197 Comments

Thunder beat the Mavs 126-119. Despite playing without Doncic and being on a 2nd end of a B2B, Mavericks played well. I didn't like how there were so many fouls being called in the game, though. Mavs had 26 FTAs (8 each from Irving and Washington) while Thunder got 23 FTAs (15 from SGA!!!!!!).

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OKC about to beat Dallas - good for the Dubs

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I listened to a Catlin Clark post game interview, she’s spiritually a female Curry, and I definitely want to : 1. root for her for 15+ seasons in the Bay Area WNBA team, 2. See her win the monogender 3 pt. ASW contest, 3. marry her and have a full roster of kids with her

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deletedMar 15
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Not many more chances to marry her though

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

Thinking Basketball REACTS to Steph Curry’s Iconic 2016 Performance in OKC! | NBA: https://youtu.be/phWzQLn_qV0?si=FU8rcjPPlPaxB9ON

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I hope Warriors get plenty of rest today and tomorrow, because they will NOT have any two-day breaks from this point on.

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Just checked the box score for Mavs/Thunder. Gafford is 1/2 from the field. Not sure if he missed his first or second FG attempt. Wilt's record is safe at 35 straight; Gafford finished either at 33 or 34.

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Close game - OKC up by 6 with 4:15 to go in 3rd

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Missed a putback 30s into the game

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

What a bum! He's 4/7 at halftime - sounds like a prolonged slump

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4/7?!?! End of the bench for him, man…

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Podz you can’t leave the gym until you hit 50 FTs in a row. If Wiggins out of all people can escape the split curse you can as well

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Are the Lakers currently imploding or is this just another Thursday for them?

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Whats going on?

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Reading stuff about D Lo b**tching about his role and of course this

https://twitter.com/Klutch_23/status/1768379449186074839

That locker room is hanging on by a thread

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Where did the Dlo stuff appear?

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How do they manage to get it together when they play the DUBS ?

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Because LeBron always goes hard against Steph and the Warriors…

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Mid-December to mid-January had a Lakers starting lineup crisis. I think their starting lineup consisted of this: Lebron, Davis, Vanderbilt, Prince, and Hachimura. All forwards and centers, and no guards.

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We’ll see… but I’ll enjoy Laker dysfunction anytime

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I would point and laugh but it's not like we didn't have our own stuff going on especially in the beginning of the season. Actually, I'm still going to point and laugh.

F*CK LA

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This is always the right energy

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Sixers at Bucks tonight. Life could be way worse, I could be a fan of either of those teams this year.

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Is GP2 OK? Just doesn't seem to supply the spark on either end of the floor like he used to.

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IIRC, he missed the Spurs game with an illness... could have been lingering and not 100%.

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14Liked by Eric Apricot

Thanks to DDD, DH and EA for putting up these reports and comments. I think we are really lucky that they continue DNHQ year after year. Thanks again.

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14

I just finished watching MOsT of the game from last night. I have a thought revolving around Kumingas value. In a vacuum ie no consideration for salary cap, drafting position etc I don’t think Kumingas value is maximized on this ball club and I frankly think we are doing a disservice to him and vice versa. Let me explain further.

I don’t know what the Plus Minus lineups are with a Steph, Klay, Kuminga, Wiggins, Draymond lineup vs swapping out Klay for Podz. What I do feel I know is that when Kuminga took off we were making it a focal point in our offense to have Steph and Klay screen for Kuminga and allow him to get downhill much more easily (which it did).

Last night it was varying shades of Eric Paschall for Kuminga out there. Obviously Dallas’s size has a lot to do with that but with Paul abd Podz on the floor it’s more PnR and when Kuminga found himself on ball it was trying to take his man one on one (which I felt he didn’t do such a bad job of it)

I will continue to contend that at our current potential peak, Kuminga just doesn’t quite fit well with this club/offense. Where I differ is that I think Kuminga would thrive in an offense solely built around him. I think he is a vastly underrated midrange shooter. It’s not something that we are built to withstand through repetition. Kuminga would do well next two other tall perimeter players that can screen for him like Steph and Klay were doing early on to get him easy drives. On this team though Kuminga would be ideal using force to rebound and taking his man one on one then finding Steph or Klay (on a relocation ) at the 3 point line. Also smarter rotational defender rather than the primary POA defender (which Wiggins can do better)

