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.)
Per Beli comment below, it could be a nod to "Wiggins would start here, but he's unavailable, and I want to get a look at what it looks like pulling JK/Podz/TJD/Loon/Melton/Hield off the bench"
I *think* the paint issues were more getting beat on cuts and getting helter-skelter from dribble handoffs/penetration... and this line up will keep things in front of them... matchups probably like:
He's been cooking in preseason so far but I don't know if Kerr sees him as a candidate for the starting 2 spot, depends on how much to read into Slater's article and Curry's early training camp comments both saying the 2 spot competition was between Melton, Podz, and Hield.
It's yet another "three non-shooters" lineup. I love the idea of the Anderson+Green frontcourt in certain matchups but think this lineup would look better with Wiggins in GP2's place.
Wiggins isn't available though, so whatever, preseason.
Reece Beekman’s dominance in defense and passing during college, especially in advanced stats, led me to check out his game against Duke, a much tougher opponent. I was blown away by his playmaking. Beekman consistently created great shots for his teammates, but they kept squandering them: he’d deliver a perfect pass for an open three—airball. He’d set up a pick-and-roll for an easy layup—floater instead. Even after drawing two defenders, his teammates couldn’t finish his passes cleanly. If they'd executed better, Virginia could've kept pace with Duke purely through Beekman's passing.
As Duke started exploiting Virginia’s interior defense, Beekman adjusted by roaming defensively. Though he got burned once, he mostly caused havoc by disrupting passes and even blocking shots. Despite his efforts, Duke pulled away, but I was seriously impressed.
With his teammates struggling to score, Beekman started to look to score more and that wasn't great. While he’s not an elite vertical athlete, his lateral quickness and acceleration, similar to early Jordan Poole, helped him get to his spots along with a quite functional handle. However, his shooting let him down. Beekman has all the tools to be exciting except for his jumper.
Usually, I’d be optimistic since he shot 77% from the free-throw line in college, but at 23, it’s unlikely he’ll become a great three-point shooter. Still, if he can hit 35% on 2.5 attempts per game as he did in his Junior Year and improve his efficiency moving on offense, he could be a very solid player—think Tyus Jones.
So now we have a whole herd of islands, an atoll, a farm, and I think Lindy Waters should be the owner of a Western Inland Sea, similar in extent to the one that previously occupied much of the area that his Kiowa ancestors migrated through.
BTW according to his bio he is called Trey. That makes me think of three, which seems to be his specialty.
If you want a fun game to watch, dig up Virginia vs Boston College and you can scout Beekman and Post in the same game. (And Ryan Dunn, who was drafted higher than either one!)
I actually did scout Post, a lot more officially and with far more depth than Beekman. I just wasn't impressed at all with Post so I quietly decided to not submit my findings. In general, I prefer to keep things positive and me crapping on Post wasn't how I wanted to spend my time.
Ever the prima donna, Lebron complained about playing in Milwaukee and tweeted “Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a plane and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?”.
The responses to his tweet were hilarious. Here are some of them.
Hey LeBron, it’s greg. The reason for this is because if you were to drive there it would take over 29 hours so I’m guessing your coaches thought it would be more efficient to fly. Hope this helps?
Because you're getting paid millions of dollars?
I believe that's where the Bucks play if I'm not mistaken.
Would you rather ride a bus like the WNBA?
A traveler complaining about traveling??!
the celtics went to abu dhabi bro
Beats being hit by a category 5 hurricane and dying or losing your house.
typicallyyyyy in the NBA there’s a home team, and an away team… the away team usually… usually, has to travel in to the home teams location…. I feel like you should know this
What in heaven’s name is up (or down) with Wiggins? His supposedly is no longer ill and practiced yesterday, but he is not playing today and is unlikely to play on Sunday. Is he now injured or still recuperating from his illness? This seems like a repeat of how he started last season and we know how that went.
Because he was sick, likely with something respiratory, and there’s no point in going from that, to one scrimmage, to a game, in the preseason.
