The biggest takeaway for me from this game other than Kuminga's impressive shooting was Podz's seeming improvement from Summer League where he appeared to be overmatched by the surrounding athleticism.
Podz played 26 minutes, the most minutes of any player. The team was +6 over those minutes. Most impressively to me, Podz racked up just one foul over those minutes while generally offering decent resistance on defense against more athletic players. He had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block against just 2 turnovers and both of these turnovers came in 4th quarter garbage time. He also miscalculated on his first shot which was blocked/stripped, but other than that he made very few mistakes and most significantly to me looked as if he at least belonged on the same court with older and more athletic players, which frankly was not the case in Summer League.
So, it's just one game, but finally we have some actual evidence to back up the rumors that Podz has been showing out in practice and workouts. And he's only 20, so obviously there is a lot of room for growth. Before this game, I did not expect him to be part of Warrior's regular rotation this season, but as of right now, I think he has at least has a chance to not only earn some minutes, but also help the Warriors outscore the opposition during those minutes.
I liked the energy Podz showed on defense, pursuing over screens and using what looked to me like pretty good footwork to stay in touch with his man, even when he couldn't entirely stay in front.
In the post-game presser, https://youtu.be/MrYyOHC8zEw?si=0KVa2mwLQ9VEmCwU&t=297, JK specifically calls out how he spent the last two years soaking up Andre's wisdom as much as possible, seeing him as a big brother. Then he pivots to this season and how he's targeting CP and Gay as mentors, specifically mentioning their 19 and 18 years in the league. He specifically mentions that he wants to build lifetime connections with these guys so he'll have these connections throughout his career.
This young blood is wise beyond his years, and his maturity has gone up enormously this summer. These are the types of connections that will pay dividends throughout his career and the fact that he's actively targeting them and building them speaks volumes. This is how you build a superstar career, JK. This is the type of thing that makes me super excited about his future prospects.
Soooo, Kerr had the hockey sub strategy in our first preseason game. He did the same thing in last preseason and the first couple regular season games (where it failed dramatically) before he transitioned to a more mix and match approach.
Do y'all think he'll try the hockey sub strategy again (but with CP instead of Podz once Dray comes back)?
Preseason games are just different. Kerr specifically said everyone in a jersey would see playing time last night. That means that in order to get the most bodies on the court for reasonable minutes, he pretty much has to hockey sub. I was surprised he even tried to get Wiggs minutes with that second group. I'm guessing he did that to get some glimpse of what that lineup would look like with some starting talent. I'm curious if he'll rotate Klay in with the second group for the next game.
I'm guessing not - I think that was to try to get the most time with the groups playing together while they are building chemistry and also to get all the subs in soon so they'd get a lot of minutes.
Joe Viray has a bunch of nice tweets calling out a bunch of plays throughout the game if you check out his twitter, you'll get at least some help identifying sets and motions.
As the resident president of TJD Island, I kept a careful eye on my boy after watching the game on replay this morning after being disappointed with his box score.
After rewatching it, I'm a lot more positive on his performance and would even call it good. Firstly, TJD did an excellent job against Christian Wood who is an excellent offensive player heavily contesting every shot (even if Wood was able to make them). He was also excellent in help defense which manifested itself in two blocks throughout the game. Throw in two steals to showcase excellent hands.
Defensively, his one wart came in the pick and roll. While he largely did a good job there balancing responsibilities between slowing down the guard while still being able to catch the rolling big, he often gave a LITTLE too much space to opposing guards but I have hopes he can improve there. Overall, just an excellent performance defensively.
Rebounding wise, while he technically got a single rebound, a closer examination showcased that he was consistently in the right place at the right time positioning wise (the ball sometimes don't bounce your way) and he successfully tipped the ball to his teammates twice (so he should have had three rebounds). Overall, I think he did an okay enough job there securing three rebounds in 15 minutes.