Im not saying to trade him. Frankly don’t know if we can maximize his value by doing so because of salary cap constraints and such. I just don’t think paying 30 mil plus a year to a player that will need to look to adjust his style of plag for another 2-3 years is the answer either for all sides involved. Kuminga needs to be prioritized ala Scottie Barnes but I KD rather ride with Klay Steph Dray till the bitter end and paying Kuminga 30 milly a year will hamstring the rest of our complementary depth

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I think I'd rather bet on Kuminga improving significantly. Which is more likely, he improves, or that the $10 mil a year or so you might save by low-balling him gives us enough flexibility to bring back a difference-making player?

The only way we get a difference making player is to send some good players out. While Steph is here, we're never going to be below the cap enough to pick up a 1st or 2nd tier FA.

Fortunately, I think MDJ is pretty solidly committed to this line of thinking for Kuminga. I hope that's also true for Moody, but am less sure of it.

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So obviously it’s going to have to be one of Wiggins or Kuminga in 2025 due to contract and still owing Klay, Steph, and Draymond lofty money on those contracts (I’m assuming Klay comes back). So the better question for me is “Can Kuminga slide into the 2022 Wiggins role on this team?” I don’t believe he can. Fit wise. And I have already seen Wiggins do it. In 2022.

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

By 2025 do you mean the 2025-2026 season (season after next.. i.e., first year of Kuminga's and maybe Moody's next contract)?

I don't see a huge reason to be worrying about that yet. You're assuming all three of the OGs are still around, and earning big money. That may or may not be the case.

Regardless, I don't really see it as necessarily an either/or between Wiggs and Kuminga. It could be either/or with Wiggs/Klay by then. Betting on Klay being effective 2 years out is somewhat risky.

To put it another way, I think there is a very good chance that by the summer of 2025, one of Steph, Klay, Dray, Wiggs, or Kuminga is no longer effective and not in the Dubs plans, and then the solution will be pretty straightforward.

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

Or… they could NOT owe Klay a huge sum of money, but a more modest sum… pay some tax in 2025 and come out as Steph gets to his next lower salary level, thereby getting under the tax line 2/3 years (Lacob has talked of a path to get under for next year) and out of repeater land…

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We can’t use the argument that the salary cap will rise and in same breath expect Klay to take a modest salary when other teams in need of shooting will always have room for a quintessential 3 point marksman in Klay.

I don’t think he gets any less than 3 years and any less than 25 mil per year. Let’s say the salary does move up then u also have to assume Kumingas 30 mil a year may be closer in value to Wiggins 22 mil this year. But now ur talking Steph 50 mil, Draymonds 27 mil, Klays 25 mil, Wiggins 22 mil and possibly Kumingas 30 mil. That’s about 155 milly in committed salary for that first season on 4 players alone. So GP2 and Looneys contract will surely be gone so we are potentially talking TJD, Podz, maybe Quinones maybe Gui and a whole bunch of minimum salary filler to round out the rest of the roster? Just not sure if that’s the way to go

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

So, you're arguing that we should not pay JK what the market will give him, but we have to pay Klay what the market will give him? Why?

At this point, JK is far more central to the Dubs success than Klay is. Also, I think Klay has a role on this team at the right price, but he was paid like a superstar and has made more than $200 million. He's made his money.

If anyone is going to take a hit, I'd say let the guy who was paid for two years of rehab, and then paid roughly double his actual value, AND has a shoe contract, take the hit.

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So if he wants that money I hope MDJ just says thank u for everything and good luck.

He is not worth that money and we could get better player for half of that price imho.

Our dynasty is over. Time to rebuild and build on who we have. Klay can take a much smaller contract and also much less minutes from the bench. Good luck to anyone giving him 20+ mil. a year.

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Mar 15·edited Mar 15

And the cap at that time will be like 180 or 200 or something… it’s already at 165.

Correction: to be clear, we're talking about 26/27 season, assuming we dip under the lux tax threshold in 24/25 season, then go back over in 25/26 with Kuminga's extension, then try to get under again in 26/27 to exit the repeater tax. In 26/27 the threshold is expected to be $207M. It's pretty doable.

