Steve Kerr - This group can be "Special."

[B-King]

Saric has just fallen off a cliff. Earlier in the season he had one of the best +- on the team. Now he's at -1.4 per 100 possessions. He had to be really bad recently to get to -1.4 from a high positive value in a short time.

He looks to be laboring out there more than normal. Very off balance like a big headed toddler learning to walk.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Dray is getting alot of credit for this run.

But there was a rotation tweak that hhappened about 10 games ago that has gone unnoticed by everyone. And kerr deserves his flower.

Wiggins is now tied to steph which means steph is staggered with klay.

Steph was getting run through defensively with klay out there. Now, wiggins is on his wing and always spying to help on steph. As a result, steph has been more energetic on defense because he has someone who he trusts which has also given him an energy boost on offense.

Wiggins defers to steph and doesn't take touches away and let's steph get into a rhythm much earlier.

[vvoland]

Saric has just fallen off a cliff. Earlier in the season he had one of the best +- on the team. Now he's at -1.4 per 100 possessions. He had to be really bad recently to get to -1.4 from a high positive value in a short time.

He looks to be laboring out there more than normal. Very off balance like a big headed toddler learning to walk.

He's also been targeted on defense more than any white dude I can remember. Everyone is going right at him like he's 5'7.

[vvoland]

Dray is getting alot of credit for this run.

But there was a rotation tweak that hhappened about 10 games ago that has gone unnoticed by everyone. And kerr deserves his flower.

Wiggins is now tied to steph which means steph is staggered with klay.

Steph was getting run through defensively with klay out there. Now, wiggins is on his wing and always spying to help on steph. As a result, steph has been more energetic on defense because he has someone who he trusts which has also given him an energy boost on offense.

Wiggins defers to steph and doesn't take touches away and let's steph get into a rhythm much earlier.

I like what you did there.

Not to take any petals off that flower but if I'm going to kill Wiggins for playing like a scared toddler the first 40 games, and I certainly have and will, I have to give him some credit for playing hard lately. Kerr tried to play wigs with anyone he could think of earlier this season, Steph included, and it was just awful, on both ends.

Since drays return/deki's death, the whole team is playing much harder and dray has deserved a lot of the credit, especially for the defense and the pace. Not sure who gets the credit for wigs. If I had to guess, I'd say the reality of getting traded to a place like Indianapolis might have woken him up. Not that I care all that much, just hope it lasts through the summer.

Kerr looks like he has learned two things lately. He's closing with the guys that played well in that particular game, as evidenced by Klay sitting recently. He's also calling TOs late in games after getting burned multiple times, most recently in that kings game.

[DonaldSanders]

Dray is getting alot of credit for this run.

But there was a rotation tweak that hhappened about 10 games ago that has gone unnoticed by everyone. And kerr deserves his flower.

Wiggins is now tied to steph which means steph is staggered with klay.

Steph was getting run through defensively with klay out there. Now, wiggins is on his wing and always spying to help on steph. As a result, steph has been more energetic on defense because he has someone who he trusts which has also given him an energy boost on offense.

Wiggins defers to steph and doesn't take touches away and let's steph get into a rhythm much earlier.

Sure I give credit to Steve for making an adjustment, but it's something we've been calling for for a long time now (Staggering Steph/Klay). I don't think everyone didn't notice, I certainly appreciated all the time Steph has had without Klay (early sub out in 1st, not closing, etc.). You are totally right it's a good move, but man why oh why did it take Steve so long?

[GunnerWRX]

He says the same thing every time anyway. Core 6 for 22-23 after winning with Poole on the team and sucked after “The Punch”. 6 starters this season before the “best starting 5 lineup” sucked.

Although I hope he is correct on this current group. Just take it with a grain of salt as he says the same thing every time.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Dray is getting alot of credit for this run.

But there was a rotation tweak that hhappened about 10 games ago that has gone unnoticed by everyone. And kerr deserves his flower.

Wiggins is now tied to steph which means steph is staggered with klay.

Steph was getting run through defensively with klay out there. Now, wiggins is on his wing and always spying to help on steph. As a result, steph has been more energetic on defense because he has someone who he trusts which has also given him an energy boost on offense.

