Loon due to familiarity]

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He's probably thinking with Dario, they can stretch the floor for spacing. It also gives them someone who has actually been making shots this season. It's been a struggle for just about everyone not named Steph, Moody, Dario and maybe Dray.

I can also see your side too and how Loon can help. A lot of their issues could be fixed with Klay and Wiggs improving their play also.

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I like how we’re considering a guy who’s hitting 33.9% of his 3s as “hitting his shots”…

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Hard times right now, gotta take what we can get.

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I mean... he is 6th on the team in 3P%... and 4th among "players available to play last night"... and 3rd among "players available to play the 2nd half last night".

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From the "could be worse" file:

Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal will miss at least three weeks before being re-evaluated for his lower back strain, the team announced Friday

https://theathletic.com/5071791/2023/11/17/suns-bradley-beal-back-injury?source=user-shared-article

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OT: any chronic insomnia (or even better, former chronic insomnia) sufferers here? I'm trying to investigate solutions.

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Yes. Im military service connected for PTSD and as my anxiety increases from time to time my Insomnia gets exponentially worse. Trazadone works for me BUT only in combination with walking/exercise

late morning early afternoon. I had to quit a long term remote job in May because of all this and was lucky enough to pick a part time day job at UPS that allows me all the exercise I can handle. Once

I brought Trazadone in to the fold and reduced anxiety depression slightly (not all the way there yet) ive been going to bed at 11 pm most nights from the previous 5 am. Next step is im having an Inspire device implanted to help

Manage my Sleep Apnea which also messes with the Insomnia

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Ooh yes, insomnia and anxiety. Gummies help. So does meditating (while in bed - not ideal for meditation I know) on an image of a lit candle or low flame. If that fails, it’s helpful to get up, move to the living room, and read for a time, then back to bed. Either of those usually work. Traditional meds sometimes work and sometimes fail. I’ve not yet tried a sleep study.

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that reminds me - got to make a gummy bear run!

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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

I do but I haven't been clinically diagnosed so I'm not sure if it's a side effect of another diagnosed condition, though the NIH states chronic (long term) insomnia cannot be fully explained by another health problem. I just call myself a nocturnal animal. My sleep journal is useless, bedroom is sleep friendly, I don't take naps, drink coffee but not excessively, don't smoke, drink alcohol rarely, and eat regularly. I have been prescribed sleeping aids before but they made me feel groggy and after reading about some of them, I decided never to take prescription sleeping aids again. I tried melatonin but it doesn't work for me. My husband got me to try sleep gummies, but I'm uncomfortable using them so I stopped. It made me giggly or sleepy, so it worked but dependent on strain or dosage, I can't say for sure. I have not tried breathing strips so no opinion on those. I've tried some forms of CBT but they haven't helped me as a long term solution. I've considered going to a sleep clinic but have not gotten around to researching about it yet.

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Grand Daddy Purple

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Don't know what this means

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deletedNov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023
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I've been on one sleep drug or another for over 10 years. Currently Quetiapene.

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deletedNov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023
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Nov 17, 2023·edited Nov 17, 2023

Anxiety. Started with breakup with my first wife. On the edge of signing up for Sleep Science Academy program, but wish I knew how to research the best ways to deal with this.

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