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What's up with LGW? You guys did a great job keeping news/opinions/stuff going during the long, long, offseason. Since the draft, Klay's injury, free agency......not much. I have been hoping for a little more aggressive and updating writing on the website......

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What about making a run at Tucker and signing Gasol and Giles? Then the Warriors would match up really well with the Pistons and Tucker could provide valuable minutes in the closing lineup and at the 3, which might actually be his true non-Rockets position. Might have to move a roster spot or two but Mulder & JTA don’t make much.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Hi Apricot - Did substack fix/add some of the enhancements discussed last year - feels like forever ago:

- Comment edit option

- Tweet, pic and video embedded in comments

Also I forgot steps to format message thread. It might be good idea to repost that information.

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author

I think the only thing they addressed was the formatting message threads (remember it was impossible to sort chronological before).

We'll ask them again, they continue to say that these features ARE coming, so we'll see

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Just visited substack website and blogs. Looking at that, seems like substack was/is geared more towards paid newsletter publication than as a paid content+discussion forum.

Let's hope they spend additional effort on discussion side of things.

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Thanks Duby. I think being able to jump to next unread comment is essential feature. Lack of 'edit comment' feature has a workaround (delete and re-add comment) but still it is cumbersome if you are on phone.

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I really hope they come before the season. I don’t like being at GSOM, but in some ways it definitely is easier. So glad to give you all my money though!!

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So true. Orgy of advertising on GSOM is overwhelming and prone to taking one to insecure/phishing sites (or atleast so it would seem) if you click on an advertisement by mistake.

LGW/substack is clean, secure and simple but may be too much so.

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Woj reporting the Warriors have interest in Marc Gasol. It makes too much sense, and if Klay was healthy I'm confident it would have already been a done deal. As it stands, who knows if they have enough money for him. On the plus side, the Lakers, Clippers, and Celtics all used their MLEs, so the Warriors might be able to offer him the most money. Could be wrong, I don't know anyone else's cap situation, just Golden State's.

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I love Gasol’s game! But another C?????The Warriors have two non G league level players on the roster combined who can play SG/SF. If they still need a FA center when their best lineups all had Green at C, and after investing a #2 pick on the position, they already blew the draft.

If you count Green they have 5 players whose best position is the 5, and Paschall who showed no signs of being able to guard a 3 last year, and didn’t exactly work on that part of his game these past 8 months.

It’s impossible to look at this roster and think a 5 is the best way to use $ or roster spots unless you’re actually trying to tank. If anyone wanted Draymond or Wiseman, trading one of them would be the only way to balance this roster, and any trade they could actually pull off would leave the W’s worse off, since Draymond is the only hope they have of putting together a decent D.

Actually Wiseman said he can guard all 5 positions now, and there’s no film to refute that, so maybe they’ll be fine.

Point Guard S. Curry J. Poole Wanamaker

Shooting Guard A. Wiggins D. Lee M. Mulder

Small Forward K. Oubre J. Toscano-Anderson

Power Forward D. Green E. Paschall

Center J. Wiseman M. Chriss A. Smailagic K. Looney

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Well shit, if Wiseman can guard all 5 positions and has a good % jumper, then have Gasol at the 5 and Wiseman at the freakin 4...with Dray at 3. Obviously in specific lineups. Thats a block party right there! And not to mention, that'd be the best rebounding lineup in the NBA!

Call me crazy...but #lightyears

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I totally forgot about the DPE. They could use that and offer him way more than anyone else can (except the Raptors, I assume).

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Except they haven't actually gotten approval yet to use it.

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That's an insignificant formality, they could come to a verbal agreement and wait for it to be approved to make the deal official.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

I had never heard of Wanamaker before the playoffs, but he’s pretty ok! He’s built kinda like Baron Davis, with big shoulders and big, long arms and play physical defense. He shot 44% from 3 in the playoffs!

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Let’s hope the bubble stuff translates to bigger arenas.

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His last 3 years in Europe were 37%, as well as his first two seasons in the NBA, so that’s probably the most realistic expectation. As I’ve said elsewhere, I’ll take that from my $2.5m FA backup PG that really has no holes in his game.

