Who starts?

[whatisacenter]

With steph out likely for a few games, who starts now.

No way kerr is daft enough to just insert podz.

Melton
Moody
Wiggins
Dray
Loon

Best defensive unit.

I like hield off the bench. With Steph out, can't put 2 more non shooters in podz and jk out there.

I agree on Melton being the natural choice to fill in for Curry but I would go:

Melton
Wiggins
JK
Dray
Loon

[WarriorGM]

With Steph out spacing and playmaking take a hit.

[vagelis]

I thought about it with clear mind and I think that it will not be wise to drop Kuminga so fast from the starting lineup.
And I think Kerr will not do it.

He needs to get a chance before Warriors come to a conclusion.

Maybe it is a bad period for him.


I would keep the same lineup for atleast 5 more games.
Warriors are 2-1. Nothing rushes them to make changes.

The only change I would make right now is to start Looney.

Curry
Wiggins
Kuminga
Green
Looney

for the next 5 games and then come to conclusions.
3 games are just very few to judge players.
Kuminga changed position this season and maybe needs some games to adjust (maybe not)

How did you go from 3 games is too little to make changes to making changes?

I said 3 games are very few to judge players if you read it again.
I didnt say 3 games are very few to make changes.

You changed it a little bit.

[CDM_Stats]

With Curry out, it really forces the team to focus on defense. However based on what Kerr thinks a defense-forward lineup looks like, I'm not optimistic

I'd use this opportunity to make some wholesale changes to the starting lineup:

Melton (24) / Podz (24)
Hield (30) / Wiggins (12) / Melton (6)
Wiggins (18) / GP2 (12) / Moody (18)
Dray (18) / JK (24) / SloMo (6)
Looney (18) / TJD (12) / Dray (12) / SloMo (6)

Melton - 30
Podz - 24
Hield - 30
Wiggins - 30
GP2 - 12
Moody - 18
Dray - 30
JK - 24
SloMo - 12
Looney - 18
TJD - 12

Give Melton/Hield a chance to have starters minutes, as we'll need as much spacing as possible w/o Steph. GP2 drops because he really does better when there's spacers out there and jives really well with Steph. JK is dropped into the mid 20s but exclusively at PF. Dray closes out both halves as C so we can run

Starting lineup would be defensively strong - Melton/Hield/Wiggins/Dray/Looney is nice, with Hield being the "Curry" defensively. He needs to play a lot to simulate the gravity of Curry

[whatisacenter]

Welp, Melton out tomorrow night.

I guess it Podz by default at this point starting in place of Curry.

I wonder how the team will look without Curry for at least the next two games?

[Crazy-Canuck]

Steph, melton, and now wiggs likely out.

I'm fully expecting dray to get ejected.

Podz, hield, jk, dray, and tjd is my guess on who starts against the pels. I think we will feature jk heavily.

[WarriorGM]

Many of the best lineups so far have featured Steph and Buddy together. That shouldn't be a surprise. There is synergy that arises from having two great shooters playing together. Steph and Klay just being impossible to guard was part of the offensive foundation of the Warriors offense of the past. If it hasn't looked as formidable recently as it did in years past I think that's due to Klay no longer being the Klay he once was.

Most of the lineups suggested so far are solid but I don't see much of a possibility for a big positive surprise to the upside from them.

We need to see a lineup of Hield and Waters together sometime during this period Steph is out. If we don't then I can conclusively say this coaching staff has no creativity or imagination. Maybe it will suck or maybe it will be great. We won't know unless it is tried and it is worth trying. Without another shooter next to him I think much of Buddy's positives can be more easily negated by the opponent's defense.

[Jester_]

Read on Twitter

[Crazy-Canuck]

Read on Twitter

Does he go right back once steph and wiggs returns? I'm guessing the lack of shooting and defense made this an easy call for now.

[Captain Ballmer]

My humble outside observation is that Moody is more suitable starter next to Curry-Wiggins-Dray. Buddy and Melton are shaky, inconsistent offensively for my taste to be named as starter. OTOH Moody looks consistent, glue type player along with more size than both so defensively has better tools. This makes Buddy-Melton more dangerous in bench i think.

