Daily Discussion Thread | December 18, 2023

35 comments

1. TJD played great yesterday but man, we might have too many mouths to feed in terms of minutes. When GP2 and Dray come back that’d be 12 players that could have an argument for playing time.

   Kerr will have to make hard decisions on who gets DNPs or minutes cut unless a trade happens

2. CP3 is Steve Kerrs warm blanket. I know its bad for CP3 to be 3rd on the team in minutes (at 39) and the defensive issues in closing time are glaring… yeah hes been one of our best players his quality of play isnt the issue. We play the result so he hit that baseline jumper and he’s golden if he missed it “why was he the guy taking the shot” sub-wise the issue is Steve spams him (and other vets) so when there are 4 minutes to go in a close game he doesn’t care the vets are in the kids are out. Not on CP3… it’s Steve tbh.

   If Wiggs and Klay are the better versions of themselves… the teams biggest issue to me is the overuse of CP3 and Loon especially crunch time and Kerrs aversion to stay with the hot hand/matchup advantage when it reveals itself. TJD should’ve closed. Kerr has to be willing to coach the game in the moment cuz every win is precious.

   When everyone is healthy I think a consolidation trade might just be a good thing to orient Steve to true north… give him an obvious best five lol and we stop having this conversation about what wild decision he made cuz he’s coaching based on reputation in those moments.

3. Maybe the best the collective group has played all season? I guess that happens when you play the bottom tier teams in the league, but it’s not like Portland is devoid of talent.

   Our offense is such that we can run up a big lead with our shooting, but we’re all fastballs and no change ups, so we’re also prone to long scoring droughts. The TJD buckets were a breath of fresh air.

4. Being in the starting 5 is overrated. Look at yesterday’s minutes played and make up your own mind. Gosh I miss Iguadola-type players. No ego. Finals MVP. That should have changed the mindset of the entire league back then, but unfortunately ego prevails.

5. Klay and Wiggs demise have been greatly exaggerated.

   Just gotta rack up some Ws and find a way to get back in the middle of the west pack of teams.

6. Seems like Pacer fans are down on Turner again. I know he didn’t have the best showing against AD and hasn’t been great defensively this season but it’s not like he’s getting much help in Indiana. A rotation of Turner/Loon/TJD could be solid. Turner would allow Dario to stick to the stretch 4 role where he best thrives. CP3s could work and give Indiana some extra picks to grab OG whom they are eyeing.

7. damn now ANT is getting flamed…wonder who it will be next 😂

8. Does anyone know why Kuminga spent so much time on the bench in the second half last night? I understand Wiggins was showing better. But when you get down to it, Kuminga was +4 Wiggins -3 Kuminga was shooting 75% from the field, and having a good defensive game.

   Did Kuminga get injured or was this just Kerr going back to his old ways?

9. Who’s going to be traded this deadline? We have a logjam in guards position and little thin in forward position.

   Curently we have Steph, Klay, CP3, Podz, Moody, GP2, Cojo for guards.

   Then, Wiggs, JK, Dray for forwards. Looney, Saric, TJD for center. And then Santos, Lester, Garuba and Jerome.

   So once we are all healthy and available I think we might get our usual line-up but with a little tweak:

   Steph – Klay – Wiggs – Dray – TJD
   We can always swap Wiggs with JK if he will continue to be inconsistent but we need to sub TJD with Saric to offset lack of shooting.

   Then for the bench:

   CP3, Podz, Moody, JK, Saric

   With the rise of the rookies, GP2 and Looney has become indispensable now. GP2 has always been injured this season and becoming too one dimensional. I like Podz more coz he brings more to the table and GP was never the same after he was traded the first time.

   I love Loon I think we can still keep him until TJD fully replaces him. He can sit on the bench and become our Haslem.

   Of course, it will force us to trade one of our young guys if we want to upgrade more on our front court position. So the order for me would be GP2, Cojo and then Moody.

10. Podz is averaging 11 rebounds per 100 possessions which is .5 higher than Russel Westbrooks career average. He is third in the NBA in charges drawn and third in charges per 36.