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Poole's debut last season was a memorable one. I've never seen a worse performance that I can remember. However, the guy's history is somewhat better than his showing. He likes to shoot but that means he has to have the ball in his hands to do that. Giving him the ball is going to be the key for the bench. Wanamaker, Poole/Lee, Toscano/Wiggins/Oubre, Paschall, Looney/Wiseman. Who would you want shooting the ball for the bench? There's a lot of better choices than Poole so where does he fit in to this team? You want Lee because of his hustle and streakiness. You want Wiggins/Oubre because of their skill. You want Paschall, and Looney/Wiseman because of their ability to play around the basket. They shouldn't suck but I'm not expecting glory.

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Your premise on Poole is sound, but watching Lee fly off the court after running by his man on D makes him unplayable on a winning team as well. It looks like hustle, but it’s just not relevant to winning basketball. Paschall got buckets, and picked up his passing, but was completely useless trying to guard up or down a position, so he would need to be surrounded by plus defenders that the Warriors just don’t have.

The bottom line is that if the Warriors had been half as successful as the Raptors at evaluating & developing talent they would still have a shot to contend this year. As it stands, you’re hoping the Starters/top lineup can handle heavy minutes without getting hurt to fight for a playoff spot. Letting go of the logo has been devastating for this team.

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It does seem that the Logo brought an element that Myers & Co. don't have collectively. But the Logo is not a guarantee they will pick the best guys. Because we don't know why they didn't continue their party, it's hard to speculate on this level. But I do agree that the team lost precious time with subpar picks in stocking the pond.

Lee is also not a favorite player of mine but he has been more productive than anyone else of the non starters. If they don't come up with a better answer, this is the team we will begin the season with and it does seem like a playoff team but not a serious contender. Adrian is disappointed. :-)

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

It's cool. I would have preferred Fred Van Vleet to spot Curry some rest but with names like Quinn Cook being bandied about, I'll take unspectacular but consistent production from Wannamaker.

Bring back GR3 with the remaining MLE, stretch Smailigic and call it a day. That is a decent bench when you are talking about Wannamaker, GR3, Looney, Chriss (assuming Wiseman gets the starting slot), Sydell Lee, Mulder, JTA, Paschall, Poole, Mannion.

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Doesn’t it seem that all the depth on this team is at the 4-5 spot? I’m still floored that people wanted Wiseman and are still clamoring for another big too. That’s not winning in the NBA that the Warriors created.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Bigs are assets. Every team wants them and that's why the Wiseman pick was a good one. If he works out, we begin to trade out a big or two. If he doesn't, we trade him out. Easy. You don't find bigs like him very often.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Whoa... I’m heartily agreeing with post.

@Andre SC: drafting based on short-term concerns about your immediate depth chart is one of the most reliably dumb things an NBA GM can do — especially with a pick as high as #2. That’s exactly what got the Bulls Sam Bowie over Jordan.

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You must be of the opinion that Wiseman will not be good.

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Nope.

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Bulls?

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Haha, whoops.

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Celtics folks said cringe worthy ball handling skills? Sounds fun.

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Depends on who you talked to. Some liked him quite a bit, but there is a vocal set that hated him. Bottom line, he’s a two way player that played good minutes in the playoffs. Absolutely a great signing for league min

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We're talking 9th-10th off the bench. If Poole builds on PG duty skills, Wannamaker can spot up and just shoot and handle the opposing teams PG defensive assignment. Not a sexy name but again if the alternate is bringing back Quinn Cook (hopefully soon reunited with KD) or the multiplicity of below average PGs we've had in the rotation. (Livingston excluded). I'm ok with the signing.

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2.44 assists for each TO - that's not too shabby. For reference, Steph has 2.13 assists for each TO throughout his career.

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author

Also he had the second-best assist to turnover ratio on the team last year.

He won't break people down off the dribble, but he knows what he can and can't do.

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Is Batum a viable player?

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borderline, but he'd be fantastic at the league minimum. I don't know that I'd blow the DPE on him, but it wouldn't make me too mad either

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I was thinking league min. I wonder if he’ll get offered more. Might be worth a mle or dpe shot. Not a ton left out there that fits needs.

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Scrolling down on a tweet in the previous thread and ran across this, which is pretty interesting and very good news for the FO.

Bobby Marks

@BobbyMarks42

·

2h

Just a note on GSW and Klay Thompson

Golden State will likely get back $8.5M (and possibly more) from their Temporary Total Disability Policy (TTD) with Klay.

They will receive $275K for every game he misses after 41.

