I wonder how Durant feels. He probably left because he wanted to win with his "own" team, but now that he has a superteam and Harden is getting all the MVP and best player buzz, it might look very similar to the Warriors again.
I still think it came down KD not really being able to relate to our big 3 off the court. Steph and Dray has a family and Klay is mostly off doing his own thing. Of course I'm not saying that's why he left but maybe he wanted to join friends that he could hang out with when they're not playing basketball. KD and everybody else knows he's top 3 in the world when healthy so I feel like he wouldn't be too insecure about that
Probably a combination of things. No matter how much love we showed for KD this was still seen as Steph's team. Plus KD was taking all that flak outside the Dub community for having come here to start with. Plus the blowup with Dray. Plus KD just seems like a moody guy. And just because he knows he's top 3 does not mean he's secure in that or anything else. Plenty of people are great at something and still insecure.
I’m thinking it’s the equivalent of a a flock of seagulls at the beach where the seagulls = good but not great NBA players ring chasing, and the chip = KD.
Mar 27, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
For anyone that still feels down or discouraged about the last two games, keep these things in mind.
1. Poole, Nico, and Wiseman are getting big minutes and it's great. But, they are young and still need to learn to play alongside each other and the rest of the team, especially on the defensive end.
2. Draymond was effectively out both games. This is huge especially on defense when now you're relying on Wiseman to be calling out rotations, not to mention the caliber of defender Dray is.
3. To exacerbate those issues, we went up against two of the quickest, young PGs in Fox and Trae where you better be good at the point-of-attack. We were not good and so every defensive possession was an uphill climb from the get-go.
4. I don't think Dray was the only one with side-effects from the vaccine. Looney with 1 reb. and 4 fouls in 19 minutes? C'mon, we all know Looney by now. Possibly others affected as well...
I am expecting much better results next game because the issues we've had are temporary.
Assuming it's a healthy Klay everybody should be able to stay in front of their man more which in turn will give Wiseman less decisions to make. Right now opposing players are just walking by our guys which forces Wiseman to do too much and he just isn't at a point where he can recover and be in position himself after helping. What he should be doing right now is to solely focus on being able to handle his assignment first and that includes boxing out correctly too but the current circumstances requires him to do too much and the game is still way too fast for him. It's like skipping to Lesson 8 when you should really be on Lesson 2 in a course.
I thought they might send him to the G League too. Of course then we'd be back to Looney and small ball all the time but given the results lately anyway, it might have been a good idea.
Good fan confidence, but his performance against backups indicates the G-League is the next level of competition that he can compete at without getting manhandled
Bazemore's 3pt shooting has really come back down to earth, I mean it's still a pretty respectable % but has been trending downwards post ASB. This is the Baze I thought we would get, pretty good in spurts but generally pretty meh. I always thought he was way too erratic on both ends to be a consistent player on a winning team. I prefer Lee to take over his minutes as he can do what Baze can but better IMO. He might be better off as the emergency spark plug when the bench is struggling but that's just me.
Don't get me wrong I know he's capable of playing good defense/shoot the ball well at times but Good Bazemore vs. Evil Bazemore will always be a thing and you can't count on that especially when the games begins to matter aka next year. On second thought he probably won't even be here by then so it doesn't matter
I disagree with the assertion that the defense won't improve with Curry back. Poole is starting in place of Curry and Poole's defense is much worse. Then you have everyone right now just focusing on finding ways to score leaving less energy and focus on defense. When Curry makes it easy to score for himself and others, that confidence bleeds onto the defensive side of the ball.
So much doom and gloom. You know, the Lakers aren't doing so great missing 2 future hall of fame players from their starting 5 either.Everybody knew that Wiseman was a freakish athlete that was going to have problems adjusting to the NBA due to lack of experience. Everybody knew going in that once Thompson got injured, the Warriors were a fringe playoff team. 2/3rds of the way into the season, they are still a fringe playoff team. And everybody knew that the Warriors had luxury tax problems with so much money committed to Curry+Thompson+Wiggins+Green that the bench would be weak and there wasn't going to be a big upgrade. About the only thing that wasn't anticipated is that Chriss would break his leg. I guess people were just assuming the Warriors would exceed expectations.
Nobody thought Wiseman will be so bad/lost on the court. Nobody thought that adding both Wiggins and Oubre will barely move the needle from 15-50 season if Dray and Curry were not playing. Nobody thought that development of JW will take priority over wining. Nobody thought it's going to be another wasted year in spite of Curry's brilliance (which albeit was in doubt).
So yeah last two games make me feel deinflated as compared to what I hoped the season would be.That's the magic of Curry (and Dray, if you are a believer). They make you hope for what's not possible.
