Game 68: Warriors vs Grizzlies 7:00 PM PDT

[Onus]

There were very not official rumblings (talking about forum/reddit type stuff from people at Santa Clara or Illinois etc) that mentioned that while coaches and some players love Podz due to his confidence and work ethic and how he demands a lot from teammates, a lot of it comes off as him being a total a** h***. I dont think he was very far off when he said he was a guard version of Dray. Not from a skill standpoint, but from how he leads and cares about the intangibles vs raw stats.

I honestly think the "next timeline" of guys will need someone like that. He can be the dray/cp3 that guys like Kuminga/Moody/Trayce need to keep the fire going.

I also think its important that Kerr, Santa Clara's coach, and even Illinois coach that didn't play him enough, all have incredibly positive things to say about him. Again, not much different than Izzo or Kerr loving what Dray brought even though it crossed the line at times.

Yea that's what I read as well. Dray gets away with it because he's an integral member of the team. When you're building your way up especially more established veterans it's going to rub them the wrong way. Grant Williams is probably similar and he's been run out of 2 teams because of his mouth. So if you're going to do that you really need to be on top of your game at all times. Dray said Podz came in like that as a rookie telling dray he needed to pick it up.

[Coxy]

Some of this is quite interesting. What makes you think Podz isn't popular by the way? What did you see?

Just one of those things where it doesnt look right.. like if one of the vets called out someone vs. Podz calling out someone, the reactions were different. One player in particular - not Wiggins, btw - looked really annoyed with Podz at one point in the 1st half during a timeout and walked away from the huddle

I wouldnt put too much stock into it because its just how it looked for one game, but I wonder if his competitiveness is a bit grating on teammates. If someone has that obsessive Kobe-like attitude, has to be backed up on the court with big time results. But that's more just reading tea leaves than anything I've heard

He seems like a guy that'll make a good coach one day. I'm not surprised to hear that other players may not like him if he's constantly pushing the winning attitude vocally.

[vvoland]

Some of this is quite interesting. What makes you think Podz isn't popular by the way? What did you see?

Just one of those things where it doesnt look right.. like if one of the vets called out someone vs. Podz calling out someone, the reactions were different. One player in particular - not Wiggins, btw - looked really annoyed with Podz at one point in the 1st half during a timeout and walked away from the huddle

I wouldnt put too much stock into it because its just how it looked for one game, but I wonder if his competitiveness is a bit grating on teammates. If someone has that obsessive Kobe-like attitude, has to be backed up on the court with big time results. But that's more just reading tea leaves than anything I've heard

He talks a lot of sh!!t for a guy that can't score the ball and is a rookie who hunts rebounds, take charges and gambles at the expense of sound defense.

He seems like the 'ultimate team player' because he doesn't take bad shots or whatnot. From what I've seen, he's a pretty selfish player whether it's the technical FTs he took early in the season, his stat hunting, or his reluctance in taking the open shot. Not sure what he's accomplished to be out there telling veteran players what to do or how to play. Pretty sure if wiggins had some cajones, he'd be the one knocking podz out, not dray.

[floppymoose]

On the plus side, GSW has been a lot better when he's been on the floor. The rebounds he gets are contested. The charges he takes are turning high percentage buckets into turnovers for the other team. I don't have any complaints about what he does well.

What remains to be seen is:
1. Will he become a good shooter? If not he will be limited in his impact.
2. How much of his boost to GSW is just from being one of hte players most likely to be on court when Klay is off court?

[Coxy]

Some of this is quite interesting. What makes you think Podz isn't popular by the way? What did you see?

Just one of those things where it doesnt look right.. like if one of the vets called out someone vs. Podz calling out someone, the reactions were different. One player in particular - not Wiggins, btw - looked really annoyed with Podz at one point in the 1st half during a timeout and walked away from the huddle

I wouldnt put too much stock into it because its just how it looked for one game, but I wonder if his competitiveness is a bit grating on teammates. If someone has that obsessive Kobe-like attitude, has to be backed up on the court with big time results. But that's more just reading tea leaves than anything I've heard

He talks a lot of sh!!t for a guy that can't score the ball and is a rookie who hunts rebounds, take charges and gambles at the expense of sound defense.

