NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 5

[9 and 20]

GSW vs the Lakers is entertaining. Like two unlikable middle aged guys going at it outside a bar. Also, Lebron James got called for a travel for the first time in 20 years.

[NatP4]

That travel call was shocking haha. Ref totally got emotionally caught up in that GS run and crowd energy.

I’m surprised at how untalented the warriors are right now. It’s curry and a bunch of scrubs. They totally screwed up so many high draft picks. Almost nothing to show for. Klay and Draymond are cooked. Poole is replacement level. Kinda sad to watch. I would play Divencenzo way more if I’m Kerr.

[pcbothwel]

That travel call was shocking haha. Ref totally got emotionally caught up in that GS run and crowd energy.

I’m surprised at how untalented the warriors are right now. It’s curry and a bunch of scrubs. They totally screwed up so many high draft picks. Almost nothing to show for. Klay and Draymond are cooked. Poole is replacement level. Kinda sad to watch. I would play Divencenzo way more if I’m Kerr.

I’ve never understood the infatuation with bob myers. Look at their TERRIBLE moves since Jerry West left in 2017.
DRAFT: Evans, Poole, and Baldwin in the late first. I HATE Pooles game and think he’s a mediocre 6th man. The others are trash.

Wiseman - Next pick was Ball
Kuminga - Next pick was Wagner
Moody - Next picks were Kispert, Sengun, Murphy.

Those 3 picks alone would be a play-in team. That is a catastrophic miss.

He then doubled down by not trading any of those guys, and giving bloated extensions to Klay and Poole.

He literally had the greatest offensive player and defensive player/glue guy of this generation.
I’m not impressed

[dobrojim]

Capt Obvious says If Davis stays healthy and plays like last night, Lakers will be a very tough out.
Assuming they do get past Dubs (not counting out Curry yet), it'll be very interesting to watch
the AD-Joker matchup (teams up 2-0, like DEN, usually win their series).

[nate33]

Capt Obvious says If Davis stays healthy and plays like last night, Lakers will be a very tough out.
Assuming they do get past Dubs (not counting out Curry yet), it'll be very interesting to watch
the AD-Joker matchup (teams up 2-0, like DEN, usually win their series).

This.

The reason why most are counting the Lakers out of making the Finals isn't because they lack the talent to do so. It's that nobody thinks Davis and Lebron can stay healthy for 4 straight rounds playing heavy minutes while never having more than 1 rest day. At some point, they will slow down or miss some games. I don't know if it's going to happen in Round 2, but by Round 3, it's seems fairly likely.

[NatP4]

That travel call was shocking haha. Ref totally got emotionally caught up in that GS run and crowd energy.

I’m surprised at how untalented the warriors are right now. It’s curry and a bunch of scrubs. They totally screwed up so many high draft picks. Almost nothing to show for. Klay and Draymond are cooked. Poole is replacement level. Kinda sad to watch. I would play Divencenzo way more if I’m Kerr.

I’ve never understood the infatuation with bob myers. Look at their TERRIBLE moves since Jerry West left in 2017.
DRAFT: Evans, Poole, and Baldwin in the late first. I HATE Pooles game and think he’s a mediocre 6th man. The others are trash.

Wiseman - Next pick was Ball
Kuminga - Next pick was Wagner
Moody - Next picks were Kispert, Sengun, Murphy.

Those 3 picks alone would be a play-in team. That is a catastrophic miss.

He then doubled down by not trading any of those guys, and giving bloated extensions to Klay and Poole.

He literally had the greatest offensive player and defensive player/glue guy of this generation.
I’m not impressed

Seriously. Picks 2/7/14 and 3 late 1sts results in not a single playable rotation player in the playoffs.

They have an offense that revolves around 3 players jacking up contested shots. No one else even looks at the basket. The lakers don’t even guard anyone but Curry/Thompson/Poole, and I’m pretty sure Thompson and Poole are net negatives at this point.

It’s hard to watch.

[badinage]

To be fair:

Poole was a huge reason they got to the Finals last year and won. Thompson wasn’t healed, and JP had a lot of terrific scoring games, lightened Curry’s load and drew focus on offense.

And though Kuminga hasn’t had a great season, he was a key piece last year.

I do think Jerry West was a vital piece of this puzzle. That decision to not trade Klay for Love — it was huge. It was everything.

But Poole was a find, and they developed him (via the G league and then on the team) into a major piece.

That can’t be just dismissed.

Kuminga may not pan out, but he was a rotation piece on a championship team.

Wiseman was a big whiff, especially considering who they might have taken.

The biggest goof of all is — those picks could’ve been turned into stars (like Beal) who would have extended the life of their superstars and extended their run as a team.

[NatP4]

Kerr is also very overrated as a coach though. Divincenzo played 12 minutes. Poole played 30. GP3 played 12.

From what I have watched Divincenzo is actually the 3rd or 4th best player on the team behind Steph/Draymond/Looney. Much better than Klay and Poole.

