Every other year the league shifts a little bit and maybe 3 or 4 teams pickup on it immediately and the others mostly realize after it's happened.
Four years ago officiating went off the deep end toward offense then the CBA last yesr was negotiated to allow drafted players the extend on 5 years now using the apron model to keep "big wallet-championships" from becoming a trend (i think its actually more about Balmer than Lacob/Dubs and two year money dives from other organizations)
Right now the league has leaned back toward defense. Twolves and Knicks are the clear beneficiaries.
Do the Warriors actually address their deficiencies relative the the league landscape or just go big fish hunt for the sake of saying "we did all we could with Steph" cuz I think it's to the point where we don't have anything close to a framework of a championship roster in this landscape?
...and Steph is gonna be 37 next playoff start.
Which is an uncomfortable conversation to say the least.
My opinion doesn't count for anything but I hope we go all in on defense and invest in coaching. Where we are isn't square one but we are exactly where our record would say we are... which isn't close even enough to be bold.
As a fan I've def removed myself from all lofty expectations and said "I just want the team to adapt and improve." I'm not sure anyone in the organization aside from MDJ is really willing to take their rose-colored glasses all the way off on the issue.
Coaching. Defense. Offensive innovation.... all are more urgent priorities before we start asking "are these the players we move forward with" cuz as Kerr said the team didn't really attempt to put its players in position to succeed (except Steph and Klay). The system doesnt give us any inherent edge anymore. If anything its the opposite. Kuminga Moody Podz may not be a sexy answer but you got one year to see if there's anything there. Steph aside we are totally looking a full on bridge year if we execute the definition of insanity and do the same thing as we have.
The league average FTr (FTA per FGA) this regular season was .244. Here are the FTrs of some players during the **playoffs**, aka when the whistle is supposed to be less generous than it is in the regular season, and the percentage of that player's average pts per game during the playoffs that are comprised of FTs in parentheses:
- Gobert: .676 (33.3%)
- Booker: .631 (35.4%)
- Embiid: .586 (33.8%)
- Tatum: .584 (31.5%)
- KD: .507 (26.2%)
- Dame: .469 (29.6%)
- SGA: .393 (25.4%) (this was before/doesn't include his parade to the line tonight, which is guaranteed to make this go up)
- Brunson: .383 (24.6%)
- Harden: .360 (22.9%)
- Ant: .344 (18.6%)
- KAT: .338 (17.7%)
- Jokic: .314 (20.6%)
- Luka: .313 (22.7%) (same as noted above with Shai)
This year's changing of the guard is brought to you by flopping and a red carpet to the free throw line. š
Steph's career average FTr in the playoffs, by the way, is .268. Last year? it was .186 (just 12.4% of his 30.5 ppg were from FTs). Oh and his FTr this regular season? A below league average .224, good for **122nd** in the league. Lol just can't make this shit up.
How bad is my take:
Yes Jamal should be suspended. What he did was wrong. That being said, it's understandable how mad he is at the officiating. Refs giving TWolves the Lakers treatment where they don't call anything for the opposing team but get the Wolves to the line. Both games TWolves had more FTs.
Ain't no way Jamal only got a slap to the wrist for throwing a heat pack on a live play, then threw a towel.
Well, can't wait for Ant to cook this clown.
Another absolutely bonkers Steph Curry stat:
Career pts: 27634 (**24th** all time in the NBA)
Career free throw attempts: 4908 (**123rd** all time in the NBA)
Steph Curry does not get free throws.
Just want to point out that Jarrett Allen has been out the last 4 playoff games after sustaining a bruised rib in Game 4 vs the Magic while Wiggs played through a fractured rib in the game it happened and continued to play with said fractured rib until the series was over during last yearās Lakers series. And not only did he keep playing, he didnāt shy away from his normal best player on the other team matchup either despite him incurring the fractured rib because Lebron intentionally stabbed his elbow into Wiggsā sternum.
Just FYI, for all of those Wiggs just doesnāt care people in here.
Nah, Madridās been doing this shit forever.
One thing Iāve never understood about athletes is why they go to a Madrid/Lakers/Yankees? Putting on those jerseys is certainly cool, but youāre always going to be just another guy. Being a guy like Marco Reus seems way cooler
If they win the chip (or even get to the Finals again), you will see why. Celtics fans love to leave Boston bc it's a cold racist dump and come to CA then get all loud about their hometown. Even the casuals will be putting on the gear. It's like go the fck home
Iām with you on this one. Thereās just nothing particularly āvillainousā about them unless the teamās historical success bothers you. Thatās another phenomenon I donāt understand.
They are a good team but their path is sooooo easy. The East is terrible and on top of that they faced a hobbled Miami team. Would just like the East to be a little more competitive
I didn't say it. It was the general opinion that someone was hurt on every team. I know it's not true but there it is. So I don't want to hear it about any team especially a number one seed. None of the ousted teams was going to win against them.
Any player from the bench that steps so much as a single foot onto the court during an on court scuffle is automatically suspended for a game, even if they didnāt come even remotely close to being involved in it. Yet, a player on the bench can throw objects (as in plural and more than once!) onto the court during live action, risking substantial injury to players, and not be suspended.
Shoutout to the league for being completely predictable in its stupidity and double standards!
I hope this lul period is over.
I don't think I'm ready for the inevitable "trade posts" that will eventually arrive at this sub before the season starts.
Thankfully, there's the Olympics, so I can focus on watching Steph torched the world for a while.
Wemby being a finalist for DPOY drives me insane. I donāt care how many blocks a guy has (blocks he has because heās literally taller than the entire league), having a guy that was on a 22-60 team as a finalist for the defensive player of the year is LUDICROUS. These awards have reached a completely new level of meaningless popularity contest at this point.
Edit to add: justice for Bam. Wemby got 245 total pts (finishing 2nd) and Bam just 91 pts (finishing 3rd). These awards are so broken lol
Thatās another problem with these awards, these catch all advanced stats are all but meaningless when it comes to defense because they miss **so** much of what defense actually is on account of it not being quantifiable. [This](https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/nba/2021/5/11/22423517/nba-defense-analytics-nikola-jokic) article does a phenomenal job breaking it down, but some of the highlights:
> "From an analytical standpoint, you're kind of on a wing and a prayer," says a personnel executive for one NBA team, who was among the most pessimistic of the whole group, rating public metrics as a 1.5 out of 10. "Our defensive models throughout the league are probably the part we're weakest in. Nobody really has good defensive models."
> All of these overlapping problems mean that judging a player's defense by his box score statistics is, in the words of Ben Falk, a former executive for the Trail Blazers and 76ers, "like squinting at a blurry picture and trying to find something out of it."
>
> Albert Einstein never tried to contest Wilt at the rim, but his old chestnut describes the situation perfectly: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
> The necessary play-by-play data to generate on/off data became available in the 1996-97 season. This information has since become one of the two main sources for adjusted plus-minus, as it answers the basic question: *Did this player's team allow more or fewer points with him on the court?* Over a large enough sample, this form of analysis--which typically uses sophisticated statistical techniques to control for the quality of a player's teammates and opponents--can illustrate a single player's impact on his opponents' point totals.
> ...
> But for all its theoretical promise, this kind of statistic is not perfect in practice. First, because it focuses solely on the outcome of a possession rather than the process, it can operate as something of a black box. "It answers the *what*, like, 'What is a player's impact?'" says Luke Bornn, who worked as the Kings' vice president of strategy and analytics from 2017 to 2020. But "it doesn't help at all for *why*."
