The Official NBA Season Thread: NBA Cup Night

[Vincent Van Goat]

Bilal bruv going to end up somewhere between a starter version of Bruce Brown and Mikal

 

[pums]

CP3 has been great at his role this year .

Wiggins , Steph , Klay and Dray have been ***.

 

[antidope]

Steph too? Nah I can't get with that personally.

 

[Mister Meaner]

Siakam would be a good fit for the fledgling Warriors.

 

[toneboi76]

Sheesh hoping for a quick recovery

 

[elpablo21]

Steph too? Nah I can't get with that personally.

He's had bad games recently but he hasn't been anywhere in the same stratosphere as the others as far as lows go

 

[akajae]

Steph too? Nah I can't get with that personally.

You still got them winning 50 games?

 

[moe200069]

steph has been ghost in the 4th in recent games. rushing shots and being inefficient. teams constantly running traps at him because they’re betting on another warrior to beat them late in close games and it’s working.

kerr’s been tinkering with the rotations so it’s definitely impacting floor spacing. he will get right though, i’ll never bet against him.

 

[king j]

Brunson’s 50 point game was one of the more impressive ones I’ve seen,dude went 11-11 in the 2nd half



Also KD a sucka,getting mad about touches when you went to someone else’s team

 

[picasso swerve]

Man Wiggins has had the worst year by far, worse than Klay. That man got a ring, a bag and said eff it.

 

[T0INE]

lemme get in this!

Knocked the **** outta Big Tweety.

 

[ballinsam23]

KD was mad as hell in that presser

Id be too if every team I force my way to gets constantly injured and is a mess

 

[pmatic]

 

[lawdog1]

Get well soon, Cap.

 

[T0INE]

All the best to Cap.

 

[wavycrocket]

pmatic , you got a to that Lowe joint about Draymond’s “changing legacy”

 

[finessence]

Brunson’s 50 point game was one of the more impressive ones I’ve seen,dude went 11-11 in the 2nd half



Also KD a sucka,getting mad about touches when you went to someone else’s team

The man is delusional. He always thinks he’s going to walk into a territory with an established star and take over the team AND fanbase like man, they don’t love you like that

 

[pmatic]

pmatic , you got a to that Lowe joint about Draymond’s “changing legacy”

Spoiler

Draymond Green and basketball mortality

It was the resignation that hit hardest -- that threw into stark relief what Green has lost, and the disarray these proud NBA champions find themselves in as they attempt to salvage a Golden State season that began with such promise.

When Green's flailing arm slammed Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in front of the Warriors' bench Tuesday night, there was almost no reaction from any of the coaches or players watching from feet away. There was no protest as referees reviewed the play, no disagreement when they announced Green's ejection. Green jogged off with a blank stare. The game went on.

The team struck the same tone afterward, with coach Steve Kerr giving a terse answer about the Warriors needing Green before switching topics to his benching of Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins late.

Golden State officials used to mount vigorous defenses of Green when the league fined or suspended him. They no longer have it in them. How could they?

They were angry at the league for suspending Green in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals, even though the inciting incident marked the culmination in a parade of scuffles and flagrant foul points.

The Warriors lost those Finals, but in defeat, the door to signing Kevin Durant creaked open. Two titles and three Finals appearances followed. The splintering between Durant and the team spilled into public view early in that third season, when Green screamed at Durant on the bench during a game against the Clippers. Durant left that offseason, although that choice went far beyond Green.

The pandemic and injuries to Thompson and Stephen Curry wiped away the next two seasons, but the Warriors roared back to a fourth championship in 2022; Green then dubbed the playoffs the "Warriors invitational."

Somehow, for Green, it always worked out.

That streak expired a year ago, when Green coldcocked Jordan Poole at practice -- the tape leaking to the public. Green lost standing in the organization that day. It is hard to get it back when he keeps removing himself from game play.

Golden State is 10-14 and 4-12 since a 6-2 start that feels like it happened in some alternate reality. Kerr is uncertain whom to play and when.

Without Green, they lose their best defender -- probably the best defender of the past 15 years, the keystone to their revolutionary small-ball lineups. Green quarterbacks the Warriors' ballet of off-ball movement; in his absence, do they run a more traditional offense?

Curry is playing near peak levels as the team wobbles all around him. Improving via trade will be tricky. Green has four years left on his contract. The whole league has watched the unraveling. Skeptics have long wondered what Green would look like outside the Warriors ecosystem. They now have the same question about Wiggins, who has four years left on his deal too. (Kerr shifted Wiggins to a reserve role Thursday.) Cobbling Kevon Looney's $7.5 million salary together with other players gets cumbersome.