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author

they just applied for this yesterday (slightly higher amount), we'll put that in the new article for everyone

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Neat. Does that include corresponding luxury tax?

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Tax is offset bigly this year, given revenue losses will be massive

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Mr. Marks made no comment about that so I have no idea.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Bobby Marks ('THE' Capologist) on Wanamaker on twitter. Not sure how to embed tweets

Golden State will have different options when it comes to the $2.25M Brad Wanamaker contract.

1. Use part of the $5.7M tax ML

2. Use the $9.3M Disabled Player Exception (once granted)

GSW would not have access to the remaining $7M of the DPE if Wanamaker is signed with it.

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Don’t they also have access to the remaining $3M of the TPE — and wouldn’t that make a ton more sense than either of those possibilities?

Obviously they’re not blowing the entire DPE on a $2.25M contract for Brad Wanamaker. Kinda shocked Marks even mentions that as a possibility.

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...

Oh, my bad, just scrolled down and realized the TPE is out, since it would have a required a S/T, which would have triggered the hard cap.

So by process of elimination: Wanamaker’s $2.25M comes out of the MLE.

Guessing: GR3 gets the rest of that ($3.7M), and the DPE (once awarded) goes to Gasol or Baynes? With maybe Batum at the minimum for added wing depth?

S: Curry, Wanamaker, Poole, Mulder, Mannion

M: Wiggins, Oubre, GR3, Batum, Lee, JTA

L: Green, Gasol, Chriss, Paschall, Looney, Wiseman

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author

nice thanks! I'm using this for the next article. Fun times! Sure does feel good to be covering actual Warriors stuff again!

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Yup. Dubs ball is just around the corner and that makes me happy even if mixed with some tears.

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Guessing we got some kind of sign/trade with celtics, threw them a cheap 2nd round pick, and then used remaining TPE for him

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He is UFA.

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I think he was saying that that would be a way to use up the rest of the TPE (since it can't be used to sign free agents).

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Ah! True.

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I don't think we could do that cause we'd be hard capped and we're already over the apron w/ Oubre

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I think you can split TPE over several players

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Yeah but I'm pretty sure if you do a sign and trade you're hard capped for the season, so our total payroll would have to stay under ~139mil. This is what happened w/ D'Lo and why we had to shed all kinds of salary. We're already over the apron for 2021 w/ just Steph/Klay/Wiggins/Oubre/Dray, so I don't think we'd hard cap ourselves just to sign Wanamaker.

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@anthonyVslater

·

22m

Quick scout from my guy

@ByJayKing

on Wanamaker: "He’ll make a lot of sense there. Doesn’t take a ton of 3s and definitely has some shortcomings, but he’s tough, he can defend well enough and he’s good against a closeout. Not a dynamic creator, but good in his role."

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Gotta admit, I've never heard of this guy before lol

But let see...30yo and 6'3", with a per36 slash of 13.2 pts / 3.9 reb / 4.9 ast / 1/5 stl and 37.6% from 3 in his 2 years in the NBA.

Doesn't seem so bad to me, but looks like the Warriors had to use their MLE for this, I think vet min for 2 years exp is like $1.7m

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

My guess would be using $2.8 left from Iggy's TPE which expires in two days. MLE is forever (figuratively speaking).

Exceptions can be split but not aggregated.

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Ugh! I have to correct myself. Being armchair capologist is tough 😃 He is UFA. So can't use TPE.

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which begs the question how was he signed.

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I think it must have used part of our mid level, so if the 3rd year min is 1.78 and he was signed for 2.25 and the taxpayer MLE is 5.7, we should have 5.23 left?

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At least that's how it looks from my armchair over here

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Ooooh ok

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Nov 22, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Hmmm, Monte Poole saying they still have MLE: https://twitter.com/MontePooleNBCS/status/1330317068793679872?s=20

So I dunno, somebody find me a capologist lol

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Based on process of elimination, the Wanamaker contract can only really have come out of the MLE. So I’d assume we only have about $3.6M of that left; plus the full $9.3M DPE. Plus I guess $3M of the TPE if there’s some cheap $3M guy under contract on another team they want to absorb. Plus of course unlimited vet mins.

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author

Lol we will ask Patrick.

I gotta look into this dude. Have never heard of him

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Seems like a good move, cheap and cheerful. His stat line looks solid for a backup PG.