Offensively is where TJD struggled. He didn't exhibit anything great passing, his pick and roll game/screening was okay at best, and he just seemed lost on offense after a college career where he dominated in the post (but thats not what the Warriors do).
Overall, an intriguing performance by TJD in his first ever NBA outing and I hope to see improvements moving forward ESPECIALLY on offense as he figures out how to score without his vaunted post game.
For his first game with NBA players, I felt like he paid his dues with that emphatic block at Q3 - 6:00 (https://youtu.be/DuI-NrR2cl4?si=lpn7tSjyrvXT4Ri9&t=367). As long as he keeps building on what he's doing, I think he's on the road to being a solid player.
I thought I was irrationally confident to believe TJD will be solid down the road. This is relative to my typical expectation that most first rounders - second rounders won't survive their first contract. But I guess there's levels to irrational confidence, lol
You may be the president and analyst, but I am the owner. As mentioned a couple of days ago, there’s no real estate available for tents, bars, or tiki huts.
According to United Nations Eastern Pacific, Legal Code 54.76, section 7, page 476, section 4, entry 27, property may not be exploited on a previously owned territory in the Eastern Pacific from 20 degrees South, 106 degrees West through and including all territory 38 degrees North, 123 degrees West. This specification applies to both Easter Island and to TJD island.
Totally agree, I was very happy with TJD. He did the right things, did not force anything, played within the game and looked like he was ready for the moment. So long as he keeps his head on straight works on the little things and plays his role, he could be really valuable, ala Looney.
Yes it’s a preaseason game and yes Kuminga makes mistakes, but the cautiousness in the optimism about him always baffles me. The guy is a straight baller. Not *for a young guy* not *a useful backup until Draymond gets heathy* not *until he learns how to rebound* not *building up trade value*
He’s just actually really good. This is what being really good at basketball looks like..Straight baller. He not only will prove that in the coming year, he already has proven it last year. All players are imperfect but for some reason his imperfections are usually the lead and the good stuff is in parentheses.
I’m imagining hearing in 2033: “He only has five rings, and for three of those Steph Curry was on the team, so those shouldn’t really count. He only hits 57% from three but those tend to be wide open. 22 rebounds a game is nice but is he stat padding? He may know how to play the game intelligently but that’s because he was tutored by Iguodala and Draymond. He may have cured cancer but that was a lucky experiment with a fortuitous stem cell line. He brought peace to the world’s nations and eliminated poverty and climate change but now everyone doesn’t know what to do with themselves all day. Get it together Kuminga
From his own comments, it sounds like Jonny himself realizes there are parts of his game need work and has committed to getting better at them, which I am sure will result in him being on the floor a lot more this season, which is great! He doesn't need a nobel prize, he just needs to play sound basketball consistently, not foul, and rebound at a decent rate for his size. And he will be a better player for having had to fight for his spot in the rotation.
He still makes a lot of boneheaded plays on both sides of the court. These plays cost his team points, and these play were a big part of the reason that the Warriors were just +4 as as team in the half of the game that he played despite his tremendous offensive efficiency (73% true shooting).
It was just his first preseason game, of course. And all the Warriors make boneheaded plays on occasion, of course. But, at least on the basis of last night's small sample size, Kuminga still needs to limit these plays a bit to change a tantalizing young prospect into a winning basketball player. On the other hand, if he can just average 8 boards per game he had last night this season, he's already there.
It happened often enough that I think it's a feature of what Kerr wants to do with the second team. Saric is the perfect guy to be a stretch 5, bring his man up high, and let Kuminga go to work driving to the rim.
Man, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know how his career ends up, but he has elite level mentality and coachability. The kid cares and is a quick study. Super ambitious but low ego. (Dude was a seventh overall pick who went into the summer saying his goal was to be more like Loon on the boards. That’s not normal).
From the outside, it seems like he matures a bit each season and this might be the season it really shows.
