Guybrush wrote:

32 wrote:

Guybrush wrote:I've been saying that about Barnes since the beginning of the season. Kid always had it in him, just needs minutes early, to make him more confident. And Green was just fired up early on, happy being part of the NBA circus. Oh, when I remember some here were saying he is better than Harrison.

The more mins Barnes gets, the more other will look good as well. He is a complete player, he does it all.

Name names.

I wanna know who I should swap drug dealers with.

8th for sure...and I believe Blackfoot was making a case for Green.

I said Green has played better than Barnes and at the time it was true, but Barnes obviously has more upside and will be better or have a higher ceiling. And he has now been the more productive player.

Not having Jack really effected the game. Although Curry played well, the same cant be said for Klay. They could have limited Klays minutes in games like this. Curry and Lee are playing at a high level, that can't be said for no other warrior, maybe Jack. I need to see more from the rest of the squad.

I love Klays skill set but there are games where he just doesn't look focus, and when he is off he doesn't really contribute in other ways.

The team just needs other contribution, Landry has regressed, he was money earlier in the season when we needed buckets but that's not the case.

Mark Jackson needs to figure some things out because the way they have been playing lately is unacceptable.

This was very gettable. Klay should have played less for sure. Really a game that could deflate the team. They have to rebound from this and get a winning streak going.

I think that Jacksons is wrong about Ezeli. He is huge for us. Biedrins has regressed (if that is even possible, but he had some good games), and Ezeli was making people around him better, and easier for them.

And yeah, when Klay is off, he should be on the bench, cause he doesn't do anything else besides scoring. Let him play for a while, if it just doesn't get better, let him rest, he will be the starter the next game, and will play over 30 minutes, it's not like it should hurt his ego. Kent was doing good on D, and is getting better offensively.

This doesn't look good. Broken on perimeter third game in a row, and if not for curry's heroics, this would have been unwatchable. Offense has become slower and not a bit more efficient. Mind you, I don't think this grizzlies team is anything special. You can run them off the court if you try. Bogut does not require double teams and in clogging the lane he eats so much space we need for our shooters to get open. If he can't shoot and is not a beast operating down low, it just a waste of space for large chunks of operating time on offense.

Defense? Let's say there was no defense for last 3 games. Zone doesn't work anymore (hey, the teams decided they can drive and kick and shoot wide open threes or make an extra pass when somene runs at and past you) and we have three average/subpar one on one defenders in our starting 5 - Lee, Curry, Thompson. While Bogut can hold his own there, he seems just too slow for providing help defense either against attacking guards or anything that Lee defends. The reason Bogut came here was for defensive purposes - yet, the deficits in our other players' defensive repertoire have not regressed or been masked. Maybe everyone's thinking they can stop defending because Bogut will do all that?

Regardless, I will see what is up with that come post all-star part of the season. So far the Bogut experiment is not yielding desired results - and it starts looking like a minor version of Chris Weber experiment in post 'we believe' year.

It doesn't look that he makes us better, let alone that much better that we had to let go assets and salary that could have been used on the most glaring thing - on perimeter defenders that could shoot. And on a cheap mobile center.

Why are we playing biedrins and not ezeli? For trade purposes? Either this or jackson's substitution/decision patterns make not much sense right now.

Game notes:

- the Warriors, for whatever reason, have stopped doing 2 things that led them to early victories: firstly, the defense has really loosened up - even with Bogut back - and the opposition is reigning wide open threes, seemingly, every game. But #2, and perhaps more importantly... Jackson used to force-feed the hot hand until the other team had no choice but to adjust and that would give the offense a flow where everyone could get involved. For whatever reason, that's not happening anymore. DLee has 20 first half points on 7-of-11 shots and then proceeds to get ignored all second half while shooting 3-of-5. What's the deal?

- Going off of that point, I really don't believe you can run an offense by telegraphing your desire to get Steph and Klay threes. Those double-screens on the arc by Lee and Bogut don't work 3 times in a row when the other team is blitzing Curry. Offense is run from the inside out. It seems like since the all-star reserves were announced, the Warriors are purposely trying to get Curry more points than Lee and that's backwards. The post player opens up the offense for the shooters. Not the other way around. Lee, Landry, even Bogut need a LOT more looks. These iso plays for Steph, Klay, and Jefferson are hurting the team. This was a roster with post options to start the year. I believe it's time to get back to basics.

- Harrison Barnes is on the cusp.., I just wish this kid would ignite already. He can do it all; he just needs the confidence to throw his weight around a bit. 80% of games, you can post him up on whoevers guarding him.

- Food for thought: last night's game puts the Warriors at 6-5 (54%) when Bogut plays. Without him, the team is 24-15 (62%). Those of us hoping Bogut would make a huge impact have been left wanting so far. I hope they crack off 5 or 6 straight W's, but thus far, Bogut has actually weakened the team more than help it in the games he's played. It'd be nice if Jackson used this little stat to light a fire under Andrew's ass.