Wiggins defers to steph and doesn't take touches away and let's steph get into a rhythm much earlier.

I like what you did there.

Not to take any petals off that flower but if I'm going to kill Wiggins for playing like a scared toddler the first 40 games, and I certainly have and will, I have to give him some credit for playing hard lately. Kerr tried to play wigs with anyone he could think of earlier this season, Steph included, and it was just awful, on both ends.

Since drays return/deki's death, the whole team is playing much harder and dray has deserved a lot of the credit, especially for the defense and the pace. Not sure who gets the credit for wigs. If I had to guess, I'd say the reality of getting traded to a place like Indianapolis might have woken him up. Not that I care all that much, just hope it lasts through the summer.

Kerr looks like he has learned two things lately. He's closing with the guys that played well in that particular game, as evidenced by Klay sitting recently. He's also calling TOs late in games after getting burned multiple times, most recently in that kings game.

It's been mentioned plenty about the conditioning issue with Wiggins since the start of the year due to his rib recovery. The rib takes about 3 months to heal and up to 6 months for full recovery due to blood flow issues. It even got verified by someone in the medical profession on this board.

He wasn't technically hurt, but his recovery was slow and it took up most of the start of the year. You could see it in the way he moved early on the year compared to now. I think floppy was the first to notice to lack of core strength.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Our team over the las 8 games is looking a little special.

We will look even more special if we beat the Clipper tommorow.

Wiggins playing well seems to make a big difference.

[michaelm]

Dray is getting alot of credit for this run.

But there was a rotation tweak that hhappened about 10 games ago that has gone unnoticed by everyone. And kerr deserves his flower.

Wiggins is now tied to steph which means steph is staggered with klay.

Steph was getting run through defensively with klay out there. Now, wiggins is on his wing and always spying to help on steph. As a result, steph has been more energetic on defense because he has someone who he trusts which has also given him an energy boost on offense.

Wiggins defers to steph and doesn't take touches away and let's steph get into a rhythm much earlier.

I like what you did there.

Not to take any petals off that flower but if I'm going to kill Wiggins for playing like a scared toddler the first 40 games, and I certainly have and will, I have to give him some credit for playing hard lately. Kerr tried to play wigs with anyone he could think of earlier this season, Steph included, and it was just awful, on both ends.

Since drays return/deki's death, the whole team is playing much harder and dray has deserved a lot of the credit, especially for the defense and the pace. Not sure who gets the credit for wigs. If I had to guess, I'd say the reality of getting traded to a place like Indianapolis might have woken him up. Not that I care all that much, just hope it lasts through the summer.

Kerr looks like he has learned two things lately. He's closing with the guys that played well in that particular game, as evidenced by Klay sitting recently. He's also calling TOs late in games after getting burned multiple times, most recently in that kings game.

It's been mentioned plenty about the conditioning issue with Wiggins since the start of the year due to his rib recovery. The rib takes about 3 months to heal and up to 6 months for full recovery due to blood flow issues. It even got verified by someone in the medical profession on this board.

He wasn't technically hurt, but his recovery was slow and it took up most of the start of the year. You could see it in the way he moved early on the year compared to now. I think floppy was the first to notice to lack of core strength.

I am admittedly a big Wiggs fan, thought injury had stopped him having a proper preparation for the season particularly strength and conditioning work, and given the nature of his physique that he might not be able to get back to his best game shape this season. Despite him being arguably the second best player in a title win 18 months ago (not the second most important, Green is again demonstrating he is that) he was sent to the bench and there seemed to be talk from the organisation about trading him. No one complained about him being benched, but some argued (it would seem correctly at this point in time) that at his age and with the issue he had he could return to what he was, which would be a player of higher value than anyone for whom he could be traded.

The issue people had with Kerr was the 3 guard line up with Klay and CP3, and inflexibility in different directions regardless of performance with how he played older and younger players, not hatred of Klay or a wish to be proved right about Moody. I am more on the Podz bandwagon myself.

