It is a no-brainer, with JTA out, we should be glad we've got Oubre to throw at them if Steph goes. If Steph does not go, it really makes no difference what we go with against Philly....
Do we? I haven't seen anything about Oubre's availability for tonight's game.
Also he's been out a while with a wrist injury, so I wouldn't expect much from e.g. three point shooting from him until he can get some playing time to get his timing back.
"I wouldn't expect much from e.g. three point shooting from him" I never expect good 3-point shooting from Oubre. Sometimes he pleasantly surprises. He's way better at the rim. But you know that!
Kawakami has got a nice article in the Athletic about Bazemore. I’ve commented before about how Baze improves the flow, and always felt his awesome plus minus must mean something. Does he have an island yet?
In similar minutes, Damion Lee is better than Bazemore almost across the board, stats-wise. Bazemore has a slight edge in 3 pt shooting. Bazemore also has an edge in “stocks”, but that’s more than negated by all his extra turnovers and fouls.
Like I said, overall I think he's been great for us this whole season and definitely amazing value at the min. But missing two clutch fts as a career 70% ft shooter has nothing to do with any of that and pissed me off. I think I just get extra angry at everyone else when curry has a game for the ages like that and we can't cash it in.
I think baze is a much better on ball defender (you can't teach length!) And a better slasher. Lee is certainly a better shooter. They both have done some bone-headed shit in crunch time though, Lee had that botched open layup with like 6 seconds that one game...
Yeah but it all goes back to the minimum deal thing, if the Warriors had a legit/healthy playoff team he most likely wouldn't have even been out there in the clutch despite being a solid + in certain lineups this season
This might be one of those painfully frustrating seasons where key injuries keeps them from winning JUST ENOUGH games. I just know with our luck once JTA and Oubre returns Iron Man Wiggins will probably hurt his left butt cheek and have to sit out a month.
-I've been looking at some Miles McBride footage and I have absolutely no idea why Davion Mitchell is projected to go so much higher than him. Same height and wingspan, both are excellent at on ball defense, but McBride has way more shooting promise imo and is 2 years younger. Gets a few more boards and has a slightly better A/TO ratio as well.
-If the Wolves keep winning and the pick conveys in the 6-8 range, I'm thinking the two guys I would target are Moody and Wagner. Both had awful moments in the tournament but I don't care.
Wagner is also on my radar. Seems like a solid, all around player with size, skills, and smarts. Moody strikes me as more streaky. He is not very consistent, but he is young.
Eugene Omoruyi, 6-6 F, Oregon. Scorer, Rebounder, Defender. High fg%/steals
Corey Kispert, 6-7 F, Gonzaga, Scorer, Rebounder high fg%. lower top 10.
Joel Ayayi 6-5 G, Gonzaga, shooter, boards, passing. France. mid-round pick
Can't say where I'd put Barnes yet. For a big man the ability to switch 1-5 looks great and the handle/vision looks spectacular for that position. But the red flag to me is his bad rebounding numbers. But he played a lot of guard at FSU right? Was he just too far away from the basket to get boards?
And then the question is, can he be a starter if his shooting is as bad as it was in FSU? And of course can/will his shooting improve? His sub-70 FT% is ugly and he only took 40 threes in 24 games (and didn't make many).
If he just can't shoot at all, what does he project as? Kevon Looney with more athleticism/handle (although Looney rebounded much better in college)? Definitely a useful player, but worthy of the 6th-8th pick? On the other hand, he's only 19 so you can't write off improvement in any area, and if his shooting improves, he could be really good.
So I don't know yet, I'm leaning against picking him in the 6-8 range for now, but it's not a strong opinion.
What do you think of him? If you watched him play a full game, you know more about him than me.
6.6 boards and 6.5 assists per 40 is not bad at all for a guy who (yes) mostly played guard. 2.4 steals is nice, too — his D overall seems to be a huge plus. And .548 ts is not bad for a 19 y.o.
He definitely passes the eye test from the little I've seen — incredibly smooth and natural-looking with the ball in his hands for a guy that long (and young). Probably a bit on the project-y side for a win-now team, but a guy whose trade value could go through the roof. Wouldn't be sad at all if we landed him at #5-8.