He seems like the 'ultimate team player' because he doesn't take bad shots or whatnot. From what I've seen, he's a pretty selfish player whether it's the technical FTs he took early in the season, his stat hunting, or his reluctance in taking the open shot. Not sure what he's accomplished to be out there telling veteran players what to do or how to play. Pretty sure if wiggins had some cajones, he'd be the one knocking podz out, not dray.

Seems pretty hyperbole.

The guy has a winning mindset. He may just need to learn how to be diplomatic about that within the team, which he'll quickly learn.

[Sleepy51]

Seems fairly clear that he would be on Wiggins about Cadillacing layups and on JK about rebounding. He has ample credibility to get after guys on the effort front as long as he is using language that is energizing, not dogging people out. High effort guy or not, he’s not a coach and his efforts at regulating accountability is absolutely limited by his own shortcomings at this early age. He largely cant make a layup against a NBA defender. He blows as many rotations as everyone else at this point. He’s a 65% FT shooter. Etc…

I like the same things everyone else likes that Podz does but he has plenty of work to do on his own game and would be wise to keep that in perspective.

[SpreeChokeJob]

Thank goodness this is basketball. He would be the first person to be fragged. He’s young and ambitious, but the Warrior’s vets are battle tested champions.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Some of this is quite interesting. What makes you think Podz isn't popular by the way? What did you see?

Just one of those things where it doesnt look right.. like if one of the vets called out someone vs. Podz calling out someone, the reactions were different. One player in particular - not Wiggins, btw - looked really annoyed with Podz at one point in the 1st half during a timeout and walked away from the huddle

I wouldnt put too much stock into it because its just how it looked for one game, but I wonder if his competitiveness is a bit grating on teammates. If someone has that obsessive Kobe-like attitude, has to be backed up on the court with big time results. But that's more just reading tea leaves than anything I've heard

Who walked away? In guessing not steph, dray, klay, nor cp3 because podz rises up to them. Not wiggs, loon, or ooddy because they are the most chill on the team.

Jk or saric?

[Crazy-Canuck]

We already play the smallest line ups, yet kerr is trying to go shorter?

Read on Twitter

[Onus]

We already play the smallest line ups, yet kerr is trying to go shorter?

Read on Twitter

Those cp3, podz, gp2 lineups really bringing us down.

[RUN-TJM]

On the plus side, GSW has been a lot better when he's been on the floor. The rebounds he gets are contested. The charges he takes are turning high percentage buckets into turnovers for the other team. I don't have any complaints about what he does well.

What remains to be seen is:
1. Will he become a good shooter? If not he will be limited in his impact.
2. How much of his boost to GSW is just from being one of hte players most likely to be on court when Klay is off court?

I feel similarly.
He keeps the ball moving, makes plays and always puts in the required effort.

He has heaps to work on.

I feel like on spot up 3’s he almost too squared up which limits his ability to get proper follow through and sees the ball miss to the side a lot.

His defence needs a bit of work but I feel he will naturally become a better team defender.

His finishing inside is a tad concerning but I think if he can nail his float game on either side that would suffice. He will naturally figure out how to finish at the rim in the nba with experience.

I wish we had more rookies like him coming through from 16/17-22/23. We’d be a lot better off now.

[Impuniti]

We already play the smallest line ups, yet kerr is trying to go shorter?

Read on Twitter

We can't question his logic. Unless he's fired, then it's ok to do so. By some brilliant posters on here.

[Old_Blue]

We already play the smallest line ups, yet kerr is trying to go shorter?

With all the prejudice towards short people, I'm reminded of a Randy Newman tune (no, not THAT one)...

Watch on YouTube

[Onus]

We already play the smallest line ups, yet kerr is trying to go shorter?

