Of course the hall will induct him, he played the right way. Iguodala epitomized a champion, sacrificing ego for the team goal: Four Rings. He made the right plays like he was a machine! Like he was Tony Williams playing behind Miles Davis. He was a master and improvised at a moment’s notice to counter the opponent’s scheme. He was a jack of all basketball trades AND a master in the right moments. Need a three pointer with seconds remaining in the game? All net. Need to defend a one point lead against their best player? How about a steal. Need to tie and win the game on the free throw line? No problem. Sink both like Curry. Need to play off the bench in the Finals to cover LeBron in his prime? How about an MVP worthy performance. Iguodala exceeded in multiple dimensions. His 19 years of basketball relevance served as testament to the flexibility and power of his mind, body, and “down-the-lane-dunk-jamming” spirit.
They've played two games, against tough opponents requiring him to work hard on the defensive end (Booker, Fox). He could go for 40 tomorrow night. (30 would get him to his normal 17 ppg average)
Yeah… with their injuries and losing Ja for 25 games, they’re going to be very much in catch up mode by the time he’s back… they could easily be 9-16 or worse… if they’re 9-16, they’ll have to finish 37-20 just to make it to 46 wins.
Tyus Jones playing well for the Wizards has to sting, and with Adams and Clarke out and Ja's future up in the air, it's quite possible that their trick has already been whooped. JJJ is a head-scratcher for me - he should be much more dominant than he is.
Yeah, I am not with those who are high on them. Even with Ja, they have clear shooting weaknesses. Defense wins chips IF there's also great offense. Bane ain't no chef.
Glad Dubs won last night. It was only one game, but it was on the road in a hostile environment against a good and motivated team. I'm reminded of the fickleness of fandom - before the game there was a lot of doom and gloom about the team starting out 2 and 7 and why Klay shouldn't see the floor (I'm exaggerating a bit) and suddenly with a win, everyone's amped about our depth, Dray's return, and WGBC!
How are the rockets tho? Glancing at box scores looks like they're playing a lot older now w their new additions of van vleet, brooks, and Jeff Green of all people and new coach is udoka? I think. So won't be the same but still better than the pels who were really good w zion and Ingram and seems like mccollum playing well
It's interesting, after seeing the Kings several times this pre-season through now, I'm more convinced that they're a really solid team, Fox has really turned a corner under Mike Brown's coaching and is a legit star, and Keegan Murray has a lot of potential... but they do not have that extra "champion" gear that the Dubs do. Higher floor, lower ceiling team. I could definitely see them getting a higher seed than us this year and still not making it past the first round of the playoffs. (Depends on if they matched against a wounded contender or another rambunctious upstart.)
There’s still moments of us going back to our old ways but for the most part it’s nice to watch a vet team taking care of the ball. Our turnovers aren’t pull your hair out worthy the whole game anymore. We limited it to spurts only lol
I think MAD DOG MOODY is on his way to an all defensive team in a few years. He’s involved in every play and he steals, blocks, disrupts, and then runs. Somehow he gets most of the loose balls. He seems like a winning player to me who doesn't make mistakes that hurt the team. I can’t wait to see him mature and earn his minutes. Sometimes…I want to see Klay come off the bench just to see what Moody would do as a starter! Is this blasphemy??
OK - I watched the game on super speed last night after getting in at like midnight from halloween parties. Quick thoughts:
(1) The Dubs just looked like they out-classed the Kings in this game. It must've stung for Sacto. The Athletic crew said something in their last podcast pre-game - The Dubs have to believe they're just better than the Kings, b/c otherwise they're aiming for a 4/5 seed and probably won't be up for a deep playoff run. And they proved it tonight. Without Dray. Sure, there was Q1 and there was lackadaisical play that allowed a come back. But when it mattered, the Dubs just destroyed the Kings. On both sides of the ball.
(2) OMG Steph. I am not worthy.
(3) Wiggs definitely looked much better this game. It feels to me like he just needs a bit more ramp up time to get back to playoff Wiggs or 2022 Fall pre-injury pre-drama Wiggs. I think he'll be fine.
(4) JK and MM didn't do anything lights out - but they both contributed meaningful minutes. JK was all over the boards, fighting, scrapping, tipping to teammates. MM always looks like he contributes moments after coming in. JK is still struggling with decision making. When to drive, when to pass. MM doesn't have that issue. But JK does - I think once he feels comfortable and knows that Kerr won't just yank him for turning the ball over too many times or giving up stupid fouls, then he'll start to make better decisions. Thankfully, his athleticism makes up for the occasional poor decision. JK also needs to work on better finishing moves. He will still occasionally end up attacking into a dead end and either lose the ball or have to reset. I'd prefer he have a better aresenal of moves that allow him to either get to the rim or get a foul. - That might not come this season - but it'll push him up to the next level.