We all need guidance and fortunately he has some of the vets to possible to offer him advice. If he becomes a superstar, maturing with steph and Co will have a lot to do with it.
Whatever you may think of Kuminga's game last year, his imperfections were sufficient that he was benched for the end of the season and the playoffs.
In other words, his coaches felt his game had so many holes he couldn't see the floor even when we had the weakest roster we've had in many years.
Worrying about those kinds of flaws is what fans do. Until we are sure that he won't get benched again, it seems reasonable to continue to worry.
The plus side is that he seems to be well on his way to fixing the immediate needs (rebounding, handle), and his shot seems really good when he takes good shots. And even when he takes pretty difficult shots, he's making them at a good clip, which is phenomenal.
If he really has taken another stair step in ability this summer, you probably won't hear those worries again. I have very high hopes.
Yah, which, honestly, is surprising, as Kerr typically has a bit more patience and a longer leash with players, even during the playoffs (remember McAdoo and Anderson?). IMO, the rumors about JP and JK's attitude were likely not entirely false. Perhaps JP rubbed off on JK a bit, but whatever the reason, his play on-court and off-court in those playoffs earned him a role riding the pine. He seems to have rightly turned his attitude around 180 this summer and is saying and doing all the right things.
The part that is baffling is the clamor to trade CP3 and Kuminga for a different 30+ backup point guard who isn't any better on offense but is a better defender. Physically, Kuminga can do things that nobody else on the Warriors can do. His BBIQ right now is about what you could expect for a 21 year old who played no college ball. If Draymond can impart 1/2 of what he knows about basketball to JK, JK is a perennial all star. I get that pennants fly forever, but the difference between CP3 and Jrue Holiday as backup PG wasn't going to appreciably change the Warriors odds in the short run and might have done a lot of long term damage. I'm still looking forward to the GP2, Moody, Wiggins, Kuminga, Green "all defense" lineup when Green gets back (though all of them save Green can hit an open 3 at a respectable rate)
I agree with that completely. Including Kuminga or Moody in a win-now trade was just insanity. You could see that Kuminga would be a lot better this year. Any marginal improvement at guard (to get Holiday, say), would have been washed out by losing what Kuminga brings.
I think the love for Jrue was mostly imagining him as the 5th man in the closing lineup. Steph, Jrue, Wiggs, Klay, Dray is a stellar closing lineup and better than any the Dubs can put together with their current roster. Now Kuminga may take a huge step forward and end up in the closing roster this year, but that is all unrealized potential right now.
In my view His coaches were in the wrong to bench him in the playoffs. As you say we are fans and another thing we do is second guess coaches.
If the Dubs had gone on to a small ball veteran based championship then they could say good thing we benched that jittery young fella. As it was the Lakers stomped on us with size and strength.
If ONLY we’d had someone agile and strong to counter that. I’m not saying Kuminga would hand single handedly beaten the lakers ok maybe I am saying that, but playing Poole and watching AD and LeBron squash us while Kuminga sat in the bench just growing will never make sense to me
Kerr can have made a mistake, and Kuminga may not have been ready to be the player you think he is last year. The good news is, I think he will be what you (and we) want this year.
4/5 from the FT line along with 4/8 from three bodes well for Kuminga when it comes to 3 PT shooting. Most importantly, he doesn't look shy taking them which is important as confidence is key for shooters.
Kuminga looks confident in his shot. I don’t know what it is, but it looks like his misses don’t change his approach. Meanwhile, Mr. I worked on FTs all offseason looked like he’s trying to calibrate and re-calibrate his shot from attempt to attempt.
I rewatched a little bit of the game this morning, and ... holy crap, Kuminga.
I think the death star is fully activated. And more to come.
He had a beautiful drive to the bucket from the 3 pt line, dribbling with his left hand (Beli or someone mentioned this in the game thread ... I missed it live).