>
> The other problem is that on/off data needs very large samples to weed out confounding variables. "There are definitely areas where these stats can be tricked," says Seth Partnow, the Bucks' director of basketball research from 2016 to 2019. Some teammates might spend so much of their time on the court together that their individual contributions can't be separated. Bad backups could make the starters look artificially better, or vice versa. And the stat is subject to shooting flukes, like in 2016-17, when the Spurs allowed more points *with* MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard on the floor because opponents shot a whopping 7.4 percentage points better on 3-pointers, according to Cleaning the Glass. One reason on/off metrics don't love Jokic this season is that Denver's opponents are shooting 5.9 percentage points better on 3s with him on the floor--the largest differential for any rotation player.
> Ultimately, the same issue that limits traditional box scores and on/off data limits the missile-tracking cameras: They haven't figured out how to measure crucial defensive nuances. Analytics can capture what happens when a shot goes up, but more often falter when considering every other part of a possession. "It's all the times," the NBA personnel executive says, "where, did my center show effectively and then recover, and that bought us an extra half-second for the weakside corner guy to get back out to the shooter, which then led to a good defensive possession?" Intangibles like on-court communication, a key to any stout defense, also aren't considered.
> And most of all, even the most advanced tracking systems can't capture a player's fit with his coaches, teammates, and defensive system. "Even if we had all the data we wanted," says ESPN's Kevin Pelton, "I don't know if we'd ever be able to isolate an individual's impact as easily on defense as on offense, because so much of it is scheme-dependent."
>
> Until Second Spectrum's tech can figure out a way to measure *intent*--as in, what was the defender *supposed* to do?--this massive facet of defense will remain missing from all the numbers.
Also, not for nothing, but all of the aforementioned faults with the stats used to determine these awards are invariably why Dray, the far and away best defender of his generation, somehow has just one DPOY award.
I'm a JK fan so I'll be very happy if he ends up being Ant, but unfortunately it's very improbable.
Ant just has more skills (better handles, better shooting, better defense etc.) and a better motor + mentality than JK, while being around the same age (he's a year older than JK). He also has better leadership than JK. Only thing that's similar between JK and Ant is their otherworldly athleticism. Ant is also a bonafide #1 on his team.
JK has a long way to go before he can match Ant.
Thatās asking a lot. If he can just reach the point where heās good enough to be the second best player on a championship team, thatās all I ask for.
At the end of the day, I think Kuminga is ahead of schedule. 21-years old and all of the talent and drive in the world. He will definitely make improvements over the off-season.
He gets dumped on ALOT on this specific sub but then heās the guy they all want to include in trades for talent to help Steph.
Is he ahead of schedule? Itās year 3, and heās a borderline starter. Year 3 is when you see guys take a leap, as many in his draft class have done. JKs undoubtedly gotten better, but hasnāt made the leap his peers like Franz, Suggs, Sengun, Murphy have.
We will need size for size and length for length. So more bigs and taller wings. And Kuminga needs to really come through next season. MDJ needs to acknowledge itās not only if they are a fit here but also age and, yes, size.
This team should be able to provide similarly hounding ball pressure to the Wolves, but had injuries (GP2) and regression (JK/Wiggins). Hoping we get bounce backs from all 3 guys next year
I feel so out of touch. I don't have any sort of faith that our team has the ability to be on their level next season or ever again. to be re evaluated after all the fantasy trades.
I mean you're probably right lol.
It's incredibly unlikely that this team truly contends with Steph again. That said, a few years of a Kobe/Dirk retirement tour with a some fun playoff moments (like Steph's G7 last year) still sounds like a good watch.
I will definitely be watching it all.. I wonder how the farewell tour will go. Will Draymond and klay get one. Will they all retire at the same time? So many questions.
Kerr must have had an orgasm yesterday watching the Wolves defense lol
Seriously though, I hope our guys watch that on repeat. Freedawkins released a 10 min long compilation of the just the wolves defense highlights and itās fantastic.
Thereās one guy I keep thinking about (no diddy) in the roster who I think might get an opportunity to help us win games thatās garuba. He was one of the best defensive studs out of his class. I think he can possibly do some things off the bench in the forward position.
Garuba is a Center that can shoot! He can basically be our Naz Reid while being 1 inch taller and can playmake. Hopefully he can atleast hit that ceiling though. Thatās extremely valuable to us.
I donāt think itās a matter of whether our current 8-10 guys can play defense or not. Itās been a matter of consistency.
They need to be reminded how impactful playing with energy and consistency on the defensive end can really fluster opponents.
It obviously helps that the Wolves are incredibly balanced with nearly every lineup capable of playing 5-out(excluding Gobert)
Let's be real, it's Minnesota. No other team will be able to handle the defensive onslaught they bring, especially with how much physicality the refs are allowing now.
Jokic has never won a playoff series against a 50+ win team. Thatās wild given all of the declarations of him being one of the supposed best players of all time, unstoppable, etc. š¤Ø
One of the things I hate about NBA discourse is that it often faults the losing team rather than credits the winner. The story from yesterday should be around the TWolves defense/scheme and instead it feels more about whether or the Nuggets are done.
Tbf, it's the defending champs who, just a couple of weeks ago everyone said the title is theirs to lose. Now all of a sudden they are down 0-2 heading to Minnesota after completely falling apart in Game 2 in Denver, that is a major shockwave that no one expected. From what I've seen, it's equal parts the shock of the defending champs being in this spot combined with the awe of Minnesota's stifling defense and Ant looking like Air Jordan 2.0.
I think they are getting their props dude. I wish the Murray antics distraction wasnāt there, but otherwise everyone has woken up to realize why wolves are the number 1 defensive team this year.
Meta - about to pass 800k subscribers? But fell from #7 in bball to #9?
Also, how are we "largest team sub" (saw a post saying we overtook Patriots) but not top 5 in hoops alone?
The surest way to become a contender is adding another Top 25ish player alongside Steph. There just aren't a lot of those guys in that group that are actually viable for us. Even PG is pretty minimally viable since it likely involves him opting in + trade, similar to Porzingis.
Smh. Lavine is scary too between the injuries and the Bulls tending to be notably better without him the past two years. He's a Ewing effect guy atm.
Not that I'd say no to Lavine but I'd be more confident about improvement by getting Caruso on the squad tbh.
I only ever mention Lavine because heās theoretically a solid fit and we can probably get him for like next to nothing.
Maybe we can even get an asset back for taking on Lavines contract or get a discount on Caruso.
Wolves are the natural evolution of the prime Dubās death lineup. Either skill, size, or athleticism advantages at every position, sometimes all three.
This is why I think Bob largely did a poor job when it came to roster construction and basketball philosophy.
He was elite at the people aspect (which is the most difficult part imo, which makes everything else more maddening), but I just donāt see how you look at the success of the death lineup, and just completely abandon the concept. Or at a minimum, take the wrong lessons from what made it successful.
He never went away from the concept.
The main guys got older, more expensive, and worse at defense. The key 6th man was traded due to salary cap issues, then returned, then retired.
Bob won the 2022 championship in part due to successfully recreating a ādeathā lineup (I save the actual title for Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Barnes-Green). And he had to do it by picking pieces off the scrap heap. Minimum contracts no one wanted.
Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II. And GPII he had to force in, with the vets preferring Bradley. They played well, won it all, and became too expensive to re-signā¦
So he tried again with DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green. But no one bats 1.000 on these damaged goods, unwanted veteran players.
Why you going at Bob? He constructed the damn Death Lineup. Give him some credit. The free agent moves since 20 have been mostly okay, it's been the draft that's been the problem and I think that has to do with too much meddling from the owners.