(5) TJD looked playable! I hope Kerr gives him more run and rope down the line.
(6) I was really hoping for a blowout so we could see more of Podz and TJD.
(7) Klay looked much better this game. Starting to assuage my worries.
(8) I didn't get a good feel for their defense this game. I saw a few really bad switches, but Fox carved everyone up, and Sabonis wasn't nearly as well contained as during the playoff run. However, the rest of the Kings crew had a poor night, and hopefully that was caused by the rest of the D.
(9) GP2. God. I love him. Always blowing shit up.
(10) and holy shit. I am really enjoying the CP2 train and I didn't think I would. Let's just find a way to keep him healthy for the playoffs, and I don't think playing him 30 mpg is it.
(11) Same thing with Steph - any way we can bring him down to 30-32 mpg Kerr? I was really hoping he wouldn't have to go back in.
(12) That second unit - it looked outclassed in two stints last night, and then it was just on a roll for that Q3 stint. So much potential, but they definitely need time to gel.
(13) Can't wait for Dray to get back - you can feel his missing presence. The defense needs its leader, and CP can't be the playmaker for both the Steph minutes and the non-steph minutes. That'll wear him down too fast.
I think it’s just nerves for Kuminga this early in the season. He knows he has to play his best and prove himself, so he’s either doing too much (and fouling in the process) or doing too little so as not to make mistakes (cuz he doesn’t want to get benched). He’s learning and adapting. He’s already making more rebounds.
You know, ... now you have me wondering if the coach's realized this, and that's why they gave him the "green light for all offensive rebounds - don't worry about getting back on defense." The coach's knew that he needed to get out of his own way, so gave him that green light so that at least, for rebounding, he doesn't have decision fatigue around to go or not go.
Interesting. It does feel like crashing for those boards gives him an outlet for some of the nervous energy that previously sped the rest of his game up a bit.
And is looking more crisp on his dissension making. In the past is seems like one "ah shit" moment got in his head and he would have 2 or 3 bad plays after. Now, it seems like that does not happen near as often.
That's one of the funnier typos/autocorrect issues I've seen in a while. :)
To be fair, he's been studying under Draymond. Dissension should come pretty naturally by now.
But, yeah, Kuminga's definitely improving on the effort level (and it was already pretty good). I think once he has a better thinking process for the game (when to freelance/when to stay at home), he's going to be pretty ferocious on D. As it is, it seems more like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Young player stuff.
Imagine a world where the addition of CP and real shooting threats like MM/JK/Saric and JK's driving give Curry enough space so that his efficiency goes up a notch. We all know that he almost never misses open shots. We also know that oppoents constantly smother him and that he makes shots with barely a sliver of daylight. What if all the changes to the team this year force opponents to give him more daylight, and what if that means he will post a 70% TS% this year?
I don't know what it would take for Curry to get more daylight. I'm not sure that will ever happen again. Teams are committed to not letting him beat them (worse than he already does, anyway) and they double him aggressively, daring anyone else to beat them. I think they're willing to live with that when it happens, and I have to agree that it's probably the better bet.
What I was thinking is that CP3 may just have his best stat year in maybe the past 8 or so. He is going to get a bunch of dimes this year having people around him that can finish plays.
I don't think Steph could ever hit 70% TS because he's too audacious. If he's hot, if he's getting good looks, he's just going to step up the difficulty of his shots to demoralize the opponents more. He knows what efficiency is "good enough" and he'll just increase his volume, scoring buckets and buckets and buckets, if he has the efficiency dialed in enough he'll trade it in for MORE POINTS.
Besides, if he didn't hit that TS% with Durant on the team, he probably won't do it now.
The team was so top heavy in those seasons (just Steph, Klay, and KD as deep scoring threats with no other spacing) that I've always wondered how much playing with KD actually helped Steph's efficiency.
Durant was also a pretty terrible screen setter and while he did draw attention, Steph draws more.
I could see him missing out on 70% TS because of the last second heaves he's prone to put up. Interesting that Murray chose to hold up on launching one 3/4 of the court at the end of one quarter instead of harming his percentage - must have been channeling Andre.
Well, maybe. We all said that when Klay was out and they went 20-2. Then Klay came back and mucked up the situation. Hopefully Dray won't do that. But it is possible he will. I mean, maybe they are playing freer without Draymond "I BARK CONSTANTLY AT TEAMMATES, COACHES, REFS, AND FANS" Green turning several refs against the team and draining the fun out of everything.