Yah, I loved that. Rui tried to go under the screen, still got chipped on the shoulder by Dario, and Kuminga was past him in a flash, with only AD between him and the basket, then he just sidesteps AD and casually lays it up around him. There was definitely some Kobe in that.
Got three (yes 3) vaccinees Friday so was a little out of it but saw most of the game and damn this preseason is going to be fun watching mostly the subs do there thing. So far I really liked what I saw and cant wait to see what they can do in real time.
Our bench will not be at the bottom the league this year for sure and may just be right up in the top 5.
Now this is the retool I've been waiting for. Thanks MDj.
Hi, Eric...I like the roster we are shaping. We left the other site to make a TRUE FAN SITE. I supported the effort for the get go. What is Joe Viray doing writing for us and on our staff/as well as the site we left behind...Is Duby still around...Thanks
I do not think Daniel is on their STAFF though. I see him as very ''visiting'' contributor. There is also, IMO, a qualitative difference from a Dub fan's perspective between the stuff Daniel writes and the FO's man...From a diehard Dub fan's perspective, I have never liked the stuff Viray writes...
Pretty mpressed with Klaymond Green grabbing rebounds and pushing it up ahead, and Chris Poole tightening up his handle and letting the game come to him. Feels like the stinky gloomy cloud of last season has been lifted. And there's more cavalry coming?! Yeeeeeeesh :) BTW JoKu created the 'No one ever got fired for passing to an open Steph'.
Me too, I even put it in the comments at the time. It was fun seeing Steph get such a big laugh out of that pass too. Hey it's preseason, if we're going to make goofy mistakes, now's the time. And we won.
Cool game. Even though preseason scores really don't matter, I love to see LA lose. Kuminga's play vs AD was inspirational, in general he looked really good except his passes were not sharp enough. Moody, Podz looked quite promising too. Wish Wiggins made his free throws. Ah well. No injuries, that's the biggest win.
All I know is that seeing our first points of the game being a CP3 midrange shot makes me very happy. The Warriors, thanks to Paul's wisdom, finally remembered that you are allowed to shoot inside the arc.
New thread:
https://dubnationhq.com/p/warriors-look-good-as-they-knock
The biggest takeaway for me from this game other than Kuminga's impressive shooting was Podz's seeming improvement from Summer League where he appeared to be overmatched by the surrounding athleticism.
Podz played 26 minutes, the most minutes of any player. The team was +6 over those minutes. Most impressively to me, Podz racked up just one foul over those minutes while generally offering decent resistance on defense against more athletic players. He had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block against just 2 turnovers and both of these turnovers came in 4th quarter garbage time. He also miscalculated on his first shot which was blocked/stripped, but other than that he made very few mistakes and most significantly to me looked as if he at least belonged on the same court with older and more athletic players, which frankly was not the case in Summer League.
So, it's just one game, but finally we have some actual evidence to back up the rumors that Podz has been showing out in practice and workouts. And he's only 20, so obviously there is a lot of room for growth. Before this game, I did not expect him to be part of Warrior's regular rotation this season, but as of right now, I think he has at least has a chance to not only earn some minutes, but also help the Warriors outscore the opposition during those minutes.
I liked the energy Podz showed on defense, pursuing over screens and using what looked to me like pretty good footwork to stay in touch with his man, even when he couldn't entirely stay in front.
Jonathan Kuminga's Maturity and Humility.
In the post-game presser, https://youtu.be/MrYyOHC8zEw?si=0KVa2mwLQ9VEmCwU&t=297, JK specifically calls out how he spent the last two years soaking up Andre's wisdom as much as possible, seeing him as a big brother. Then he pivots to this season and how he's targeting CP and Gay as mentors, specifically mentioning their 19 and 18 years in the league. He specifically mentions that he wants to build lifetime connections with these guys so he'll have these connections throughout his career.