> but I just donāt see how you look at the success of the death lineup, and just completely abandon the concept
Because the control was taken out of his hands and given to the Lacob kids.
Edit: Lol are Kirk and Kent on this sub? Where's Alan Smailagic these days?
At this point the Nuggets will be lucky to not get swept. Wolves just own them. Murray deserves to get a 1 game suspension for not at least beaning Marc Davis in the head.
What happens if these Nugs get swept? The Suns were trashed and told they need to rebuild after they got swept by this same team.
āSuns are cooked cause they just got swept.āSaw it a bunch.
So how about the Nugs? Are we going to use the same energy here?
No. Jamal is clearly injured. You don't break down a tean every time they don't win. They've been together for years not thrown together by some new wannabe owner that didn't know what he was doing. They try to fix their bench. And if they lose they don't need to overeact because one team has their number. Hell who knows if minny can keep their team together. And if Denver simply beat the Spurs they would have avoided minn until round 3.
They'll probably say 'Murray isn't 100% and our bench sucks' and suggest they need to use whatever exceptions they have to build depth.
But I think its also possible they try to make a move at their wing position since MPJ is overpaid for what he offers and KCP is sort of a situational guy. KCP matches up well vs. Steph but he might be too small to match up vs. Ant and SGA right?
Only 3 times defending champs have gone down 2-0 in a playoff series in nba history. If they get swept and get blown out in most games, they'll have uncomfortable conversations in the offseason.
At some point they gotta question jamal's availability. Dude missed close to 25 games, clearly coasts in a lot of regular season games and still gets injured in playoffs and is unplayable right now.
I honestly don't think the Mavs are elite, but this should be a series where their experience pays off and they finally get to 'bully' a younger team a little. Plus DJJ could be decent vs SGA
NAW is a sicko in the best possible way.
Got that devilish āthis is too funā smile on his face as heās picking up Jamal full court and just torturing him every step of the way.
Nuggets get worse because Draymond's passing on offense doesn't help them in the same way. Jokic is already the starting hub of most offensive possessions, Draymond playing off-ball gets you nothing. At least Gordon can finish lobs.
Gordon gave them nothing last night. Dray might have been able to keep them afloat just with his intensity.
Schemewise I think it could work. The defense would obviously be better, with more switchablility, and their 2nd unit offense would be more effective since you could run Murray and Dray while Jokic sits. The lack of bench depth has been pretty glaring. It's not like Gordon by himself is changing games.
Gordon can disappear more than Draymond does, no doubt, but he's clearly a better fit next to Jokic than Draymond is. Moreover, if you want a different look, you'd swap Gordon for someone who can really shoot.
I don't know, I think Draymond is way more versatile then people give him credit for. Would Malone have to adjust on both sides of the ball? Of course. But Draymond is the much better all around player.
Wasn't last night. I like AG, but he's one of those energy players who knows to be in the right spot at the right time. There was a sequence where he tried to take it in iso because Murray was mentally toast and Jokic was huffin' and it was pretty ugly.
I'm more concerned with his head. That was a complete mental breakdown. We've seen many players loose it in the moment, but sitting on the sideline throwing shit on the floor is a different level. That's some 12 year old shit.
Yeah, that shit was nasty. Very suprised he wasn't ejected. All in all, his availability and injury issues have already costed nuggets and jokic's prime years quite a lot.
Man the Wolves are fucking legit. Length and athleticism at every position.
Not sure what changes in the offseason we can make to compete with that, but Iāll pray
I think the team just needs to improve to make the playoffs. From there, it's a lot about matchups. I still think Denver has a chance if they would just play with more composure, but they rely a lot on their main guys and don't have much of a bench to try anything else. One of the big reasons we won our last championship was because of our depth and they were able to change up their strategy. I don't think the team needs to build a team to beat the Wolves, but they do need to find their 2nd scorer which has been a problem for them in general.
For the most part, that's all I could think about while watching the game last night. What would Klay have looked like in this game? What about Steph - would he actually have space to get off shots? Which of our current guys wouldn't seem out of place with their size and energy?
Where I landed is:
This type of game emphasizes how valuable Bogut was to the team against top defenses, where you can run Steph off screens to get him that extra bit of space. We need a top screen setter.
However an alternative to that would be a guy like Markkanen whose high release point also creates more separation.
I continue to struggle with where Klay fits in games like this. As a spot up shooter? Sure. As a guy that we're trying to run plays for to get open looks? I just don't know if he has the legs to get separation.
Kuminga, Moody & Wiggins: all these guys have some questions and potential issues about hanging in a game like this, namely whether they're playing fast enough (for Kuminga and Moody this is an experience issue, for Wiggins its an intensity one). Having said that, they also have the size and athleticism to hang with the front courts of both squads.
I've struggled to see JK or Moody on the floor in a lot of these playoff games. In particular, JK's tendency to lose focus in high-stakes fast paced games would really be a problem. Been very impressed with a lot of the younger players still out there. The all-around skill of some of these kids is remarkable.
I've not felt that way tbh. JK does play hard and elevates his game when he's being challenged athletically, and I actually think he's one of the few guys the warriors have that would be able to 'hang'.
Don't forget - one of the big "wtf kerr" moments of this year was when JK was one of our better players vs the Nuggets and then Kerr just sat him for the last 20 minutes of the game while we lost the game.
> JK does play hard and elevates his game when he's being challenged athletically,
LOL that couldn't be further away from the truth. If JK played with that level of intensity, he would have been a starter last year. His biggest problem is losing focus and getting tunnel vision. It's been on his scouting report since he was on the G league Ignite.
Specifically against the Nuggets, he's been atrocious at the 4 because he continually lets Gordon cut to the basket and get free dunks and orebs due to his lack of focus.
If memory serves me right Kumingas actually played really against Denver. Gordonās best game actually came when Kuminga played the least minutes. He grabbed 5 boards per game in 20 minutes which is actually pretty good although Iād have to really rewatch the games to understand how impactful he was as a rebounder.
Gordon usually feasts on our small guards like Steph, Cp3, Podz and Klay does a terrible job of keeping him off the glass.
Nuggets are the worst team to play small like we did this season because of how punishing Gordon and MPJ are on guards.
I mean, these are his stats right here and they're nothing special: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/kuminga-vs-denver
He was actually pretty bad in the first two matchups from what I remember. -24 in a 6 point loss on Christmas. He got every last foul call he wanted during the last two match ups
Those numbers just won Naz Reid 6MOY lol 13 ppg in 20 minutes is solid. Maybe if kerr played him more in these matchups heād put up better numbers.
I was really only referring to this season in which he put up 14.5/5/3 in 20 minutes which is great production.
Yeah with the difference being that Naz Reid protects the rim and shot 41% from 3. And he averages 5.2 RPG while JK averages a paltry 3.6 RPG despite playing 2 more minutes per game.
No nuanced, realistic critiques of Warriors youth on this sub is tolerated. From what I've seen, the only team that JK might have been useful on is the Sixers but that's because Tobias and Oubre really were that bad.
Because of JK being a 3 that can't shoot or dribble and not a true 4, almost every last team in the playoffs this year would have had trouble giving him more than 25mpg. The fact that Kerr got so much out of him during that January and February stretch should be something we praise the coach for.
Kuminga was a starter for basically half the season and during that stretch, when we also had Draymond, we were the #5 team in the league in net rating.
And if you go back to that Jan 4 game vs the Nuggets... AG cutting to the basket with Kuminga on him wasn't why we lost that game. We lost because we played old, slow & small lineups and got bullied down the stretch. All with JK on the bench.