OMG. so many threads. We got a post-game thread. Now we have an awesome Daniel article. I expect we'll have an E1P thread shortly, too. It's a win-splosion of threads on DNHQ.
We really need his introductions changed to “Laaaaaadies aaaand gentlemen, He is The main event of the evening! Sanctioned by, the National Basketball Association Commission, Chairman: Adam Silver. He stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing in at 185 lbs, balling out for the Golden State Warriors, presenting, the 2 time MVP, Finals MVP, 4 time Champion... THEEEE UNDISPUTED, UNNNNDERRRRATED, UNANIMOUS ONE... STEPPHEN "THE HUMAN TORCH" CURRRRRYYYYYY!!!!
Of course the hall will induct him, he played the right way. Iguodala epitomized a champion, sacrificing ego for the team goal: Four Rings. He made the right plays like he was a machine! Like he was Tony Williams playing behind Miles Davis. He was a master and improvised at a moment’s notice to counter the opponent’s scheme. He was a jack of all basketball trades AND a master in the right moments. Need a three pointer with seconds remaining in the game? All net. Need to defend a one point lead against their best player? How about a steal. Need to tie and win the game on the free throw line? No problem. Sink both like Curry. Need to play off the bench in the Finals to cover LeBron in his prime? How about an MVP worthy performance. Iguodala exceeded in multiple dimensions. His 19 years of basketball relevance served as testament to the flexibility and power of his mind, body, and “down-the-lane-dunk-jamming” spirit.
Don't forget, with the fate of the Universe on the line...
Lavine scores 51 and Bulls lose by almost 20 still. Should've blown that team up 2 years ago.
Not what you'd call a balanced offensive attack tonight - two starters on the Bulls with zero points each.
Do wonder if the fact the Wiggins played so little last seaosn just means he needs a full month to get into game shape and find his shot this seaosn.
That would be really easy to understand.
They've played two games, against tough opponents requiring him to work hard on the defensive end (Booker, Fox). He could go for 40 tomorrow night. (30 would get him to his normal 17 ppg average)
Booker is a problem for anybody so that first game I can give him a mulligan at the very min.
A muwiggin?
Kispert leading the way with 19pts in the first half.
Could be a looong season for Memphis…
Loosing Ja and Brooks can do that to you.
And Jones… and Adams… and Clarke
Yeah… with their injuries and losing Ja for 25 games, they’re going to be very much in catch up mode by the time he’s back… they could easily be 9-16 or worse… if they’re 9-16, they’ll have to finish 37-20 just to make it to 46 wins.
Tyus Jones playing well for the Wizards has to sting, and with Adams and Clarke out and Ja's future up in the air, it's quite possible that their trick has already been whooped. JJJ is a head-scratcher for me - he should be much more dominant than he is.
Yet some experts predicted them to be 1st in the west without Ja.
lolHollinger
Yeah, I am not with those who are high on them. Even with Ja, they have clear shooting weaknesses. Defense wins chips IF there's also great offense. Bane ain't no chef.
LaVine at 12 points in 6 mins. Impressive, but still off the pace by a lot
Glad Dubs won last night. It was only one game, but it was on the road in a hostile environment against a good and motivated team. I'm reminded of the fickleness of fandom - before the game there was a lot of doom and gloom about the team starting out 2 and 7 and why Klay shouldn't see the floor (I'm exaggerating a bit) and suddenly with a win, everyone's amped about our depth, Dray's return, and WGBC!
If we lose to Houston without Steph it'll be back to doom and gloom.
If Dray plays tomorrow night, you can be sure Steph will play too. Of course, they each might get the following night off in NO.
Rather see the younger group play the rockets and the full squad take on the Pels.
How are the rockets tho? Glancing at box scores looks like they're playing a lot older now w their new additions of van vleet, brooks, and Jeff Green of all people and new coach is udoka? I think. So won't be the same but still better than the pels who were really good w zion and Ingram and seems like mccollum playing well
It's interesting, after seeing the Kings several times this pre-season through now, I'm more convinced that they're a really solid team, Fox has really turned a corner under Mike Brown's coaching and is a legit star, and Keegan Murray has a lot of potential... but they do not have that extra "champion" gear that the Dubs do. Higher floor, lower ceiling team. I could definitely see them getting a higher seed than us this year and still not making it past the first round of the playoffs. (Depends on if they matched against a wounded contender or another rambunctious upstart.)
2 seed hosting the 3 seed Warriors in the second round.
I could also see them in the play in if OKC, DAL, MIN, MEM, and/or LAC pull things together
Maybe if all 5 of those pull things together... or if the Kings lose quite a bit of Sabonis/Fox games to injury.