This young blood is wise beyond his years, and his maturity has gone up enormously this summer. These are the types of connections that will pay dividends throughout his career and the fact that he's actively targeting them and building them speaks volumes. This is how you build a superstar career, JK. This is the type of thing that makes me super excited about his future prospects.
Soooo, Kerr had the hockey sub strategy in our first preseason game. He did the same thing in last preseason and the first couple regular season games (where it failed dramatically) before he transitioned to a more mix and match approach.
Do y'all think he'll try the hockey sub strategy again (but with CP instead of Podz once Dray comes back)?
Preseason games are just different. Kerr specifically said everyone in a jersey would see playing time last night. That means that in order to get the most bodies on the court for reasonable minutes, he pretty much has to hockey sub. I was surprised he even tried to get Wiggs minutes with that second group. I'm guessing he did that to get some glimpse of what that lineup would look like with some starting talent. I'm curious if he'll rotate Klay in with the second group for the next game.
I'm guessing not - I think that was to try to get the most time with the groups playing together while they are building chemistry and also to get all the subs in soon so they'd get a lot of minutes.
I irrationally believe that even a pre-season Lakers loss to the Dubs should be explained.
Sorry, not sorry EA.
I truly expect you to be busier this season, might as well just rip the band aid off and get back in the groove.
Joe Viray has a bunch of nice tweets calling out a bunch of plays throughout the game if you check out his twitter, you'll get at least some help identifying sets and motions.
Curry had mentioned it, but that two pass fast break from Curry to Paul to the shooter was so silky smooth. Tasted butter just watching it.
As the resident president of TJD Island, I kept a careful eye on my boy after watching the game on replay this morning after being disappointed with his box score.
After rewatching it, I'm a lot more positive on his performance and would even call it good. Firstly, TJD did an excellent job against Christian Wood who is an excellent offensive player heavily contesting every shot (even if Wood was able to make them). He was also excellent in help defense which manifested itself in two blocks throughout the game. Throw in two steals to showcase excellent hands.
Defensively, his one wart came in the pick and roll. While he largely did a good job there balancing responsibilities between slowing down the guard while still being able to catch the rolling big, he often gave a LITTLE too much space to opposing guards but I have hopes he can improve there. Overall, just an excellent performance defensively.
Rebounding wise, while he technically got a single rebound, a closer examination showcased that he was consistently in the right place at the right time positioning wise (the ball sometimes don't bounce your way) and he successfully tipped the ball to his teammates twice (so he should have had three rebounds). Overall, I think he did an okay enough job there securing three rebounds in 15 minutes.
Offensively is where TJD struggled. He didn't exhibit anything great passing, his pick and roll game/screening was okay at best, and he just seemed lost on offense after a college career where he dominated in the post (but thats not what the Warriors do).
Overall, an intriguing performance by TJD in his first ever NBA outing and I hope to see improvements moving forward ESPECIALLY on offense as he figures out how to score without his vaunted post game.
For his first game with NBA players, I felt like he paid his dues with that emphatic block at Q3 - 6:00 (https://youtu.be/DuI-NrR2cl4?si=lpn7tSjyrvXT4Ri9&t=367). As long as he keeps building on what he's doing, I think he's on the road to being a solid player.
I thought I was irrationally confident to believe TJD will be solid down the road. This is relative to my typical expectation that most first rounders - second rounders won't survive their first contract. But I guess there's levels to irrational confidence, lol
You may be the president and analyst, but I am the owner. As mentioned a couple of days ago, there’s no real estate available for tents, bars, or tiki huts.
Y'know I have my property where the bar may go, and you can't have it. It's not a large investment but I will not be moved. Just sayin'. 😊
According to United Nations Eastern Pacific, Legal Code 54.76, section 7, page 476, section 4, entry 27, property may not be exploited on a previously owned territory in the Eastern Pacific from 20 degrees South, 106 degrees West through and including all territory 38 degrees North, 123 degrees West. This specification applies to both Easter Island and to TJD island.
