The state of Klay

[michaelm]

It's great that he got some lift on his shot in that clip. Kicking his right leg out to protect it, not so much. Progress, but still a long way to go. Keep working, take your time.

Just to refresh everyone, he tore his left ACL and right achilles.

I double checked as well. I was wondering what Implication Warriors GM drew. The left ACL injury was 2 years ago and should be good by now unless the second injury interfered with rehabilitation from the first injury. So was the footage designed to demonstrate that, or to not reveal how the right sided injury was going, or can he still not put much strain on it ?.

[HiRez]

You can't draw too many conclusions from a short clip, but it hardly looks like he's hobbling around or being overly protective, looks fine to me. If he can just move like that and shoot, that'll be enough, and he's still got months to go before he even has to play a game so I'd say the clip is a very positive sign. No one is leaving even that version of Klay unguarded on the perimeter, Steph and everyone else will feast. Just no pick-up games, please.

[michaelm]

You can't draw too many conclusions from a short clip, but it hardly looks like he's hobbling around or being overly protective, looks fine to me. If he can just move like that and shoot, that'll be enough, and he's still got months to go before he even has to play a game so I'd say the clip is a very positive sign. No one is leaving even that version of Klay unguarded on the perimeter, Steph and everyone else will feast. Just no pick-up games, please.

He was good enough on one leg together with Steph to keep GSW well in contention in a finals series 2 years ago.

[GSWFan1994]

Following those two injuries, expectations are way too high. For 2021-2022, the hope should be that he can walk around the court a little as a decoy, maybe score five or six points per game and just not suffer anymore injuries.

Your jokes are the best in this forum! Kudos.

[Outside]

I wouldn't be surprise if Klay becomes a super 6th man for the entire season... until we are near the playoffs in March and April... even then i can see Klay coming off the bench until they feel confident that he can log heavy minutes.. also expect heavy load management for Klay

My guess is that he'll start as soon as he comes back. From what I understand, the current thought process to minimize recurrence of an injury is to emphasize warming up prior to going in, and it's better to have minutes at the start of each half immediately after a full opportunity to warm up rather than cooling down and then going in. He'll probably spend lots of time on the stationary bike during games.

[GSWFan1994]

Klay's expected back at Christmas: link

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported Friday that the date the Warriors are aiming for is in late December.

"He's doing well in his recovery, but the Warriors are targeting that Christmas day game against the [Phoenix] Suns for his return," Shelburne said on ESPN's "The Jump" on Friday. "He could come back a little bit before that, but in terms of getting his conditioning right, they are targeting the Christmas day game against the Suns. I know that sounds a little late to people, but he was injured on November 18th, so this is 13 months from an Achilles injury."

When host Malika Andrews asked why Dec. 25 is the target date, Shelburne explained.

"A lot of this is conditioning," Shelburne said. "He's doing well in his rehab, but he's missed two seasons in a row now. So you don't bring him back [early]. This is a conservative target. If he does well and his conditioning is up, and he feels like he wants to come back earlier, he will. But this is a conservative target of Christmas day because you need time to build your conditioning back up when you've missed two NBA seasons."

The Warriors' 2021-22 NBA schedule was released Friday, and if Klay doesn't return until Dec. 25, he will miss the first 32 games of the season. That would give Klay 50 games to get back into the flow of playing NBA games and get his conditioning at peak levels before an expected playoff run.

[ILOVEIT]

What one of the greatest shooters in NBA history looks like in training....amazing.


[url]

Watch on YouTube

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[Money_]

Klay hits 10 straight corner 3s running back and forth to each corner...
The shot is right there. Shoot just stick him in one corner, Bejlica or Moody in the other, Kuminga cutting, Steph on the perimeter, Wiseman on the glass or Dray facilitating. Stay healthy fellas cannot wait to see this newly structured team on the court!

https://news.yahoo.com/watch-warriors-klay-thompson-hits-235000337.html

[a8bil]

What one of the greatest shooters in NBA history looks like in training....amazing.


[url]

Watch on YouTube

[/url]

It's awesome to watch the great shooters practicing...just shows you how automatic they are without NBA pressure on them. I remember the Scalabrine challenge he put out there to amateurs to go against him one on one. He crushed all comers. He was an okay NBA player, but put him out there against non-NBA talent and he becomes superman.