At start of the season, I remember Nick Friedel saying on 95.7 that Dubs will have 36-36 or worse record and they might sneak into play-in because Curry will end up missing 10+ games. Hearing that, I thought he is probably right but I hope he is wrong.
That hope is now almost gone and hence the disappointment. But I will be there for next game and rest till the season finishes.
Pretty much spot on. I’d say that the Curry-led Dubs are somewhat better than i expected. This a team with about $80 mm tied up in 3 players, only 2 of whom play and 1 of whom has zero offensive game and shows little spark when Curry isn’t playing. Given the massive dollars tied up in the team’s top 4 players, the balance of the roster has to be rookie-scale contracts and minimum contract guys. So, the team ain’t going to win unless its getting maximum production out of the top 4.
Mar 27, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Also, lets celebrate that Wiggins has been scoring efficiently like a maniac these last 5 games which will hopefully continue once Steph is back. Lets also celebrate that we've discovered Poole who will be an absolute spark plug of scoring once he's back on the bench.
We're better defensively than what we've shown . . . and Wiggins/Poole are going to inject newfound offense into our team. If Wiseman continues developing, things are looking up even if we've been losing these last few games.
Let's not forget the emergence of Nico as a legit player off the bench. I know it's a super small sample size since he started getting consistent minutes but he's shown he can hang and will only get more comfortable as time goes on. Ideally we'll go with the Nico, Poole, Lee, JTA, Paschall and Looney to end the season
I like Nico, he's been shooting well and he provides some much needed passing to the second unit. However . . tbh, when Curry comes back I'd much rather the primary second unit be Poole/Lee/Bazemore/Draymond/Looney.
Draymond/Looney provide some much needed defense for that squad while Poole/Lee/Bazemore provide shooting. The main problem with this squad is that Poole will be the sole initiator (similar to Paschall) which can sometimes result in subpar offense. It really depends on how consistently excellent Poole can be offensively as an initiator.
Absolutely not. There’s very little point in playing Bazemore over Mannion. Baze is fully cooked, Mannion is the future and a Klay-less Dubs are going nowhere.
Bazemore has been shooting better (44% from the field and 38% from three vs. Mannion's 34% from the field and 40% from three). Not to mention, he is just a far better defender than Mannion and is also more versatile which is essential in our defensive scheme. Mannion/Poole is far too small for our defense placing far too much pressure on our bigs.
I'd definitely put in Bazemore instead of Mannion and mix in JTA in a small ball alignment with Draymond to add some of that playmaking that we lose with Mannion on the bench.
I think that's why Nico's getting minutes. His weaknesses and strengths complement Poole's. JTAs getting good enough to the point where he can spell Draymond some and bleed into the second unit before bringing Steph back in, plus since he knows the system it gives them another playmaker when Poole and Lee are out there together.
I really like the JTA/Poole/Nico partnership, Nico and JTA both make good hustle plays on defense and JTA seems good at communicating with the young guys and getting them open. I think we see them beat some other benches when they're back to playing limited minutes starting the 2nd and 4th again, instead of Poole playing almost the entire game.
Mar 27, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Everybody is deservedly crapping on Wiseman's defense, but let's also celebrate his 18 points in 27 minutes on good efficiency. Regarding his lack of blocking,the vets on the team (Looney/Dray) play good defense without many blocks. Wiseman is typically a second late in the contests, that will come with some more experience as he tries to balance good positional defense + not fouling + timing. This is why he needs minutes.
If the Warriors ever design their system to Wiseman's strengths instead of pretending he's David West, he'll flourish offensively.
I'm only concerned about his defense and physicality, we've seen enough flashes offensively to know what he is capable of when he's used like the elite athlete he is. I'm not even sure he has great touch in terms of finishing but when you have that JaVale like quality of being able to dunk anything near the restricted area, it doesn't matter.
What is he doing in O that will maximize the Warriors scoring with Steph and Klay on the court? Let’s lean in to those things and avoid the iso & post touches.
From what I've seen his three biggest strengths are beating the other center down the court in transition, dunker's spot on Curry/Dray PnR, and Curry/Wiseman PnR. I'm sure there are other ways to utilize his speed (Draymond gets like 2 or 3 shots at the rim a game on fake dribble handoffs, Wiseman can do the same thing).
I also think that he can be a decent screener to get Curry or Klay open even if he's not necessarily the passer who finds them.
I actually think that the Warriors have started allowing Wiseman to take more jump shots (I saw a few coming off screens last game) which is good because Wiseman has a lackluster post skilset which is worsened by his lack of core strength.
I do think Wiseman has good touch, he is just getting absolutely bodied inside which is throwing him off balance. Once he adds some strength and starts moving people + staying on balance, he'll be able to score inside.