Yeah, I like the way his feel for the game looks too.
Do you have an opinion on him compared to Jalen Johnson? I check out this one guy's scouting videos on YouTube and noticed he gave them the same strengths plus they are the same height (which is also how I first realized the similarities between McBride and Mitchell). I haven't watched enough of either to say who is better, though I know Johnson has some concerns attached about why he left both his high school and college team, plus Barnes has more length. But I also noticed his superior rebounding and block numbers, which had me curious.
Haven't seen a single college game ever basically lol. Have heard really good things about him though, and his skillset's really unique and Draymond-ish.
I'll start looking at the draft more seriously once we know where we're picking lol.
he'd be a 6th man for the foreseeable future, in all honesty. i mean, until Klay is 100% healthy, which i suppose might take til half way through next season (lame)
Oubre Jr would undoubtedly go directly to the trade block if we ended up drafting Barnes with Minny's pick in the 6-8 range
But if given the choice, i'm goin for a scorched earth type shooter like Kispert (Joe Harris 2.0) picking in that range. we have enough jack-of-all-trades / swiss army knife types on this team as it stands.
I don't think it's a good idea to draft based on the team's current needs though. A team's needs change drastically every season, and a guy you pick that high could be on the team for a decade. What every team needs in a general sense though is more talent.
If the Warriors are really thinking about a fit for next year, they should trade the pick. Otherwise, this should be the last time the Warriors will have an opportunity like this while Curry is still looking to compete for championships. They need to get as much value out of the pick as they can. That's the player who will have the most trade value anyway, who they can trade for a better fit if need be.
I don't think I can justify intentionally trying to draft a Joe Harris with the 6th-8th pick in the draft when that's the range where Curry himself was drafted (plus I think Moody is going to be an excellent shooter too).
I like your scorched earth take. Spread the floor for Steph & Wiggs until Klay gets back to full minutes. Plus I heard Kispert is an ok defender?
But this may have to be weighed against the need for a PF/C. I’m assuming Smiley gets released and EP might get traded. EP has potential, but struggling with the fit all season
I mean as far as a scorched earth shooter, they have Jessup waiting in the wings. He and Kispert shot the same three point percentage over their college careers, with Jessup creating more threes off the dribble from what I've seen. Plus they have perhaps the second best shooter of all time coming back, although he will obviously be limited.
I hear Oubre Island is very nice but expensive and probably will get much more so during free agency. I'm not sure I can afford it. But then, I can't afford Hawaii either.
If I got cash to spare, I’m buying a small lot, with the hopes that the stretch between the epic cold spell and the wrist injury will return. I actually made a time series plot of a rolling 7 game 3pt shooting percentage. It was erie how flat (and low) it was, then jumped up and remained there, the dropped back to pretty poor level.
Oubre Island is like Hawaii: so beautiful and seductive that it draws in more tourists than it can support, which just ends up hurting the native residents.
“I’ll be interested to see where his minutes go when Kelly Oubre Jr. is fully healthy and back in the lineup.” If Oubre is back, Kerr is off the hook a bit since JTA is now sitting. But yeah, what they do with Oubre might be a tell if a committed they are to keeping him.
ok, I've been thinking consistently about who would be a good complimentary player for the team next season that could reasonably be swapped for Oubre. who I actually really like, but his style of play clearly does not gel with the starting squad.
here it is: sign-and-trade Oubre + pick(s) with Houston for Eric Gordon. They get a younger two-way player under years of control who can clearly thrive in a straightforward offense, we get a lights-out shooter who knows how to be a bench scorer, whose timeline matches Steph's. Oubre gets the opportunity to become a key player in Houstons rebuild as a starter.
thoughts? even with Gordon coming off an injury, we might have to sweeten the pot some more, but from where I'm sitting, there is a lot to like on both sides.
You are hardcapped only if you receive a player which was Signed-and-Traded by the sending team. Not sure about EG's contract. No hardcap for us if we S&T KO.