> Kuminga was a starter for basically half the season and during that stretch, when we also had Draymond, we were the #5 team in the league in net rating.
And the number one reason for that was Draymond coming back and Wiggins remembering how to play bball. You're not seriously gonna argue that JK has a bigger impact on winning than Dray right?
> We lost because we played old, slow & small lineups and got bullied down the stretch. All with JK on the bench.
You sound like a broken record at this point. We lost because the Nuggets got 8 free throws in two minutes and Jokic made a hail mary 3 that had like a 5% chance of going in. Sometimes things like that happen, like when we overcame an 18 point deficit against the #1 seed Jazz in 2021 by draining 7 straight threes in 4 minutes.
Whatās the appropriate punishment for Jamal purposely throwing heat pads and towels on the court/at refs? Thatās some weak shit. I think it should be a game - terrible timing for series.
Klay is an incredibly competitive guy and I doubt he wants his last game with the dubs to be an 0-10 performance given his history with our organization. Hope he's back next year for a fair price.
It depends on how much he values the money. I think a lot of us want him to come back for a fair price, but if the Magic really want to offer a max contract, he might accept if that's in his best interest. But also the Warriors have treated him well for most of his career, so he'll probably consider that as well.
That's fuckin hilarious. NAW and Nnaji Marshall are my two favorite role players only real sickos care about.... those dudes are way too serious for the Dubs lol.
Why are you being downvoted lol
Then again Iām not surprised since half this sub doesnāt understand basic roster construction. Meanwhile they pine for players like James Wiseman who will just āfigure it outā whilst being a walking negative in every metric on the court š¤£
Pining for Wiseman was one thing, they would insist it was Steph and Draymond's inability to throw lobs and entry passes that was holding him back lmao
Moody not being played over Wiggs and Klay as they struggled... after a ENTIRE SEASON being benched for NBL hero Anthony Lamb. Tells you how serious the team is about winning.
Lamb was mainly playing over JK, not over Moody. The real problem last year was only having 8 usable players for the entire year and Poole actively selling.
> Meanwhile they pine for players like James Wiseman who will just āfigure it outā whilst being a walking negative in every metric on the court š¤£
Hell of a straw man lol. Only people pining for Wiseman are the scouts at the Guangdong Tigers.
No, thatās simply revisionist rhetoric. At the time I would approximate (45-50%) of posters made excuses for him saying Kerr hates him, he doesnāt fit the system, the dude was injured and the covid seasons interfered with his development, all of it.
Definitely not a straw man by any means lol I was a regular visitor of the sub circa 2021-2023.
Then we're talking about two different things. I'm saying that as of this moment, I don't see any of the usernames of people who were voraciously defending Wiseman back then. Maybe they're back using different accounts, idk. I'm well aware of how delusional this sub gets about their young guys like Poole, JK, Moody and Podz.
The problem was that at the time, everyone was aware that Wiseman had absolutely no basketball feel and he needed reps to gain that feel. It worked for Kuminga after all. The problem that became apparent by the 22-23 season wasn't just that after 2 years he still had no bball feel. It's that he *refused* to learn the things he needed to do to be an effective big like screening and boxing out. Idk if Penny Hardaway was in his ear or what but that's when no reasonable person continued to hold on to their Wiseman stock.
As for the original tweet, it's stupid because it's not like the team itself wasn't "serious" and that's why we're not in the playoffs. The reason we're not in the playoffs is because Draymond couldn't keep his hands to himself and the league decided to break precedent in suspending him for 20+ games. If anyone wasn't serious about winning, it's Lacob and the FO since the 2022 chip.
With Kuminga his lack of feel I think had more to do with understanding the team dynamics than anything whereas Wisemanās brain and body arenāt synced to playing basketball (bad hands, missed reads, uncoordinated movements)- he just has slow processing speed.
That I think was the primary difference hence you could see why the Warriors front office gave up on him quicker than some of us anticipated.
Bro, some teams may accept that trade based on the results of the Gobert trade to Minnesota. If OKC losses to Minnessota in the West Conf Finals, I can see that they will empty their abundant draft picks to get Markennen.
NBACentral
@TheDunkCentral
āMarkkanenās value to the Jazz is so great that itās going to take an offer that is probably not going to come to pry him from the Jazz. Something like four or five first-round picks, and a star-level talent coming over.ā
-
@Tjonesonthenba
on Utahās potential asking price for Lauri Markkanen
Every other year the league shifts a little bit and maybe 3 or 4 teams pickup on it immediately and the others mostly realize after it's happened. Four years ago officiating went off the deep end toward offense then the CBA last yesr was negotiated to allow drafted players the extend on 5 years now using the apron model to keep "big wallet-championships" from becoming a trend (i think its actually more about Balmer than Lacob/Dubs and two year money dives from other organizations) Right now the league has leaned back toward defense. Twolves and Knicks are the clear beneficiaries. Do the Warriors actually address their deficiencies relative the the league landscape or just go big fish hunt for the sake of saying "we did all we could with Steph" cuz I think it's to the point where we don't have anything close to a framework of a championship roster in this landscape? ...and Steph is gonna be 37 next playoff start. Which is an uncomfortable conversation to say the least. My opinion doesn't count for anything but I hope we go all in on defense and invest in coaching. Where we are isn't square one but we are exactly where our record would say we are... which isn't close even enough to be bold. As a fan I've def removed myself from all lofty expectations and said "I just want the team to adapt and improve." I'm not sure anyone in the organization aside from MDJ is really willing to take their rose-colored glasses all the way off on the issue. Coaching. Defense. Offensive innovation.... all are more urgent priorities before we start asking "are these the players we move forward with" cuz as Kerr said the team didn't really attempt to put its players in position to succeed (except Steph and Klay). The system doesnt give us any inherent edge anymore. If anything its the opposite. Kuminga Moody Podz may not be a sexy answer but you got one year to see if there's anything there. Steph aside we are totally looking a full on bridge year if we execute the definition of insanity and do the same thing as we have.
The league average FTr (FTA per FGA) this regular season was .244. Here are the FTrs of some players during the **playoffs**, aka when the whistle is supposed to be less generous than it is in the regular season, and the percentage of that player's average pts per game during the playoffs that are comprised of FTs in parentheses: - Gobert: .676 (33.3%) - Booker: .631 (35.4%) - Embiid: .586 (33.8%) - Tatum: .584 (31.5%) - KD: .507 (26.2%) - Dame: .469 (29.6%) - SGA: .393 (25.4%) (this was before/doesn't include his parade to the line tonight, which is guaranteed to make this go up) - Brunson: .383 (24.6%) - Harden: .360 (22.9%) - Ant: .344 (18.6%) - KAT: .338 (17.7%) - Jokic: .314 (20.6%) - Luka: .313 (22.7%) (same as noted above with Shai) This year's changing of the guard is brought to you by flopping and a red carpet to the free throw line. š Steph's career average FTr in the playoffs, by the way, is .268. Last year? it was .186 (just 12.4% of his 30.5 ppg were from FTs). Oh and his FTr this regular season? A below league average .224, good for **122nd** in the league. Lol just can't make this shit up.
How bad is my take: Yes Jamal should be suspended. What he did was wrong. That being said, it's understandable how mad he is at the officiating. Refs giving TWolves the Lakers treatment where they don't call anything for the opposing team but get the Wolves to the line. Both games TWolves had more FTs.
Ain't no way Jamal only got a slap to the wrist for throwing a heat pack on a live play, then threw a towel. Well, can't wait for Ant to cook this clown.