Like you, Im far more concerned about his defense. While he is athletic, his lack of rim protection is reminding me quite a bit of Willey Caulie Stein? Maybe thats just me though!
And that good offensive game is without Steph's gravity to help. The Hawks are more like the kind of high offense, low defense team Wiseman has needed to build confidence against all year, but so many of our games in the first half were against top defensive teams. And then he missed games when they were playing a bad defense, like the series against the Mavs. I think he probably gains more confidence in the second half of the season just playing different teams.
Mar 27, 2021Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee
Re: Wiseman, I think a lot more than we realize depends on him just getting more and more exposure to the speed of the NBA. I remember when Dray was talking about the game slowing down for him- that was years into his career. It will happen with Wiseman and make it so much easier for him to do what he’s good at. The maddening thing is that nobody knows when and you can’t force it.
I'd add lower body strength to it. He'd rebound better and many other aspects of his game would be easier... did anyone notice how he got dislodged by a stationary Richaun Holmes last game? lol... Holmes just stood there and Wiseman drifted off-screen...
The chances of him adding that kind of grown man strength, lower body and everywhere else, are exceedingly high to the point of not being remotely a concern. Even if he weren’t an elite athlete with the best trainers in the world and a fantastic work ethic; people need to think about how much natural grown man strength and muscle dudes naturally add from age 19 (basically freshmen in college) till their mid 20s. I’m 5-10, and I think I went from like 135 lbs to like 155 in those years, while still having extremely low body fat and not being any kind of a workout freak.
Beyond the strength, think about how much natural coordination guys gain in those years. 19 year olds are naturally gangly and spazzy, cos their bones have just stopped growing and their bodies are still trying to figure out how to deal with these new crazy long limbs. Guys in their mid 20s just move in a different, more naturally coordinated way than teenagers do.
Wiseman’s gonna be an absolutely beast physically. There’s zero concern about that.
All that you described about adjusting to a growing body is exacerbated when you're a 7 footer. The way that I see it, Wiseman is increasingly demonstrating that he has the touch as evidenced by his shooting from outside.
Once Wiseman adds soms strength, he's going to stop being thrown around by other players and will be dislodging OTHER players . . . which is where his touch will come into play. That post play which is inefficient now . . . its going to become much higher percentage.
That being said, I like how the coaching staff is leaning into his current strength and letting Wiseman come off screens for seperation! Get him a few buckets and confidence goes up.
Still averaging 10 boards per 36 while being “horrible” — much better than Garnett, Bosh, both Gasols and many other similarly skilled big men managed as rookies.
That's the thing . . . Wiseman is so fundamentally unsound in a lot of what he does . . . but he still produces. Its quite baffling how someone who has an extremely limited post skillset is still dropping double digits consistently on limited minutes.
I guess that's what being a 7 foot physical freak does for you! If he can develop his skillset more over time (and apparently he has a great work ethic, then it can very well happen.
Also he actually makes shots off his jab step, he doesn't need to master every shot at 19. He's clearly trying to do too much/probably practicing multiple options all over the court that are just going to waste.
Agreed. I've recently rewatched some of his HS/Memphis footage on YT. I can see why he attempts some of his moves... they look smooth, like his fade-away in the post... but it doesn't work for him now because everyone is longer, bigger, and strong enough to knock him off-balance. Hope he just sticks more to the basics.
My main theory on good Wiseman (assuming we're living in the good Wiseman timeline) is that at some point he accepts he just needs to master a few basics instead of everything at once, and then his game looks way more polished just a few months later. Hoping it happens this summer.
He’s on the Nerlens Noel learning curve in that respect. Noel refused to focus on team needs thinking his way to a big payday was showing all the skills and he almost ended up out of the league.
Regarding the Curry-less defense, a locked in Draymond helps a lot and 25+ minutes of Wiseman hurts a lot. Against Memphis and Houston, they had the former and not the latter and looked good (except for all the fouling in Houston). Against Philly, they had both the former and the latter and were decent. Against Sacramento and Atlanta, they didn't have the former but had the latter and got destroyed.
There are other factors (the Mannion/Poole combo was getting abused by the bigger Sixers, the schedule was tough around the break, Looney was out for the second Memphis game and they played Smiley instead, and Curry is indeed a good defender). But I'd say Draymond's energy and Wiseman's minutes are the two main factors.
One interesting thing about Wiseman is I remember monitoring his stats earlier in the season and he was averaging like 2.8 blocks per 36 minutes at one point and was comparing favorably to a lot of famous high school centers in terms of shotblocking (Garnett had 2.1 per 36 although he wasn't playing center). Not counting tonight's 0 block effort, he's down to 1.6 blocks per 36 minutes.
Box score stats aren't everything but it seems like he's gotten way worse as the season goes on, and that certainly can't all be put on him.