Last season’s slow start was, I suspect, due to the fact that he had to recover from fractured ribs over the summer - which he fucking played through in the playoffs - an injury with a rehab typically consisting of “don’t move, except for walking and some light housework”. Going from that to literally guarding Kevin Durant in game 1 of the regular season is never going to go well, regardless of how much you were able to use an exercise bike in the last few weeks of your rehab.
My best guess is that this is because other, younger Warriors wings are currently outperforming Wiggins in practice. Until that changes, it may be counterproductive to all concerned to give Wiggins preseason minutes that younger players are currently more deserving of.
On edit: I was misinformed.
Kerr said today that Wiggins has been held out of full court scrimmages to date, so my speculation is totally wrong. He hasn't been cleared to play yet.
He’s had, like, two full practices. Don’t think it has to do with performance as much as teams tend to favor a very conservative ramp-up process in the preseason.
Well, supposedly Wiggins is not being held out of any practice activities.
On edit: I was misinformed, and you are 100% correct.
Kerr said today that Wiggins has been held out of full court scrimmages to date, so my speculation is totally wrong. He hasn't been cleared to play yet.
I agree with you in theory. However, after the last two seasons, I can see why the Warriors' coaching staff might not want Wiggins to get on the court in a public setting until they think that there is a good chance that Warriors fans will applaud his performance.
This is a highly valid question. If it were not for the last two years, I'd just chalk it up to some malady. In that context, however, it raises the eyebrow. Both of them.
Last year wasn’t great, of course, and particularly the first half, but the year before was the second best of his career. People like to conveniently forget that because of an extended absence due to family health issues.
Why play a guy coming back from an illness until he's 100% in the preseason? He may be more or less over his bug, but he probably was not working out, and has lost some conditioning.
Plus, it reduces the logjam at the 2-3 spot, so Kerr can take a look at other guys (JK, Moody, Hield, Waters, etc.)
Have watched a number of players return to play after the death of someone very close to them or after a parental divorce, it does not seem like they immediately play up to their potential.
Kerr is slow to integrate players back in when they've missed an extended time and Wiggins has had zero time with the team to actually practice until very recently. The season is long and Wiggins has been around for a long time, so I think it's just being cautious and not rushing because there's no need to rush.
There's a big gap between the two Lakers games, so I expect that will be when we see Wiggins play his first (pre)season game.
There's another game tonight? O.o After a summer out in the desert with no food or water, I'm starting to feel spoiled and satiated. If only these games counted towards the standings.
Ah, but if they counted, both teams' rotations would be different and we wouldn't get to see our deep bench guys. We'd probably have missed out on Lindy Waters' heroics in the first game and solid play in the second one.
Curry, Hield, JK, Draymond and SloMo is intriguing. Three scorers and two super smart bigs who can both initiate the offense and set picks, be roll men, DHO’s. They’d probably find each other quite a bit while defenses worry about the obvious threats. Are Curry and Buddy enough of a perimeter threat for Kerr to have Kuminga in there as the 3rd? Is Kuminga, Green and SloMo enough defense to play behind the team’s two most suspect defenders? I’m intrigued and wonder if we’ll see it tonight.
I SUPER appreciate someone pointing out that Steph Curry is aging and yet the best player on the team so it would make sense to make a trade that would have launched him toward a championship. I don't mind at all that no one has offered a realistic trade that would actually accomplish that. I just love it when someone gets highly original and creative like that.
Literally ALL teams would benefit from a trade that brings them a superstar without sacrificing key players; I don't know how this whole thing seems so clever to anyone.
Yes, the Warriors just needed to trade for a superstar that wouldn't have cost them current key players, future rotation players, and draft picks and also would have kept them below the 2nd apron. I don't know why MDJ didn't get it done.
I may be a hater here but honestly I'd be perfectly okay if we never see Pat Spencer step on the court again in a Warriors uniform. Even during garbage time.
If they believe Beekman really has a future, he should be playing most of the PG minutes in SC. If they play Spencer it is basketball malpractice. Nothing against the guy, nice story and all, but it is obvious what his ceiling is.
Beekman really needs a shooting coach. He should have spent everyday since being drafted working on changing his shot and becoming a much better shooter.