Read on Twitter

Those cp3, podz, gp2 lineups really bringing us down.

Wait that little bump in the middle is that when we went on a winning streak?

[floppymoose]

Im a big pro Kerr guy, but i was calling out the CP/Steph/Klay lineups months ago. Just because i like Kerr doesn't mean everything is perfect all the time.


Part if the problem is that Looney, Wiggins, Klay all were complete ass early in the season, which pushed the coaching staff towards CP and Podz. If the talker players hadnt sucked the height data wouldnt be quite so stark.

[Sandy333]

Podz has been vocal about guys not giving effort and I guess Wiggins is one of the suspects and Wiggins is not liking it and talking smack back.
Wiggins has been molly coddled toomuch. He has not improved his game from three years. It is purely due to lack of desire unlike Thompson whose body is letting him down. He is still one of the better defenders in the team, but not much else. He had the ability to iso , but very inconsistent.
The way Denver took down New York knicks shows the gulf in between the Teams. It is distance too far to bridge for the warriors this year.

[Onus]

Podz has been vocal about guys not giving effort and I guess Wiggins is one of the suspects and Wiggins is not liking it and talking smack back.
Wiggins has been molly coddled toomuch. He has not improved his game from three years. It is purely due to lack of desire unlike Thompson whose body is letting him down. He is still one of the better defenders in the team, but not much else. He had the ability to iso , but very inconsistent.
The way Denver took down New York knicks shows the gulf in between the Teams. It is distance too far to bridge for the warriors this year.

Wiggins is not a good iso player. He lacks the handle, the burst, the creativity to get by like sized players. He's better on a mismatch that he can overpower, which is why he's been better in post ups. His iso jumpers which he tends to take a lot when he does iso is unreliable. He's turned himself into a good catch and shoot player though which is why his 3% has improved here, but hasn't been as consistent this year due to various factors (unable to train in off season due to broken ribs, bashing his finger on a car door, coming back from his personal issues).

Knicks finishing a 5 game roadie in denver is one of the hardest spots. The fact they were able to keep it close up til the 4th was actually shocking by the knicks. Denver should've rolled them.

[Sleepy51]

Podz has been vocal about guys not giving effort and I guess Wiggins is one of the suspects and Wiggins is not liking it and talking smack back.
Wiggins has been molly coddled toomuch. He has not improved his game from three years. It is purely due to lack of desire unlike Thompson whose body is letting him down. He is still one of the better defenders in the team, but not much else. He had the ability to iso , but very inconsistent.
The way Denver took down New York knicks shows the gulf in between the Teams. It is distance too far to bridge for the warriors this year.

Wiggins has been in the NBA for 10 years. He's not going to improve his game. He's more than halfway through his career and probably already on the downside.

[SpreeS]

Here everyone talks about every player except Curry/Green. These two are the most important and they are too old to put us where we want to be… its over guys. If we think that Siakam level players would save this team, it’s false.

[CDM_Stats]

Some of this is quite interesting. What makes you think Podz isn't popular by the way? What did you see?

Just one of those things where it doesnt look right.. like if one of the vets called out someone vs. Podz calling out someone, the reactions were different. One player in particular - not Wiggins, btw - looked really annoyed with Podz at one point in the 1st half during a timeout and walked away from the huddle

I wouldnt put too much stock into it because its just how it looked for one game, but I wonder if his competitiveness is a bit grating on teammates. If someone has that obsessive Kobe-like attitude, has to be backed up on the court with big time results. But that's more just reading tea leaves than anything I've heard

Who walked away? In guessing not steph, dray, klay, nor cp3 because podz rises up to them. Not wiggs, loon, or ooddy because they are the most chill on the team.

Jk or saric?

The guy who walks away most in games

And btw none of this is to crucify Podz at all, he just steps over the line a bit. Unlike Poole his dedication to winning / the team isnt in question so its unlikely its an actual issue. He's basically just a Scrappy Doo and that can get irritating some times, I'd guess