2 years left on his current deal. I’m not sure why they’d give up Gordon when they could just sign Oubre outright. Don’t they have buttloads of cap space?
Let’s assume they have no picks this year and resign everyone except Oubre, who walks. They’ll have Curry, Klay who are elite shooters, as well as Wiggins, Poole, Lee, JTA, Jessup and Bazemore, all of whom project as average or better from 3.
Maybe. If Poole can be consistent, and JTA can be consistent from 3 with more than 1.5 attempts, and Jessup can quickly make the transition to the NBA, all of which remains to be proven. It could happen. I'm not holding my breath though. You're basically saying when we get Klay back, our shooting woes (especially when Steph sits) are solved. Maybe.
I also legitimately can't tell how much my desire for a closeout small-ball squad of Klay, Steph, Wiggins, Dray and Eric Gordon is clouding my judgement.
I was looking up the cap specifics on him, and I was actually shocked at how low his 3pt% was. Might just be one of those "always seemed to hit his shots against us" sorta false memory situations
These recent couple of weeks have been hella intense. Injuries left and right, looking from a bottom-of-the-barrel team to semi-legit playoff team. It feels like this is one of those scenarios where you just can't afford to keep pointing the car forward and step on the accelerator. So many questions that will need to be addressed in the off-season, I cannot even list them all. In a way, it's an exciting time to be a fan, regardless of how frustrating it can be.
I think accelerator-on-full is result of Steph's (and Dray's) desire to win even though they know that they have a puncher's chance to making out of first round of playoffs. And in someways sending message to FO/Lacob that winning now is important and they better get him help next season - even if it is incremental beyond Klay's addition.
How does one look at what Steph is doing and think, nah - you know what, we will use next couple of years to develop Wiseman+Minn+our own pick and thats the way to be back in the running for championship.
I’m waiting to see how the off-season plays out before I’ll say they have/haven’t done enough. I give them credit for moving quickly on KOJ and can see why they didn’t make any moves at the deadline, (although Ball-for-Oubre, if it was there, would’ve been peachy).
Dubs are having a tough time closing out quarters lately. In the final minute of the quarters last night, Celtics outscored the Dubs 23-10. Dubs aren't executing the 2 for 1 very well, and giving up 23 points in four minutes is inexcusable (only 3 of those points were FTs after Dubs were forced to hack).
This game was both energizing and deflating at the same time.
On the one hand, the Warriors are now a tuned, playoff-ready machine just a week from looking like the tank job was in full swing. The team is profoundly better when Wiseman is off the floor, and sadly, better when Oubre is his recent form is off as well. Steph is in full bloom, Draymond is playing with near-maximum energy. But it's really guys like Looney and JTA that are elevating the play of the team. Looney is constantly demonstrating the value of simply showing up at the right place at the right time with wingspan and heart. JTA's court vision and versatility continue to blossom and the improved 3-point shooting is wondrous. Wiggins is back to being tremendous at all facets of finishing after frustrating patches. Poole and Bazemore are contributing more good than bad.
But at the same time, they were facing a team without its second best player, a team only a disappointing 4 games over .500 returning from a long road trip. If we can't win this kind of game playing at peak efficiency, are we really a Klay Thompson away from competing for the title?
Maybe I'm overreacting and Boston just hit a sequence of amazing shots. This was a really great game, and I wanted us to win it badly.
For me, one step at a time. Competing and going deep in the playoffs will happen simply by adding Klay. You can see the way the team is clicking when they are on and Klay will just add that deadly shot and more D. However, as I've been saying forever, we need a solid big man. Look at what the limited Looney adds. Now multiply that by a Gasol, Lopez, or whoever can play an effective game in the paint as well as outside of it. We've only had rentals since Bogut. It's time for this team to wake up and get off this over-reliance on small ball. It's also not good for the health of the players to take the wear and tear that small ball seems to bring. So many teams with injuries to key players. They've gotten to a level of athleticism that is dangerous to the body. They could use a heady big man like David Lee was. They've got no one like that. If Green is only a passer, I'm not sure this is enough anymore.
