We need to talk about Buddy

[EvanZ]

When do we think Kerr will "figure this out"? It's mind numbingly bad coaching. Like wtf is actually going on behidn the scenes here? Is Trump propping him up? Honestly, Buddy's teammates seem to call him out on a nightly basis. This mfer has a 3-year deal. Catching a falling knife right now.


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[cpower]

defense is a legit concern but Kerr chose to play him for the offense...Problem is Podz can't shoot and Moody is also a slow footed defender..None of these options are amazing to begin with

[Onus]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

[EvanZ]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

LOL. If that guy exists he's not in the GL right now.

[TB]

This is similar to the Post thread in that it's more of a Kerr thread than anything.

Buddy is a very solid cheap replacement of Klay. One that can start when you need him to but isn't going to destroy the locker room if he's in the ideal scenario off the bench.

It's not as bad as it was with Klay, but Kerr is still overusing Buddy at times regardless of how he is performing on a given night.

And if you are going to start Buddy, the one lineup you don't do that with is alongside Curry and Post. At least get him in a switchable lineup with Jimmy/Dray at the 4/5 or pair him with a center like Loon that can defend.

What's interesting is that overall Buddy has been pretty game at taking on the responsibility Kerr has given him, and been a better defender than anyone really expected. But its also playing out exactly how this board reacted to his signing... when we all basically said "I like this signing but im worried Kerr is going to play him way too much over other players".

[tal57]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

They had one, Melton. That is why I keep saying it was the biggest blow to GS, bigger than JK injury. At that time Melton went down, it wasn't that visible, it is now. What really bugs me is the management was counting on the incredible depth at that position and totally miscalculated. None of that depth had largely stepped in.

[Onus]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

LOL. If that guy exists he's not in the GL right now.

Really just have to hope GP2 starts hitting 3s. He was last night and Kerr found a way to only play him 16 min

[Onus]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

They had one, Melton. That is why I keep saying it was the biggest blow to GS, bigger than JK injury. At that time Melton went down, it wasn't that visible, it is now. What really bugs me is the management was counting on the incredible depth at that position and totally miscalculated. None of that depth had largely stepped in.

Melton was huge because he was actually a 2 way player. Which he was 1 of 2 in him and Wiggins.

[tal57]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

LOL. If that guy exists he's not in the GL right now.

Really just have to hope GP2 starts hitting 3s. He was last night, and Kerr found a way to only play him 16 min

That is on Kerr and what we are basically talking about him. His total unwillingness, perhaps inability to adjust from game to game and within the game. First, he was force-feeding Shroeder, square peg in the round whole. Now he is going to start Buddy hell or high water. Especially when occasionally, Buddy will go 5-12 from 3 and GS wins. And it doesn't matter if Buddy will go off for a while after that, stinking the place like last night and GP2 or Moody will have a good game, playing half the minutes Buddy is. That is precisely the "beauty" of Kerr today. Total unwillingness and inability to recognize or slow recognize game to game and especially in game situations, and coach accordingly.

[DonaldSanders]

Buddy is not a realistic solution. This whole idea of Kerr just needed to start Buddy and we'd do so much better has been ridiculous. IQ test indeed. Look at his career numbers, he's been a backup for a reason. He has the worst on/off of his career at age 32, and has barely been positive on court 1 time.

You can bring him off the bench for some scoring punch and play him if he's hot, but if you're playing him big minutes your team has a problem. I'd much rather be playing players with potential for more upside like Podz or Moses (though he isn't as much of a SG).

[bay2hk]

I mean we don’t really have a better option now that the trade deadline is over. We can bring in another shooter like Chris Duarte and play the SG spot on a committee basis

[GQ Hot Dog]

Buddy is not a realistic solution. This whole idea of Kerr just needed to start Buddy and we'd do so much better has been ridiculous. IQ test indeed. Look at his career numbers, he's been a backup for a reason. He has the worst on/off of his career at age 32, and has barely been positive on court 1 time.