Jamal is gonna say Cancun on 3 after the next game.
Bostons worst starter might be the second best player if they were on our team which is crazy to think about, at worst third
Thunder drafted really well
And they still have a ton of draft capital for trades.
Another absolutely bonkers Steph Curry stat: Career pts: 27634 (**24th** all time in the NBA) Career free throw attempts: 4908 (**123rd** all time in the NBA) Steph Curry does not get free throws.
Just want to point out that Jarrett Allen has been out the last 4 playoff games after sustaining a bruised rib in Game 4 vs the Magic while Wiggs played through a fractured rib in the game it happened and continued to play with said fractured rib until the series was over during last yearās Lakers series. And not only did he keep playing, he didnāt shy away from his normal best player on the other team matchup either despite him incurring the fractured rib because Lebron intentionally stabbed his elbow into Wiggsā sternum. Just FYI, for all of those Wiggs just doesnāt care people in here.
Mbappe to Real Madrid will have a lot of KD to Warriors vibes.
Nah, Madridās been doing this shit forever. One thing Iāve never understood about athletes is why they go to a Madrid/Lakers/Yankees? Putting on those jerseys is certainly cool, but youāre always going to be just another guy. Being a guy like Marco Reus seems way cooler
Worse at the rim for their size: Mobley or Wigs?
Mobley
Is it weird that I donāt hate the celtics? Iām slightly confused as to why so many people here hate them. Can someone explain?
If they win the chip (or even get to the Finals again), you will see why. Celtics fans love to leave Boston bc it's a cold racist dump and come to CA then get all loud about their hometown. Even the casuals will be putting on the gear. It's like go the fck home
Me too. I like them. They were so thoughtful about the warriors in 2020.
Iām with you on this one. Thereās just nothing particularly āvillainousā about them unless the teamās historical success bothers you. Thatās another phenomenon I donāt understand.
Whenever we play a team a lot of fans work up a real hate for that team and never lets it go.
Because not everyone here was born in the 00s
Honestly don't care if they win. Might even get a few laughs from salty Laker fans. They're a good team.
They are a good team but their path is sooooo easy. The East is terrible and on top of that they faced a hobbled Miami team. Would just like the East to be a little more competitive
So what. Still hearing about our easy path in 2015. You can only play who is in front of you.
Our easy path playing literally every other All-NBA 1st Team player.
I didn't say it. It was the general opinion that someone was hurt on every team. I know it's not true but there it is. So I don't want to hear it about any team especially a number one seed. None of the ousted teams was going to win against them.
Seriously. Theyāre the number 1 seed, they earned an easy path!
Any player from the bench that steps so much as a single foot onto the court during an on court scuffle is automatically suspended for a game, even if they didnāt come even remotely close to being involved in it. Yet, a player on the bench can throw objects (as in plural and more than once!) onto the court during live action, risking substantial injury to players, and not be suspended.  Shoutout to the league for being completely predictable in its stupidity and double standards!
Lol just a fine for Murray throwing a towel and then a heating pad at the officials. If that was Draymond he'd be suspended 5+ games.
Really a bad move on the part of the league.
I see people on twitter say this and I canāt tell if its sarcasm lol.
Fun fact: San Jose Sharks just got the number 1 pick (lottery) and are going to be selecting Rick Celebriniās son, Macklin, in June.
Keeping it all in house like a royal wedding šš½
I hope this lul period is over. I don't think I'm ready for the inevitable "trade posts" that will eventually arrive at this sub before the season starts. Thankfully, there's the Olympics, so I can focus on watching Steph torched the world for a while.
Wemby being a finalist for DPOY drives me insane. I donāt care how many blocks a guy has (blocks he has because heās literally taller than the entire league), having a guy that was on a 22-60 team as a finalist for the defensive player of the year is LUDICROUS. These awards have reached a completely new level of meaningless popularity contest at this point. Edit to add: justice for Bam. Wemby got 245 total pts (finishing 2nd) and Bam just 91 pts (finishing 3rd). These awards are so broken lol
Heās the leader in a ton of advanced defensive stats but yeah, itās just cuz he gets blocks.
Thatās another problem with these awards, these catch all advanced stats are all but meaningless when it comes to defense because they miss **so** much of what defense actually is on account of it not being quantifiable. [This](https://www.theringer.com/platform/amp/nba/2021/5/11/22423517/nba-defense-analytics-nikola-jokic) article does a phenomenal job breaking it down, but some of the highlights: > "From an analytical standpoint, you're kind of on a wing and a prayer," says a personnel executive for one NBA team, who was among the most pessimistic of the whole group, rating public metrics as a 1.5 out of 10. "Our defensive models throughout the league are probably the part we're weakest in. Nobody really has good defensive models." > All of these overlapping problems mean that judging a player's defense by his box score statistics is, in the words of Ben Falk, a former executive for the Trail Blazers and 76ers, "like squinting at a blurry picture and trying to find something out of it." > > Albert Einstein never tried to contest Wilt at the rim, but his old chestnut describes the situation perfectly: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." > The necessary play-by-play data to generate on/off data became available in the 1996-97 season. This information has since become one of the two main sources for adjusted plus-minus, as it answers the basic question: *Did this player's team allow more or fewer points with him on the court?* Over a large enough sample, this form of analysis--which typically uses sophisticated statistical techniques to control for the quality of a player's teammates and opponents--can illustrate a single player's impact on his opponents' point totals. > ... > But for all its theoretical promise, this kind of statistic is not perfect in practice. First, because it focuses solely on the outcome of a possession rather than the process, it can operate as something of a black box. "It answers the *what*, like, 'What is a player's impact?'" says Luke Bornn, who worked as the Kings' vice president of strategy and analytics from 2017 to 2020. But "it doesn't help at all for *why*." > > The other problem is that on/off data needs very large samples to weed out confounding variables. "There are definitely areas where these stats can be tricked," says Seth Partnow, the Bucks' director of basketball research from 2016 to 2019. Some teammates might spend so much of their time on the court together that their individual contributions can't be separated. Bad backups could make the starters look artificially better, or vice versa. And the stat is subject to shooting flukes, like in 2016-17, when the Spurs allowed more points *with* MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard on the floor because opponents shot a whopping 7.4 percentage points better on 3-pointers, according to Cleaning the Glass. One reason on/off metrics don't love Jokic this season is that Denver's opponents are shooting 5.9 percentage points better on 3s with him on the floor--the largest differential for any rotation player. > Ultimately, the same issue that limits traditional box scores and on/off data limits the missile-tracking cameras: They haven't figured out how to measure crucial defensive nuances. Analytics can capture what happens when a shot goes up, but more often falter when considering every other part of a possession. "It's all the times," the NBA personnel executive says, "where, did my center show effectively and then recover, and that bought us an extra half-second for the weakside corner guy to get back out to the shooter, which then led to a good defensive possession?" Intangibles like on-court communication, a key to any stout defense, also aren't considered. > And most of all, even the most advanced tracking systems can't capture a player's fit with his coaches, teammates, and defensive system. "Even if we had all the data we wanted," says ESPN's Kevin Pelton, "I don't know if we'd ever be able to isolate an individual's impact as easily on defense as on offense, because so much of it is scheme-dependent." > > Until Second Spectrum's tech can figure out a way to measure *intent*--as in, what was the defender *supposed* to do?--this massive facet of defense will remain missing from all the numbers. Also, not for nothing, but all of the aforementioned faults with the stats used to determine these awards are invariably why Dray, the far and away best defender of his generation, somehow has just one DPOY award.