They are just lacking decent players. It’s really Curry and a bunch of scrubs. Poole is really a replacement level player miscast into a 6th man role.

Gotta play Donte D

[nate33]

Kerr is also very overrated as a coach though. Divincenzo played 12 minutes. Poole played 30. GP3 played 12.

From what I have watched Divincenzo is actually the 3rd or 4th best player on the team behind Steph/Draymond/Looney. Much better than Klay and Poole.

They are just lacking decent players. It’s really Curry and a bunch of scrubs. Poole is really a replacement level player miscast into a 6th man role.

Gotta play Donte D

Yeah, Donte seems like a better player than Poole. Way better defensively, and frankly, probably better on offense too, though Poole at least has an ability to create something out of nothing.

I wouldn't call Kerr an overrated coach though. I think he is extremely innovative and has gotten a lot out of a team that really doesn't have that much talent outside of Curry. It's really freaking hard to generate offense when you are forced to play multiple guys like Draymond, Payton and Looney to hold the defense together. I'm curious to see how he will adjust after Game 1.

[pcbothwel]

That travel call was shocking haha. Ref totally got emotionally caught up in that GS run and crowd energy.

I’m surprised at how untalented the warriors are right now. It’s curry and a bunch of scrubs. They totally screwed up so many high draft picks. Almost nothing to show for. Klay and Draymond are cooked. Poole is replacement level. Kinda sad to watch. I would play Divencenzo way more if I’m Kerr.

I’ve never understood the infatuation with bob myers. Look at their TERRIBLE moves since Jerry West left in 2017.
DRAFT: Evans, Poole, and Baldwin in the late first. I HATE Pooles game and think he’s a mediocre 6th man. The others are trash.

Wiseman - Next pick was Ball
Kuminga - Next pick was Wagner
Moody - Next picks were Kispert, Sengun, Murphy.

Those 3 picks alone would be a play-in team. That is a catastrophic miss.

He then doubled down by not trading any of those guys, and giving bloated extensions to Klay and Poole.

He literally had the greatest offensive player and defensive player/glue guy of this generation.
I’m not impressed

Seriously. Picks 2/7/14 and 3 late 1sts results in not a single playable rotation player in the playoffs.

They have an offense that revolves around 3 players jacking up contested shots. No one else even looks at the basket. The lakers don’t even guard anyone but Curry/Thompson/Poole, and I’m pretty sure Thompson and Poole are net negatives at this point.

It’s hard to watch.

Not to keep bagging on this, but anyone who watches even 5 minutes of film saw the issues with Wiseman, Kuminga, and Baldwin. It's like they drafted the guys based on Mixtapes and AAU rankings. I would of taken Kuminga around 8-10, but NO WAY above Wagner.
Wiseman was just brutal. Ball, Okongwu, and Haliburton were CLEARLY better prospects. And they could have traded for a legit AS caliber player and gotten a mid/late 1st to take Green, Maxey, Bane, or Quickley.

[NatP4]

Agreed. Kuminga did show *some* positive signs with the Ignite, but anyone who watched a few full Michigan games and a few full Ignite games, knew that Wagner was the superior prospect/player.

Baldwin never even looked like a basketball player. But I wonder the same exact thing with Tommy and Isaiah Todd. How could you ever watch that guy play and think he’s worthy of a top 35 pick?

[nate33]

Imagine if, in 2020, Golden State would have traded down from #2 to #11 with Sacramento and landed Haliburton plus a future unprotected pick.

Then, in 2021, they draft Wagner instead of Kuminga, and Sengun in place of Moody.

Then in 2022, with the Sacramento pick, they draft Mathurin (while refraining from resigning Poole).

Their lineup right now:

PG Curry/Haliburton
SG Haliburton/Mathurin
SF Wiggins/Klay
PF Draymond/Wagner
C Looney/Sengun

That's a 60-win team and title favorite. And the team seamlessly transitions to a new era with the following players in their prime or getting ready to enter their prime:'

PG Haliburton
SG Mathurin
SF Wiggins
PF Wagner
C Looney/Sengun

They would win 50 games for the next 8 seasons.

[Kanyewest]

Kerr is also very overrated as a coach though. Divincenzo played 12 minutes. Poole played 30. GP3 played 12.

From what I have watched Divincenzo is actually the 3rd or 4th best player on the team behind Steph/Draymond/Looney. Much better than Klay and Poole.

They are just lacking decent players. It’s really Curry and a bunch of scrubs. Poole is really a replacement level player miscast into a 6th man role.

Gotta play Donte D

Yeah, Donte seems like a better player than Poole. Way better defensively, and frankly, probably better on offense too, though Poole at least has an ability to create something out of nothing.

I wouldn't call Kerr an overrated coach though. I think he is extremely innovative and has gotten a lot out of a team that really doesn't have that much talent outside of Curry. It's really freaking hard to generate offense when you are forced to play multiple guys like Draymond, Payton and Looney to hold the defense together. I'm curious to see how he will adjust after Game 1.