[shazam_guy]

I've told this story before, but I was doing radio for a junior college team that played against Lester Conner's Chabot team before he transferred to Oregon State. Lester never became more than a good back-up in the NBA, really, although he did have a long career, but watching him play against JC players was like watching a grown man playing against children. He really looked like Jordan, could out-jump and out-quick everyone on the court, made every shot it seemed like, and just killed. Lester never became more than a mediocre NBA player, but watching him that day I could plainly see the difference between a pro-type athlete and everyone else.

Had a similar experience once playing pick-up basketball with Keena Turner and, iirc, Eric Wright in Redwood City back in the mid-80s. It was amusing and utterly humiliating as a gym-level player to see what real pros were like, even in a casual game in a different sport.

[GunnerWRX]

What one of the greatest shooters in NBA history looks like in training....amazing.


[url]

Watch on YouTube

[/url]

Someone in the youtube comments says this is old?

[GSWFan1994]

Once, when I was a teenager, I met Flávio Conceição at a friends' BBQ.

Most of you probably won't know... he is a retired soccer player, played the midfield position. Played at Real Madrid from 2000 to 2004, and at the Brazilian national team as well. Back then he was still young (early 20's), and still played here (his 1st club as a pro).

At the BBQ my friends, after a few beers, insisted on him playing with us, as there was a soccer field in the place.

He said, "ok, but give me the 3 worst players amongst you all, and all the rest of you, combined, can try to defeat us".

So, it was 4 against 7 or 8. We played just a little, less than 30 minutes, but nobody could take the ball off this guy's feet. Just amazing skill, and come to think about it, there have been waaaaaay better players than him, both in the past then, and since then too.

The pros are really something else. We see them live and it's one thing, but to see them in the gym, honing their craft, like this Klay video above, that's where the blood, sweat and tears happen.

[shazam_guy]

Yeah. We see it with actual players, but fans often fail to understand that in most cases management and coaches too have had to beat out a lot of other super-qualified people. As someone making a living in a similarly stratified field, it always irritates me when people assume they could walk in off the street and do the same job as a professional who's been doing it for a whole career.

[Mob Byers]

What one of the greatest shooters in NBA history looks like in training....amazing.


[url]

Watch on YouTube

[/url]

Someone in the youtube comments says this is old?

Yes, it’s from last year. Attempted clickbait video, obvious by the title

Watch on YouTube

[Dubs 707]

I once did blow with Rick james. He was obviously a pro he did waaaaaay more!

[Mob Byers]

Skip to the end for that full workout where it looked like Klay was avoiding the landing. Looks good:

Watch on YouTube

[FNQ]

I wouldn't be surprise if Klay becomes a super 6th man for the entire season... until we are near the playoffs in March and April... even then i can see Klay coming off the bench until they feel confident that he can log heavy minutes.. also expect heavy load management for Klay

My guess is that he'll start as soon as he comes back. From what I understand, the current thought process to minimize recurrence of an injury is to emphasize warming up prior to going in, and it's better to have minutes at the start of each half immediately after a full opportunity to warm up rather than cooling down and then going in. He'll probably spend lots of time on the stationary bike during games.

This is probably as accurate as one could be with the info we have now. I'd probably expect less Klay to finish games in the regular season for this reason

[Flash Falcon X]

I may be over optimistic about Klay's season, but I don't see him as coming off of two devastating injuries. His torn ACL was 2 years ago, it should be 100% healed. The torn Achilles is certainly more concerning but just look at Kevin Durant playing right now after one year back from an Achilles. Zach LaVine is showing no ill effects from his ACL tear, even seems like he's more athletic. My only concern with Klay is the fact that he will be rusty from having two years off of playing competitive basketball. But I see absolutely no reason why he can't get back to 100% of what he was before, in time. We've never expected Klay to beat anybody off the dribble, it was always his threat to shoot that brought people up on him. Same with his defense. He was not a good defender because of his lateral quickness or athleticism. He always depended on position and footwork, the same way Kevon Looney keeps in front of much faster players.

Any medical experts have a better view on Klay's recovery? Or share my optimism?

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Agreed. I don't think the achilles will affect him as bad as people think.

Klay is Klay because of his shooting. He was never some guy who relied on dunking in the paint to be productive. His conditioning will take a while to come back, but even if he's regulated to just knocking down corner 3s for his first 2 months back that's already a huge help because he'll make those most of the time which puts so much pressure on the defense that it opens up the floor more compared to the last 2 seasons.

