Preview: Everyone is a Splash Bro in the new era?
The shadow of Klay Thompson may not loom as large if everyone shoots like this!
The Golden State Warriors converted three-pointers at a blistering pace in the last game. If it had been the regular season, it would have set a new all-time record for the Warriors franchise. But of course it doesn’t count. Another reminder that preseason may not show up in the record books - but it can still be fun.
They’re back in action tonight, this time hosting the Sacramento Kings in San Francisco and hoping that the rims will stay as friendly as they were last time out.
For the Warriors, Andrew Wiggins remains in limbo. He has returned to practice, but there’s a distinct lack of clarity regarding the timing of his full resumption of duties. He’s definitely out tonight, and sounds dubious for Monday as well. The regular season opens for Golden State on October 23rd and Wiggins is one of the stable veterans that should slot back in relatively easily, so the timing - while not ideal - isn’t especially urgent just yet.
GAME DETAILS
WHO: Golden State Warrriors (2-0) at Sacramento Kings (0-1)
WHEN: Friday, October 11th, 2024; 7:00pm PDT
WATCH: NBA TV
Blog Buddy: Kings Herald
Light ‘em up
“What I like about this team is that, even though we lost Klay, we have more shooting depth.” That was coach Steve Kerr, talking about how the team is thinking about how to navigate around the looming shadow of Thompson’s departure.
I had actually sent a text message to Nate and Daniel just moments into the first quarter, wondering if this was going to be a weird dynamic. I’ve seen this dynamic play out across various teams. Sure, Steve Young came pretty close to being “the next Montana” but there are significantly more cautionary tales. More likely than not, it’s some guy like Jeff Garcia. Or Pete Myers. Who? Exactly my point.
Just like Ron Harper back in the day, it felt like the Warriors’ stop-gap measures when Klay was out were primarily proxies. Kelly Oubre Jr. was here not because of a seamless fit, but moreso to plug the temporary “take a bunch of shots and make them efficiently” hole until Thompson could return and the Splash Brothers could ride again.
I may have lacked the conversational precision needed to get it across, but I tried to make a similar observation earlier. There’s been a massive tonal shift around how the Warriors are hiring, and how they’ve been talking about it. I keep re-reading that quip from Kerr. He was talking about Wiggins specifically, but he’s a true statesman. So when the coach talks about Klay’s absense leaving a hole, but phrasing it like this, it points towards something a bit more… foundational: ”a lot of points to score, but it also means we have to rethink how we’re doing things.”
What if the starting premise is that there isn’t a replacement for Klay?
Golden State is still a small ball team. Their best offensive option, Curry, is a respectable size, but the team’s best center remains the (perhaps generously) 6’7” Draymond Green.
And in a league where three-point shooting rules, why not just chase a guy like Buddy Heild to be one of the puzzle pieces?
Per Anthony Slater of The Athletic, look at the insane makes, sure, but also notice the distribution of attempts.
-Buddy Hield: 6/7
-Jonathan Kuminga: 4/7
-De'Anthony Melton: 4/9
-Steph Curry: 3/6
-Lindy Waters: 3/5
-Draymond Green: 2/3
-Brandin Podziemski: 2/4
-Moses Moody: 2/6
Obviously this is all skewed by preseason rotations, and the sillyness is further accelerated by Wiggins’ absence, but there’s something showing through the curtains in these first couple of games. A plan that feels more holistically right to me.
I think the Warriors really aren’t trying to replace Klay Thompson any more.
Prediction
Duh. Warriors win again.
Music Friday
It’s rough out there and I sincerely hope you all are doing okay. My day job is hard, but I do love the idea of continuing to slam my head against challenges until one of us breaks.
Hopefully it won’t be me.
This one is a little bit more rock/grunge than punk, but I think you’ll like it if you just give it a chance.
Happy Friday!
I’ll be at the game so I’m experimenting with a new process where I schedule a game thread one hour before the game start and preschedule a postgame thread 2.5 hours after game start. So expect game thread at 6pm and post game at 9:30pm. (Replies will be deleted to pins. Start a new comment if necessary.)
Forgot that @EA deletes replies to pins. So, posting a separate comment:
Prescheduling game threads and postgame threads is the way! I always felt needing to manually post each was too onerous.