Start Bjelica

[ILOVEIT]

Folks...he's our starting center.
Looney? BJ > Size, BJ >>>>> Passer, BJ>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>scorer. As slow as he is...he is STILL faster than Looney lol.

Running with Draymond he gives Warriors that pick and 3 shooter....trailing 3 shooter...and is another excellent passer in the starters.

Looney is a tough gritty player...but why have a guy who has the right attitude, can't score and is undersized every night as your starter???

Curry, Poole, Wiggins, Draymond, BJ.

[clyde21]

no, Loon continues to stay underrated, dude does so many small things like set picks/screens that no other big on the team can do, he's part of what makes the starting unit go.

it's weird that 8 years into this regime yall still dont know what's required of our bigs.

[lars_rosenberg]

I'm open to trying Bjelica with the starters. Having such a great shooter and passer at the 5 helps the rest of the team so much.

[floppymoose]

In recent history (last couple of years) Bjelica has not been as good as Looney. Curry/Poole/Wiggins/Green need a Looney out there a lot more than Bjelica. Bjelica fits better with some backups. Especially when Curry is off and we struggle to generate offense.

[watch1958]

I was thinking Bjelica can’t play defense.

[floppymoose]

I was thinking Bjelica can’t play defense.

This. Also a worse rebounder than Looney.

[ChuckDurn]

I was thinking Bjelica can’t play defense.

I not only thought it, I saw it, which is even more important.

[SpreeChokeJob]

I’m excited for Bjelica as any Warrior’s fan, but yesterday’s defense was preseason. There’s a reason fans say he’s like avi Lee.

[FNQ]

I’m excited for Bjelica as any Warrior’s fan, but yesterday’s defense was preseason. There’s a reason fans say he’s like avi Lee.

I say it because of his offense and how he runs.. he’s a fine positional defender but he’s worse on the perimeter than Looney and less likely to leave his feet. I’d also guess he hurts our rebounding but rebrate / adjusted rebounding doesn’t transfer well team to team

You absolutely can start him, and if we decided to move away from Poole in the starting lineup, I think it’s a better call than Looney (esp if it’s Lee). But if Curry and Poole are already playing together, the need for a stretch 5 is minimal

[DevinVassell]

it's weird that 8 years into this regime yall still dont know what's required of our bigs.

Lol, what's weird is replying to a statement in one post thread, with a condescending yall.

Yall should stop doing that.

[SpreeChokeJob]

I’m excited for Bjelica as any Warrior’s fan, but yesterday’s defense was preseason. There’s a reason fans say he’s like avi Lee.

I say it because of his offense and how he runs.. he’s a fine positional defender but he’s worse on the perimeter than Looney and less likely to leave his feet. I’d also guess he hurts our rebounding but rebrate / adjusted rebounding doesn’t transfer well team to team

You absolutely can start him, and if we decided to move away from Poole in the starting lineup, I think it’s a better call than Looney (esp if it’s Lee). But if Curry and Poole are already playing together, the need for a stretch 5 is minimal

There’s a reason why they start a mobile center like Looney and that’s to cover a lot of ground due to small ball era including people Curry has to guard. Curry used to be a liability on defense and has improved with his strength training, but they need all players available on the floor to help cover for him.

They can play Bjelica at starting center if the opposition has a slow skilled large big man and that is barely. But if the other team runs a mobile team then Bjelica is out. On the reserves role, he is much more talented than opponents role players so defense isn’t a premium.

[Big J]

it's weird that 8 years into this regime yall still dont know what's required of our bigs.

It's a good thing you are the only one here who knows, we'd be lost without you champ.

[FNQ]

I’m excited for Bjelica as any Warrior’s fan, but yesterday’s defense was preseason. There’s a reason fans say he’s like avi Lee.

I say it because of his offense and how he runs.. he’s a fine positional defender but he’s worse on the perimeter than Looney and less likely to leave his feet. I’d also guess he hurts our rebounding but rebrate / adjusted rebounding doesn’t transfer well team to team

You absolutely can start him, and if we decided to move away from Poole in the starting lineup, I think it’s a better call than Looney (esp if it’s Lee). But if Curry and Poole are already playing together, the need for a stretch 5 is minimal

There’s a reason why they start a mobile center like Looney and that’s to cover a lot of ground due to small ball era including people Curry has to guard. Curry used to be a liability on defense and has improved with his strength training, but they need all players available on the floor to help cover for him.

They can play Bjelica at starting center if the opposition has a slow skilled large big man and that is barely. But if the other team runs a mobile team then Bjelica is out. On the reserves role, he is much more talented than opponents role players so defense isn’t a premium.

But Looney really doesn't cover a ton of ground either. That's Dray, Looney is attacked a lot on PnRs and switches, but so is Bjelica. Unfortunately until the games start running for real we wont have a linear comparison, but I'm starting to lean towards this board overrating Looney a lot more than casual fans underrate him. And its a shame because he's got a really solid BBIQ. But Bjelica historically has been as good or better statistically than Looney in far worse systems.