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> but I KD rather ride with Klay Steph Dray

This explains a lot of your posts here, K 😊

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#burnerconfirmed 😂

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Freudian Slip

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Freudian Sleep

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You honestly believe he is good enough to have the offense built around him?

Why is he a vastly underrated midrange shooter? He is an average shooter at best from midrange and beyond for a NBA wing.

I would argue the spacing that Steph and Klay give him and the warriors system are ideal for his abilities.

He hopefully will improve his shooting and his skills but he will always lack the size that we all wish he had. He gets turned away at the basket quite a lot in a way guys like Jordan did not, but he is still 21 and I was very impressed with his long interview with Monte Poole.

His skill level has improved a great deal this year and it will be interesting seeing what his ceiling becomes.

I like to compare him to Anthony Edward’s who is similar physically but a an inch or two shorter. He is not at that level.

At this point in time he is far, far away from being a guy a team builds its offense around in my opinion. Maybe 3 years from now if ever.

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>I don’t know what the Plus Minus lineups are with a Steph, Klay, Kuminga, Wiggins, Draymond lineup vs swapping out Klay for Podz.

In 2024, they are as follows:

Curry, Klay, Kuminga, Wiggins, Draymond: 110.0 ORTG/96.8 DRTG = 10.2 NRTG in 168 minutes

Curry, Podz, Kuminga, Wiggins, Draymond: 122.1 ORTG/101.9 DRTG = 20.1 NRTG in 110 minutes

Those stats are just for information's sake, because I actually agree with most of your points. The other stats point towards the difference in performance mostly being found in Podz being a significant better passer than Klay (AST:TO ratio is significantly better in the Podz lineup) and that unit taking better shots. I personally, as is by now I guess infamous on this site, have my doubts about extending Kuminga - but even pushing those completely aside, I do feel playing with young legs who can make the most out of Kuminga's powerful transition offense would help him be (even) better. It shows that the current roster construction is not really helping anybody as we face an inconsistency in player age and experience no top team in the league (except *maybe* Minnesota if we are being really generous) shares.

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Kuminga's gonna be great here. Remember that it wasn't until halfway through the season, during a game in which he wasn't even supposed to play, that he found his way into the rotation. This means that the team was not structured toward what he can do, because the coaching staff didn't know what he could really do effectively. Now that he's established himself, and especially with the best screening guard in the league, they'll structure the team around him as a future pillar properly. You think he should be operating in the midrange more? Great... they did that with KD back in the day, and I'd argue that this is more of an actively blossoming skill than something that has been there all year. He's only just bringing his FT% up near 75%, and starting to shoot the 3 more confidently. He still hasn't established himself as a plus rebounder, he's ok, but not great. He hasn't established himself as a plus ball handler, he's ok, but not great. He's still young and growing into his skillset... like everyone in the NBA, he should be surrounded by shooters who are tall and good defenders, and also able to handle the ball a bit.

All in all, current Kuminga doesn't quite fit perfectly because he's not the perfect player, and our team isn't the perfect team. He's growing, our team is changing. At the beginning of the year, Steph/Klay/Wiggs/Dray/Loon was not just penciled in as the starters and finishers, it was etched in stone as "the best 5 man unit in the league for the last two years"... and the team was structured around trying to find a bench unit that made sense around CP3. That plan blew up in Kerr's face for 25+ games until he started tinkering. I'm optimistic that Kerr has found the new team dynamic, and we'll see how far they can go in the play in/playoffs, before roster changes in the summer to better fit around the new hierarchy and skillsets, including Kuminga's prominent role on the team.

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It’s not a matter of eventually. He will fit in. He fits now. Somewhat. But he’s coming up on 30 milly and we have a second apron so are you banking on him to take another leap? Im not so sure he will ON THIs TEAM

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1. $30M isn't what it used to be, the cap is growing rapidly

2. He's still 21 years old, plenty of room to grow. Just in the last 4 months, he's gone from a career sub 70% FT shooter to ~80% the last 2 months, and looking sustainable. He can work on ball handling and reading the floor... young players will continue to learn new skills.

3. The FO and coaching staff can and will look at the roster differently this coming offseason than they did this past offseason... you better expect they'll try to fill out the roster and game plans according to what they've got, including considering they KNOW Kuminga can do way more this year than last year.

