Warriors news: Golden State’s depth, MLK50 jerseys

Game results

No games last week.

Box scores - n/a

Game flow - n/a

...but I’ve started playing NBA 2K17! Look at Klay Thompson’s TS% after a few games in the season:

Analysis

Blog Talk Radio

Nate Duncan welcomes Ethan Sherwood-Strauss of ESPN for a fantastic podcast previewing the Warriors’ upcoming season. As we’ve come to expect, ESS makes some incredibly insightful points.

Good discussion of the Warriors’ roster changes, including: missing Mo Speights and his quotes, some concern about Zaza Pachulia and if “the league has figured him out.” After some discussion though, ESS comes back and reminds us that “benches are bad.” But even with just Livingston and Iguodala, we are in pretty good shape as far as bench players go.

Still, ESS goes on to later say that he’s almost more excited to watch McCaw and Looney, as far as stories go for the season. McCaw actually comes up a few times in the course of the discussion, and ESS seems legitimately excited about him as a prospect.

Also, some good discussion on the strengths and demerits of the “floppy” play around the 20-minute mark. Duncan says it develops too slow and then they discuss some new wrinkles they’d like to see in the Warriors’ offense.

Listen in around the 34-minute mark for an analogy: Bogut is a “boom or bust” running back, while Pachulia is the “every-down workhorse.”

Finally, Duncan and ESS close with a debate on who will have the best season: Curry or Durant. Who you got? I’m going Curry.

Stick around for the end! Otherwise, you’ll miss the “radio Ethan” hot-take special.

Pounding the Rock

Michael Erler from Pounding the Rock has a detailed an amusing take on what this Warriors’ juggernaut looks like from the other side. It’s almost unsettling reading a Spurs’ fan discuss the pain of facing what feels like an unstoppable opponent.

TL;DR: “Seriously though, they're gonna kill everyone.”

(h/t yet again to BornInDaEB)

Click-bait to training camp

Dan Favale of Bleacher Report with this click-baity article ranking NBA coaches puts Steve Kerr at #5 in the league. There are some strong names in front of him but it’s still surprising to see him ranked this low.

MLK50 uniforms

Kevin Draper from Deadspin with an interesting take on the new uniforms of the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s not directly related to the Warriors, but I thought it was an interesting look at how fine the line between exploitation and homage can be.

Bon mots

Power jam rankings

Fansided puts Baron Davis’ power jam all over Andrei Kirilenko at #15 on its list of top 30 jams in NBA history. This Michael Jordan dunk over Patrick Ewing came in at #1. Click-bait slideshow warning, but those links go straight to the plays mentioned!

Throwback

Monta Ellis demonstrating what it looks like as yours truly types away on these blog posts.

Reddit user’s “Steph is Jesus” philosophy

One Reddit user refuses to play against the Warriors in any online matches. He or she is also “pretty sure he turned Gatorade into wine on the bench during a timeout.” Click through for the bonus comments on “Stephen of Nazareth.

Reddit user identifies Curry’s next victim in the record books

Stephen Curry is going to continue to break records this season. Next up on his list? Becoming #5 on the list of all-time three pointers made by the end of this season, knocking off local legend, Jason Kidd. Of course he could slow down, especially with KD in the mix now. But there’s no doubt he is on track to become the most prolific shooter in NBA history (Curry currently sits at #19 on the all time list).

Woj mini-bomb

Rudy Gay is opting out, making this his last year in Sacramento. Normally we wouldn’t care much about this as the Kings are once again on track to be a non-factor. However, since this will affect next season, perhaps this is an indication that he’s looking to chase rings? Given his lucrative salary history, I could see it. Something to think about for next off-season when we will need to once again scrounge up a bench.

ESPN on the defending champs and J.R. Smith

Not much to the story beyond the headline, but for what it’s worth, the Cavs are still haggling with J.R. Smith, who apparently will not be available for mini camp. He potentially will miss the start of training camp as well.

Heads up for anyone with HBO

Kevin Durant (along with Nas!) will be Bill Simmons’ guest on the next Any Given Wednesday, which airs ... on Wednesday, fittingly enough.

In his own words

Stephen Curry got some press last week for making another statement against the LGBTQ discrimination law in North Carolina. Personally, I don’t see much new here. But I’m glad Curry is comfortable talking about these issues with his own voice.

Warriors’ water woes?

Katie Dowd of SFGate wonders if Warriors’ co-owner Peter Guber is wasting a bunch of water. (Sorry, it’s the off-season. We’re digging pretty deep for new information here.)

Featured GSoM content

GSoM Night

In case you missed it, tickets are now available and selling fast. This really is a great chance to bond with the GSoM community while taking in a game. Plus, you can play “Am I Biedrins or Curry?” as you shoot a free throw in a post-game contest!!

Color-coded imagery

Sleepy Freud created a visual aid to help us understand the fluid nature of the positionless basketball played by the Warriors.

Rather than try to paraphrase, here’s what he had to say:

Looking at it again, one edit I think I’d make is to put both Green and Looney in the 4-5 column with McAdoo, and West in the straight-up 5 column with Zaza, McGee/Varejao, and Jones. On some rosters, Green and Looney might split their time between wing and big, but on these Ws, I think they’re both basically full-time big men. With Looney’s crazy 9’-2" standing reach, elite rebounding skills, somewhat slow foot speed, and now apparently 25 lbs. of added muscle, he’s almost a textbook big man in Kerr-ball (if he can stay healthy).

If you dare ... a detailed look at the end of Game 7

Scipiotheyounger posted a detailed look at the end of Game 7. You can go read a play-by-play of the action ... if you are brave enough. This is a very well-done article that clearly has a ton of research behind it.

KD the Giant

BornInDaEB brought us this FanShot, where you can see KD throw out the first pitch for last Friday’s Giants’ game. Durant was a very visible and active member of the community in OKC, and something tells me he’s not going to waste any time finding ways to contribute to our community here in the Bay Area.

Life in the fast lane

Tons of great pictures from this SFGate article highlighting Steph supporting Ayesha Curry in her Grand Marshal duties at the Indy Car race this weekend. (h/t to UnRec’able)

Jerry West reacts to Adam Silver’s comments about Durant joining the Warriors

BornInDaEB linked to this Jerry West quote: “The players bargained for this. They have a chance to go play where they want to. I only wish I had that opportunity in my career and I'm sure a lot of other people felt the same way.”

I’m glad Jerry West is emerging as a champion for this. A guy who, in spite of his impressive career portfolio, has publicly stated that his most painful memories were “falling short so many times” as a Laker.

As much as we want our favorite players to stay with our local teams, I strongly believe in the rights of these players to control where they work and who they play with. Yes, I get that it is a privilege to make it to the NBA. But free agency seems like a basic human right.

That’s about it for this week!

My personal whims

As discussed last time, at the end of each of these articles, I’ll highlight current music or pop culture that has my attention. This has nothing to do with the Warriors, but will help alleviate the tediousness of this weekly task for me! Also, you can never have too much music in your life, right?!

This week, I’m going to feature a very different artist...

I hate reality shows, so please don’t fault me if this is old news to you. Apparently America’s Got Talent is still a thing, and this season’s winner is 12-year-old Grace VanderWaal. Here she is singing about herself. Apparently, even at 12, this kid is deep as a submarine. As much as I hate the media leeches, this really is a special human with a unique voice. Good luck, Grace!

Persistent link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBXKkF2UX5s