They need a Draymond (and an Andre off the bench...)
Yeah, they are close. Just shows how spoiled we are. They are really good, but that’s not enough-yet.
Draymond playing vs Rockets: https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/draymond-green-season-debut-injury-rockets/1666485/
He's our CP3 now M*ers!!
There’s still moments of us going back to our old ways but for the most part it’s nice to watch a vet team taking care of the ball. Our turnovers aren’t pull your hair out worthy the whole game anymore. We limited it to spurts only lol
at least 4-5 of the TOs yesterday were in the final minutes where we just weren’t prepared for their attack
That was so frustrating. At one point, I think CP had ZERO turnovers and turned the ball over like 3x in a row.
Light the beam steph!
I think MAD DOG MOODY is on his way to an all defensive team in a few years. He’s involved in every play and he steals, blocks, disrupts, and then runs. Somehow he gets most of the loose balls. He seems like a winning player to me who doesn't make mistakes that hurt the team. I can’t wait to see him mature and earn his minutes. Sometimes…I want to see Klay come off the bench just to see what Moody would do as a starter! Is this blasphemy??
They can't do it this year, with Klay's contract coming up. Bench demotion would be viewed as trying to depress his value.
"25M and he's not even a starter?"
It should happen eventually, which imo would increase the legend of Klay if he’s able to accept that (ex Recently retired magic hands)
I agree, and I would think his offense would be a gigantic threat off the bench. He is a gunner, and the role would be to come in and gun. Win-win.
Moody is scary good at off-ball Defense!
OK - I watched the game on super speed last night after getting in at like midnight from halloween parties. Quick thoughts:
(1) The Dubs just looked like they out-classed the Kings in this game. It must've stung for Sacto. The Athletic crew said something in their last podcast pre-game - The Dubs have to believe they're just better than the Kings, b/c otherwise they're aiming for a 4/5 seed and probably won't be up for a deep playoff run. And they proved it tonight. Without Dray. Sure, there was Q1 and there was lackadaisical play that allowed a come back. But when it mattered, the Dubs just destroyed the Kings. On both sides of the ball.
(2) OMG Steph. I am not worthy.
(3) Wiggs definitely looked much better this game. It feels to me like he just needs a bit more ramp up time to get back to playoff Wiggs or 2022 Fall pre-injury pre-drama Wiggs. I think he'll be fine.
(4) JK and MM didn't do anything lights out - but they both contributed meaningful minutes. JK was all over the boards, fighting, scrapping, tipping to teammates. MM always looks like he contributes moments after coming in. JK is still struggling with decision making. When to drive, when to pass. MM doesn't have that issue. But JK does - I think once he feels comfortable and knows that Kerr won't just yank him for turning the ball over too many times or giving up stupid fouls, then he'll start to make better decisions. Thankfully, his athleticism makes up for the occasional poor decision. JK also needs to work on better finishing moves. He will still occasionally end up attacking into a dead end and either lose the ball or have to reset. I'd prefer he have a better aresenal of moves that allow him to either get to the rim or get a foul. - That might not come this season - but it'll push him up to the next level.
(5) TJD looked playable! I hope Kerr gives him more run and rope down the line.
(6) I was really hoping for a blowout so we could see more of Podz and TJD.
(7) Klay looked much better this game. Starting to assuage my worries.
(8) I didn't get a good feel for their defense this game. I saw a few really bad switches, but Fox carved everyone up, and Sabonis wasn't nearly as well contained as during the playoff run. However, the rest of the Kings crew had a poor night, and hopefully that was caused by the rest of the D.
(9) GP2. God. I love him. Always blowing shit up.
(10) and holy shit. I am really enjoying the CP2 train and I didn't think I would. Let's just find a way to keep him healthy for the playoffs, and I don't think playing him 30 mpg is it.
(11) Same thing with Steph - any way we can bring him down to 30-32 mpg Kerr? I was really hoping he wouldn't have to go back in.
(12) That second unit - it looked outclassed in two stints last night, and then it was just on a roll for that Q3 stint. So much potential, but they definitely need time to gel.
(13) Can't wait for Dray to get back - you can feel his missing presence. The defense needs its leader, and CP can't be the playmaker for both the Steph minutes and the non-steph minutes. That'll wear him down too fast.
I think it’s just nerves for Kuminga this early in the season. He knows he has to play his best and prove himself, so he’s either doing too much (and fouling in the process) or doing too little so as not to make mistakes (cuz he doesn’t want to get benched). He’s learning and adapting. He’s already making more rebounds.