Fraud! There is no such thing as a United Nations Legal Code. Share the island — and don't mess with Attila the Hun! 😊
#StrengthInNumbers #FullSquad #ShareTheBall
1. FYI it is the UN Eastern Pacific Legal Code, UNEP, published in 1955, first revision 1993. You will need a law library for this.
2. The Romans dispatched Attila in the fifth century CE. If you want to rest on your laurels, fine, but not on my island.☠️
The first Dubs Island Mutiny I've ever witnessed... and I'm thoroughly enjoying it!!
Totally agree, I was very happy with TJD. He did the right things, did not force anything, played within the game and looked like he was ready for the moment. So long as he keeps his head on straight works on the little things and plays his role, he could be really valuable, ala Looney.
Yes it’s a preaseason game and yes Kuminga makes mistakes, but the cautiousness in the optimism about him always baffles me. The guy is a straight baller. Not *for a young guy* not *a useful backup until Draymond gets heathy* not *until he learns how to rebound* not *building up trade value*
He’s just actually really good. This is what being really good at basketball looks like..Straight baller. He not only will prove that in the coming year, he already has proven it last year. All players are imperfect but for some reason his imperfections are usually the lead and the good stuff is in parentheses.
I’m imagining hearing in 2033: “He only has five rings, and for three of those Steph Curry was on the team, so those shouldn’t really count. He only hits 57% from three but those tend to be wide open. 22 rebounds a game is nice but is he stat padding? He may know how to play the game intelligently but that’s because he was tutored by Iguodala and Draymond. He may have cured cancer but that was a lucky experiment with a fortuitous stem cell line. He brought peace to the world’s nations and eliminated poverty and climate change but now everyone doesn’t know what to do with themselves all day. Get it together Kuminga
From his own comments, it sounds like Jonny himself realizes there are parts of his game need work and has committed to getting better at them, which I am sure will result in him being on the floor a lot more this season, which is great! He doesn't need a nobel prize, he just needs to play sound basketball consistently, not foul, and rebound at a decent rate for his size. And he will be a better player for having had to fight for his spot in the rotation.
He still makes a lot of boneheaded plays on both sides of the court. These plays cost his team points, and these play were a big part of the reason that the Warriors were just +4 as as team in the half of the game that he played despite his tremendous offensive efficiency (73% true shooting).
It was just his first preseason game, of course. And all the Warriors make boneheaded plays on occasion, of course. But, at least on the basis of last night's small sample size, Kuminga still needs to limit these plays a bit to change a tantalizing young prospect into a winning basketball player. On the other hand, if he can just average 8 boards per game he had last night this season, he's already there.
Yah, I'm sure the 4 TO's contributed to that +4 being as small as it was. I honestly expected it to be much higher.
Saric seems to see something in Kuminga. It seemed like Kuminga was his preferred passing destination whenever Saric touched the ball.
He had that really nice pocket pass to Moody too…
It happened often enough that I think it's a feature of what Kerr wants to do with the second team. Saric is the perfect guy to be a stretch 5, bring his man up high, and let Kuminga go to work driving to the rim.
Man, I couldn’t agree more. I don’t know how his career ends up, but he has elite level mentality and coachability. The kid cares and is a quick study. Super ambitious but low ego. (Dude was a seventh overall pick who went into the summer saying his goal was to be more like Loon on the boards. That’s not normal).
From the outside, it seems like he matures a bit each season and this might be the season it really shows.
We all need guidance and fortunately he has some of the vets to possible to offer him advice. If he becomes a superstar, maturing with steph and Co will have a lot to do with it.
Whatever you may think of Kuminga's game last year, his imperfections were sufficient that he was benched for the end of the season and the playoffs.
In other words, his coaches felt his game had so many holes he couldn't see the floor even when we had the weakest roster we've had in many years.