If he didn’t I just don’t understand what a lot of these guys are thinking. You can’t change your shot during the season, and he won’t be in the NBA if he can’t shoot.
Bronny is Alen Smailagic on steroids. Both guys made their respective organizations look embarrassingly amateur, but at least Smailagic wasn't related to Steph Curry. I'm sure front offices laughed about it, but when it came to the general public no one other than Warrior fans really knew the deal. Bronny has the spotlight of a star on him because of the connection to his dad.
Hope Bronny can figure something out to stick in the league because his advisors put him in a horrible position. People keep saying "at least he made the NBA" as if he isn't going to become a meme and cultural laughingstock who will be referenced derisively for years if he doesn't pan out. His only option to avoid that fate is to actually become good, and the odds of that seem slim. At minimum I hope he doesn't use social media and is seeing a therapist.
I think if smailagic came out today he'd be looked at a lot different, a semi athletic 6'10 with shooting and switch potential, I actually liked him a lot lol
More like Smiley was Bronny on steroids. The one thing Smiley had going for him besides Lacob's son was that he's 6'10". Bronny is a midget by comparison.
However, Smailagic WAS the "diamond in rough" that was going to show the world that the owner's son had a good eye for talent... so I think the nepotism still hits very close.
It's going to get worse for Bronny before it gets better. But after the circus that is opening night for the Lakers...Bronny can retreat to the gleague and focus on his development.
The pararazzi will follow him there tho... but it's ok, he's got big NIL money, and a big social media following that he can maybe parlay into something.
So much of how we view a player or a team is based on historical context. No one thinks Steph should have to prove himself in preseason to earn minutes, and everyone thinks Post has to prove himself in the usual rookie ways.
What we have in Wiggins is a player for whom I am not sure which historical context to apply. If you guarantee me that he will play like 2022 All-Star Wiggins, I'm very excited for Kerr to play him heavy minutes right out the gate. If you guarantee me that he will instead play like last year Wiggins, I certainly don't think he should start and I'm not sure how much better he is than let's say Waters or Moody, at all.
So then we say to ourselves, sure, he's in the question mark zone, but let's just put him in for a few games and then we'll know. But will we? He's injured now, sure. But you can play a guy like him for 15 games and see mediocre results and tell yourself he's rounding into shape, or you can tell yourself he's washed. I think that assessing what Wiggins offers might be Kerr's biggest challenge this year. I hope we get Good Wiggins. And actually my biggest worry is not Obviously Bad Wiggins. My biggest worry is Wolf Wiggins in Sheep Wiggins Jersey, where he sorta kinda looks OK in spots and possibly rounding back into shape for a whole season and we keep playing him big minutes and it turns out by the end of the season that we should have just shipped him off to Juneau, which is in Canada, which is where he is from. Some would say that Alaska is not in Canada, but I have always found that a specious argument.
He was bad for the first half of last year, and decent afterwards. The year before he was having an excellent year before an extended absence, after which he played through cracked ribs while guarding LeBron in the playoffs.
And while we’re on the topic of specious arguments, he’s not injured, he’s getting over a respiratory illness.
I feel confident Kerr is past playing Wolf Wiggins in Sheep Wiggins clothing. That happened last year all year long, and Kerr has enough options and has said the right words to make me think he's past that.
I like Waters, I think he can be good, but I think we gotta cool our jets a bit with him. We're hoping he can be like a Damion Lee replacement most likely, I don't think he's competing with Wiggins unless something goes terribly wrong. And before someone gets mad at the Lee comparison, I was a big D Lee guy.
Straight up. I think Waters ends up playing a LQ role like last year. Will be very useful in spot minutes and fill in for a game or two when necessary every now and then but I doubt he's going to be competing for a major consistent role
Tbh I'm wondering what happens to the Warriors if Wiggins can't deliver much, I agree about his inconsistency but I feel like the team is built around him delivering. I think 2021-2022 would have went much, much differently if he didn't.
Part of him delivering though is being put in the proper role, and when they say "Wiggins #2 option", I don't really think that sounds like the proper role lol. Not that I'd blame Kerr if that's the role they gave him, that's more of a roster construction thing. But Wiggins is a guy who should probably be third option and focusing on being as good as he can be defensively while hitting threes.