Adding a healthy Klay undoubtedly makes this group into a legit contender. You're seriously underestimating the 2nd best shooter in the league and his clutch ways
Imagine last night’s game with a closing lineup of not-gimpy-Steph, Klay, Dray, Wiggins and not-hurt-JTA. If you think of Wiggins as Barnes and JTA as Igoudala, I think that game is a pretty easy win.
https://www.celticsblog.com/2021/4/19/22390442/boston-celtics-guide-surviving-steph-curry-golden-state-warriors-marcus-smart
It is a no-brainer, with JTA out, we should be glad we've got Oubre to throw at them if Steph goes. If Steph does not go, it really makes no difference what we go with against Philly....
Do we? I haven't seen anything about Oubre's availability for tonight's game.
Also he's been out a while with a wrist injury, so I wouldn't expect much from e.g. three point shooting from him until he can get some playing time to get his timing back.
"I wouldn't expect much from e.g. three point shooting from him" I never expect good 3-point shooting from Oubre. Sometimes he pleasantly surprises. He's way better at the rim. But you know that!
Mavs (by Kings), Blazers and Wolves lost today. Yippee! But we got 76ers tomorrow. So there is that.
Kawakami has got a nice article in the Athletic about Bazemore. I’ve commented before about how Baze improves the flow, and always felt his awesome plus minus must mean something. Does he have an island yet?
I've been a huge fan of Baze this season overall but he had a rough end of the last game with some mental errors and then two huge missed fts
As frustrating his mistakes are, you can't get too mad since he's on a minimum. It's not his fault we have no one else to put out there
In similar minutes, Damion Lee is better than Bazemore almost across the board, stats-wise. Bazemore has a slight edge in 3 pt shooting. Bazemore also has an edge in “stocks”, but that’s more than negated by all his extra turnovers and fouls.
Bazemore TS%: .566
Lee TS%: 628
Oh, and Lee is 3 years younger.
Yep, I have to keep telling myself this every time I'm in my #HateBaze phase
Like I said, overall I think he's been great for us this whole season and definitely amazing value at the min. But missing two clutch fts as a career 70% ft shooter has nothing to do with any of that and pissed me off. I think I just get extra angry at everyone else when curry has a game for the ages like that and we can't cash it in.
As I said above Damion Lee is a better than Bazemore pretty much board. He’s shooting 91% on FT and 86% for his career.
I think baze is a much better on ball defender (you can't teach length!) And a better slasher. Lee is certainly a better shooter. They both have done some bone-headed shit in crunch time though, Lee had that botched open layup with like 6 seconds that one game...
Bazemore commits more fouls and turnovers. As a bench player, that’s like a relief pitcher coming in and walking guys.
Yeah but it all goes back to the minimum deal thing, if the Warriors had a legit/healthy playoff team he most likely wouldn't have even been out there in the clutch despite being a solid + in certain lineups this season
Happens to the best of us. Very frustrating yes, I mean I even called it right when he got fouled and wasn't surprised when it happened
Chron reporting Steph is questionable for tomorrow’s game
It was always going to be "questionable", will be refined to "game time decision" as we approach game time
Hope they rest the key guys. Assuming they can with the TV requirements. Freshen up for fans in the stands at Chase
This might be one of those painfully frustrating seasons where key injuries keeps them from winning JUST ENOUGH games. I just know with our luck once JTA and Oubre returns Iron Man Wiggins will probably hurt his left butt cheek and have to sit out a month.
Holy crap, Stan Van Gundy is NOT a happy man
My favorite SVG coaching moment
BUILD A F$#KING WALL 😂
Has he ever been a happy man... I thought he was a terrible choice to take over that young team. Still do.
A couple random draft thoughts:
-I've been looking at some Miles McBride footage and I have absolutely no idea why Davion Mitchell is projected to go so much higher than him. Same height and wingspan, both are excellent at on ball defense, but McBride has way more shooting promise imo and is 2 years younger. Gets a few more boards and has a slightly better A/TO ratio as well.
-If the Wolves keep winning and the pick conveys in the 6-8 range, I'm thinking the two guys I would target are Moody and Wagner. Both had awful moments in the tournament but I don't care.
