355 Comments

OT Latest in the Sarver Saga in PHX. His wife sent messages to 3 people who spoke to ESPN. All fall under the 'veiled / not so veiled' threat category,, https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32592504/penny-sarver-wife-robert-sarver-sent-messages-three-former-phoenix-suns-employees

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Tried watching Houston v Detroit for a bit. Not a bad game but man am I spoiled watching the Dubs. Gave up as it was just boring.

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Yeah agreed. I switched over and watched the number 3 draft pick. Far more entertaining

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He's so so good, it's ridiculous.

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Woj saying apparently Klay could be back by Dec. 20th. I have my doubts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8F_m3AP6VA

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author

*immediately cancels all appointments for 12/20*

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Remember how Klay was an ironman for so many seasons?

I have my doubts too but I'm also very excited to see him play again. (Maybe they can bring him back sooner if the minutes restriction is tighter?)

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If he's ready, he's ready. I'll believe it when I see it...

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My god these threads are growing, and it took me a like an hour and a half to read through most of the comments.

Some of you are still spending way too much time looking for trades for a 9-1 team that's rolling, and with not even a single interesting scenario propositioned. Whoever you are, I bet you are the worst to watch a dubs game with lol

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Yeah, as a new poster I do want to apologize for my streams of consciousness but I’ve stumbled on a fan site devoid of trolls so I’ve kind of let er rip having no fear of vitriolic repercussions. I’m sure I’ll level off in the future.

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball

For some reason I really enjoy this comment.

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Your honesty will get you at least a few feet here 😉

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perhaps, we need just one troll to keep everyone on their toes

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Take that back. Don't give us the bad juju.

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Perhaps it’s because we follow the way of Hardee “with no hate in our hearts, only gold in our blood”? It is the way (around here)

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By the way, I'm trying an experiment. I made a little form where you can request plays to be analyzed for Explain One Play: http://tinyurl.com/AskApricot

Of course, no guarantees that I can analyze requests, but I do want to know what people are curious about.

So if you get the urge tonight, please drop a request there...

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If my wife and I make a sex tape, can I request an E1P for that?

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😂

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“The defense doesn’t know if Goofus is going to dribble or shoot here…”

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

This is such a great idea...

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For a trade piece, SGA is the guy I'd want us to keep close tabs on. He's young, he's an incredible shot-creator and has the size/length to be okay defensively. OKC might be willing to farm him for a king's ransom (even at 23, he might be too old for their timeline lol), especially if the Cade rumours were true (some reports said OKC offered 6 + Shai for #1 to Detroit).

Ridiculously unlikely though lol.

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball

There's something deeply wrong with OKC's plan if SGA doesn't fit into it.

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Is there a plan... other than acquiring a zillion picks?

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I agree wholeheartedly. I'd want to completely root out tanking as a first priority if I was the NBA. But it is the reality of things, and right now none of their other guys look to be on a similar timeline to Shai (Giddey looks promising but he turned 19 a month ago and Mann is also a rookie and they don't have anyone else of note on their roster). The thing that makes me think that Presti might be playing an even longer game than we think is that he traded #16 in this past year's draft for 2 future firsts. With the amount of assets they already possess, I would've thought that they would've definitely taken a shot on a guy they like (maybe Sengun, Jalen Johnson etc).

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Yea I feel as if they should be building around him

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Not only unlikely. They will want WAY too much for him.

And, well, my feelings on trading our depth and young players just to get a non-superstar near-term boost are simple to sum up:

“Just Say No”

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There is LITERALLY no reason to do that right now. “Everything is working- let’s fix it!”

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Shai is pretty close to a superstar and has very good odds to get to that level.

And locking up a young star on a long-term deal is not a mere "near-term boost". It's the most important part of any rebuild.

We'd be lucky if even one of Wiseman/Kuminga/Moody becomes anywhere near as good as Shai.

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What part of the Warriors current existence says “rebuild” to you?

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The part where we have 3 lottery picks in the last 2 years. If we're looking to build with an eye to the future, having SGA is better than having a lot of mediocre prospects.

And believe me, I'd much rather they be winning now rather than winning later.

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Mediocre prospects?

Yeah, maybe to you.

I, and many people including the ones making decisions in the Warrior coaching staff and front office, feel completely differently.

I’d rather have Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody, and whatever else we need to give OKC than Shai.