True. I had just exhausted myself with a long Wiggins take just above this post and I was lying on my couch, sweating from the exertion, panting like a dog in August.
1. Wiggins came into camp out of shape having had a broken rib all offseason and an emotionally/mentally/physically demanding family situation.
2. After December 1st, he was 38.7% from 3, and +0.5, while up to December first he had been 26.7% from 3 and -4.8. Clear signs that something changed (e.g. getting back in shape and rhythm, finally).
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.
> Warriors starters vs Kings tonight
> Steph Curry
> Moses Moody
> Gary Payton II
> Kyle Anderson
> Draymond Green
> Third different starting unit Steve Kerr is testing in this preseason
https://x.com/anthonyVslater/status/1844894675460816959
Seems weak, but this is the time try anything.............
Just random enough that you can't be sure that he's not just pulling names out of a hat.
I love GPII. But why is he starting? No chance he starts regularly this season...
Per Beli comment below, it could be a nod to "Wiggins would start here, but he's unavailable, and I want to get a look at what it looks like pulling JK/Podz/TJD/Loon/Melton/Hield off the bench"
Great to see this! But... that's not a lot of shooting around Steph & Moody, lol
And small. We had paint issues last game, but I guess Kerr doesn't care
I *think* the paint issues were more getting beat on cuts and getting helter-skelter from dribble handoffs/penetration... and this line up will keep things in front of them... matchups probably like:
GP2 defends Fox
Steph defend Ellis
Moses defends DeRozan
Anderson defends Murray
Dray defends Sabonis
I'll predict that Hield starts tonight
I'm melting.
We're keeping politics out of this.
Fair enough. Edited.
Was joking, I'm sure your post was fine.
I liked because I agree... not that I actually like the idea...
I wouldn't be surprised if Moses gets a start the next game TBH
He's been cooking in preseason so far but I don't know if Kerr sees him as a candidate for the starting 2 spot, depends on how much to read into Slater's article and Curry's early training camp comments both saying the 2 spot competition was between Melton, Podz, and Hield.
Lol I just saw the starting lineup and I'm an idiot, he's in there along with GP2, Anderson, Green, and Curry.
Humiliating performance from me tbh.
Or the reverse juju worked!
That is one small lineup. Anderson/Green the core of the new "lineup of discomfort"?
It's yet another "three non-shooters" lineup. I love the idea of the Anderson+Green frontcourt in certain matchups but think this lineup would look better with Wiggins in GP2's place.
Wiggins isn't available though, so whatever, preseason.
He's got to have another good game to get consideration there, imo... hey, it could happen! I'm here for it :)
@Eric what's your pre-scheduled postgame thread headline going to be?
“Postgame: Quentin Post pours in record breaking 19 threes, but his backboard shattering dunk steals the show”
Explain One Prophecy
Now I truly expect this headline, sir...
Reece Beekman’s dominance in defense and passing during college, especially in advanced stats, led me to check out his game against Duke, a much tougher opponent. I was blown away by his playmaking. Beekman consistently created great shots for his teammates, but they kept squandering them: he’d deliver a perfect pass for an open three—airball. He’d set up a pick-and-roll for an easy layup—floater instead. Even after drawing two defenders, his teammates couldn’t finish his passes cleanly. If they'd executed better, Virginia could've kept pace with Duke purely through Beekman's passing.
As Duke started exploiting Virginia’s interior defense, Beekman adjusted by roaming defensively. Though he got burned once, he mostly caused havoc by disrupting passes and even blocking shots. Despite his efforts, Duke pulled away, but I was seriously impressed.
With his teammates struggling to score, Beekman started to look to score more and that wasn't great. While he’s not an elite vertical athlete, his lateral quickness and acceleration, similar to early Jordan Poole, helped him get to his spots along with a quite functional handle. However, his shooting let him down. Beekman has all the tools to be exciting except for his jumper.