Also, Looney would be great for placeholder starter at Center. Kuminga and TJD are non shooters, bad to below average defenders compare to their positions, have ups&downs but great athletes regardless. They on the starting makes them weakness however on the bench they can become strength with their upside.

Podz is also great stabilizer for melton-buddy-JK-TJD unit similar to Dray does for Starting unite. That makes Kyle and GPJ out of rotation, spot minutes guys. I don't like non shooting players who also not great at providing rim pressure so I don't have problem leaving them out of the equation but that' just my uneducated Warriors observation from couple games I watched recently.

[CDM_Stats]

but that' just my uneducated Warriors observation from couple games I watched recently.

I think this is spot on, almost 100% my beliefs too. I would have agreed on GP2 to begin the season, but in the first 4 games he's looked like he did 3 years ago.. so I'm more in favor of him being in the rotation. But I'm also in favor of a huge rotation, because frankly thats an advantage this team has that others dont, and it shouldnt be sacrificed because of tradition

[EvanZ]

Is Moody going to keep starting when Steph returns?

[Onus]

Gp2 starts at the 2.

[CDM_Stats]

Gp2 starts at the 2.

What's the opposite of earning it?

[EvanZ]

They really are going by +/-. That’s the only explanation for GPII.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Looks like gp2 started so he could mirror steph. Does he start vs the Celtics?

[Jester_]

our biggest weakness right now. i have no solutions but I know TJD aint it

[CDM_Stats]

I think Curry-Wiggins-Dray-Looney should be locked in at this point, with Looney being tentative since we havent actually seen him start yet, and the 5th one going by some combination of matchup and hot streak. Could be Melton, GP2, Moody, Hield... or in some very unlikely situations, Podz or JK. It would make the team harder to plan for game to game and could help with fatigue too. As a default I'd prefer it to be Melton or Moody though - 2 way guys (so not Payton) that are not crucial to the 2nd unit's scoring efficiency (so not Hield)

But TJD's got some troubling underlying stats and I think he'd be better getting going against the backups. That said, he either looks passive or is passive in certain aspects and on a team where there's been a lot of hustle and heart this year, he's starting to stick out a lot to me. Even JK has been better about that, and thats despite being sent to the bench in a contract year

Reminded me of this little nugget post-draft last year..

“There were some questions about his whole disposition at Indiana, his attitude and things like that,” one NBA scout told Heavy Sports. “And I think in his four years, there was some question about whether he could learn to step out and shoot a little bit from distance, which you have to be able to do in the NBA today. But he never took that step."

[Jester_]

I think Curry-Wiggins-Dray-Looney should be locked in at this point, with Looney being tentative since we havent actually seen him start yet, and the 5th one going by some combination of matchup and hot streak. Could be Melton, GP2, Moody, Hield... or in some very unlikely situations, Podz or JK. It would make the team harder to plan for game to game and could help with fatigue too. As a default I'd prefer it to be Melton or Moody though - 2 way guys (so not Payton) that are not crucial to the 2nd unit's scoring efficiency (so not Hield)

But TJD's got some troubling underlying stats and I think he'd be better getting going against the backups. That said, he either looks passive or is passive in certain aspects and on a team where there's been a lot of hustle and heart this year, he's starting to stick out a lot to me. Even JK has been better about that, and thats despite being sent to the bench in a contract year

Reminded me of this little nugget post-draft last year..

“There were some questions about his whole disposition at Indiana, his attitude and things like that,” one NBA scout told Heavy Sports. “And I think in his four years, there was some question about whether he could learn to step out and shoot a little bit from distance, which you have to be able to do in the NBA today. But he never took that step."

I think the team should experiment with starting and ending with Dray at the 5. Our roster's depth means we can pull from the bench much quicker and minimize fatigue. Dray is playing 28 minutes a game right now anyway so I don't know what there is to be fatigued about.

Curry-Hield-Moody-Wiggins-Draymond is a lineup I'd love to see but I don't think that's ever happened (nor will happen)

[CDM_Stats]

Kerr's next mental hurdle to clear is why Draymond Green and Kevon Looney have only played roughly one full quarter together despite great results