Worrying about those kinds of flaws is what fans do. Until we are sure that he won't get benched again, it seems reasonable to continue to worry.
The plus side is that he seems to be well on his way to fixing the immediate needs (rebounding, handle), and his shot seems really good when he takes good shots. And even when he takes pretty difficult shots, he's making them at a good clip, which is phenomenal.
If he really has taken another stair step in ability this summer, you probably won't hear those worries again. I have very high hopes.
> his imperfections were sufficient that he was benched for the end of the season and the playoffs.
I think it gets forgotten that he actually did get to play in the beginning of the playoffs and was bad and then got benched.
Yah, which, honestly, is surprising, as Kerr typically has a bit more patience and a longer leash with players, even during the playoffs (remember McAdoo and Anderson?). IMO, the rumors about JP and JK's attitude were likely not entirely false. Perhaps JP rubbed off on JK a bit, but whatever the reason, his play on-court and off-court in those playoffs earned him a role riding the pine. He seems to have rightly turned his attitude around 180 this summer and is saying and doing all the right things.
The part that is baffling is the clamor to trade CP3 and Kuminga for a different 30+ backup point guard who isn't any better on offense but is a better defender. Physically, Kuminga can do things that nobody else on the Warriors can do. His BBIQ right now is about what you could expect for a 21 year old who played no college ball. If Draymond can impart 1/2 of what he knows about basketball to JK, JK is a perennial all star. I get that pennants fly forever, but the difference between CP3 and Jrue Holiday as backup PG wasn't going to appreciably change the Warriors odds in the short run and might have done a lot of long term damage. I'm still looking forward to the GP2, Moody, Wiggins, Kuminga, Green "all defense" lineup when Green gets back (though all of them save Green can hit an open 3 at a respectable rate)
Looney belongs in any all defense lineup.
GP2, Wiggs, Kuminga, Green, Looney, IMO. That's who you put in with a 1 point lead with opponent possession and less than 20 seconds left in the game.
If the other team has the ball, maybe. If we have the ball, that's a weak shooting team. Don't forget we have CP3.
Yes, that's what I meant. Thx.
I agree with that completely. Including Kuminga or Moody in a win-now trade was just insanity. You could see that Kuminga would be a lot better this year. Any marginal improvement at guard (to get Holiday, say), would have been washed out by losing what Kuminga brings.
I think he may be better than Jrue this year!
I think the love for Jrue was mostly imagining him as the 5th man in the closing lineup. Steph, Jrue, Wiggs, Klay, Dray is a stellar closing lineup and better than any the Dubs can put together with their current roster. Now Kuminga may take a huge step forward and end up in the closing roster this year, but that is all unrealized potential right now.
In my view His coaches were in the wrong to bench him in the playoffs. As you say we are fans and another thing we do is second guess coaches.
If the Dubs had gone on to a small ball veteran based championship then they could say good thing we benched that jittery young fella. As it was the Lakers stomped on us with size and strength.
If ONLY we’d had someone agile and strong to counter that. I’m not saying Kuminga would hand single handedly beaten the lakers ok maybe I am saying that, but playing Poole and watching AD and LeBron squash us while Kuminga sat in the bench just growing will never make sense to me
Both things can be true at the same time.
Kerr can have made a mistake, and Kuminga may not have been ready to be the player you think he is last year. The good news is, I think he will be what you (and we) want this year.
Let’s agree to agree
:) LOL. I am in mid-season argument form, clearly. I'm a bit tetchy this morning.
And that's after a win where we looked pretty good! Imagine how tetchy you'd have been if we'd lost and looked bad. 😆
4/5 from the FT line along with 4/8 from three bodes well for Kuminga when it comes to 3 PT shooting. Most importantly, he doesn't look shy taking them which is important as confidence is key for shooters.
I absolutely loved his body language yesterday
Kuminga looks confident in his shot. I don’t know what it is, but it looks like his misses don’t change his approach. Meanwhile, Mr. I worked on FTs all offseason looked like he’s trying to calibrate and re-calibrate his shot from attempt to attempt.