Wagner is also on my radar. Seems like a solid, all around player with size, skills, and smarts. Moody strikes me as more streaky. He is not very consistent, but he is young.
Eugene Omoruyi, 6-6 F, Oregon. Scorer, Rebounder, Defender. High fg%/steals
Corey Kispert, 6-7 F, Gonzaga, Scorer, Rebounder high fg%. lower top 10.
Joel Ayayi 6-5 G, Gonzaga, shooter, boards, passing. France. mid-round pick
What do you think about Scottie Barnes Jr?
Can't say where I'd put Barnes yet. For a big man the ability to switch 1-5 looks great and the handle/vision looks spectacular for that position. But the red flag to me is his bad rebounding numbers. But he played a lot of guard at FSU right? Was he just too far away from the basket to get boards?
And then the question is, can he be a starter if his shooting is as bad as it was in FSU? And of course can/will his shooting improve? His sub-70 FT% is ugly and he only took 40 threes in 24 games (and didn't make many).
If he just can't shoot at all, what does he project as? Kevon Looney with more athleticism/handle (although Looney rebounded much better in college)? Definitely a useful player, but worthy of the 6th-8th pick? On the other hand, he's only 19 so you can't write off improvement in any area, and if his shooting improves, he could be really good.
So I don't know yet, I'm leaning against picking him in the 6-8 range for now, but it's not a strong opinion.
What do you think of him? If you watched him play a full game, you know more about him than me.
6.6 boards and 6.5 assists per 40 is not bad at all for a guy who (yes) mostly played guard. 2.4 steals is nice, too — his D overall seems to be a huge plus. And .548 ts is not bad for a 19 y.o.
He definitely passes the eye test from the little I've seen — incredibly smooth and natural-looking with the ball in his hands for a guy that long (and young). Probably a bit on the project-y side for a win-now team, but a guy whose trade value could go through the roof. Wouldn't be sad at all if we landed him at #5-8.
Yeah, I like the way his feel for the game looks too.
Do you have an opinion on him compared to Jalen Johnson? I check out this one guy's scouting videos on YouTube and noticed he gave them the same strengths plus they are the same height (which is also how I first realized the similarities between McBride and Mitchell). I haven't watched enough of either to say who is better, though I know Johnson has some concerns attached about why he left both his high school and college team, plus Barnes has more length. But I also noticed his superior rebounding and block numbers, which had me curious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNyXx8Fwze4&t=4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxUWpYhFv_c&t=5s
Haven't seen a single college game ever basically lol. Have heard really good things about him though, and his skillset's really unique and Draymond-ish.
I'll start looking at the draft more seriously once we know where we're picking lol.
he'd be a 6th man for the foreseeable future, in all honesty. i mean, until Klay is 100% healthy, which i suppose might take til half way through next season (lame)
Oubre Jr would undoubtedly go directly to the trade block if we ended up drafting Barnes with Minny's pick in the 6-8 range
But if given the choice, i'm goin for a scorched earth type shooter like Kispert (Joe Harris 2.0) picking in that range. we have enough jack-of-all-trades / swiss army knife types on this team as it stands.
I don't think it's a good idea to draft based on the team's current needs though. A team's needs change drastically every season, and a guy you pick that high could be on the team for a decade. What every team needs in a general sense though is more talent.
If the Warriors are really thinking about a fit for next year, they should trade the pick. Otherwise, this should be the last time the Warriors will have an opportunity like this while Curry is still looking to compete for championships. They need to get as much value out of the pick as they can. That's the player who will have the most trade value anyway, who they can trade for a better fit if need be.
I don't think I can justify intentionally trying to draft a Joe Harris with the 6th-8th pick in the draft when that's the range where Curry himself was drafted (plus I think Moody is going to be an excellent shooter too).
I like your scorched earth take. Spread the floor for Steph & Wiggs until Klay gets back to full minutes. Plus I heard Kispert is an ok defender?