This is one of the biggest reasons it's hard to make the case he's improved this season, because it's easier to say he's maybe just changed. It's almost like the coaching has made him worse on rim protecting (probably to have him avoid fouling).
Yeah it seems like he was better before the coaching. Maybe it'll all click for him soon and Kerr will be proven right? Or maybe they need to change their approach drastically.
He was contesting more shots and getting a lot of blocks before. Coaching staff told him he's big enough to defend the rim without trying to go for the block and now he does that weird half contest half get out of the way thing that is just plain awful.
Maybe it's just a natural progression, first he learns intuitively how to guard without fouling, then he starts jumping for blocks again, but selectively.
There was that period (or maybe just a game?) where he was a little over aggressive looking for blocks and getting himself out of position for rebounds... Kerr even pulled him for it. Maybe he's kind of overcompensated since then?
What's weird is how now he can be out of position but also barely going for blocks. He has stopped the running into the side of guys with his back turned thing, though.
The good news: They now have 2 days off and a full practice on Sunday, then the Bulls game. After the Bulls game they have another 2 days off, and another full practice (I think). That's 2 days of practice in one week, rare this year. And word is Wiseman may even attend!
Wes Goldberg's a doofus. If the Warriors' defensive issues have only "emerged" over the last several games, it's more likely to be some combo of random variation and fatigue than something that needs to be "solved."
Also, Steph is a good defender. And (as Slater alludes to) the energy he forces teams to expend on D takes something out of O. Plus, it's easy to play free and easy on O when you've built a 15-20 point lead. It's all interconnected.
Was this Draymond's worst game this year, energy wise? Kinda looked like he only had the energy to talk to guys and not actually play for some of the possessions. Not sure I've ever seen him just roll the ball halfway to someone on a simple pass around the perimeter before.
Other unusual Draymond moments: just looking at multiple guys shooting near/at the basket without even getting near them or getting his arms up, almost on consecutive possessions. Traveling on the catch while starting a drive on the perimeter. Calling for the ball while surrounded by six guys.
There was a moment that the other team had possession near the hoop and someone hurled the ball past him. He went into a defensive posture the way players do under the basket when they get dunked on. It seemed weird, like he should have caught it or knocked it off course or something.
I wonder how Durant feels. He probably left because he wanted to win with his "own" team, but now that he has a superteam and Harden is getting all the MVP and best player buzz, it might look very similar to the Warriors again.
I still think it came down KD not really being able to relate to our big 3 off the court. Steph and Dray has a family and Klay is mostly off doing his own thing. Of course I'm not saying that's why he left but maybe he wanted to join friends that he could hang out with when they're not playing basketball. KD and everybody else knows he's top 3 in the world when healthy so I feel like he wouldn't be too insecure about that
Probably a combination of things. No matter how much love we showed for KD this was still seen as Steph's team. Plus KD was taking all that flak outside the Dub community for having come here to start with. Plus the blowup with Dray. Plus KD just seems like a moody guy. And just because he knows he's top 3 does not mean he's secure in that or anything else. Plenty of people are great at something and still insecure.
I just saw LMA to Nets 😂
I dont even know where to start on that one
Well I’m not going to watch the LeBron KD finals. I hope they both lose
Nets aren't making it to the Finals and if the Lakers don't get healthy they aren't either
Hope you’re right!
Feel like he does absolutely nothing for them.
I'd go a step further - I'll be very happy if the Nets are playing 2021 LMA crucial minutes in the playoffs as opposed to a defensive big like Dieng.
Maybe they're just trying to make a team for for the 2015 All-Star game.
Trying to recreate the exact conditions before Steph stole 2 of Harden's MVPs, so they can try to create a time warp.
Hahahaha
I don't think even the most pro-Harden fans can argue 2016.
Lol
I’m thinking it’s the equivalent of a a flock of seagulls at the beach where the seagulls = good but not great NBA players ring chasing, and the chip = KD.
For anyone that still feels down or discouraged about the last two games, keep these things in mind.
1. Poole, Nico, and Wiseman are getting big minutes and it's great. But, they are young and still need to learn to play alongside each other and the rest of the team, especially on the defensive end.
2. Draymond was effectively out both games. This is huge especially on defense when now you're relying on Wiseman to be calling out rotations, not to mention the caliber of defender Dray is.
3. To exacerbate those issues, we went up against two of the quickest, young PGs in Fox and Trae where you better be good at the point-of-attack. We were not good and so every defensive possession was an uphill climb from the get-go.
4. I don't think Dray was the only one with side-effects from the vaccine. Looney with 1 reb. and 4 fouls in 19 minutes? C'mon, we all know Looney by now. Possibly others affected as well...