Usually, I’d be optimistic since he shot 77% from the free-throw line in college, but at 23, it’s unlikely he’ll become a great three-point shooter. Still, if he can hit 35% on 2.5 attempts per game as he did in his Junior Year and improve his efficiency moving on offense, he could be a very solid player—think Tyus Jones.
I’m officially planting my flag on Beekman Farms.
So now we have a whole herd of islands, an atoll, a farm, and I think Lindy Waters should be the owner of a Western Inland Sea, similar in extent to the one that previously occupied much of the area that his Kiowa ancestors migrated through.
BTW according to his bio he is called Trey. That makes me think of three, which seems to be his specialty.
If you want a fun game to watch, dig up Virginia vs Boston College and you can scout Beekman and Post in the same game. (And Ryan Dunn, who was drafted higher than either one!)
I actually did scout Post, a lot more officially and with far more depth than Beekman. I just wasn't impressed at all with Post so I quietly decided to not submit my findings. In general, I prefer to keep things positive and me crapping on Post wasn't how I wanted to spend my time.
Not impressed for the 52nd pick ie barely not drafted?
Ever the prima donna, Lebron complained about playing in Milwaukee and tweeted “Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a plane and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?”.
https://x.com/KingJames/status/1844066940027011509?source=pulsenewsletter&campaign=11253742&userId=2283944
The responses to his tweet were hilarious. Here are some of them.
Hey LeBron, it’s greg. The reason for this is because if you were to drive there it would take over 29 hours so I’m guessing your coaches thought it would be more efficient to fly. Hope this helps?
Because you're getting paid millions of dollars?
I believe that's where the Bucks play if I'm not mistaken.
Would you rather ride a bus like the WNBA?
A traveler complaining about traveling??!
the celtics went to abu dhabi bro
Beats being hit by a category 5 hurricane and dying or losing your house.
typicallyyyyy in the NBA there’s a home team, and an away team… the away team usually… usually, has to travel in to the home teams location…. I feel like you should know this
This is Curry's fault
🤣
Twitter is so often such a hell hole, but those responses were gold, Jerry.
You swindled a team into drafting your son. By order of the basketball gods, you don't get to complain about anything.
"“Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a plane and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?”"
Because Crypto arena is undergoing renovations.
What in heaven’s name is up (or down) with Wiggins? His supposedly is no longer ill and practiced yesterday, but he is not playing today and is unlikely to play on Sunday. Is he now injured or still recuperating from his illness? This seems like a repeat of how he started last season and we know how that went.
Who knows? It's concerning, but for now, I'm hoping it's a plus in that it gives the young guys a chance to shine. Hope they put it to good use.
Because he was sick, likely with something respiratory, and there’s no point in going from that, to one scrimmage, to a game, in the preseason.
Last season’s slow start was, I suspect, due to the fact that he had to recover from fractured ribs over the summer - which he fucking played through in the playoffs - an injury with a rehab typically consisting of “don’t move, except for walking and some light housework”. Going from that to literally guarding Kevin Durant in game 1 of the regular season is never going to go well, regardless of how much you were able to use an exercise bike in the last few weeks of your rehab.
My best guess is that this is because other, younger Warriors wings are currently outperforming Wiggins in practice. Until that changes, it may be counterproductive to all concerned to give Wiggins preseason minutes that younger players are currently more deserving of.
On edit: I was misinformed.
Kerr said today that Wiggins has been held out of full court scrimmages to date, so my speculation is totally wrong. He hasn't been cleared to play yet.
He’s had, like, two full practices. Don’t think it has to do with performance as much as teams tend to favor a very conservative ramp-up process in the preseason.
> other, younger Warriors wings are currently outperforming Wiggins in practice
Availability is the best ability, I suppose, so they are outperforming him by being available for full court activities. Checks out.
Well, supposedly Wiggins is not being held out of any practice activities.
On edit: I was misinformed, and you are 100% correct.
Kerr said today that Wiggins has been held out of full court scrimmages to date, so my speculation is totally wrong. He hasn't been cleared to play yet.
On behalf of Wiggins, apology accepted.
That would ignore a big part of the purpose of preseason, which is to get all players up to speed.