But this may have to be weighed against the need for a PF/C. I’m assuming Smiley gets released and EP might get traded. EP has potential, but struggling with the fit all season
I mean as far as a scorched earth shooter, they have Jessup waiting in the wings. He and Kispert shot the same three point percentage over their college careers, with Jessup creating more threes off the dribble from what I've seen. Plus they have perhaps the second best shooter of all time coming back, although he will obviously be limited.
Looks like I’m back alone on Oubre island. Not sure I’ll let any of y’all back in when you come begging. You’ve been warned :)
I hear Oubre Island is very nice but expensive and probably will get much more so during free agency. I'm not sure I can afford it. But then, I can't afford Hawaii either.
You're def not alone lol
If I got cash to spare, I’m buying a small lot, with the hopes that the stretch between the epic cold spell and the wrist injury will return. I actually made a time series plot of a rolling 7 game 3pt shooting percentage. It was erie how flat (and low) it was, then jumped up and remained there, the dropped back to pretty poor level.
I've been swimming in the shark infested waters around the island.
I'm riding with Oubre all the way
Oubre Island is like Hawaii: so beautiful and seductive that it draws in more tourists than it can support, which just ends up hurting the native residents.
I’m a resident of Hawaii, but only live part-time on Oubre island
Dude literally calls himself tsunami, so this image seems to be very appropriate in both intended and unintended ways
👀
“Always Be Closing” ...or cobbling 🧝♂️
“I’ll be interested to see where his minutes go when Kelly Oubre Jr. is fully healthy and back in the lineup.” If Oubre is back, Kerr is off the hook a bit since JTA is now sitting. But yeah, what they do with Oubre might be a tell if a committed they are to keeping him.
ok, I've been thinking consistently about who would be a good complimentary player for the team next season that could reasonably be swapped for Oubre. who I actually really like, but his style of play clearly does not gel with the starting squad.
here it is: sign-and-trade Oubre + pick(s) with Houston for Eric Gordon. They get a younger two-way player under years of control who can clearly thrive in a straightforward offense, we get a lights-out shooter who knows how to be a bench scorer, whose timeline matches Steph's. Oubre gets the opportunity to become a key player in Houstons rebuild as a starter.
thoughts? even with Gordon coming off an injury, we might have to sweeten the pot some more, but from where I'm sitting, there is a lot to like on both sides.
I’m not a cap expert, but recall previous posts about teams doing sign-and-trades getting hard-capped, so not worth it.
You are hardcapped only if you receive a player which was Signed-and-Traded by the sending team. Not sure about EG's contract. No hardcap for us if we S&T KO.
2 years left on his current deal. I’m not sure why they’d give up Gordon when they could just sign Oubre outright. Don’t they have buttloads of cap space?
yeah, that's right. the hard cap was an utter nightmare.
dammit. so much of it makes sense. I want the spacing, basketball gods!
Let’s assume they have no picks this year and resign everyone except Oubre, who walks. They’ll have Curry, Klay who are elite shooters, as well as Wiggins, Poole, Lee, JTA, Jessup and Bazemore, all of whom project as average or better from 3.
Maybe. If Poole can be consistent, and JTA can be consistent from 3 with more than 1.5 attempts, and Jessup can quickly make the transition to the NBA, all of which remains to be proven. It could happen. I'm not holding my breath though. You're basically saying when we get Klay back, our shooting woes (especially when Steph sits) are solved. Maybe.
6 guys besides Klay and Steph; I figure half of them should be good at shooting 3’s. Plus Wiseman can drop ‘em in too.
I am entirely willing for you to be right! 😊
I also legitimately can't tell how much my desire for a closeout small-ball squad of Klay, Steph, Wiggins, Dray and Eric Gordon is clouding my judgement.
I don't think he's as good as you think he is.
I was looking up the cap specifics on him, and I was actually shocked at how low his 3pt% was. Might just be one of those "always seemed to hit his shots against us" sorta false memory situations
He’s much more dangerous when he’s getting to the rim. Underrated finisher, overrated 3 pt shooter.
Lol, seriously
These recent couple of weeks have been hella intense. Injuries left and right, looking from a bottom-of-the-barrel team to semi-legit playoff team. It feels like this is one of those scenarios where you just can't afford to keep pointing the car forward and step on the accelerator. So many questions that will need to be addressed in the off-season, I cannot even list them all. In a way, it's an exciting time to be a fan, regardless of how frustrating it can be.