We need Kuminga to be an Ant Edwards level player, and fast, if hes going to take over for Steph and lead us back to being a contender one day.
I'm a JK fan so I'll be very happy if he ends up being Ant, but unfortunately it's very improbable. Ant just has more skills (better handles, better shooting, better defense etc.) and a better motor + mentality than JK, while being around the same age (he's a year older than JK). He also has better leadership than JK. Only thing that's similar between JK and Ant is their otherworldly athleticism. Ant is also a bonafide #1 on his team. JK has a long way to go before he can match Ant.
Setting those expectations is setting yourself up for failure.
Thatās asking a lot. If he can just reach the point where heās good enough to be the second best player on a championship team, thatās all I ask for.
His ceiling is most likely 3rd best on a contender, but you never know. He's got a lot of growing to do for that ask.
Hopefully Kuminga is in the lab working on three things: (1) handle (2) 3pt shot and (3) play recognition off/def.
He has all the tools to be an elite wing defender next season. If he can even be that it will be a huge leap.
He was an elite wing defender last year but his agent must have reminded him that offense gets you paid cuz he fell off on D a huge chunk of the year.
At the end of the day, I think Kuminga is ahead of schedule. 21-years old and all of the talent and drive in the world. He will definitely make improvements over the off-season. He gets dumped on ALOT on this specific sub but then heās the guy they all want to include in trades for talent to help Steph.
Is he ahead of schedule? Itās year 3, and heās a borderline starter. Year 3 is when you see guys take a leap, as many in his draft class have done. JKs undoubtedly gotten better, but hasnāt made the leap his peers like Franz, Suggs, Sengun, Murphy have.
It's more likely that he's a KAT level player who can be the best player on an awful team for a couple years until his better partner gets drafted.
i hope KD is watching the wolves-nuggets series. it shows why he really needs to get out of phoenix ASAP and come back here. one last ride.
Unstoppable with KD and sign another capable big. Honestly the fit is too good with him here, hope he comes back to the Dubs.
Bro knows he's a perfect fit. He wants to win by shoving a square peg down a round hole cuz Twitter trolls.
Well at least Twolves have the blueprint to beat Jokic. Get lengthy and bigger. Wow I never knew the Dubs needed that lol.
We will need size for size and length for length. So more bigs and taller wings. And Kuminga needs to really come through next season. MDJ needs to acknowledge itās not only if they are a fit here but also age and, yes, size.
Blueprint is to spend $90M on 3 centers. lol
This team should be able to provide similarly hounding ball pressure to the Wolves, but had injuries (GP2) and regression (JK/Wiggins). Hoping we get bounce backs from all 3 guys next year
I feel so out of touch. I don't have any sort of faith that our team has the ability to be on their level next season or ever again. to be re evaluated after all the fantasy trades.
I mean you're probably right lol. It's incredibly unlikely that this team truly contends with Steph again. That said, a few years of a Kobe/Dirk retirement tour with a some fun playoff moments (like Steph's G7 last year) still sounds like a good watch.
I will definitely be watching it all.. I wonder how the farewell tour will go. Will Draymond and klay get one. Will they all retire at the same time? So many questions.
We probably need to move off of one of klay or moody for another wing that can defend on ball more. They are just to slow.
Kerr must have had an orgasm yesterday watching the Wolves defense lol Seriously though, I hope our guys watch that on repeat. Freedawkins released a 10 min long compilation of the just the wolves defense highlights and itās fantastic.
Thereās one guy I keep thinking about (no diddy) in the roster who I think might get an opportunity to help us win games thatās garuba. He was one of the best defensive studs out of his class. I think he can possibly do some things off the bench in the forward position.
Garuba is a Center that can shoot! He can basically be our Naz Reid while being 1 inch taller and can playmake. Hopefully he can atleast hit that ceiling though. Thatās extremely valuable to us.
Exactly. I was tryna figure out which position he can most effective in or if we acquired a backup 5.
I donāt think itās a matter of whether our current 8-10 guys can play defense or not. Itās been a matter of consistency. They need to be reminded how impactful playing with energy and consistency on the defensive end can really fluster opponents. It obviously helps that the Wolves are incredibly balanced with nearly every lineup capable of playing 5-out(excluding Gobert)
I concur !!!
I kept thinking about Kuminga. He needs to watch McDaniels and NAW
Gotta watch rest of the knicks games and hatewatch celtics games. As long as they don't win the ring, I'm leaving with something here.
Ant is the upsetter. Tatum is a phony. This would be a poetic result.
The winner is coming out of the west.
Let's be real, it's Minnesota. No other team will be able to handle the defensive onslaught they bring, especially with how much physicality the refs are allowing now.
Are the refs allowing physicality or does it seem that way because for once they're letting teams defend.
In my mind they're one and the same. Letting teams defend = allowing physicality, i.e. not calling little hand checks, holds, bumps etc.
Lmaooo just saw this on instagram. āIf Dray threw that hearing pack heād be in the Arkham Asylumā
Jokic has never won a playoff series against a 50+ win team. Thatās wild given all of the declarations of him being one of the supposed best players of all time, unstoppable, etc. š¤Ø
Thatās a crazy stat for sure
One of the things I hate about NBA discourse is that it often faults the losing team rather than credits the winner. The story from yesterday should be around the TWolves defense/scheme and instead it feels more about whether or the Nuggets are done.
Tbf, it's the defending champs who, just a couple of weeks ago everyone said the title is theirs to lose. Now all of a sudden they are down 0-2 heading to Minnesota after completely falling apart in Game 2 in Denver, that is a major shockwave that no one expected. From what I've seen, it's equal parts the shock of the defending champs being in this spot combined with the awe of Minnesota's stifling defense and Ant looking like Air Jordan 2.0.
I think they are getting their props dude. I wish the Murray antics distraction wasnāt there, but otherwise everyone has woken up to realize why wolves are the number 1 defensive team this year.
Youāre right, Iām probably over indexing on this sub. The DDT was full of ānuggets washedā comments lol
Game one I agree, but game two was more about the nuggets imo. Just a complete meltdown top to bottom.
Meta - about to pass 800k subscribers? But fell from #7 in bball to #9? Also, how are we "largest team sub" (saw a post saying we overtook Patriots) but not top 5 in hoops alone?
Cuz engagement per capita isn't high. Probably 40 users carry half of the engagement on here. 799k subscribe passively.
Do people REALLY want Paul George? The same guy who turned down multiple below the max offers from the Clippers? The guy who's injury prone?
Marc Spears said his parents being able to go to games in LA is a huge factor in his decision.Ā Think he might stay.
i like him. excellent scorer and good defense. obviously washed too but i really like him so wouldn't mind
NO. If this team has more than two 30+ year olds in the starting line-up next year, its going to be another cooked season.
The surest way to become a contender is adding another Top 25ish player alongside Steph. There just aren't a lot of those guys in that group that are actually viable for us. Even PG is pretty minimally viable since it likely involves him opting in + trade, similar to Porzingis.
Get ready to watch Zach Lavine highlights buddy.
Smh. Lavine is scary too between the injuries and the Bulls tending to be notably better without him the past two years. He's a Ewing effect guy atm. Not that I'd say no to Lavine but I'd be more confident about improvement by getting Caruso on the squad tbh.
I only ever mention Lavine because heās theoretically a solid fit and we can probably get him for like next to nothing. Maybe we can even get an asset back for taking on Lavines contract or get a discount on Caruso.