I agree mostly with Martin, and 32 has added some things I agree with as well.

In my opinion, we were playing the best with Ezeli at center spot, yet, he is now demoted to third string for some reason. Of course, Jackson has a lot more insight than we do, but it's hurting the team. And I didn't get an impression that Festus is a troublemaker. His games definitely weren't bad, at least not for him to be placed in a dog house. He might not score 10+ like Bogut does, but he is more mobile, and he is closing those lanes pretty good, especially for a rookie. I would love to develop him as much as possible. Hence, I don't see point ingiving minutes to Beans, who hasn't done anything meaningful in years, yet he is overpaid...and he is definitely not part of a team's future. And Bogut is for some reason just too slow, really, he is almost always late in help D.

Harrison can be a game changer, he should get some plays designed for him, he can cut inside, post up, he can shoot...he can really open it up for Curry and Klay as well, but we are just keeping him in the corner for most of the game on offense.

On the other side, Klay shouldn't get plays when he is shooting poorly, like yesterday. And he will almost always shoot after that run off the screens, no matter if he has hand in his face. If he decides not to shoot, he will most likely try some last second pass that will end up in the opposition's hands.

We need to change some things. We made changes while we were playing good, and are now playing bad...Jackson needs to come back to Earth. Also, I was ashamed of our team after those deliberate fouls at the end, against the Rockets. Not a picture I'd like to send about our team.

I feel you on Ezeli, Guy, I really do... But as BF will tell you, his rebounding rate is actually among the highest in the game currently and with an enormous contract that sees to expire after next season, Jackson might be using this Bogut return as a chance to hide Ezeli and advertise Biedrins to potential suitors. I certainly agree with you; I'd much rather have Ezeli spelling Bogut than Biedrins, but there is a bigger picture to think about, not to mention Jackson can fall back on Biedrins' advanced stats and claim he's doing a good job.

That being said, I don't see points in the paint as the cause to our recent downfall. The team is still stuffing up the middle; but unfortunately, the opposition has been cashing in on outside jumpers with little resistance. Memphis hit 8-of-20 threes (40%), OKC knocked down 8-of-23 (35%), and obviously Houston tied the record going 23-of-40 (58%). When teams are hitting 8 or more treys against you, it's trouble. All 3 teams hit more than their seasonal average on 3's made, and only OKC shot worse than their season average in percentage.

The thing is most good teams have shooters - and our three point (perimeter) defense just invites them to shoot threes. It's not luck. Professional players will shoot good percentage when open, especially when the season progresses and most teams adjust - so far we have been lucky (or faster) to rotate on three point shooters in our various zones. Everyone on our side of the pond have been taught since day one at basketball practices that zone is useful only against bad three point shooting teams and mostly for short periods of time until offenses adjust by having more shooters on the floor. It's easy to crack the first line of defense in the zone, which makes the big guys collapse on the guard, then there are baseline cuts or corner threes or two-pass threes. Once the zone has been broken it is very difficult to rotate (if the other team is willing to pass the ball), especially for inexperienced players.
And maybe, just maybe, the zone has different psychological effect on a defender, for someone else technically has your back/slack.
The zone with slower players is an invitation to tremendous amounts of space. Good offenses figure it out quite fast and will beat you.
And you don't play good individually defensive centers in the zone, for one you lose any edge of having a possibility to play one on one, for two you make a center extend, get out of position for a rebound. I think Bogut haven't rebounded too good in these last games he played.
Due to his lack of speed he is obviously not a good help defender when offenses swing the ball further than 5 feet from the paint, and I'm not sure he is a good pick 'n' roll defender.
For now he seems to be glued just right under the basket, whether by design or due to his injury/form issues.
Anyway, practice and all-star break will show whether he can be a good fit here.
I think Landry/Lee finishing combo worked better on offense, and while getting burned at moments on defense, it made the game easier for our guards, who seem to be shooting quite bad collectively as off late.

Dallas will be tough if they space properly, I think they have enough shooters to beat us.

I think they would have won this game comfortably if Jack was healthy and playing his normal 25-30 minutes. Thompson would have performed much better specifically. His scoring from the outside consequently makes everything easier for everyone on the floor. He needs a player like that to free him up and get him open shots. Takes pressure off him, lets him play more free, and a little bit less minutes. Less forced. Jack's made a huge difference for this team. I don't think they would have won a lot of the games they've won if they didn't have him. A lot.

Jack also has a huge impact on Curry as well, although Steph obviously is very good at getting his shots on his own. It's just that the floor is going to be way more spread out and open when those shots are coming off of passes rather than off his own dribble. Just more advantages and more opportunities.

Guybrush wrote:when Klay is off, he should be on the bench, cause he doesn't do anything else besides scoring.

I just think this is a huge misconception that is swirling around out there for whatever reason.
The dude has totally improved his D (although I thought from day 1 his instincts were top notch), improved his playmaking, rebounding, etc. Even had a few nights with 7 rebs 7 assists.
yes, I am an official Klay Thompson fanboy