[FNQ]

I may be over optimistic about Klay's season, but I don't see him as coming off of two devastating injuries. His torn ACL was 2 years ago, it should be 100% healed. The torn Achilles is certainly more concerning but just look at Kevin Durant playing right now after one year back from an Achilles. Zach LaVine is showing no ill effects from his ACL tear, even seems like he's more athletic. My only concern with Klay is the fact that he will be rusty from having two years off of playing competitive basketball. But I see absolutely no reason why he can't get back to 100% of what he was before, in time. We've never expected Klay to beat anybody off the dribble, it was always his threat to shoot that brought people up on him. Same with his defense. He was not a good defender because of his lateral quickness or athleticism. He always depended on position and footwork, the same way Kevon Looney keeps in front of much faster players.

Any medical experts have a better view on Klay's recovery? Or share my optimism?

Sent from my Golden State Warriors Protoast Elite toaster using RealGM mobile app

Agreed. I don't think the achilles will affect him as bad as people think.

Klay is Klay because of his shooting. He was never some guy who relied on dunking in the paint to be productive. His conditioning will take a while to come back, but even if he's regulated to just knocking down corner 3s for his first 2 months back that's already a huge help because he'll make those most of the time which puts so much pressure on the defense that it opens up the floor more compared to the last 2 seasons.

Two ways to look at it:

1) He didnt rely on athleticism overtly. This is true, his game is built on his shot and his BBIQ. This means his floor remains very high no matter what happens

2) He did have several aspects of athleticism that he did rely on. He doesn't move laterally very quick, but he could quickly go from triple threat into a jumper, almost mechanically, extremely quick. This is relevant because the motion, while looking smooth, is a bit herky/jerky to go from 0 to jumper that fast. So there's risk of stress on the legs there. But most importantly, you're looking at 2 differently injured legs. Usually with one injury, a player will favor the healthy leg until the other one is more comfortable. Klay has a unique situation where both legs are on the mend, which could result in some bad shooting to start

tldr - there's a lot more to athleticism than lateral quickness, and we should expect it to be rough to start

[michaelm]

I may be over optimistic about Klay's season, but I don't see him as coming off of two devastating injuries. His torn ACL was 2 years ago, it should be 100% healed. The torn Achilles is certainly more concerning but just look at Kevin Durant playing right now after one year back from an Achilles. Zach LaVine is showing no ill effects from his ACL tear, even seems like he's more athletic. My only concern with Klay is the fact that he will be rusty from having two years off of playing competitive basketball. But I see absolutely no reason why he can't get back to 100% of what he was before, in time. We've never expected Klay to beat anybody off the dribble, it was always his threat to shoot that brought people up on him. Same with his defense. He was not a good defender because of his lateral quickness or athleticism. He always depended on position and footwork, the same way Kevon Looney keeps in front of much faster players.

Any medical experts have a better view on Klay's recovery? Or share my optimism?

Sent from my Golden State Warriors Protoast Elite toaster using RealGM mobile app

Agreed. I don't think the achilles will affect him as bad as people think.

Klay is Klay because of his shooting. He was never some guy who relied on dunking in the paint to be productive. His conditioning will take a while to come back, but even if he's regulated to just knocking down corner 3s for his first 2 months back that's already a huge help because he'll make those most of the time which puts so much pressure on the defense that it opens up the floor more compared to the last 2 seasons.

Two ways to look at it:

1) He didnt rely on athleticism overtly. This is true, his game is built on his shot and his BBIQ. This means his floor remains very high no matter what happens

2) He did have several aspects of athleticism that he did rely on. He doesn't move laterally very quick, but he could quickly go from triple threat into a jumper, almost mechanically, extremely quick. This is relevant because the motion, while looking smooth, is a bit herky/jerky to go from 0 to jumper that fast. So there's risk of stress on the legs there. But most importantly, you're looking at 2 differently injured legs. Usually with one injury, a player will favor the healthy leg until the other one is more comfortable. Klay has a unique situation where both legs are on the mend, which could result in some bad shooting to start

tldr - there's a lot more to athleticism than lateral quickness, and we should expect it to be rough to start

Yes, the hamstring injury was likely a significant contributor to the ACL tear, and the ACL tear to the Achilles' injury.
You would know better than I do how long an elite sportsman who can devote himself to training with access to every resource will take to regain full strength in his leg after an Achilles' injury, but one other athletic attribute he had was great endurance, which I rather doubt he will have early on at least.