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How is he coming up on $30M? That's just speculation. He will make $7,636,307 next season, locked in. Then he'll be RFA in the summer of 2025, with a qualifying offer of $10,240,288, which the Dubs will surely tender. Then we'll see what he's worth on the market if the Dubs can't negotiate a deal first.

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I mean, he's most likely gonna get the rookie max extension. That was $260M/5 years this last offseason. Melo, Hali, and AE got it. You could make a case that he might get a Bane who got $207M/5 years, but I don't see him getting any less.

https://www.nba.com/news/players-who-signed-rookie-extensions-before-2023-24-deadline

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207/5 is over 40/szn… but I suppose it starts around 33

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Ah okay, now I get it. I guess we'll find out in 2025. He might be well worth the rookie max extension by then.

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Brandin currently taking questions via Twitter live chat - really cool

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https://www.tomthefinder.com/p/the-nbas-bizarre-free-throw-drought?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Can't read the whole thing but seems the league has told the refs to stop calling fouls

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14

He mentions Cleveland, Memphis, Pelicans, Portland and Charlotte games with very few free throws, considered attributable to this new mandate to the referees.

In our last game we both had 19 FTA.

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15 and 16 doesn’t seem like much, especially for a game including Doncic

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Sorry, I was reading FTM. The real number is 19 FTA for each team.

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We both had 19 fts

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Yes, I was reading FTM for this one game. mea culpa.

Changed to FTA.

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19 FTA, to be clear

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14

Yes, I was reading FTM’s for this game instead of FTA‘s. Corrected above.

A rookie/neophyte mistake.

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A month ago, Dallas would have got 36 FT, tho...

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14

That was my impression also, but box scores for Dallas in Feb. report around 21 FTA.

Range is about 18-21 FTA, with one outlier at 33FTA.

My guess is that in a game where FTAs are very high , we remember that number because it was so irritating. And going forward we think that Dallas got more like 33 to 36 in their games.

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Why is it that even when the league is making a much needed improvement of this kind, they still manage to do it in the most annoying way possible? Abrupt rule change in the middle of the season, underscoring how relatively arbitrary the adjudication of this essential, often game-deciding part of the sport can be... I'm glad, but I'm also irritated.

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Mar 14·edited Mar 14

There has always been a delta between the regular season and the playoffs. Lately they've started more experimenting with rule changes early in the season (remember when JP got called for 4 carries in one game, lol, and Kerr referenced an email that went out the day of), and then mostly relaxing them through the season? It seems somewhat expected that they could switch to a more "playoff whistle" after the ASB in preparation for the playoffs, getting players and refs more up to speed on what to expect in the playoffs.

I'd prefer robot refs that make every call correctly... but they haven't been invented, and probably never will. So I'm glad at the change, and irritated, but not that irritated. At least Steph not getting a single whistle now applies to others...

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Not to mention the smoke filled backroom secretive manner they went about it.

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Big day for the Dubs... as we round the final turn 4 games back of the 6 & 7 seed, with a lot of ground to make up, we need help. Thankfully tonight we've got two of the top 3 teams playing home games against our seeding competitors, in Boston hosting Phoenix, and OKC hosting Dallas. We're gonna need some help down the stretch, and hopefully it starts tonight.

If Steph is back Saturday, and the team can keep defending like they did last night (instead of like they did against Chicago), I'm still hopeful the Warriors can go 12-5 or 13-4 down the stretch and get to 46 or 47 wins. The question is going to be if that's good enough for a #10, #9, #8, or #7 seed... or if they fumble away a few games and end up with fewer wins.

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The big problem I see is that we likely lose all tiebreakers, and it looks like the difference in seeding between several play-in teams will come down to those tiebreakers. That's why last night was so devastating.

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Yeah... If we sweep the Lakers in LA, we own the tie breaker against them! But... that's probably not worth much.

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I’d much rather be 9 than 10 (seeding wise at least)

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Well, I'd say we suck at Crypto, so we really want 9 instead of 10, but the main way to get it is to win twice at Crypto, in which case, maybe we shouldn't be scared about a road elimination play-in game in LA. Hmm.

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That ignores the fact that we also suck at Chase :)

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Just win baby!

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