If Klay could return to being the best second option player in the NBA everyone very much including me would be delighted. It just looks very unlikely, to me at least, that he can return to being able to guard the best opposition guard or develop the ability to guard elite SFs, and hence he and Curry probably both can’t be in the finishing line up. If it was good enough for the likes of Ginobli and Iguodala to be 6th men at or near their peaks I don’t see why Klay can’t be if this works better for the team. If with the Green/Kuminga/Wiggins line up he is better than younger alternatives fine, but they have had some good performances without him, and he can in any case show he is back to being 2019 pre-injury Klay from the bench just as Wiggins showed he was getting back to being 2022 Wiggins.

[jozef]

Our team over the las 8 games is looking a little special.
We will look even more special if we beat the Clipper tommorow.
Wiggins playing well seems to make a big difference.

The bigger difference is that unathletic centers Looney and Saric get less playing time. A drop from 20+ mpg in 2023 to 12 mpg in February.
There is still a room for improvement: give their minutes to TJD.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Our team over the las 8 games is looking a little special.
We will look even more special if we beat the Clipper tommorow.
Wiggins playing well seems to make a big difference.

The bigger difference is that unathletic centers Looney and Saric get less playing time. A drop from 20+ mpg in 2023 to 12 mpg in February.
There is still a room for improvement: give their minutes to TJD.

In the 2022 playoffs and vs the Kings in the playoof and the last few years in general Looney has been more athletic than the average starting center except Looney can not jump. Looney also outworked the average starting center. Looney also has higher basketball IQ and better court vision and sets better screens than the average starting center.

Looney came into the league with a hip injury that kept him from playing. By 2019 Looney seemed to be healthy and good. This is the first year in a long time where Looney did not play well.

Being shorter than the average center combined with not being able to jump means that Looney can not block shots.
Looneys speed and mobility in the last 5 years prior to this year was better than the average center except that Looney can not jump,

Looney is a little faster than the average starting center but Trayce is a lot faster than the average starting center and Saric is a lot slower than the average starting center and all 3 of them are shorter than the average starting center.

Replacing the center with Draymond and then giving Draymond’s spot to Kuminga is great but I have some fears. Will Draymond playing full time center wear Draymond down? Will centers score inside against Draymond? If they try to score against Draymond because Draymond is short that could work in our favor because they are trying to score against our best defender instead of attacking our worst defender.

Will we get outrebounded. Our 3 centers are 6’ 9” while Kuminga who is replacing them is 6’ 8” and is faster and jumps higher than our centers. Kuminga is as strong as our centers but our centers are much better rebounders than Kuminga because there is something wrong mentally with Kuminga’s rebounding. Rebounding is the one thing that rookies normally do well so Kuminga’s rebounding problem is not normal inexperience. Kuminga is slower than Saric when it comes to rebounding because Saric will have taken 2 steps toward the rebound before Kuminga takes his first step towards the rebound. Kuminga’s bad rebounding is weird.

Kuminga on top of having a delayed first step towards rebounds may not box out and may not battle for inside position.. inside position gets you rebounds. Boxing out denies the opponent inside position which may help your teamates get rebounds as much as it helps you get rebounds.

One of the Collins twins from Stanford got less than average rebounds for a center and yet his team always improved their rebounds when he waa on the floor because he was worked harder at boxing out than anybody in the NBA. Collins did not grab the rebounds but he stopped the opposing center from grabbing the rebounds so he in flated the rebounding numbers for his teamates.

If Kuminga can not get a good first step towards rebounds because the part of his brain that reacts to rebound is defective he can still help with team rebounding if he works at boxing out,

[TB]

Saric effectiveness should improve when CP3 is back. Those two play well together, especially against 2nd units.

Lets not forget that there were stretches during 2022 regular season when Otto and Beli both either struggled or were out of the rotation.

If healthy my guess is we settle into a rotation of:

Steph / CP3
Klay / Podz
Wiggins / GP2
Kuminga / Saric
Dray / Loon or Trayce

Basically a 10 man rotation with Moody, Lester, Gui, and whichever center isn't the preferred matchup as depth as needed. And really could see it more of a 9 man with a lot of smallball where only one of Saric/Loon/Trayce backup Dray and we roll with shifting up for backup PF.