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not bad, not bad!

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Very happy with this development!

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Nov 21, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Thanks 3D. Too bad about Avery B going to MyYAMee. But maybe "good things come to those who wait?" I'm still in denial about Klay. (But then I think if anyone can come back, stronger, from an Achilles tear it's Klay. Right? RIGHT?!) GDI, my gut told me that damn Chase Center was gonna be bad juju. As in always chasing, never catching. Oh well, onward. I'll give Bob some f*ckin' credit and see what's next. DUBS4LIFE

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Man I can't help but think that if the Hornets organization was real imaginative, they would have drafted Okongwu BUT even if they were slightly threading above water in the creativity dept, they could have swapped with Minny to pickup Wiseman and given us Edwards.

I'd feel alot more confident right about now IF we could have drafted Edwards and used his combo skills to backup Curry or play alongside Curry at the close of first and third quarters. Pick up a Center on free agency or waiver wire and maybe save that DPE for trade deadline. I'm ok with our chances right now BUT would have felt way more confident if such scenario would have played out BUT hey enjoy Melo and that albatross of a Hayward contract.

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I think Edwards has every chance to be great in a couple years (especially after hearing news that he may have grown to 6’-6”) but am pretty dubious that he’ll be anything other than a big negative as a 19 year old rook coming off a long layoff and an abbreviated camp.

You could say the same about Wiseman, but he’ll have a much more limited and defined roll, and will almost certainly be miles more efficient.

Given the choice, I’d still take Wiseman over Edwards.

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*role

And ... roll. To the rim.

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Waive and stretch smiley's contract over 5yrs. Honestly smiley isnt an nba talent and we need the roster spot... warriors need baynes and sign GR3, rivers or house..

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Not to pile on here... but you know who was almost certainly worse at basketball at age 20 than Smiley... Aron Baynes. Cut the recent teenagers some slack. He might not be sure fire Jokic in 2 years, but he’s certainly not a bust... yet.

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What is making people think Smiley is a lost cause? Dude is young and still pretty raw.

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Let’s all sh*t on the Warriors 15th man!

Clearly Smiley is all that is wrong with the Warriors. Heck, not just the Warriors — the world.

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Besides warriors are undermanned now. We need players that can contribute now.. we need bench contribution as opposed to a future that might not come

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Because we dont have 5yrs to wait for him to become a bench player. Smiley is 20yrs old like zion and he is nowhere near ready.go find out how horribly he is playing in the open runs steph is organizing for those guys..

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Nov 21, 2020Liked by punk basketball

@ why cut and stretch Smiley when you could potentially center a package around Smiley for Giannis before the trade deadline @

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You must have taken crazy pills.

“Package”? Bucks will take Smiley straight up....

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But would Myers? I’d only consider it if they threw in Middleton. And picked up the tab.

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I was thinking a couple of first round picks, although with all the ‘ships Smiley immediately starts bringing to Milwaukee, they’ll be pretty lousy picks.

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Are u drunk? Which right thinking GM will do that. Smiley is a product of nepotism.. it was never meant to happen. Bob has to stop it now just like pelinka did quinn cook

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There’s not a GM in the NBA who would rather have Giannis than Smailagic.

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The amounts are similar, but timing is different. Cook was a cheaper waive. Only had to stretch $1M over three years. But they did it because it was about to go up to $4M and they didn't want to pay it.. Smiley is guaranteed $1.5M this year, but there is no time clock ticking like in the Quinn case. the next two seasons after this one are not guaranteed. So no pressing reason to waive him now AND they have other non-guaranteed slots they can waive first, if they need a roster spot (such as they did with Ky0

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It was about to go up to 3m with just one 1m guaranteed and they paid him the 1m. Know your facts

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Smiley is a wasted case.. he will not become a good nba player in 10yrs. Its a wasted roster spot right now. Just pull the plug and reset. We need production from everyone..

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Smiley is the least of the Warrior problems, right now. It looks like they've got nowhere to go in the FA department. It seems that the team has made its bed, or its bed has made itself and they will lie in it.