I am expecting much better results next game because the issues we've had are temporary.
The Warriors haven't yet been blown out in a Curry-less game when Draymond is 100% (although that Philly game got iffy for awhile lol).
He's an all-time great talent when he's locked in.
If this were our starting lineup right now...
Steph
Klay
Wiggins
Dray
Wiseman
...how much would the various strengths provide cover for Wiseman’s weaknesses?
How good will Klay be on the point of attack?
Defending
Assuming it's a healthy Klay everybody should be able to stay in front of their man more which in turn will give Wiseman less decisions to make. Right now opposing players are just walking by our guys which forces Wiseman to do too much and he just isn't at a point where he can recover and be in position himself after helping. What he should be doing right now is to solely focus on being able to handle his assignment first and that includes boxing out correctly too but the current circumstances requires him to do too much and the game is still way too fast for him. It's like skipping to Lesson 8 when you should really be on Lesson 2 in a course.
Tbh he should have went to the G League with Poole and Nico
I need to make sure I don’t hire you for my FO when (follow my Cal Lottery win) I buy an NBA franchise.
Don't worry I'm not interested
I thought they might send him to the G League too. Of course then we'd be back to Looney and small ball all the time but given the results lately anyway, it might have been a good idea.
Seems like they're repeatedly shooting themselves in the foot w/ Wiseman's development because of all these "unwritten rules of a top draft pick".
I don’t know- maybe, but I feel like flaws and all he would just dominate the G league making it hard to learn much.
Good fan confidence, but his performance against backups indicates the G-League is the next level of competition that he can compete at without getting manhandled
He didn’t get college
Bazemore's 3pt shooting has really come back down to earth, I mean it's still a pretty respectable % but has been trending downwards post ASB. This is the Baze I thought we would get, pretty good in spurts but generally pretty meh. I always thought he was way too erratic on both ends to be a consistent player on a winning team. I prefer Lee to take over his minutes as he can do what Baze can but better IMO. He might be better off as the emergency spark plug when the bench is struggling but that's just me.
I agree that Lee is giving you more at this point.
It’s what you get when you’re only able to spend a fraction of the mle. Given the price, he’s been great.
Don't get me wrong I know he's capable of playing good defense/shoot the ball well at times but Good Bazemore vs. Evil Bazemore will always be a thing and you can't count on that especially when the games begins to matter aka next year. On second thought he probably won't even be here by then so it doesn't matter
/endpost
I disagree with the assertion that the defense won't improve with Curry back. Poole is starting in place of Curry and Poole's defense is much worse. Then you have everyone right now just focusing on finding ways to score leaving less energy and focus on defense. When Curry makes it easy to score for himself and others, that confidence bleeds onto the defensive side of the ball.
Also some pressure comes off Draymond
So much doom and gloom. You know, the Lakers aren't doing so great missing 2 future hall of fame players from their starting 5 either.Everybody knew that Wiseman was a freakish athlete that was going to have problems adjusting to the NBA due to lack of experience. Everybody knew going in that once Thompson got injured, the Warriors were a fringe playoff team. 2/3rds of the way into the season, they are still a fringe playoff team. And everybody knew that the Warriors had luxury tax problems with so much money committed to Curry+Thompson+Wiggins+Green that the bench would be weak and there wasn't going to be a big upgrade. About the only thing that wasn't anticipated is that Chriss would break his leg. I guess people were just assuming the Warriors would exceed expectations.
I expected this post.
I will be devil's advocate here.
Nobody thought Wiseman will be so bad/lost on the court. Nobody thought that adding both Wiggins and Oubre will barely move the needle from 15-50 season if Dray and Curry were not playing. Nobody thought that development of JW will take priority over wining. Nobody thought it's going to be another wasted year in spite of Curry's brilliance (which albeit was in doubt).
So yeah last two games make me feel deinflated as compared to what I hoped the season would be.That's the magic of Curry (and Dray, if you are a believer). They make you hope for what's not possible.
At start of the season, I remember Nick Friedel saying on 95.7 that Dubs will have 36-36 or worse record and they might sneak into play-in because Curry will end up missing 10+ games. Hearing that, I thought he is probably right but I hope he is wrong.
That hope is now almost gone and hence the disappointment. But I will be there for next game and rest till the season finishes.
Pretty much spot on. I’d say that the Curry-led Dubs are somewhat better than i expected. This a team with about $80 mm tied up in 3 players, only 2 of whom play and 1 of whom has zero offensive game and shows little spark when Curry isn’t playing. Given the massive dollars tied up in the team’s top 4 players, the balance of the roster has to be rookie-scale contracts and minimum contract guys. So, the team ain’t going to win unless its getting maximum production out of the top 4.