Especially because all Shai would be for the foreseeable future on the Dubs is a luxury sixth man who can’t play the 3 and forces Klay to do it if we want to fit him in the lineup.

Sorry, that’s not worth giving up our non-core assets for.

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Shai is REALLY good.

Still no.

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I know. He’s probably the best young guard in the game today.

But he’s not a superstar yet. And certainly not the KD/Kawhi/Giannis level where nothing less doesn’t move the needle on this team as a title contender.

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SGA is worth ~10 wins to them this year, so getting rid of him improves their chances of getting better draft picks, lol...

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Might be the biggest benefit for them lol. They could always invent some injury or the other though, which is what they'll most likely do if needed.

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Agree... but even better to play a rookie Cade with Poku 35MPG.

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Dubs currently first in 3PM/game and 3p%, but second in 3PA/game behind only the TWolves. Need to run them off the line while shooting and making a bunch of 3s, to get to 1st across the board.

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MIN is also 23rd in 3P% so don't run them off too hard haha... just gotta keep an eye on KAT and... Bev?!

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Question for the crowd: do we want the Heat to:

A) destroy the Lakers and make them whimper for their mamas OR

B) humiliate the Lakers and expose them as the fools gold they really are?

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No LeBron = can't expose as fool's gold. So can only achieve A today. #SAD!

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*furiously mashes the A and B buttons*

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Which is also how I play fighting games...

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Hahahhahaha 👏🏼 (This sounds like an old add Nintendo controller)

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You got me. I don't think I've touched a console since... PS2? Oh wait no, I had a Wii U at some point.

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The furious and frantic smashing of a b buttons remind me of playing super Mario in 1987.

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Ass no add

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Nov 11, 2021Liked by punk basketball

That happened already... LOLakers won in overtime, Lonzo messed around and got a triple double, Davis threw up between 3rd & 4th quarters, Westbrook messed around and got a triple double to go with his -17 in 41 minutes, and OGO notched a solid -24 in 17 minutes:

https://www.nba.com/game/cha-vs-lal-0022100154/box-score#box-score

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Now that's the kind of basketball you'd have to pay me to watch.

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Random: Mavericks are 7-3 with a -2.3 point differential. Whaaaa?

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I think it was an early Mavs / Raptors game I saw a couple of weeks ago. Mavs finally remembered how to play in the 2nd half. 1st half was like watching 2 really bad college teams. That didn't change for the Raptors in the 2nd half.

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(Lost by 26 @Hawks, 31 @Nuggets, 15 vs Heat)

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Athletic Alchemy with a nice video on Steph's big game and the MVP race. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2uB9HcOlhg

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I miss his commentary over game highlights. His uncensored humor is hilarious

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

I'm on his Patreon. Still does highlights for every game. Still hilarious. He also does a podcast called The Hezi 3x a week which is free.

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NBA: Warriors look spooky

Warriors fans: aaaaaaah! Who can we trade?

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Make that only a segment of Warriors fans.

In fact, if you made a Venn diagram of “fans looking for Warriors trades right now” and “fans worried about WASTING CURRYS PRIME!”, the circles would almost completely overlap lol.

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

> worried about WASTING CURRYS PRIME!

I'm not worried about you. You seem to be very level headed.

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Hey, I’m the guy who wasn’t feeling even a lick of disappointment at seeing the Warriors lose the play-in games last year.

Because honestly, I preferred to have a slight chance to get the #1 and #4 picks in last year’s draft than to have a forgettable playoff run doomed to end in (at most) the second round where our star player was emptying the tank on a still not 100% healed tailbone.

But then again, I don’t concern myself with getting Steph, Klay, and Dray brownie points in the “legacy wars”. I want the Warriors to build a legit title contender for a long time.

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If that's the case, why not just tank last year and sit out Steph, Dray? You never, ever throw out a chance at the playoffs even if you think you don't really have a chance. AD, Kawhi, and Giannis might get injured in the playoffs.

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I was fully in favor of tanking last year. My biggest regret is that Wiseman got hurt, meaning he couldn’t get any more experience and our chances at higher picks were lowered.

I completely disagree with your premise. You never, ever sacrifice the pieces and chances at building a future title contender for the “chance” at a playoff run that relies on extensive injuries to get a title. That way lies the dreaded “treadmill of mediocrity” where the most you get is 5-8 seeds and never make a Finals. That’s what the Wizards, Pacers, Hawks, Grizzlies, Blazers, Bulls, and a whole bunch of other teams did over the last decade or two.