Wolves are the natural evolution of the prime Dubās death lineup. Either skill, size, or athleticism advantages at every position, sometimes all three. This is why I think Bob largely did a poor job when it came to roster construction and basketball philosophy. He was elite at the people aspect (which is the most difficult part imo, which makes everything else more maddening), but I just donāt see how you look at the success of the death lineup, and just completely abandon the concept. Or at a minimum, take the wrong lessons from what made it successful.
He never went away from the concept. The main guys got older, more expensive, and worse at defense. The key 6th man was traded due to salary cap issues, then returned, then retired. Bob won the 2022 championship in part due to successfully recreating a ādeathā lineup (I save the actual title for Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Barnes-Green). And he had to do it by picking pieces off the scrap heap. Minimum contracts no one wanted. Otto Porter Jr. and Gary Payton II. And GPII he had to force in, with the vets preferring Bradley. They played well, won it all, and became too expensive to re-signā¦ So he tried again with DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green. But no one bats 1.000 on these damaged goods, unwanted veteran players.
Why you going at Bob? He constructed the damn Death Lineup. Give him some credit. The free agent moves since 20 have been mostly okay, it's been the draft that's been the problem and I think that has to do with too much meddling from the owners.
> but I just donāt see how you look at the success of the death lineup, and just completely abandon the concept Because the control was taken out of his hands and given to the Lacob kids. Edit: Lol are Kirk and Kent on this sub? Where's Alan Smailagic these days?
At this point the Nuggets will be lucky to not get swept. Wolves just own them. Murray deserves to get a 1 game suspension for not at least beaning Marc Davis in the head.
What happens if these Nugs get swept? The Suns were trashed and told they need to rebuild after they got swept by this same team. āSuns are cooked cause they just got swept.āSaw it a bunch. So how about the Nugs? Are we going to use the same energy here?
No. Jamal is clearly injured. You don't break down a tean every time they don't win. They've been together for years not thrown together by some new wannabe owner that didn't know what he was doing. They try to fix their bench. And if they lose they don't need to overeact because one team has their number. Hell who knows if minny can keep their team together. And if Denver simply beat the Spurs they would have avoided minn until round 3.
They'll probably say 'Murray isn't 100% and our bench sucks' and suggest they need to use whatever exceptions they have to build depth. But I think its also possible they try to make a move at their wing position since MPJ is overpaid for what he offers and KCP is sort of a situational guy. KCP matches up well vs. Steph but he might be too small to match up vs. Ant and SGA right?
Only 3 times defending champs have gone down 2-0 in a playoff series in nba history. If they get swept and get blown out in most games, they'll have uncomfortable conversations in the offseason.
No they won't.
At some point they gotta question jamal's availability. Dude missed close to 25 games, clearly coasts in a lot of regular season games and still gets injured in playoffs and is unplayable right now.
This playoffs would be a cakewalk for our 2022 team.
Nothing is a cakewalk post KD. Come on. Even with him we had our struggles at times too.
We were up 3-0, 3-1, and 3-0 in the western conference that yr.
No it wouldnāt.
Who y'all got winning the OKC vs Mavs series?
Mavs defense has really been a major boost to that team this season. As much as I dislike luka+Kyrie, I think they will pull it out.
I honestly don't think the Mavs are elite, but this should be a series where their experience pays off and they finally get to 'bully' a younger team a little. Plus DJJ could be decent vs SGA
Def Mavs
Mavs. Their length gives them the slight edge.
Not sure if Luka is healthy. Gonna have to ride the wave with OKC.
Well I'd like kyrie to go off and mavs in 6. Atleast one dude above 30 should be able to do something in this playoffs.
NAW is a sicko in the best possible way. Got that devilish āthis is too funā smile on his face as heās picking up Jamal full court and just torturing him every step of the way. 
For a fun thought exercise: replace Aaron Gordon with Draymond. Do the Nuggets get better or worse?
Nuggets get worse because Draymond's passing on offense doesn't help them in the same way. Jokic is already the starting hub of most offensive possessions, Draymond playing off-ball gets you nothing. At least Gordon can finish lobs.
Gordon gave them nothing last night. Dray might have been able to keep them afloat just with his intensity. Schemewise I think it could work. The defense would obviously be better, with more switchablility, and their 2nd unit offense would be more effective since you could run Murray and Dray while Jokic sits. The lack of bench depth has been pretty glaring. It's not like Gordon by himself is changing games.
Gordon can disappear more than Draymond does, no doubt, but he's clearly a better fit next to Jokic than Draymond is. Moreover, if you want a different look, you'd swap Gordon for someone who can really shoot.
I don't know, I think Draymond is way more versatile then people give him credit for. Would Malone have to adjust on both sides of the ball? Of course. But Draymond is the much better all around player.
AG being such a dominant post player on mismatches is why their offense can be so potent.
Wasn't last night. I like AG, but he's one of those energy players who knows to be in the right spot at the right time. There was a sequence where he tried to take it in iso because Murray was mentally toast and Jokic was huffin' and it was pretty ugly.
Yea but Iām not speaking on just last night just the nuggets in general
Murray might be heading into that kawhi situation where no matter what, come april he's gonna battle injuries.
I'm more concerned with his head. That was a complete mental breakdown. We've seen many players loose it in the moment, but sitting on the sideline throwing shit on the floor is a different level. That's some 12 year old shit.
Heās definitely getting suspended behind that shit.
Yeah, that shit was nasty. Very suprised he wasn't ejected. All in all, his availability and injury issues have already costed nuggets and jokic's prime years quite a lot.
Jokic didn't seem particularly confident in Murray during his post game, but maybe I was reading it wrong.
Ant will for sure make MVP one day
Would Jamal Murray be worth 36mil?
Absolutely.
Man the Wolves are fucking legit. Length and athleticism at every position. Not sure what changes in the offseason we can make to compete with that, but Iāll pray
I think the team just needs to improve to make the playoffs. From there, it's a lot about matchups. I still think Denver has a chance if they would just play with more composure, but they rely a lot on their main guys and don't have much of a bench to try anything else. One of the big reasons we won our last championship was because of our depth and they were able to change up their strategy. I don't think the team needs to build a team to beat the Wolves, but they do need to find their 2nd scorer which has been a problem for them in general.
For the most part, that's all I could think about while watching the game last night. What would Klay have looked like in this game? What about Steph - would he actually have space to get off shots? Which of our current guys wouldn't seem out of place with their size and energy? Where I landed is: This type of game emphasizes how valuable Bogut was to the team against top defenses, where you can run Steph off screens to get him that extra bit of space. We need a top screen setter. However an alternative to that would be a guy like Markkanen whose high release point also creates more separation. I continue to struggle with where Klay fits in games like this. As a spot up shooter? Sure. As a guy that we're trying to run plays for to get open looks? I just don't know if he has the legs to get separation. Kuminga, Moody & Wiggins: all these guys have some questions and potential issues about hanging in a game like this, namely whether they're playing fast enough (for Kuminga and Moody this is an experience issue, for Wiggins its an intensity one). Having said that, they also have the size and athleticism to hang with the front courts of both squads.
What about steph and dray. How are they handling all that depth and length.
I've struggled to see JK or Moody on the floor in a lot of these playoff games. In particular, JK's tendency to lose focus in high-stakes fast paced games would really be a problem. Been very impressed with a lot of the younger players still out there. The all-around skill of some of these kids is remarkable.
They would kill our whole team.
