Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Wednesday, January 10th.
Draymond Green said there’s a sense of urgency for him to get back quickly and in an impactful way: “I’ve cost this team enough.”
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) January 9, 2024
He said Podziemski started a welcome back round of applause for him: “Im not sure I deserve it.” pic.twitter.com/B8xuGn1ZcG
“It’s just tough, we know this from — Steph is such a unique player that the combinations around Steph really make a big difference. We’ve been trying a lot of different things this year, but I’ve said the last week we would like to try that more and it really didn’t go well clearly, the other night,” Kerr said.
“So, it’s tough when you’re where we are in 11th place in the west, I think. It’s tough to continue to experiment with things that really aren’t proving to be very successful. So, it still could happen but to be perfectly honest, I’m less inclined to do it now.”
Steve Kerr on Steph Curry recently struggling and playing more to his style
— KNBR (@KNBR) January 9, 2024
"We're not just gonna run a high pick-and-roll and spread the floor and he's gonna dribble 700 times, that's not his game. He has to thrive off the ball just as well as he does on the ball." pic.twitter.com/XjMW0Psccj
The Warriors appear to be reaching the end of the dynasty and could really use a shake-up of sorts as they attempt to salvage what is left of this season and try to compete for as long as Stephen Curry is playing at a high level. Golden State also could use some cap flexibility beyond this season.
Here’s what a proposed trade might look like:
Pistons receive: Andrew Wiggins
Warriors receive: Alec Burks, Monté Morris and a second-round pick
Chris Paul injury update: pic.twitter.com/WbmcxXBf9u
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) January 9, 2024
Spoelstra, 53, has established himself as one of the most respected and successful coaches in professional sports and the new deal reflects both his and the organization’s desire to keep him with the only franchise he’s ever worked for in the NBA.
Spoelstra — who has won two championships and reached the NBA Finals six times — is the NBA’s second-highest-paid coach on an annual basis, behind Gregg Popovich at $19 million per season, but the length of Spoelstra’s deal separates him financially from his peers, sources said.
The drop coverage you played in Utah so successfully, a strategy other teams also use, can frustrate fans who see conceded mid-range shots. Your thoughts?
If you allow 90 points per game, you’d be the best defense in the league. But it’s still 90 points. You can’t stop everything. You’ve got to play the percentages. Take guys out of their comfort zone. Force guys to beat you maybe with the mid-range. If someone cooks you all night from the mid-range, it’s two points [per bucket]. If someone drives and kicks, everyone gets going and guys light you up from the 3-point line, it’s three points and the corner threes are the most efficient outside shot.
In Utah we found out that taking away the corner threes makes the other team’s efficiency worse. Same at the rim – the shot everybody wants is the layup or a dunk. The three, even if someone is wide open coming off a screen, it’s never going to be a 100% shot.
You don’t want to make it easy. And some of the guys in this league are unique, like Steph Curry. But other guys, “Yeah, shoot all night.” Your teammates are not going to touch the ball, they’re going to get frustrated and you’re going to shoot contested twos all night.
Raptors HC Darko Rajakovic was heated in the postgame presser, unhappy with the Lakers 23 free throw attempts in the 4Q pic.twitter.com/1xvoXrUM6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024
Whenever he does return, Steve Kerr has given him a lofty but admirable goal: stop arguing with the refs. Kerr revealed to reporters on Tuesday that the Warriors want the four-time All-Star to focus less on the refs so that the team can focus more on the details that have plagued their disappointing 2023-24 campaign. Kerr also admitted the obvious: it’s easier said than done.
I’ve mentioned before that Dario likes to find friends to stick to on every team he plays for. On the Sixers, it was Joel Embiid and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot. With the Timberwolves, it was Robert Covington and Andrew Wiggins. In Phoenix, it was Cam Johnson, and in Golden State, it’s Chris Paul. This isn’t the first time Dario’s doubted himself when his bestie went down. In 2018, he referred to the Sixers without Joel Embiid as “a Batman movie without Batman” — despite the fact that the Sixers kept themselves afloat until the Phantom of the Process could make a comeback halfway through the team’s first playoff run in six years.
Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.