You can bring him off the bench for some scoring punch and play him if he's hot, but if you're playing him big minutes your team has a problem. I'd much rather be playing players with potential for more upside like Podz or Moses (though he isn't as much of a SG).

Moses can't guard quick guards. He's purely a SF.

The option is Podz or GP2.

I'm starting to think GP2 because he gives up less on offense than Buddy does on defense. And Buddy's offense has been terrible so he doesn't even have that to hang his hat upon.

Podz might be the better option but it means we don't have any ball handlers off the bench.

We need to strike gold on the buyout market.

[EvanZ]

He should have obviously started Podz and Moody last night. He should keep starting them until JK comes back and then figure it out from there.

This really isn't hard. Kerr galaxy brains lineups is so frustrating.

[DonaldSanders]

Moses can't guard quick guards. He's purely a SF.

The option is Podz or GP2.

I'm starting to think GP2 because he gives up less on offense than Buddy does on defense. And Buddy's offense has been terrible so he doesn't even have that to hang his hat upon.

Podz might be the better option but it means we don't have any ball handlers off the bench.

We need to strike gold on the buyout market.

Yeah that's why I said he isn't a SG but Buddy has been such a disaster that it might have been better (and I'd have GPII in as SF, so just playing positional musical chairs I guess). I'd just start Podz and make him an early sub when Jimmy goes out. Buddy still gets some time with Steph, but Podz closes. Podz still has some upside potential, we know what we have in Buddy.

Curry
Podz
Moses
Jimmy
Dray

[CDM_Stats]

Buddy will continue to start because teams continue to guard him, for the most part, like he's an elite microwave shooter, and no one aside from Curry gets anywhere near that treatment. Simple as that.. the team is better when he's on the court because of it. I'd love if he shot better, but the fact that the Curry/Hield/GP2 trio works well, and that Butler will give Hield more open looks, means that he's going to continue to start and then likely be paired with GP2 when Butler sits in Q1 to stagger him

Until Moody becomes more of a consistent 3pt threat - and is treated like one by defenses - then there's no one who's going to bump him. Podz has an outside chance but putting Hield with the bench squad means you are really going to sink him, as the main positive he brings to the table would be gone - which is spacing with the starters. Not only that, but removing Podz from a situation where he's starting to thrive could make it a two-pronged negative

[CDM_Stats]

Moses can't guard quick guards. He's purely a SF.

I think we can just call him a forward now.. he can situationally play some SG but his value goes up the more you move him up positionally.. has some really great trends going for him as a 4

[CDM_Stats]

All 3 shouldn't be a starting sg or getting close to 30 mpg at that position. It's our biggest hole on the team currently other than not having any talented bigs.

But how can we not find a Keon Ellis, Vince Williams type player. Seriously there has to be someone in the g league that is a dog on defense and can shoot open shots.

They had one, Melton. That is why I keep saying it was the biggest blow to GS, bigger than JK injury. At that time Melton went down, it wasn't that visible, it is now. What really bugs me is the management was counting on the incredible depth at that position and totally miscalculated. None of that depth had largely stepped in.

I think the biggest misstep was putting Podz at PG. That drain has unclogged and now there is depth at SG. Its just how to use it

Moody isnt part of the conversation for me. I dont think the team can get away with him logging heavy SG minutes. So who is there really? GP2, Podz, Buddy.