    Like how bro

11. Happy to see another good game by Wiggins

    I’m expecting a ‘jammed toe’ report soon causing him to miss a game

12. [deleted]

13. I know everyone is obsessed either way trading jk rn but almost positive he was injured. He was limping around on the bench in the 4th quarter

14. bittersweet victory, sad to see Steph’s record come to an end

15. KOC reporting that the asking price for Lauri will be around 5 FRPs. What are yalls thoughts? Too high? Just right?

16. i’ll be very disappointed if i don’t see TJD minutes moving forward. here’s a video of his [block](https://x.com/warriors/status/1736597168449085947?s=20).

17. Edwards bro 🤦‍♂️

18. These nba players man just use a fucking condom, or even better just dont be fucking with anybody especially ig thots.

19. Back to back games one of the young guys had a game saving defensive play. Kuminga with the block on Mikal and Podz with that charge

20. If Poole had Podz awareness, iq and focus.

21. I’m still in awe of how good Podz has been man. Beyond a home run for MDJ’s first official pick

22. Who can we realistically get before the deadline? Looney is looking cooked and as much as I like TJD, it’s gonna take time for him to reach the level we want him to reach. Looney moves like he’s gonna fall apart any second on the court.

23. There’s been a lot of clamoring for more TJD, and rightfully so, the kid has been great and brings some much needed bounce in the paint. I’m just as excited as anyone else about his potential. Remember he had a bit of knee inflammation a couple weeks ago, so I think the staff is being careful and got him working hard on building up the muscles around the knees to prevent injury. It must be working because, to my eye at least, he seemed to have more bounce and fluidity last night than earlier in the season, which is great to see. I say be patient and watch the kid blossom, the season is a marathon.

24. I’m listening to the Locked On Dubs pod after the game last night…. Sheesh. This dude hates Kerr and is freaking out JK and Moody didn’t play enough. Bro needs to chill.

25. GP2, Looney and Kuminga or Moody could be a potential trade route to go after another piece if we’re trying to hold onto our larger salaried players.

    Gets us right in the 20 mill range where there are some interesting bigs like Vuc/J Allen or wing players like OG/Lauri.

    Would definitely hurt to lose GP2 and Loon but with GP2s struggles to stay healthy and Loons diminished play it might be worth swapping them for a more productive player. Would especially make sense if the FO feels Podz and TJD can step into larger roles.

26. In a 2023 redraft, does Podz get into the top 10 or 15? How far does Scoot fall?

27. Still early in the season, fellas. Standings are still pretty damn close too. Rack up some Ws and there’ll be a different narrative by the end of January.

28. There is clearly a roster imbalance and some tough decisions really need to be made. When everyone is healthy there are at least 8 guys that should be playing starter minutes. There are at Least 2 players that should be playing less minutes. I just don’t think this is going to end well. There is no continuity. No identity. Too many mouths to feed. Too much placating. Every contender has an established 8 man rotation minimum. Having 11-12 playable guys is nicr but it also causes problems. I think even if we win some games it’s not taking away from the issue. Our current roster (and to a degree how the roster is being used) has a ceiling not high enough to truly contend. Hard decisions are going to need to be made.

29. Is this Celtics team a lot harder matchup wise? I like to think we still have a psychological advantage over them. I’d love to break their win streak.

30. Damn I feel proud and sad at the sametime for Curry’s 3 point streak. Nobody will break that record. I doubt Curry goes another 5 years to break it.

31. If Klay and Wiggins snap back to form and the team manages to stay healthy, the need for a trade plummets. Still may be smart to go hunting for something, got CP3’s salary after all, but I think the pressure falls off a good bit if they can actually steady the ship and get back up .500.

    Still, Dunleavy needs to fully evaluate what he has in Kuminga and Moody and decide if they are long term fits. Rookie extensions looming in the off-season, if he ain’t totally sold or thinks Kerr will continue to hesitate to trust them, it could be smart to flip one before summer.

32. Why do we play Portland AGAIN on Saturday?! I’m so sick of this play the same team 3 times in 2 weeks schedule 😭 idk why I thought we were finally done with that crap after the last Clippers game

33. Supposedly we had the 2nd hardest schedule so far and will have the 2nd easiest remaining schedule. Hopefully we just finished the low point of our season

    http://powerrankingsguru.com/nba/strength-of-schedule.php

34. The L2M said that Steph losing the ball out bounds was off him. Everyone is going to get mad even though he was fouled during that possession

35. 10 of our next 11 are at home, gotta get wins, no matter how ugly they have to be