The David Lee comp is landing a little too well IMO. He's nowhere near the offensive player Lee was in terms of creating but he's also been a historically way better defender than Lee ever was. If we're using only this preseason to predict, Bjelica is covering as much ground as Looney is, but was isolated less often (makes sense, Nemo as going against backups while Looney wasnt).

All I'm saying is don't typecast the white guy as exactly David Lee because he has a similar offensive skillset and does the limpwrist running thing to a T. Nemo's been a positive impact defender playing SF/PF and covers a lot of ground himself. Don't write him off.

Also think Looney benefit of being the better half of our C situation last year. Prune juice is fkn terrible but if its between that and hot liquid ****, youll love you some prune juice. Right now I think Nemo's best as the backup C because they need offense and he's got that, whereas a more limited player like Looney can do just fine with the starters but not with the backups

[Dubs 707]

When Looney started over Wiseman we were a better team.... Yes let's bench him again....

[ILOVEIT]

I was thinking Bjelica can’t play defense.

Someone please tell me the last time Looney stopped anyone? Let's not confuse having a nose for the ball and getting an offensive rebound to legit defense that makes a difference. Looney is a smart vet that will never hurt you. But to say he's a defensive player....really? He's undersized always....can't shoot....often get's roofed and can't even put shots back.

Looney is like grandpa's old sweater...we love him cause he's safe but I think BJ can set the same screens and he can also do something.

In most the possession in this video...you'll see that as the plays develops looney is always a zero threat to score. Replace him with BJ and he must be guarded.

[url]

Watch on YouTube

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[FNQ]

When Looney started over Wiseman we were a better team.... Yes let's bench him again....

The name of this thread is "Start Bjelica"

Why is Wiseman being invoked at all? Of course we were a better team when anyone replaced Wiseman... there were 3-4 Cs in the entire league who played as many minutes as Wiseman and did it with worse metrics

[SpreeChokeJob]

I say it because of his offense and how he runs.. he’s a fine positional defender but he’s worse on the perimeter than Looney and less likely to leave his feet. I’d also guess he hurts our rebounding but rebrate / adjusted rebounding doesn’t transfer well team to team

You absolutely can start him, and if we decided to move away from Poole in the starting lineup, I think it’s a better call than Looney (esp if it’s Lee). But if Curry and Poole are already playing together, the need for a stretch 5 is minimal

There’s a reason why they start a mobile center like Looney and that’s to cover a lot of ground due to small ball era including people Curry has to guard. Curry used to be a liability on defense and has improved with his strength training, but they need all players available on the floor to help cover for him.

They can play Bjelica at starting center if the opposition has a slow skilled large big man and that is barely. But if the other team runs a mobile team then Bjelica is out. On the reserves role, he is much more talented than opponents role players so defense isn’t a premium.

But Looney really doesn't cover a ton of ground either. That's Dray, Looney is attacked a lot on PnRs and switches, but so is Bjelica. Unfortunately until the games start running for real we wont have a linear comparison, but I'm starting to lean towards this board overrating Looney a lot more than casual fans underrate him. And its a shame because he's got a really solid BBIQ. But Bjelica historically has been as good or better statistically than Looney in far worse systems.

The David Lee comp is landing a little too well IMO. He's nowhere near the offensive player Lee was in terms of creating but he's also been a historically way better defender than Lee ever was. If we're using only this preseason to predict, Bjelica is covering as much ground as Looney is, but was isolated less often (makes sense, Nemo as going against backups while Looney wasnt).

All I'm saying is don't typecast the white guy as exactly David Lee because he has a similar offensive skillset and does the limpwrist running thing to a T. Nemo's been a positive impact defender playing SF/PF and covers a lot of ground himself. Don't write him off.

Also think Looney benefit of being the better half of our C situation last year. Prune juice is fkn terrible but if its between that and hot liquid ****, youll love you some prune juice. Right now I think Nemo's best as the backup C because they need offense and he's got that, whereas a more limited player like Looney can do just fine with the starters but not with the backups

Agree with you, Looney isn’t ideal. But beggars can’t be choosers. Unless Gasol comes through that door 20 lbs lighter and willing to play for discount there is no ideal player barring trade.

There may be some hope Kuminga could learn to be young Draymond and get 5-10 minutes in at 5. But he doesn’t help this year as he doesn’t have the experience yet.

[GunnerWRX]

No, simply because Bjelica can still be effective and score with the bench ie OPJ and Iguodala etc.

Looney is pretty useless not playing with Draymond and Steph.

Looney will start and play his 5 or so minutes in the 1st quarter (around 15 min a game), while Bjelica subs in, play with Draymond and Steph, then with OPJ/Iguodala and the bench as they sub in later.

[DAWill1128]

I think you have to start Looney for the sake of the collective starting unit defense, we aren’t great at guard defensively. Start by locking down and if we need more shooting insert Bjelica.

[Badly Browned]

I think with a Curry-Poole backcourt, the Warriors need the best defensive front they can put out, so Green-Looney.

Once Klay comes back, and if he looks capable of defending at a high level still, then a Curry-Klay-Wiggins-Dray-Bjelica is a real intriguing lineup, imo.