I agree with you in theory. However, after the last two seasons, I can see why the Warriors' coaching staff might not want Wiggins to get on the court in a public setting until they think that there is a good chance that Warriors fans will applaud his performance.
Of course, this is 100% speculation.
This is a highly valid question. If it were not for the last two years, I'd just chalk it up to some malady. In that context, however, it raises the eyebrow. Both of them.
You're making too many assumptions here.
Signed,
A. Davis
Last year wasn’t great, of course, and particularly the first half, but the year before was the second best of his career. People like to conveniently forget that because of an extended absence due to family health issues.
Total speculation, but:
Why play a guy coming back from an illness until he's 100% in the preseason? He may be more or less over his bug, but he probably was not working out, and has lost some conditioning.
Plus, it reduces the logjam at the 2-3 spot, so Kerr can take a look at other guys (JK, Moody, Hield, Waters, etc.)
This. Honestly, we know who Wiggins is once he's fully recovered and got his conditoning back.
All that matters is if he wants it enough and plays to his potential or not.
Have watched a number of players return to play after the death of someone very close to them or after a parental divorce, it does not seem like they immediately play up to their potential.
Kerr is slow to integrate players back in when they've missed an extended time and Wiggins has had zero time with the team to actually practice until very recently. The season is long and Wiggins has been around for a long time, so I think it's just being cautious and not rushing because there's no need to rush.
There's a big gap between the two Lakers games, so I expect that will be when we see Wiggins play his first (pre)season game.
There's another game tonight? O.o After a summer out in the desert with no food or water, I'm starting to feel spoiled and satiated. If only these games counted towards the standings.
Ah, but if they counted, both teams' rotations would be different and we wouldn't get to see our deep bench guys. We'd probably have missed out on Lindy Waters' heroics in the first game and solid play in the second one.
Every moment of Reece "The Swarm" Beekman we see is a treasure IMHO.
But you know the season really depends on Blake Hinson or Jackson Rowe, right?
Curry, Hield, JK, Draymond and SloMo is intriguing. Three scorers and two super smart bigs who can both initiate the offense and set picks, be roll men, DHO’s. They’d probably find each other quite a bit while defenses worry about the obvious threats. Are Curry and Buddy enough of a perimeter threat for Kerr to have Kuminga in there as the 3rd? Is Kuminga, Green and SloMo enough defense to play behind the team’s two most suspect defenders? I’m intrigued and wonder if we’ll see it tonight.
https://www.reddit.com/r/warriors/s/Q9fdj45xpM
That lineup with Melton instead of a buddy could be deadly. All the wings can switch 1-5, Melton can switch 1-4
I’m thinking Podz, Melton, Moody, Wiggins and TJD/Looney would be a really nice 2nd unit behind that first unit above.
Melton and Hield could switch roles based on matchups, as could Anderson and TJD/Looney
Bleacher Report posted "Why your NBA team won't win the 2025 championship".
Highlights:
Mavericks: Unsure if KT31 is their 3rd best player.
Warriors: Refused to make trades to help SC30.
Bulls: Generational Incompetence.
Lakers: Best off season move was not for a player.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DA80yA8JM_d/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
I SUPER appreciate someone pointing out that Steph Curry is aging and yet the best player on the team so it would make sense to make a trade that would have launched him toward a championship. I don't mind at all that no one has offered a realistic trade that would actually accomplish that. I just love it when someone gets highly original and creative like that.
Literally ALL teams would benefit from a trade that brings them a superstar without sacrificing key players; I don't know how this whole thing seems so clever to anyone.
You mens giving up everything not names steph for LM wasn't a good idea?
That whole situation as all very unserious with Ainge being involved nor did LM want it.
Yes, the Warriors just needed to trade for a superstar that wouldn't have cost them current key players, future rotation players, and draft picks and also would have kept them below the 2nd apron. I don't know why MDJ didn't get it done.
It's such a novel and refreshing point of view. I don't think I've heard any chatter mentioning this point before this article.
I’m workshopping a new phrase for it: “Wasting Steph’s Prime.” What do y’all think?
Wasting Steph’s golden years?
Terrible - nobody would actually say that.