Yeah, watching that was cringe-inducing, given his claim.
Hope it’s just a “first time in real game” settling in sort of thing.
Who is Mr. I?
Wigs.
Why is AW "Mr I"? I'm missing this.
I rewatched a little bit of the game this morning, and ... holy crap, Kuminga.
I think the death star is fully activated. And more to come.
He had a beautiful drive to the bucket from the 3 pt line, dribbling with his left hand (Beli or someone mentioned this in the game thread ... I missed it live).
Yah, I loved that. Rui tried to go under the screen, still got chipped on the shoulder by Dario, and Kuminga was past him in a flash, with only AD between him and the basket, then he just sidesteps AD and casually lays it up around him. There was definitely some Kobe in that.
Yea the one where he just casually strolled past AD in the 1st quarter?
Got three (yes 3) vaccinees Friday so was a little out of it but saw most of the game and damn this preseason is going to be fun watching mostly the subs do there thing. So far I really liked what I saw and cant wait to see what they can do in real time.
Our bench will not be at the bottom the league this year for sure and may just be right up in the top 5.
Now this is the retool I've been waiting for. Thanks MDj.
Hi, Eric...I like the roster we are shaping. We left the other site to make a TRUE FAN SITE. I supported the effort for the get go. What is Joe Viray doing writing for us and on our staff/as well as the site we left behind...Is Duby still around...Thanks
Daniel writes for both sites as well
I do not think Daniel is on their STAFF though. I see him as very ''visiting'' contributor. There is also, IMO, a qualitative difference from a Dub fan's perspective between the stuff Daniel writes and the FO's man...From a diehard Dub fan's perspective, I have never liked the stuff Viray writes...
* ...''from'' the get go...what happened to the edit button...
Triple D has some stuff going on right now but said he will be back.
THANKS, great....I enjoy his stuff.
Edit button: click the “…” at the bottom right of your post.
Thanks, Sleepy. I see it, now....
I Don’t see a “…” I only see a … on mine.
lol
Ask for your money back!
Pretty mpressed with Klaymond Green grabbing rebounds and pushing it up ahead, and Chris Poole tightening up his handle and letting the game come to him. Feels like the stinky gloomy cloud of last season has been lifted. And there's more cavalry coming?! Yeeeeeeesh :) BTW JoKu created the 'No one ever got fired for passing to an open Steph'.
Did you see Brante Podziemcenzo doing his thing out there?
Sounds like a nice Catholic boy
Now there's a tongue-twister!
This guy can actually finish in the paint…
Lol. That was the first thing I thought. “No one ever got fired for passing to Steph” in Eric’s voice.
Me too, I even put it in the comments at the time. It was fun seeing Steph get such a big laugh out of that pass too. Hey it's preseason, if we're going to make goofy mistakes, now's the time. And we won.
So happy we didn’t end up with Christian Woods.
This.
Cool game. Even though preseason scores really don't matter, I love to see LA lose. Kuminga's play vs AD was inspirational, in general he looked really good except his passes were not sharp enough. Moody, Podz looked quite promising too. Wish Wiggins made his free throws. Ah well. No injuries, that's the biggest win.
JK does need to make quicker decisions and trust his game more but meh, he just turned 21. This could be the season where it all clicks.
Kumi's got that freak jumping ability that it looks like he takes another step up in mid air = mad hang time. Just turned 21? Oh Lord have mercy!
All I know is that seeing our first points of the game being a CP3 midrange shot makes me very happy. The Warriors, thanks to Paul's wisdom, finally remembered that you are allowed to shoot inside the arc.
They didn't keep it in mind THAT much. Out of 98 FGAs, 48 were from 3.
Thanks for sharing your notes. Couldn't get the game, and it was fun to get an inside look at the game.