Also, lets celebrate that Wiggins has been scoring efficiently like a maniac these last 5 games which will hopefully continue once Steph is back. Lets also celebrate that we've discovered Poole who will be an absolute spark plug of scoring once he's back on the bench.
We're better defensively than what we've shown . . . and Wiggins/Poole are going to inject newfound offense into our team. If Wiseman continues developing, things are looking up even if we've been losing these last few games.
Let's not forget the emergence of Nico as a legit player off the bench. I know it's a super small sample size since he started getting consistent minutes but he's shown he can hang and will only get more comfortable as time goes on. Ideally we'll go with the Nico, Poole, Lee, JTA, Paschall and Looney to end the season
Yes he's been getting bullied on the defensive end lately but I think that's been a team wide issue and should be patched up soon
I like Nico, he's been shooting well and he provides some much needed passing to the second unit. However . . tbh, when Curry comes back I'd much rather the primary second unit be Poole/Lee/Bazemore/Draymond/Looney.
Draymond/Looney provide some much needed defense for that squad while Poole/Lee/Bazemore provide shooting. The main problem with this squad is that Poole will be the sole initiator (similar to Paschall) which can sometimes result in subpar offense. It really depends on how consistently excellent Poole can be offensively as an initiator.
Absolutely not. There’s very little point in playing Bazemore over Mannion. Baze is fully cooked, Mannion is the future and a Klay-less Dubs are going nowhere.
Bazemore has been shooting better (44% from the field and 38% from three vs. Mannion's 34% from the field and 40% from three). Not to mention, he is just a far better defender than Mannion and is also more versatile which is essential in our defensive scheme. Mannion/Poole is far too small for our defense placing far too much pressure on our bigs.
I'd definitely put in Bazemore instead of Mannion and mix in JTA in a small ball alignment with Draymond to add some of that playmaking that we lose with Mannion on the bench.
I think that's why Nico's getting minutes. His weaknesses and strengths complement Poole's. JTAs getting good enough to the point where he can spell Draymond some and bleed into the second unit before bringing Steph back in, plus since he knows the system it gives them another playmaker when Poole and Lee are out there together.
I really like the JTA/Poole/Nico partnership, Nico and JTA both make good hustle plays on defense and JTA seems good at communicating with the young guys and getting them open. I think we see them beat some other benches when they're back to playing limited minutes starting the 2nd and 4th again, instead of Poole playing almost the entire game.
Add Looney’s screening for Poole and defensive stoutness to that lineup and I’m in.
When Steph is back we are going to show some moments of greatness again. That Utah game was not a fluke.
Everybody is deservedly crapping on Wiseman's defense, but let's also celebrate his 18 points in 27 minutes on good efficiency. Regarding his lack of blocking,the vets on the team (Looney/Dray) play good defense without many blocks. Wiseman is typically a second late in the contests, that will come with some more experience as he tries to balance good positional defense + not fouling + timing. This is why he needs minutes.
If the Warriors ever design their system to Wiseman's strengths instead of pretending he's David West, he'll flourish offensively.
I'm only concerned about his defense and physicality, we've seen enough flashes offensively to know what he is capable of when he's used like the elite athlete he is. I'm not even sure he has great touch in terms of finishing but when you have that JaVale like quality of being able to dunk anything near the restricted area, it doesn't matter.
What is he doing in O that will maximize the Warriors scoring with Steph and Klay on the court? Let’s lean in to those things and avoid the iso & post touches.
From what I've seen his three biggest strengths are beating the other center down the court in transition, dunker's spot on Curry/Dray PnR, and Curry/Wiseman PnR. I'm sure there are other ways to utilize his speed (Draymond gets like 2 or 3 shots at the rim a game on fake dribble handoffs, Wiseman can do the same thing).
I also think that he can be a decent screener to get Curry or Klay open even if he's not necessarily the passer who finds them.
I actually think that the Warriors have started allowing Wiseman to take more jump shots (I saw a few coming off screens last game) which is good because Wiseman has a lackluster post skilset which is worsened by his lack of core strength.
I do think Wiseman has good touch, he is just getting absolutely bodied inside which is throwing him off balance. Once he adds some strength and starts moving people + staying on balance, he'll be able to score inside.
Like you, Im far more concerned about his defense. While he is athletic, his lack of rim protection is reminding me quite a bit of Willey Caulie Stein? Maybe thats just me though!
And that good offensive game is without Steph's gravity to help. The Hawks are more like the kind of high offense, low defense team Wiseman has needed to build confidence against all year, but so many of our games in the first half were against top defensive teams. And then he missed games when they were playing a bad defense, like the series against the Mavs. I think he probably gains more confidence in the second half of the season just playing different teams.