By “bottom of the barrel”, you’re referring to last season, right?
I think accelerator-on-full is result of Steph's (and Dray's) desire to win even though they know that they have a puncher's chance to making out of first round of playoffs. And in someways sending message to FO/Lacob that winning now is important and they better get him help next season - even if it is incremental beyond Klay's addition.
How does one look at what Steph is doing and think, nah - you know what, we will use next couple of years to develop Wiseman+Minn+our own pick and thats the way to be back in the running for championship.
I still say they can (and have been) address the present without mortgaging the future.
Agree. But not enough, IMHO.
I’m waiting to see how the off-season plays out before I’ll say they have/haven’t done enough. I give them credit for moving quickly on KOJ and can see why they didn’t make any moves at the deadline, (although Ball-for-Oubre, if it was there, would’ve been peachy).
Yeah. And getting DLo and then Wiggs was definitely a lightyears move by FO.
Dubs are having a tough time closing out quarters lately. In the final minute of the quarters last night, Celtics outscored the Dubs 23-10. Dubs aren't executing the 2 for 1 very well, and giving up 23 points in four minutes is inexcusable (only 3 of those points were FTs after Dubs were forced to hack).
It’s exhaustion mostly. Which will happen when you’re missing 4 rotation players.
Perhaps for the 4th quarter, but no excuse for poor finishes in the final minute of the 2nd and 3rd quarters.
This game was both energizing and deflating at the same time.
On the one hand, the Warriors are now a tuned, playoff-ready machine just a week from looking like the tank job was in full swing. The team is profoundly better when Wiseman is off the floor, and sadly, better when Oubre is his recent form is off as well. Steph is in full bloom, Draymond is playing with near-maximum energy. But it's really guys like Looney and JTA that are elevating the play of the team. Looney is constantly demonstrating the value of simply showing up at the right place at the right time with wingspan and heart. JTA's court vision and versatility continue to blossom and the improved 3-point shooting is wondrous. Wiggins is back to being tremendous at all facets of finishing after frustrating patches. Poole and Bazemore are contributing more good than bad.
But at the same time, they were facing a team without its second best player, a team only a disappointing 4 games over .500 returning from a long road trip. If we can't win this kind of game playing at peak efficiency, are we really a Klay Thompson away from competing for the title?
Maybe I'm overreacting and Boston just hit a sequence of amazing shots. This was a really great game, and I wanted us to win it badly.
For me, one step at a time. Competing and going deep in the playoffs will happen simply by adding Klay. You can see the way the team is clicking when they are on and Klay will just add that deadly shot and more D. However, as I've been saying forever, we need a solid big man. Look at what the limited Looney adds. Now multiply that by a Gasol, Lopez, or whoever can play an effective game in the paint as well as outside of it. We've only had rentals since Bogut. It's time for this team to wake up and get off this over-reliance on small ball. It's also not good for the health of the players to take the wear and tear that small ball seems to bring. So many teams with injuries to key players. They've gotten to a level of athleticism that is dangerous to the body. They could use a heady big man like David Lee was. They've got no one like that. If Green is only a passer, I'm not sure this is enough anymore.
Moe Wagner is available.
Wasn't he traded to Boston?
Adding a healthy Klay undoubtedly makes this group into a legit contender. You're seriously underestimating the 2nd best shooter in the league and his clutch ways
Imagine last night’s game with a closing lineup of not-gimpy-Steph, Klay, Dray, Wiggins and not-hurt-JTA. If you think of Wiggins as Barnes and JTA as Igoudala, I think that game is a pretty easy win.
...and a closing lineup that would be really easy to root for.
UGH...this one hurt; thought it was one we may have had...tough games ahead...Steph is GOAT of this era...nuff said...
GOTA, then...
What? No.
Ah. I'm not sure it is helpful in that scenario. But cap/salary stuff is complex, so I might be missing something.
I don’t think they needed to. If they wanted to, they could’ve converted JTA to. minimum contract.