As a big Donte fan, Poole did outplay him in game 1 with a 68 TS% and Donte like Poole struggled against Sacramento. Donte did do better defensively against the Lakers although Monk and Fox did have the better of him. It doesn't appear the Lakers have any one of that caliber that can expose him at least in game 1- Donte even did a good job guarding LeBron on one possession. But yeah, Kerr needs to get more players involved ultimately if Thompson/Green struggle (I believe Thompson was much worse in the 2nd half). Or just ride Curry more, he had 24 shots in game 1 while he had 38 shots in game 7 against Sacramento.

[NatP4]

Dyson Daniels over Mathurin in my personal view, had a Jalen Suggs-like rookie season in which he played great defense and helped his team win despite some ugly offensive numbers, but will have a huge improvement offensively over the next couple of years. Mathurin is an empty stats guy, future journeyman.

But even just Kispert over Moody and you have a little bit more spacing out there. They have 3 capable players on offense. It’s brutal

[NatP4]

Donte also played 20 less minutes than Poole. Hard to do much.

Kerr doesn’t have much to work with, but that first game was just really bad. They had no answers or adjustments, but really just not enough capable players. Gotta use one of the 3 that you do have.

[Kanyewest]

Donte also played 20 less minutes than Poole. Hard to do much.

Kerr doesn’t have much to work with, but that first game was just really bad. They had no answers or adjustments, but really just not enough capable players. Gotta use one of the 3 that you do have.

Donte kind of played his way out with the 4 turnovers despite a relatively efficient scoring on low shot usage. Poole had it going that night and deserved minutes over him at least for game 1. Although maybe you could make the case that Donte should be playing over Payton (and the trade for Wiseman should have been made for Bey instead) or taking more shots instead of Klay.

[NatP4]

Donte also played 20 less minutes than Poole. Hard to do much.

Kerr doesn’t have much to work with, but that first game was just really bad. They had no answers or adjustments, but really just not enough capable players. Gotta use one of the 3 that you do have.

Donte kind of played his way out with the 4 turnovers despite a relatively efficient scoring on low shot usage. Poole had it going that night and deserved minutes over him at least for game 1. Although maybe you could make the case that Donte should be playing over Payton (and the trade for Wiseman should have been made for Bey instead) or taking more shots instead of Klay.

My case if for Donte over all of Poole, GP3, and Klay(zero chance at this). He’s better than all 3 at this point. Impacts the game in a ton of different ways outside of scoring. Even when Poole makes a few shots, he gives it all back on defense. How about the lazy take fouls instead of trying to play defense last night? Van Gundy called him out a few times on TV.

I just think as a coach, you don’t do the “hot hand” thing. Play the better player.

They also really miss someone like Otto Porter. No glue guy wing on this team currently.

[Kanyewest]

Donte also played 20 less minutes than Poole. Hard to do much.

Kerr doesn’t have much to work with, but that first game was just really bad. They had no answers or adjustments, but really just not enough capable players. Gotta use one of the 3 that you do have.

Donte kind of played his way out with the 4 turnovers despite a relatively efficient scoring on low shot usage. Poole had it going that night and deserved minutes over him at least for game 1. Although maybe you could make the case that Donte should be playing over Payton (and the trade for Wiseman should have been made for Bey instead) or taking more shots instead of Klay.

My case if for Donte over all of Poole, GP3, and Klay(zero chance at this). He’s better than all 3 at this point. Impacts the game in a ton of different ways outside of scoring. Even when Poole makes a few shots, he gives it all back on defense. How about the lazy take fouls instead of trying to play defense last night? Van Gundy called him out a few times on TV.

I just think as a coach, you don’t do the “hot hand” thing. Play the better player.

They also really miss someone like Otto Porter. No glue guy wing on this team currently.

Donte can't turn over the ball either though. 4 turnovers over 22 minutes is pretty horrendous. It's not just that game though, Donte kind of struggled in the Sacramento series as well. Although I do agree his leash may be a little too short. And now that his defense is a strength again so he should play a little more.

Riding the hot hand was working up to a point when they went on a 14-0 run. Curry trying to attempt that floater over Davis ultimately cost them the game because they struggled too much before that.

I agree Oto is a big loss but ultimately turned out to be the right call to let him walk due to his injury concerns. He might be the missing piece though if the Warriors don't end up repeating.

[NatP4]

If only Kuminga could fill that role. Such a glaring need, and they picked him over the PERFECT fit in Wagner. Sigh

[badinage]

Agreed. Kuminga did show *some* positive signs with the Ignite, but anyone who watched a few full Michigan games and a few full Ignite games, knew that Wagner was the superior prospect/player.

Baldwin never even looked like a basketball player. But I wonder the same exact thing with Tommy and Isaiah Todd. How could you ever watch that guy play and think he’s worthy of a top 35 pick?

You don’t draft on where a player is. You draft on where a player is going to be in three years.