Warriors news: Draymond Green, Klay Thompson make 2017 NBA All-Star Game

Your Western NBA All Star reserves:

Golden State Warriors stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson both made the cut for the 2017 NBA All-Star Game!

Rounding out the roster…well, you can read it all right there in that picture. This will be the third appearance for Thompson, and the second for Green. Oakland native Damian Lillard didn’t make the cut yet again, and I wonder if he’s just doomed to be overshadowed by the elite guards in the West for his entire career.

Glad to see Gordon Hayward get some recognition, he’s been quietly having a great year for Utah.

Here are the reserves in the East.

I’m sorry to say I haven’t followed the race close enough to react. This all looks fine to me. Any obvious snubs here?

All Star weekend starts February 19th. The NBA will slowly trickle out the remaining participants (for the skills challenge, dunk contest, and three point shooting contest).

On to other news!!

Pachulia fined - This wasn’t for the incident with Russell Westbrook, but was instead related to a confrontation with Miami Heat’s Luke Babbit. Fifteen grand.

The bandwagon effect? - Not that everything is a competition, but just FYI, The Warriors and Steph Curry are leading NBA merchandise sales. Durant is #3 on the list, and Klay Thompson is narrowly ahead of James Harden when it comes to jersey sales. Gear up!

The longest bucket in the history of the NBA - Baron Davis on “Pretty Good.” A beautifully done treatise on full court heaves. This is a cool way to spend 14 minutes of your life. Give the link a click, take a risk!

LeBron at odds over spending - Do we care much about this? I’m not sure. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my recent basketball experience, it’s that regular season results have little to no bearing on the final resolution of the season. Still, this is a bad look for LeBron, but I get it; it’s not his money. Also, in related news, apparently the Cavs rejected a Kevin Love for Carmelo Anthony deal (damn).

Now, it looks like the current rumor is Melo may end up with the L.A. Clippers (no link for this because that’s essentially the entire story). The Knicks have apparently said they don’t need one of the Clippers’ stars in return which leaves…what? J.J. Redick and Austin Rivers? Interesting times. I’m not at all sold that Melo moves the needle for any of the marginal contenders but he would be a definite upgrade to the Clips’ small forward position. Worth losing Redick for? I don’t know that I’d make that trade personally.

First look at sponsored jerseys - I could live with this. Loved Celtics coach Brad Stevens’ reaction to being asked if this would ruin the traditional look of the Cletics jerseys. “We wore gray shirts with sleeves last night.” So yeah, it’s something that we will all get used to pretty quick, I think.

David West is healing quickly, may return soon!? - I’ve loved seeing the roster step up in his absence, but I think we can all agree that this is undoubtedly good news.

Off the dribble - A Reddit user looked into the data and has confirmed that Steph is doing much better on his pull up jumper shooting percentage “In the last 15 games: 38.0%, 10 games: 43.3%, 5 games: 48.5%. He is also increasing the number of pull ups he is taking. “

Keep it real. The Warriors issued a ticket fraud alert. The skeptic in me wonders if this is a way for them to funnel ticketing fees to themselves, but I think it bears reminding: don’t buy tickets from shady places. Even reputable places like Stubhub can be risky. Keep in mind that as these ticket prices keep escalating, so does the incentive for people to cheat.

Not necessarily Warriors related, but interesting – this Redditor has done the math and concludes that Russell Westbrook’s rebounding numbers may be a bit inflated.

I’d watch - this 80’s style cartoon of “Small Ball” with Draymond Green.

Around GSOM

Be sure and take a look at the excellent profile of James Michael McAdoo, and life at the end of the Warriros bench in general that Chifleaf posted.

Another player that doesn’t get nearly enough love around here, Zaza Pachulia. Props to hairball for finding this one!

And finally, this very well done user-created content by GoodGuyGr3g deserves your attention. A detailed comparison of Draymond and Kawhi Leanord’s approach to blocking shots.