I will never want that for my team. Never, never, never.

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I think you avoid that treadmill when you have Steph on the team. I mean you certainly don't want to be....what's the phrase again?

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They didn't say they were hoping to lose. They just were not that disappointed. I was in the same mindset especially after I realized Steph was playing with a fracture in his tailbone.

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OK, I take that back. lol

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

Yea I was sacrificing a whole herd of goats to get that 1 or 4 pick. Cade or Scottie would have been crayyyyyyzy … all kinda cheat code action. The rest of the league would hate the Dubs even more.

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I honestly would have loved to see the league reaction if we’d won the #1 and #4 picks last year. It would have been nuts.

I mean, think about it. We would have had the 2020 #2, 2021 #1, and 2021 #4. It would have been a team getting all the benefits of tearing down a title contender… except if it somehow also didn’t actually tear it down!

That would have been a historic moment in NBA history… a legit title contender staying most intact drafting not just one top 5 pick, but THREE of them, in the span of two years. I don’t think that has ever happened in any sport that has instituted a draft.

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The league reaction would have been "Warriors need to trade their the assets for Bradley Beal!"... same as it ended up being.

I think it's really just the influence of people watching LeBron hop around and absorb all the assets of that team into short term LeBron goals.

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Haha yea … and then you would have woken up. I think the odds of that happening were something like 1 in a 1000.

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Meanwhile, we be crushing the league without Klay.

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Moody stroking it at the end of practice. Also Wiggins @0:55 - he's going to change his shooting form to be like Moody's.

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Would be nice to see the team get a few more wins a breathing space atop the Standings so they can start mixing in the youngins outside of garbage time

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> Would be nice to see the team get a few more wins a breathing space atop the Standings

Best record in the league not enough for you? :D

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+20 net rating or nothing!

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It looks like Kerr is going to try to get one of the young guys ~3m at the end of first quarters. He's done it with both Moody & Kuminga the last few games.

To me this is smart because it's low leverage minutes with starters (including Steph), and has guaranteed end of quarter to limit the # of minutes.

This gets stuff on film for coaches to work on with them, and over time they'll improve to where they'll play themselves into being ready to play more minutes if somebody gets injured.

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hopefully, the great record continues and good times are had by all including the rooks, I dislike garbage time as development time as it usually devolves to something that looks nothing like the regular offensive/defensive sets

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Yeah, garbage time is weird... but can still use it for practice

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One thing I was looking forward to looking at this year was Wiggins shot. Whether last year was an anomaly or not. 38% last year from 3 and back down to 33% right now which is coincidentally what he shot his 3 seasons before last year. But it's only been 10 games so not really worried yet.

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Nov 10, 2021Liked by punk basketball

(•_•)

<) )╯I just got

/ \

(•_•)

\( (> tickets for

/ \

(•_•)

<) )╯Dubs v Nets next week

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Heckle Harden!

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That will be an involuntary reflex. Speaking of: https://twitter.com/theonion/status/1458479699106181122?s=21

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picked up tickets for 12/8 (1st time at Chase) putting my money on the 3pt record prediction, I’m going to be awfully hoarse on 12/9

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How do you put money on that? I'm just curiously asking because I might want to do that as well

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The price varies a lot depending on who the Warriors are playing against and where the seats are at. Most seats are held by season ticket holders who resell their tickets through Ticketmaster, so the price depends on what they think they can get.

Tonight it seems like they start at $30 and goes up from there, depending on distance from the court, location, club access, etc.

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of course, that also means no x-mas presents for the grandkids

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this year, 22’, 23’ 24’

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They don't need any more presents, they are practically adults now.

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Pretty easy to go shopping for them though…I’ll have 3 bottles of Fireball Whiskey please

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Fireball? I said they were adults!

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First real test of the season. Hopefully it goes better than last year lol

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Honestly, if we can beat Chicago, I feel like we should beat Brooklyn

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This is response to you and DFiB since you said the same thing. Bulls are good but they're still not contenders despite how the seasons gone thus far. I expect Harden and KD to try a little harder too. KD averages the most points (or second most? Don't remember if Thunder were 1st or 2nd) against the Warriors after all

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Durant is the template for Klay’s return from achilles

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Chicago first, especially since they just waxed Brooklyn.

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