GP2 @SG is a pure defender, so youd have to make up for him elsewhere. And the team doesnt have a ton of options to do that - Post, maybe? But if the 2 forwards are Butler/Dray, then we're back to really tight spacing

Podz is the guy I'd probably close with, but the reason why Buddy should start over him is opportunity cost. Buddy needs Steph to be effective.. there's a 17 pt gap in production w/Buddy on the court when Steph is on (+8) and when Steph is off (-9). Compare that to the 9 pt gap w/Podz on court - Steph on (+10) and Steph off (+1). So while Podz is marginally better with Steph than Buddy, Podz can survive w/o Steph. Buddy cannot

Its an ugly decision but its still the right call, although finishing with Buddy over Podz is probably a game to game decision

[RUN-TJM]

Buddy will continue to start because teams continue to guard him, for the most part, like he's an elite microwave shooter, and no one aside from Curry gets anywhere near that treatment. Simple as that.. the team is better when he's on the court because of it. I'd love if he shot better, but the fact that the Curry/Hield/GP2 trio works well, and that Butler will give Hield more open looks, means that he's going to continue to start and then likely be paired with GP2 when Butler sits in Q1 to stagger him

Until Moody becomes more of a consistent 3pt threat - and is treated like one by defenses - then there's no one who's going to bump him. Podz has an outside chance but putting Hield with the bench squad means you are really going to sink him, as the main positive he brings to the table would be gone - which is spacing with the starters. Not only that, but removing Podz from a situation where he's starting to thrive could make it a two-pronged negative

I’m ok with him starting as it gives him an opportunity to get going, which is important. What I would like to see, is when he is clearly not shooting well, reduce his minutes appropriately.
When he is not contributing with his shooting he tends to play poorly defensively and make mistake on the other side of the ball.

[tal57]

Buddy will continue to start because teams continue to guard him, for the most part, like he's an elite microwave shooter, and no one aside from Curry gets anywhere near that treatment. Simple as that.. the team is better when he's on the court because of it. I'd love if he shot better, but the fact that the Curry/Hield/GP2 trio works well, and that Butler will give Hield more open looks, means that he's going to continue to start and then likely be paired with GP2 when Butler sits in Q1 to stagger him

Until Moody becomes more of a consistent 3pt threat - and is treated like one by defenses - then there's no one who's going to bump him. Podz has an outside chance but putting Hield with the bench squad means you are really going to sink him, as the main positive he brings to the table would be gone - which is spacing with the starters. Not only that, but removing Podz from a situation where he's starting to thrive could make it a two-pronged negative

I’m ok with him starting as it gives him an opportunity to get going, which is important. What I would like to see, is when he is clearly not shooting well, reduce his minutes appropriately.
When he is not contributing with his shooting he tends to play poorly defensively and make mistake on the other side of the ball.

Yes, that what I was going to say in response to CDM. I am totally fine with Buddy starting, was clamoring for that myself when Kerr was forcing Shroder in to start. No matter what Buddy does, his presence and the threat of a 3 has effect on easing Curry. My only problem is if he totally doesn't have it, somewhere during the game the adjustments have to be made. This is on Kerr and that is where he truly fails.

[RUN-TJM]

Moses can't guard quick guards. He's purely a SF.

I think we can just call him a forward now.. he can situationally play some SG but his value goes up the more you move him up positionally.. has some really great trends going for him as a 4

He should come play in Australia. He could play the 4 in the NBL full time.

Do we have the highest percentage of NQR players on our roster?
Moses is built like a prototypical 2G. Best played at the 4.
JK should be an incredible, over powering SF. Instead he’s a small 4 with defensive issues.
Podz has good size and handle for a PG but can’t run the team effectively. Instead he’s, nominally a 2G who can’t shoot catch and shoot 3’s.
Draymond is a play making 4/5 who struggles inside offensively, an inconsistent outside shooter who shortens the court offensively for opposition defenders.
Jimmy is a brute of a SF but shooting limitations mean he plays more like a 4.
Even Steph, a great PG, albeit turnover prone, who is better played off ball to unlock his shooting and gravity.

It’s a difficult roster to turn into a 50 win team.

We so desperately need a 2 who is athletic, can dribble, finish at the rim, knock down open 3’s and defend. By that reckoning we need to trade for Jaylen Brown……
TDJ, Hield and a future 2nd should do it…