[jozef]

Looney is a little faster than the average starting center but Trayce is a lot faster than the average starting center and Saric is a lot slower than the average starting center and all 3 of them are shorter than the average starting center.

Looney is not faster than any starting center. He is slower than average starting center.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Looney is a little faster than the average starting center but Trayce is a lot faster than the average starting center and Saric is a lot slower than the average starting center and all 3 of them are shorter than the average starting center.

Looney is not faster than any starting center. He is slower than average starting center.

Looney might be injured this year.
Looney was faster than the average starting center for the 4 years before this year.
Centers are slow, it did not require much to be faster than the average starting center.
In my 20s I was faster than the average NBA starting center.

I am considering both straight line motion going forward and lateral motion and Looney was faster than the average slow as*s starting center in both ways.

Looney also has a faster mind giving him some Podz-Curry speed that is mental speed rather than phyical speed.

Looney can not jump but that is not speed.
Don’t compare Looney to Kuminga, compare Looney to starting centers. Don’t compare Looney to Jaren Jackson because that guy is top 5 in center speed.

I am not an expert on Nurkic but Draymond made Nurkic look slow. I bet Looney as he played vs the Kings in the playoffs last year was faster than Nurkic. I supect that Warriors are hiding Looney injury problems this year.

Bogut was smart and used what speed he had efficienty but I think last year’s Looney was faster than 2016 Bogut who’s speed for a startuping center was close to average. Looney was faster than Zaza. Looney was slower than JaVale but JaVale was a faster than average center.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Saric effectiveness should improve when CP3 is back. Those two play well together, especially against 2nd units.

Lets not forget that there were stretches during 2022 regular season when Otto and Beli both either struggled or were out of the rotation.

If healthy my guess is we settle into a rotation of:

Steph / CP3
Klay / Podz
Wiggins / GP2
Kuminga / Saric
Dray / Loon or Trayce

Basically a 10 man rotation with Moody, Lester, Gui, and whichever center isn't the preferred matchup as depth as needed. And really could see it more of a 9 man with a lot of smallball where only one of Saric/Loon/Trayce backup Dray and we roll with shifting up for backup PF.

Payton jumps and is physical but I think I would put Podz on they small forwards and Payton on the off guards if they are playing with Chris Paul. Payton is small.

Saric is slow. Saric and Looney is too slow. If Trayce is playing with Saric I am calling Trayce the power forward and Saric the center. I don’t care how many 3s Saric shoots, to me position is determined by who you guard not what you do on offense. Saric is a center because he is one of the slowest players in the NBA.

[jozef]

Looney and Saric are athletic disaster. TJD should get at least twice minutes they get.

[Sandy333]

And a Clippers team minus George, Kwai and Lou brought Steve down to earth.
This coach and team had no answer to Harden and the clipper backups.
They should put thevtezm away earlier, but Steve with hus substitutions and Stephs loose play kept them in it.
For the first half the whistles seemed to be for once not against the warriors, but warriors didnot put the clipper team away.

[Impuniti]

And a Clippers team minus George, Kwai and Lou brought Steve down to earth.
This coach and team had no answer to Harden and the clipper backups.
They should put thevtezm away earlier, but Steve with hus substitutions and Stephs loose play kept them in it.
For the first half the whistles seemed to be for once not against the warriors, but warriors didnot put the clipper team away.

I especially liked the part where they used Westbrook to jump on offensive rebounds and all their players spam drive & kick repeatedly over and over and over and over and over again in the 4th, and Kerr made absolutely zero adjustments to the game. I love when a coach makes zero adjustments and hope his players do his job for him. It's admiring.

Kerr is right. This group can be special, but he sure as hell isn't letting them be this season.

[GSWFan1994]

Steve Kerr: "this group can be special, but I'm making sure it's not"

[Jester_]

Steve Kerr: "this group can be special, but I'm making sure it's not"

You're such a hater. Think you can do better?

Let's give you a team with a prime Shaq-calibre player, a prime Rodman-calibre player, a prime-Ray Allen calibre player, a few years of a prime-Larry Bird calibre player, an owner willing to spend half a country's GDP in luxury tax, and let's see you win anything