Maybe Stephen A Smith would but he'd scream it.
Reminds me a bit of a music forum I used to frequent called, “Your Favorite Band Sucks” 😂
Ooh, that sounds fun! Let me try with mine and see if anyone can guess:
The rhythm section is dead, the guitarist got popped for child pron and the singer now looks more like an aging lesbian than the rock god he once was.
My favorite band is even more generic than yours — indeed, *the* most generic one, lol. Try to see it my way…
I’ll just let it be
Who would that be?
Oh, I think you can work it out….
A band Who definitely does not suck!
Who indeed!
I may be a hater here but honestly I'd be perfectly okay if we never see Pat Spencer step on the court again in a Warriors uniform. Even during garbage time.
When he was playing I wad gonna ask the forum if the warriors have a plan for him. Why cut plowden over him?
Prediction: he plays zero meaningful minutes for the Warriors this season.
I don't hate the guy, but I'm really wondering what the thinking is on the Dubs.
At this point, I'd like to see him back at SC, and give him a year to fix some things. If there isn't much improvement, it might be time to move on.
I think I'd be happier with Beekman taking any garbage time PG minutes, or a waiver wire wonder (where are you, Chris Chiozza?)
If they believe Beekman really has a future, he should be playing most of the PG minutes in SC. If they play Spencer it is basketball malpractice. Nothing against the guy, nice story and all, but it is obvious what his ceiling is.
Beekman really needs a shooting coach. He should have spent everyday since being drafted working on changing his shot and becoming a much better shooter.
If he didn’t I just don’t understand what a lot of these guys are thinking. You can’t change your shot during the season, and he won’t be in the NBA if he can’t shoot.
Maybe Lacob is planning to buy a National Lacrosse League team and wants to make nice to Spencer so he'll sign up.
He started playing basketball late in his adult years and is already 28 years old. I don’t think he’ll be NBA ready anytime soon, if he ever does.
Is he really 28? That's a bitch.
Hear hear
Bronny is Alen Smailagic on steroids. Both guys made their respective organizations look embarrassingly amateur, but at least Smailagic wasn't related to Steph Curry. I'm sure front offices laughed about it, but when it came to the general public no one other than Warrior fans really knew the deal. Bronny has the spotlight of a star on him because of the connection to his dad.
Hope Bronny can figure something out to stick in the league because his advisors put him in a horrible position. People keep saying "at least he made the NBA" as if he isn't going to become a meme and cultural laughingstock who will be referenced derisively for years if he doesn't pan out. His only option to avoid that fate is to actually become good, and the odds of that seem slim. At minimum I hope he doesn't use social media and is seeing a therapist.
I think if smailagic came out today he'd be looked at a lot different, a semi athletic 6'10 with shooting and switch potential, I actually liked him a lot lol
More like Smiley was Bronny on steroids. The one thing Smiley had going for him besides Lacob's son was that he's 6'10". Bronny is a midget by comparison.
However, Smailagic WAS the "diamond in rough" that was going to show the world that the owner's son had a good eye for talent... so I think the nepotism still hits very close.
It's going to get worse for Bronny before it gets better. But after the circus that is opening night for the Lakers...Bronny can retreat to the gleague and focus on his development.
The pararazzi will follow him there tho... but it's ok, he's got big NIL money, and a big social media following that he can maybe parlay into something.
Not that he needs NIL money when daddy is a billionaire.
He's going to be just fine lmao
He is going to be just fine because his daddy will make sure of that, no matter what.
So much of how we view a player or a team is based on historical context. No one thinks Steph should have to prove himself in preseason to earn minutes, and everyone thinks Post has to prove himself in the usual rookie ways.
What we have in Wiggins is a player for whom I am not sure which historical context to apply. If you guarantee me that he will play like 2022 All-Star Wiggins, I'm very excited for Kerr to play him heavy minutes right out the gate. If you guarantee me that he will instead play like last year Wiggins, I certainly don't think he should start and I'm not sure how much better he is than let's say Waters or Moody, at all.