Re: Wiseman, I think a lot more than we realize depends on him just getting more and more exposure to the speed of the NBA. I remember when Dray was talking about the game slowing down for him- that was years into his career. It will happen with Wiseman and make it so much easier for him to do what he’s good at. The maddening thing is that nobody knows when and you can’t force it.
I'd add lower body strength to it. He'd rebound better and many other aspects of his game would be easier... did anyone notice how he got dislodged by a stationary Richaun Holmes last game? lol... Holmes just stood there and Wiseman drifted off-screen...
Core x 10 too.
The chances of him adding that kind of grown man strength, lower body and everywhere else, are exceedingly high to the point of not being remotely a concern. Even if he weren’t an elite athlete with the best trainers in the world and a fantastic work ethic; people need to think about how much natural grown man strength and muscle dudes naturally add from age 19 (basically freshmen in college) till their mid 20s. I’m 5-10, and I think I went from like 135 lbs to like 155 in those years, while still having extremely low body fat and not being any kind of a workout freak.
Beyond the strength, think about how much natural coordination guys gain in those years. 19 year olds are naturally gangly and spazzy, cos their bones have just stopped growing and their bodies are still trying to figure out how to deal with these new crazy long limbs. Guys in their mid 20s just move in a different, more naturally coordinated way than teenagers do.
Wiseman’s gonna be an absolutely beast physically. There’s zero concern about that.
Yep, fully agree with everything.
All that you described about adjusting to a growing body is exacerbated when you're a 7 footer. The way that I see it, Wiseman is increasingly demonstrating that he has the touch as evidenced by his shooting from outside.
Once Wiseman adds soms strength, he's going to stop being thrown around by other players and will be dislodging OTHER players . . . which is where his touch will come into play. That post play which is inefficient now . . . its going to become much higher percentage.
That being said, I like how the coaching staff is leaning into his current strength and letting Wiseman come off screens for seperation! Get him a few buckets and confidence goes up.
Are you available for training camp next year? Nico could use some competition at backup PG, unless you're aiming big and going for Steph's spot.
Wiseman has been dislodged by guards in previous games. He's just horrible right now at rebounding
Still averaging 10 boards per 36 while being “horrible” — much better than Garnett, Bosh, both Gasols and many other similarly skilled big men managed as rookies.
I'd rather have a center that can box out great than get the numbers. How is our team rebounding with him on vs off?
Awesome stat for perspective- thanks Sleepy!
That's the thing . . . Wiseman is so fundamentally unsound in a lot of what he does . . . but he still produces. Its quite baffling how someone who has an extremely limited post skillset is still dropping double digits consistently on limited minutes.
I guess that's what being a 7 foot physical freak does for you! If he can develop his skillset more over time (and apparently he has a great work ethic, then it can very well happen.
Oh yeah, they should really tell Wiseman to stop shooting stepback threes. Or stepback twos standing on the three point line, as he seems to prefer.
Step back longest 2’s possible. They said the D was giving him those shots. Pretty sure the D wants to give everyone those shots.
And to stop sprinting out to defend a shot only to get the double speed blow by.
May be his mind/eye/body coordination hasn't fully transitioned from shooting at 19.75" to 20.75" to 23.75". Hopefully with reps, he will catch up.
Yep. No step-back, side-step anything. He should be shooting open, set-shot threes and if he's open who's going to block his shot?
Also he actually makes shots off his jab step, he doesn't need to master every shot at 19. He's clearly trying to do too much/probably practicing multiple options all over the court that are just going to waste.
Agreed. I've recently rewatched some of his HS/Memphis footage on YT. I can see why he attempts some of his moves... they look smooth, like his fade-away in the post... but it doesn't work for him now because everyone is longer, bigger, and strong enough to knock him off-balance. Hope he just sticks more to the basics.
My main theory on good Wiseman (assuming we're living in the good Wiseman timeline) is that at some point he accepts he just needs to master a few basics instead of everything at once, and then his game looks way more polished just a few months later. Hoping it happens this summer.
He’s on the Nerlens Noel learning curve in that respect. Noel refused to focus on team needs thinking his way to a big payday was showing all the skills and he almost ended up out of the league.
Hopefully Wiseman can learn from Noel.
Regarding the Curry-less defense, a locked in Draymond helps a lot and 25+ minutes of Wiseman hurts a lot. Against Memphis and Houston, they had the former and not the latter and looked good (except for all the fouling in Houston). Against Philly, they had both the former and the latter and were decent. Against Sacramento and Atlanta, they didn't have the former but had the latter and got destroyed.
There are other factors (the Mannion/Poole combo was getting abused by the bigger Sixers, the schedule was tough around the break, Looney was out for the second Memphis game and they played Smiley instead, and Curry is indeed a good defender). But I'd say Draymond's energy and Wiseman's minutes are the two main factors.