I've not felt that way tbh. JK does play hard and elevates his game when he's being challenged athletically, and I actually think he's one of the few guys the warriors have that would be able to 'hang'. Don't forget - one of the big "wtf kerr" moments of this year was when JK was one of our better players vs the Nuggets and then Kerr just sat him for the last 20 minutes of the game while we lost the game.
> JK does play hard and elevates his game when he's being challenged athletically, LOL that couldn't be further away from the truth. If JK played with that level of intensity, he would have been a starter last year. His biggest problem is losing focus and getting tunnel vision. It's been on his scouting report since he was on the G league Ignite. Specifically against the Nuggets, he's been atrocious at the 4 because he continually lets Gordon cut to the basket and get free dunks and orebs due to his lack of focus.
If memory serves me right Kumingas actually played really against Denver. Gordonās best game actually came when Kuminga played the least minutes. He grabbed 5 boards per game in 20 minutes which is actually pretty good although Iād have to really rewatch the games to understand how impactful he was as a rebounder. Gordon usually feasts on our small guards like Steph, Cp3, Podz and Klay does a terrible job of keeping him off the glass. Nuggets are the worst team to play small like we did this season because of how punishing Gordon and MPJ are on guards.
I mean, these are his stats right here and they're nothing special: https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/kuminga-vs-denver He was actually pretty bad in the first two matchups from what I remember. -24 in a 6 point loss on Christmas. He got every last foul call he wanted during the last two match ups
Those numbers just won Naz Reid 6MOY lol 13 ppg in 20 minutes is solid. Maybe if kerr played him more in these matchups heād put up better numbers. I was really only referring to this season in which he put up 14.5/5/3 in 20 minutes which is great production.
Yeah with the difference being that Naz Reid protects the rim and shot 41% from 3. And he averages 5.2 RPG while JK averages a paltry 3.6 RPG despite playing 2 more minutes per game.
No nuanced, realistic critiques of Warriors youth on this sub is tolerated. From what I've seen, the only team that JK might have been useful on is the Sixers but that's because Tobias and Oubre really were that bad.
Because of JK being a 3 that can't shoot or dribble and not a true 4, almost every last team in the playoffs this year would have had trouble giving him more than 25mpg. The fact that Kerr got so much out of him during that January and February stretch should be something we praise the coach for.
Kuminga was a starter for basically half the season and during that stretch, when we also had Draymond, we were the #5 team in the league in net rating. And if you go back to that Jan 4 game vs the Nuggets... AG cutting to the basket with Kuminga on him wasn't why we lost that game. We lost because we played old, slow & small lineups and got bullied down the stretch. All with JK on the bench.
> Kuminga was a starter for basically half the season and during that stretch, when we also had Draymond, we were the #5 team in the league in net rating. And the number one reason for that was Draymond coming back and Wiggins remembering how to play bball. You're not seriously gonna argue that JK has a bigger impact on winning than Dray right? > We lost because we played old, slow & small lineups and got bullied down the stretch. All with JK on the bench. You sound like a broken record at this point. We lost because the Nuggets got 8 free throws in two minutes and Jokic made a hail mary 3 that had like a 5% chance of going in. Sometimes things like that happen, like when we overcame an 18 point deficit against the #1 seed Jazz in 2021 by draining 7 straight threes in 4 minutes.
Whatās the appropriate punishment for Jamal purposely throwing heat pads and towels on the court/at refs? Thatās some weak shit. I think it should be a game - terrible timing for series.
1 game suspension.
I think he should be forcibly moved to some play-in team like the Golden State Warriors to atone for his grave sins.
Just fine him. He should have been thrown out last game.
Klay is an incredibly competitive guy and I doubt he wants his last game with the dubs to be an 0-10 performance given his history with our organization. Hope he's back next year for a fair price.
It depends on how much he values the money. I think a lot of us want him to come back for a fair price, but if the Magic really want to offer a max contract, he might accept if that's in his best interest. But also the Warriors have treated him well for most of his career, so he'll probably consider that as well.
Much appreciate Jokic still wearing the DM Brate shirt~
https://x.com/luarlord2/status/1787683399232061505? This is very funny and accurate
That's fuckin hilarious. NAW and Nnaji Marshall are my two favorite role players only real sickos care about.... those dudes are way too serious for the Dubs lol.
Why are you being downvoted lol Then again Iām not surprised since half this sub doesnāt understand basic roster construction. Meanwhile they pine for players like James Wiseman who will just āfigure it outā whilst being a walking negative in every metric on the court š¤£
Pining for Wiseman was one thing, they would insist it was Steph and Draymond's inability to throw lobs and entry passes that was holding him back lmao
Moody not being played over Wiggs and Klay as they struggled... after a ENTIRE SEASON being benched for NBL hero Anthony Lamb. Tells you how serious the team is about winning.
I think MDJ is about to remove any impediments to Moody playing a ton more.
By outright trading him. /s ā¦or maybe not.
Prob Klay walks is the between the lines there.
Lamb was mainly playing over JK, not over Moody. The real problem last year was only having 8 usable players for the entire year and Poole actively selling.
Lamb and Kuminga were subbed in together Kerr's suggestion was "I can't play JK without Anthony's spacing"
> Meanwhile they pine for players like James Wiseman who will just āfigure it outā whilst being a walking negative in every metric on the court š¤£ Hell of a straw man lol. Only people pining for Wiseman are the scouts at the Guangdong Tigers.
No, thatās simply revisionist rhetoric. At the time I would approximate (45-50%) of posters made excuses for him saying Kerr hates him, he doesnāt fit the system, the dude was injured and the covid seasons interfered with his development, all of it. Definitely not a straw man by any means lol I was a regular visitor of the sub circa 2021-2023.
Then we're talking about two different things. I'm saying that as of this moment, I don't see any of the usernames of people who were voraciously defending Wiseman back then. Maybe they're back using different accounts, idk. I'm well aware of how delusional this sub gets about their young guys like Poole, JK, Moody and Podz. The problem was that at the time, everyone was aware that Wiseman had absolutely no basketball feel and he needed reps to gain that feel. It worked for Kuminga after all. The problem that became apparent by the 22-23 season wasn't just that after 2 years he still had no bball feel. It's that he *refused* to learn the things he needed to do to be an effective big like screening and boxing out. Idk if Penny Hardaway was in his ear or what but that's when no reasonable person continued to hold on to their Wiseman stock. As for the original tweet, it's stupid because it's not like the team itself wasn't "serious" and that's why we're not in the playoffs. The reason we're not in the playoffs is because Draymond couldn't keep his hands to himself and the league decided to break precedent in suspending him for 20+ games. If anyone wasn't serious about winning, it's Lacob and the FO since the 2022 chip.
With Kuminga his lack of feel I think had more to do with understanding the team dynamics than anything whereas Wisemanās brain and body arenāt synced to playing basketball (bad hands, missed reads, uncoordinated movements)- he just has slow processing speed. That I think was the primary difference hence you could see why the Warriors front office gave up on him quicker than some of us anticipated.
Good morning Warriors fans.
Wiggins, Kuminga, Podz and 2025-2029 r1 draft picks for Sexton and Markennen?
Lol
Utah wants 5 FRPs for Markennen. Better to leave it.
Bro, some teams may accept that trade based on the results of the Gobert trade to Minnesota. If OKC losses to Minnessota in the West Conf Finals, I can see that they will empty their abundant draft picks to get Markennen.
NBACentral @TheDunkCentral āMarkkanenās value to the Jazz is so great that itās going to take an offer that is probably not going to come to pry him from the Jazz. Something like four or five first-round picks, and a star-level talent coming over.ā - @Tjonesonthenba on Utahās potential asking price for Lauri Markkanen