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Didnt they sign wanamaker after this? Im sure strength in number means carrying dead weight to u. There is a santa cruz G league guy. Ryan taylor who shoots above 40% 3s. He made 6 3s in that bubble scrimmage.. i'll rather have that than smiley who isnt ready for nba basketball and wont be ready in 5yrs. Fyi.. smiley came back worse. He couldnt even dribble the ball while poole was making every shot. Difference. Poole locked himself up in the gym and refused to go back home whioe smiley went to serbia and was posting pics of himself in clubs while his game evaporated. Its simple. Smiley aint ready. Send him on his way.. we need that roster spot

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Batum?

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Looney cant guard any true centre, cant protect the rim. He is only complementary on a good team. Right now we need players that can really play and not players like looney who only depend on steph for survival. Move looney now and get baynes..

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I'm not a Looney fan, but Baynes is not much of an upgrade over Looney. Certainly not worth the money for the Warriors.

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Baynes has a credible three ball that the Loon (along with all our other bigs) lacks. He also has an extra 40-50 lbs. of bulk/muscle that can be used for bodying monsters like Steven Adams and setting crushing screens for Steph-Oubre-Wiggins-Poole. We lack those qualities now.

These guys are not zero sum, anyway. You want to have a diverse group of centers that can do different things — viz. Bogut-Ezeli-Speights-Draymond or Zaza-West-McGee-Draymond or Cousins-Bogut-Jerebko-Looney-Green.

Baynes = Bogut/Zaza

Wiseman = McGee/Ezeli (to start)

Chriss/Looney = West/Jerebko

Draymond = Draymond

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Looking at all your negative comments, all I can think is, who hurt you?

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Tell me one true centre looney can guard.. let him guard AD and u'll definitely see barbecue chicken

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Looney credibly guarded AD in the playoffs, in 2018. Did a great job on him, and the Warriors kicked ass.

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AD struggles against marc gasol, embiid and porzinges.. watch their matchups.. ive seen baynes disrupt his rhythm too

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Any C is bbq chicken against AD. I saw him get the best of Capella...of course when he wa healthy some years back

Im sure there are more examples.

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Dude im just being factual.. im not some blind fan. That 5m can be useful elsewhere.

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They’re way capped out so could not use that $5M on anyone else. If you’re talking about a trade, that might be worth considering — it is true that if they land a Gasol or a Baynes, they may have a glut of a bigs, between him, Wiseman, Chriss, Looney, Draymond, and Paschall. But in that case you should try to come up with a specific, credible trade instead of just wetting your diapers incessantly about how badly Looney sucks.

But then you’d also need to explain why if Looney sucks that badly other teams would be pounding down our door to give us something value for him.

If you were as reality-based as you pretend to be, you’d be thinking about trades involving players that other teams might actually want.

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Look nobody wants to come to the warriors and there is no money. The truth is. Klay killed the dynasty. His bad contract caused by the injuries finally killed the dynasty. No wiggle room for them. Nobody wants wiggins. The best thing now is to move looney, cut smailagic, sign baynes as a stretch 5 to help with spacing for steph. Sign GR3 as a back up SG/SF and then look to retain mulder and ryan taylor.. thats just what we can do..

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Why would a team trade Baynes for Looney? Anyone they take on has significant luxury tax associated with it. Their initial contract is puny compared to the tax the Warriors will have to pay thanks to the team going all in on their stars. Warriors will make the playoffs this year with the team they have. No way will they get a championship this year. They'll just have to wait and breathe till next season.

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Actually, Baynes is a FA so it is not a trade. Does he play any D? He is not a rim protector. Looney has better D.

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Baynes is better.. baynes can bang with the big boys and is a stretch 5.. he cant help wiseman develop like he did for ayton. What can wiseman learn from looney other than pass the ball to steph and klay. Looney on another team will be in europe..lets just face it. He wouldnt be able to play the 5 and obviously too slow for 4..looney was telling the rookies how Steph would simplify the game for them last season. Saying it was too difficult to score but steph would make it easy. He aint good..simple

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Nov 21, 2020Liked by punk basketball

> Klay killed the dynasty.

LOL. Ow ow ow... somebody take this from me, this take is too hot for me.

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Well.. thats the truth.. 190m sitting on the sidelines killed the dynasty. Right now, klay has the worst contract in the nba.. 190m with an ACL and an achilles. He cant even get back to his pre injury self anymore. Its over. The truth is.. steph might leave after his deal and rightfully so. His dad doesnt own the warriors besides lacob tried to low ball him many times..

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I mean, some day, all of us and everyone we know and love will be dead.

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author

So little faith :(

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Ok..

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