You know, ... now you have me wondering if the coach's realized this, and that's why they gave him the "green light for all offensive rebounds - don't worry about getting back on defense." The coach's knew that he needed to get out of his own way, so gave him that green light so that at least, for rebounding, he doesn't have decision fatigue around to go or not go.
Interesting. It does feel like crashing for those boards gives him an outlet for some of the nervous energy that previously sped the rest of his game up a bit.
And is looking more crisp on his dissension making. In the past is seems like one "ah shit" moment got in his head and he would have 2 or 3 bad plays after. Now, it seems like that does not happen near as often.
> dissension making
That's one of the funnier typos/autocorrect issues I've seen in a while. :)
To be fair, he's been studying under Draymond. Dissension should come pretty naturally by now.
But, yeah, Kuminga's definitely improving on the effort level (and it was already pretty good). I think once he has a better thinking process for the game (when to freelance/when to stay at home), he's going to be pretty ferocious on D. As it is, it seems more like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Young player stuff.
OMG ... one last thought.
Imagine a world where the addition of CP and real shooting threats like MM/JK/Saric and JK's driving give Curry enough space so that his efficiency goes up a notch. We all know that he almost never misses open shots. We also know that oppoents constantly smother him and that he makes shots with barely a sliver of daylight. What if all the changes to the team this year force opponents to give him more daylight, and what if that means he will post a 70% TS% this year?
Starting the Steph for MVP push now, baby!
I don't know what it would take for Curry to get more daylight. I'm not sure that will ever happen again. Teams are committed to not letting him beat them (worse than he already does, anyway) and they double him aggressively, daring anyone else to beat them. I think they're willing to live with that when it happens, and I have to agree that it's probably the better bet.
What I was thinking is that CP3 may just have his best stat year in maybe the past 8 or so. He is going to get a bunch of dimes this year having people around him that can finish plays.
I don't think Steph could ever hit 70% TS because he's too audacious. If he's hot, if he's getting good looks, he's just going to step up the difficulty of his shots to demoralize the opponents more. He knows what efficiency is "good enough" and he'll just increase his volume, scoring buckets and buckets and buckets, if he has the efficiency dialed in enough he'll trade it in for MORE POINTS.
Besides, if he didn't hit that TS% with Durant on the team, he probably won't do it now.
The team was so top heavy in those seasons (just Steph, Klay, and KD as deep scoring threats with no other spacing) that I've always wondered how much playing with KD actually helped Steph's efficiency.
Durant was also a pretty terrible screen setter and while he did draw attention, Steph draws more.
I could see him missing out on 70% TS because of the last second heaves he's prone to put up. Interesting that Murray chose to hold up on launching one 3/4 of the court at the end of one quarter instead of harming his percentage - must have been channeling Andre.
I saw that, and immediately thought the same thing.
But if they called fouls for each time he's mugged w/o the ball.....
Love a great article and fun poll! I will always vote for Curry but wanted to push the button for all five.
Can’t we have another option - All the above?
I keep thinking, they’re looking this good without Dray. They got another gear. 😈
Well, maybe. We all said that when Klay was out and they went 20-2. Then Klay came back and mucked up the situation. Hopefully Dray won't do that. But it is possible he will. I mean, maybe they are playing freer without Draymond "I BARK CONSTANTLY AT TEAMMATES, COACHES, REFS, AND FANS" Green turning several refs against the team and draining the fun out of everything.
I dunno, I think Dray's return tonight will be pretty fun. It usually results in winning basketball.
You take that back! ;)
Way to find the dark cloud in our silver lining. Just let us have this for now. :-D
And they’re still gelling…
OMG. so many threads. We got a post-game thread. Now we have an awesome Daniel article. I expect we'll have an E1P thread shortly, too. It's a win-splosion of threads on DNHQ.
Fox held his own. He was not the problem for the Kings.
But Steph Curry... dude is different. Love to see him get another MVP along with a ring.
We really need his introductions changed to “Laaaaaadies aaaand gentlemen, He is The main event of the evening! Sanctioned by, the National Basketball Association Commission, Chairman: Adam Silver. He stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing in at 185 lbs, balling out for the Golden State Warriors, presenting, the 2 time MVP, Finals MVP, 4 time Champion... THEEEE UNDISPUTED, UNNNNDERRRRATED, UNANIMOUS ONE... STEPPHEN "THE HUMAN TORCH" CURRRRRYYYYYY!!!!
in this case, we should add “Kingslayer”
I would gladly do that introduction. Somebody let the Warriors know...
Steph is the problem for the Kings
Steph is the problem for the [29 other NBA teams]