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after seeing how well draymond and co have guarded jokic (granted they can focus almost fully on him which helps) it has been really damn impressive

which current player and team could deal with draymond their defense better?

Warriors fan here. The Grizzlie’s are the scariest team for me. JA can be unstoppable. Adams offensive rebounding is a problem.

The SunsChris Paul has tone dominant and I don’t think he will be better than very good. The rest of the Suns don’t scare me much. Ayton could plausibly be a problem. If Chris Paul starts flying by Steph and Poole then Payton jr gets a chance at stopping Paul.

Gianis does not scare me. Warriors have Draymond and team defense. Embiid could be a problem but Embiid alone is not enough. Harden better regain his form but even then Harden was never that great vs the Warriors. Harden needs his regular season gift phantom foul calls which the refs don’t usually give him in the playoffs.

Celtics have to win with defense. Celtics offense is not that great.

Healthy Kawhi. Maybe that doesn’t exist anymore though.

Jokic with better teammates

70sFan wrote:Jokic with better teammates

Agreed.

Jokic is actually a big problem. However any good defense will smother a 1-man offense.

Fun fact - In the past all 9 head to head games between Curry and Luka, Curry (29/6/5) averaged 13 3pt attempts per game and made them at 43.6%. Luka (31/7/6) averaged 8.8 3pt attempts per game and made them at 44.3%. Mavs 5w-4l. All healthy Mavs should give them a good run.

The three biggest threats to the Warriors, though not the only threats:

1. Philly
2. Memphis
3. Phoneix

oaktownwarriors87 wrote:The three biggest threats to the Warriors, though not the only threats:

1. Philly
2. Memphis
3. Phoneix

memphis over milwaukee?

LeBron James.

A team with more than one good offensive player lol

Exaggerating a bit, but the Nuggets are mostly a carry job

SinceGatlingWasARookie wrote:Warriors fan here. The Grizzlie’s are the scariest team for me. JA can be unstoppable. Adams offensive rebounding is a problem.

The SunsChris Paul has tone dominant and I don’t think he will be better than very good. The rest of the Suns don’t scare me much. Ayton could plausibly be a problem. If Chris Paul starts flying by Steph and Poole then Payton jr gets a chance at stopping Paul.

Gianis does not scare me. Warriors have Draymond and team defense. Embiid could be a problem but Embiid alone is not enough. Harden better regain his form but even then Harden was never that great vs the Warriors. Harden needs his regular season gift phantom foul calls which the refs don’t usually give him in the playoffs.

Celtics have to win with defense. Celtics offense is not that great.

I agree with the Grizzlies callout but on the flipside they'd have a really hard time stopping the Warriors offense if you want to keep Adams on the floor for his offensive rebounding contribution etc. This Warriors team seems really scary.

The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

Peregrine01 wrote:The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

This is pretty much how the Warriors guard all high level offensive players - overload off the weakside and rely on sharp rotations to closeout to shooters

parsnips33 wrote:

Peregrine01 wrote:The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

This is pretty much how the Warriors guard all high level offensive players - overload off the weakside and rely on sharp rotations to closeout to shooters

Yup. It's a reason why they're the best defense in the league along with the Celts. But the inability of the Nuggets to punish the Dubs for overloading in such a way is allowing them to play like this. And as long as they keep bricking from long range, it plays into the Dubs' hands by speeding the game up.

Peregrine01 wrote:The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

Yes. Draymond's man to man defense is really good maybe even great, but some people falsely believe that he's this atg man to man defender who would give Shaq or Kareem fits. It's just false.

No-more-rings wrote:

Peregrine01 wrote:The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

Yes. Draymond's man to man defense is really good maybe even great, but some people falsely believe that he's this atg man to man defender who would give Shaq or Kareem fits. It's just false.

Shaq always struggled more against guys like Rodman than guys like Mutumbo. Guys who had lower centers of gravity and strong bases were better at dislodging him from getting deep paint position. Draymond has those qualities as well. I think Draymond is one of the best man defenders ever but this is the NBA and you can't play great defense on a great offensive player without having plenty of help.

Statlanta wrote:LeBron James.

he actually has impressive offense results against them

Peregrine01 wrote:

No-more-rings wrote:

Peregrine01 wrote:The idea that Draymond is guarding Jokic 1 on 1 is plain wrong. The Warriors are putting 2 to 3 guys on him before the catch so he doesn't get the ball deep. If he's in the post, they're sagging off shooters and packing the paint. Once he puts the ball down, they'll send another defender. As great as his passing is, why should the Warriors guard him straight up when his teammates can't hit open jumpers?

Yes. Draymond's man to man defense is really good maybe even great, but some people falsely believe that he's this atg man to man defender who would give Shaq or Kareem fits. It's just false.

Shaq always struggled more against guys like Rodman than guys like Mutumbo. Guys who had lower centers of gravity and strong bases were better at dislodging him from getting deep paint position. Draymond has those qualities as well. I think Draymond is one of the best man defenders ever but this is the NBA and you can't play great defense on a great offensive player without having plenty of help.

Maybe against Orlando Shaq, but LA Shaq particularly the 00-03 years definitely wouldn't be slowed down by someone like Rodman or Green. Also I don't think Green is as strong as Bulls Rodman, I've seen him struggle at times to keep guys like Zbo or Aldridge from getting deep in the post I have no clue how you think he'd keep Shaq from there.

No-more-rings wrote:

Peregrine01 wrote:

No-more-rings wrote:Yes. Draymond's man to man defense is really good maybe even great, but some people falsely believe that he's this atg man to man defender who would give Shaq or Kareem fits. It's just false.

Shaq always struggled more against guys like Rodman than guys like Mutumbo. Guys who had lower centers of gravity and strong bases were better at dislodging him from getting deep paint position. Draymond has those qualities as well. I think Draymond is one of the best man defenders ever but this is the NBA and you can't play great defense on a great offensive player without having plenty of help.

Maybe against Orlando Shaq, but LA Shaq particularly the 00-03 years definitely wouldn't be slowed down by someone like Rodman or Green. Also I don't think Green is as strong as Bulls Rodman, I've seen him struggle at times to keep guys like Zbo or Aldridge from getting deep in the post I have no clue how you think he'd keep Shaq from there.

Not saying he can by himself. As against Jokic, Dray has multiple teammates making deep catches hard, forcing Jokic further away from the basket and killing clock. When Shaq played against the 3-peat Bulls, it wasn't just Rodman that was preventing him from getting deep post position but also Pippen and Jordan.

Hasn't Boston given the Warriors trouble the last few years, even when they were clearly inferior?