So then we say to ourselves, sure, he's in the question mark zone, but let's just put him in for a few games and then we'll know. But will we? He's injured now, sure. But you can play a guy like him for 15 games and see mediocre results and tell yourself he's rounding into shape, or you can tell yourself he's washed. I think that assessing what Wiggins offers might be Kerr's biggest challenge this year. I hope we get Good Wiggins. And actually my biggest worry is not Obviously Bad Wiggins. My biggest worry is Wolf Wiggins in Sheep Wiggins Jersey, where he sorta kinda looks OK in spots and possibly rounding back into shape for a whole season and we keep playing him big minutes and it turns out by the end of the season that we should have just shipped him off to Juneau, which is in Canada, which is where he is from. Some would say that Alaska is not in Canada, but I have always found that a specious argument.
He was bad for the first half of last year, and decent afterwards. The year before he was having an excellent year before an extended absence, after which he played through cracked ribs while guarding LeBron in the playoffs.
And while we’re on the topic of specious arguments, he’s not injured, he’s getting over a respiratory illness.
I feel confident Kerr is past playing Wolf Wiggins in Sheep Wiggins clothing. That happened last year all year long, and Kerr has enough options and has said the right words to make me think he's past that.
I hope you're right.
Hmm. I wonder if I could change my handle to Sheep Wiggins and get away with it.
> He's injured now, sure.
"Recovering from an illness" isn't "injured".
I like Waters, I think he can be good, but I think we gotta cool our jets a bit with him. We're hoping he can be like a Damion Lee replacement most likely, I don't think he's competing with Wiggins unless something goes terribly wrong. And before someone gets mad at the Lee comparison, I was a big D Lee guy.
You're no longer a big D Lee guy? :p
Straight up. I think Waters ends up playing a LQ role like last year. Will be very useful in spot minutes and fill in for a game or two when necessary every now and then but I doubt he's going to be competing for a major consistent role
I like the Damion Lee comp better than LQ. DLee chipped in toward us winning the '22 title. I think Waters could do that. LQ... not so much.
It's not a direct Wiggins-Waters competition, very different players, I'm just wondering what happens to Wiggins's minutes if he can't deliver much.
Tbh I'm wondering what happens to the Warriors if Wiggins can't deliver much, I agree about his inconsistency but I feel like the team is built around him delivering. I think 2021-2022 would have went much, much differently if he didn't.
Part of him delivering though is being put in the proper role, and when they say "Wiggins #2 option", I don't really think that sounds like the proper role lol. Not that I'd blame Kerr if that's the role they gave him, that's more of a roster construction thing. But Wiggins is a guy who should probably be third option and focusing on being as good as he can be defensively while hitting threes.
Thinking about minutes (again, I know)...
Steph 30
Melton 26
Podz 28
Wiggins 28
Kuminga 28
Moody 20
GP2 12
Waters 5
Hield 16
Dray 26
Anderson 20
Santos 1
TJD 18
Looney 12
Post 0
This totals to 270 minutes, which is indeed over the 240, so it's assuming everybody averages ~73 games.
…or every game goes into at least double overtime.
I mean if Wilt could average more than 48 minutes in one season......
Bench Wiggins 28 plus the 5 you gave Waters = 33 for Waters, which I am good with.
This is such an unserious take, lol...
True. I had just exhausted myself with a long Wiggins take just above this post and I was lying on my couch, sweating from the exertion, panting like a dog in August.
Then coming up with a good take might be fatal for you.
I always knew you were an august presence.
Boom!
We're better without Klay (and last season's Wiggins).
And we'll be even better with this season's Wiggins!
I think that very much has to be proven.
I suppose it does... but I'll continue to remind:
1. Wiggins came into camp out of shape having had a broken rib all offseason and an emotionally/mentally/physically demanding family situation.
2. After December 1st, he was 38.7% from 3, and +0.5, while up to December first he had been 26.7% from 3 and -4.8. Clear signs that something changed (e.g. getting back in shape and rhythm, finally).
See my post above this general post for my thoughts on this, if interested.
A bunch of "we'll have to see" colored by your own personal biases... so a lot like my thoughts :-P
Or really, a pretty good description of 75% of what we say on this site.
Hope never dies.