This seems the most likely to me, too. But I'm hoping the vaccine theory gains prominence and they look a lot better after this b2b.
The vaccine thing was clearly true for Draymond, not blaming him for not being locked in, he probably shouldn't have even played:
https://twitter.com/JDumasReports/status/1375669778711412736
One interesting thing about Wiseman is I remember monitoring his stats earlier in the season and he was averaging like 2.8 blocks per 36 minutes at one point and was comparing favorably to a lot of famous high school centers in terms of shotblocking (Garnett had 2.1 per 36 although he wasn't playing center). Not counting tonight's 0 block effort, he's down to 1.6 blocks per 36 minutes.
Box score stats aren't everything but it seems like he's gotten way worse as the season goes on, and that certainly can't all be put on him.
This is one of the biggest reasons it's hard to make the case he's improved this season, because it's easier to say he's maybe just changed. It's almost like the coaching has made him worse on rim protecting (probably to have him avoid fouling).
Yeah it seems like he was better before the coaching. Maybe it'll all click for him soon and Kerr will be proven right? Or maybe they need to change their approach drastically.
He was contesting more shots and getting a lot of blocks before. Coaching staff told him he's big enough to defend the rim without trying to go for the block and now he does that weird half contest half get out of the way thing that is just plain awful.
Maybe it's just a natural progression, first he learns intuitively how to guard without fouling, then he starts jumping for blocks again, but selectively.
There was that period (or maybe just a game?) where he was a little over aggressive looking for blocks and getting himself out of position for rebounds... Kerr even pulled him for it. Maybe he's kind of overcompensated since then?
What's weird is how now he can be out of position but also barely going for blocks. He has stopped the running into the side of guys with his back turned thing, though.
The good news: They now have 2 days off and a full practice on Sunday, then the Bulls game. After the Bulls game they have another 2 days off, and another full practice (I think). That's 2 days of practice in one week, rare this year. And word is Wiseman may even attend!
Wes Goldberg's a doofus. If the Warriors' defensive issues have only "emerged" over the last several games, it's more likely to be some combo of random variation and fatigue than something that needs to be "solved."
Also, Steph is a good defender. And (as Slater alludes to) the energy he forces teams to expend on D takes something out of O. Plus, it's easy to play free and easy on O when you've built a 15-20 point lead. It's all interconnected.
Was this Draymond's worst game this year, energy wise? Kinda looked like he only had the energy to talk to guys and not actually play for some of the possessions. Not sure I've ever seen him just roll the ball halfway to someone on a simple pass around the perimeter before.
Kerr said Dray was not feeling well... gutted it out tonight. He seemed very very low energy tonight.
Other unusual Draymond moments: just looking at multiple guys shooting near/at the basket without even getting near them or getting his arms up, almost on consecutive possessions. Traveling on the catch while starting a drive on the perimeter. Calling for the ball while surrounded by six guys.
There was a moment that the other team had possession near the hoop and someone hurled the ball past him. He went into a defensive posture the way players do under the basket when they get dunked on. It seemed weird, like he should have caught it or knocked it off course or something.
As someone who got their second vaccine shot on Wednesday and was still pretty out of it today, I think it's understandable
Maybe we should just be thankful no one got injured with over half the team playing groggy.
Post vaccine effect. He will be fine by tomorrow.
It is known.
Notable stats:
Hawks:
Collins: (+21)
38 points 14/19 FGs 4/5 three pointers 6/7 FTs
12 rebounds (1 off.) 2 assists 1 steal
Capela: (+17)
18 points 8/10 FGs 2/4 FTs
15 rebounds (3 off.) 1 turnover 2 steals 3 blocks
Young: (+13)
21 points 6/14 FGs 1/6 three pointers 8/9 FTs
3 rebounds 15 assists 4 turnovers
Gallinari: (+5)
12 points 5/9 FGs 2/4 three pointers
1 assist 2 turnovers
Bogdanovic: (+0)
11 points 5/9 FGs 1/5 three pointers
1 rebound (1 off.) 5 assists 1 turnover 1 steal
Warriors:
Wiggins: (-23)
29 points 10/19 FGs 4/7 three pointers 5/7 FTs
7 rebounds (1 off.) 3 assists 2 turnovers 2 blocks
Poole: (-8)
15 points 5/11 FGs 3/6 three pointers 2/3 FTs
4 assists 3 turnovers
Wiseman: (-17)
18 points 7/13 FGs 0/1 three pointer 4/4 FTs
5 rebounds 1 turnover 1 steal
Oubre: (-8)
14 points 5/13 FGs 1/5 three pointers 3/7 FTs
6 rebounds (2 off.) 2 assists 2 steals 1 block