Thompson is a franchise legend on a $43 million expiring contract, and he has mostly struggled this season. Any pathway to a major trade involves attaching an asset to some big contract, with Chris Paul's deal -- non-guaranteed for next season -- being the easiest fit in terms of financial and emotional. (The Warriors also need Paul's pick-and-roll orchestration now more than ever.) The Warriors battled without Green on Thursday in a loss to the Clippers but look more today like a team that needs to be thinking well beyond this season anyway.

This isn't quite the end for Green, but it mars what should be one of the league's all-time happy stories -- a second-round pick developing into a four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA player and Defensive Player of the Year.

The Warriors called him their soul. He became an archetype for a new era of basketball. Rivals asked: Where can we find our Draymond Green?

The chokeholds and arm swings and suspensions don't define Green, but they are intertwined with his basketball brilliance. They share the first paragraph of his career write-up.

That's sad, and you can tell the Warriors feel that sadness -- and a new uncertainty.

 

[wavycrocket]

Spoiler

Draymond Green and basketball mortality

It was the resignation that hit hardest -- that threw into stark relief what Green has lost, and the disarray these proud NBA champions find themselves in as they attempt to salvage a Golden State season that began with such promise.

When Green's flailing arm slammed Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in front of the Warriors' bench Tuesday night, there was almost no reaction from any of the coaches or players watching from feet away. There was no protest as referees reviewed the play, no disagreement when they announced Green's ejection. Green jogged off with a blank stare. The game went on.

The team struck the same tone afterward, with coach Steve Kerr giving a terse answer about the Warriors needing Green before switching topics to his benching of Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins late.

Golden State officials used to mount vigorous defenses of Green when the league fined or suspended him. They no longer have it in them. How could they?

They were angry at the league for suspending Green in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals, even though the inciting incident marked the culmination in a parade of scuffles and flagrant foul points.

The Warriors lost those Finals, but in defeat, the door to signing Kevin Durant creaked open. Two titles and three Finals appearances followed. The splintering between Durant and the team spilled into public view early in that third season, when Green screamed at Durant on the bench during a game against the Clippers. Durant left that offseason, although that choice went far beyond Green.

The pandemic and injuries to Thompson and Stephen Curry wiped away the next two seasons, but the Warriors roared back to a fourth championship in 2022; Green then dubbed the playoffs the "Warriors invitational."

Somehow, for Green, it always worked out.

That streak expired a year ago, when Green coldcocked Jordan Poole at practice -- the tape leaking to the public. Green lost standing in the organization that day. It is hard to get it back when he keeps removing himself from game play.

Golden State is 10-14 and 4-12 since a 6-2 start that feels like it happened in some alternate reality. Kerr is uncertain whom to play and when.

Without Green, they lose their best defender -- probably the best defender of the past 15 years, the keystone to their revolutionary small-ball lineups. Green quarterbacks the Warriors' ballet of off-ball movement; in his absence, do they run a more traditional offense?

Curry is playing near peak levels as the team wobbles all around him. Improving via trade will be tricky. Green has four years left on his contract. The whole league has watched the unraveling. Skeptics have long wondered what Green would look like outside the Warriors ecosystem. They now have the same question about Wiggins, who has four years left on his deal too. (Kerr shifted Wiggins to a reserve role Thursday.) Cobbling Kevon Looney's $7.5 million salary together with other players gets cumbersome.

Thompson is a franchise legend on a $43 million expiring contract, and he has mostly struggled this season. Any pathway to a major trade involves attaching an asset to some big contract, with Chris Paul's deal -- non-guaranteed for next season -- being the easiest fit in terms of financial and emotional. (The Warriors also need Paul's pick-and-roll orchestration now more than ever.) The Warriors battled without Green on Thursday in a loss to the Clippers but look more today like a team that needs to be thinking well beyond this season anyway.

This isn't quite the end for Green, but it mars what should be one of the league's all-time happy stories -- a second-round pick developing into a four-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA player and Defensive Player of the Year.

The Warriors called him their soul. He became an archetype for a new era of basketball. Rivals asked: Where can we find our Draymond Green?

The chokeholds and arm swings and suspensions don't define Green, but they are intertwined with his basketball brilliance. They share the first paragraph of his career write-up.

That's sad, and you can tell the Warriors feel that sadness -- and a new uncertainty.

My man! Good looks

 

[antidope]

I don't think he gets traded. But hopefully this serious of a dialogue around it changes things long term.

 

[lawdog1]

 

[rolaholic]

 

[rolaholic]

 

[Coupé It]

Friends really can’t talk to each other in the NBA.

 

[Zo gif]

Refs sawft
Back in my day