This Changes Everything For The Golden State Warriors…

This Changes Everything For The Golden State Warriors…

This changes everything. Well, folks, through the first 10 games of the Golden State Warriors season, we have been able to learn a lot about this roster. While other major questions have been left completely unanswered, and through the chaos of the first 10 games, I find myself returning time and time again to two key players who I see as major X factors for this team moving forward this season. And if this franchise wants to keep their championship aspirations alive, these two guys are going to have to keep it up. up. And before we get into exactly who I’m talking about and all things Golden State Warriors basketball as we do have another game against the Indiana Pacers tonight, looking to improve to six and five uh and bounce back from a rough loss to Indiana earlier this uh month. I want to remind you guys to hit that subscribe button. The easiest way for you guys to never miss out on videos here on the channel and also the easiest way for you guys to uh support us here on the channel. Go down below, hit the subscribe button, ring the bell, turn on notifications. Hey, if you’re really enjoying what you’re seeing, maybe hit the like button as well. We really appreciate it. So, first things first, I want to talk about the two guys that have been such X-factors to start this season and exactly why I think they can be legitimate gamechangers for this team. The these two guys that I’m talking about, obviously, you have Steph, you’ve got Al, you’ve got Dre, all these other guys that you kind of know what you’re going to get from him, although Al Horford has not been the type of player that we need him to be so far to start the year. Two guys that I think can be major for this team, right? And I’m going to leave you on the edge just a little bit longer. Brandon Pajky hasn’t been who we want him to be. Moses Moody, right? He’s had some good games, but also some bad moments. I do really think it comes down to Jonathan Kaminga and Will Richard, the rookie. And I know what you’re thinking. Okay, he’s had some good games, but he’s just a rookie through 10 games. Do we really know a whole lot about him? Yes. I’m sick and tired of this. Oh, he’s just a rookie. Yeah, he had a good 30 point. He had a good 30-point game. He’s the only other rookie other than VJ Edgecom who’s going to win rookie of the year to put up a 30-point performance this season, right, in his rookie season. And I don’t understand the thought process around, hey, yeah, he’s a good rookie, but we’ll see what he can really do if he can really impact this team. And and I’ve always been a Steve Kerr defender, but guys, why in the world after a 30point performance does Steve Kerr not play him until there’s two minutes left in the second quarter the next game? It doesn’t make any sense. And I want to be as positive as possible as I can be on this channel, but I have been majorly frustrated over the last couple of games from the rotation side of things. And that’s exactly what I want to talk about today. How do we find a rotation that completely works for this team night in and night out? And the two guys that are majorly important to that rotation are Jonathan Kaminga and Will Richards. So, let’s take a quick moment to break down exactly what we’ve seen so far from this team through the first 10 games. The first thing I have right there is play Will Richard. All right, I understand that he’s a rookie. I understand that yes, he’s going to have moments that are really good and he’s going to have some moments that have been bad. But I’m telling you right now, there has not been a single moment this season where I have looked at Will Richard and thought, “Man, yeah, he’s a rookie. Uh, he doesn’t deserve to be out there. Wow, he lost us this game.” Right? Not a chance. He had a 30-point performance. I understand we had some guys out. We needed somebody to step up. Guess what? Yeah, Pods had a decent game, but it was and and so did Moody, right? And some of these other guys, but it wasn’t any of the other guys who we’ve expected that from. It was Will Richard who dropped a 30piece in a big time game. Of course, we fall short and it hurts. But guess what? what he says in the post game, I had a great game. My first 30 point performance, it’s fantastic, but it doesn’t even matter, right? He doesn’t even care about that performance because we lost the game. That is the mentality that you want, not this. I’m going to get my own. I’m going to do everything I can to stuff the stat sheet. No, I’m going to do everything I can to win for this team. Steve Kerr, I love you. I love what you’ve done for this team. I will continue to support you. But when a guy drops a 30-point performance, it’s typically standard to play him a lot in the next game. I do not understand. He doesn’t get first minute uh first quarter minutes. He sits the first uh six minutes of the second quarter until finally coming in and when he does steel layup three in the span of about a minute. I do not understand uh why we have such reservations about giving this guy heavy minutes. I get he’s playing about 17 a night. I would rather him be playing close to 30. I understand. Maybe I’m over exaggerating. Maybe I’m overreacting or sorry, switch those. Maybe I’m overreacting to the situation and over exaggerating on how well he’s been playing, but I don’t think I am. Every single time he’s been on the floor, he’s locked in defensively. He plays very good against the opposing team’s best uh offensive player, right? He knocks down threes. He gets hustle plays. He gets steals, gets blocks. Uh he passes the ball well. I just think he’s making every good decision. And I want him in the game. If there was a situation where you’re like, man, we need pods out there. We need maybe Moody. I love those guys. I think they can be huge players for us. I’d rather have Will Richard in the game. And I mean that. I mean that from watching him through the first 10 games of the season. We sent him down to Santa Cruz. And guess what he said? Nope. I’m not going to Santa Cruz. I want to play on this team. Puts up a 30-point performance after returning to Golden State to play in that game. I understand our rotations are going to be messy. We got a deep team, right? Gary Payton’s minutes aren’t have aren’t been where they, you know, haven’t been where they usually are. Usually he’s at 17 to 20 and right now they’re at about 8 to 10. Uh Moses Moody Pods, we have these other guys that need to step up. But right now, that’s my biggest point of emphasis. I don’t care that we have guys that are 15ear NBA veterans on this team. I don’t care that we have guys that have bled for this roster and this organization the last four years. Great. I love it. I love that they’re committed to the team. You know who else is committed to the team? The 52nd or 53rd pick, whichever one he is on this team, Will Richard. Give him minutes. Let him play. When he’s on the floor, good things happen. Moving on. I’m off my soap box on the Will Richard thing. If he continues to play well, great. Pat myself on the back. If he doesn’t play well, you can come here and say, “Hey, you fell for the rookie first 10 games. He looked pretty good.” Why? Do do what you must. Kaminga. Apparently, I can’t type because there’s a Kaminga typo in here. But anyway, Kaminga is not a first option. Uh I love Jonathan Kaminga. He’s been fantastic to start the year. He really has. His numbers look excellent. uh when you look at exactly what he’s done to start the year, uh 30 minutes a game, putting up 16, seven and four, shooting it really well from three, field goal percentage has been great, and he’s knocking down his free throws as well, right? I’m not discounting what he’s done. But when Steph Curry’s not on the floor, when Jimmy Butler’s on the floor, when it’s Jonathan Kuminga and the other guys, great comedy movie, by the way, maybe the best Mark Wahberg performance of all time. When it’s just Kuminga and the other guys on the floor and you’re asking Kuminga to be the star player, to be the first option, I’m not sure he’s capable of that yet. There was a game last season against the Rockets where he was asked to be that guy uh early on in the season. I think around mid December, maybe December 9th or something like that. Maybe I’m wrong a little bit there on the date, but he had a great performance. He had a 30 plus point performance. He was great in crunch time. won us the game and you thought, man, Kaminga, the voice and the uh the play of the future. This is it, right? And I think he can get there and he’s shown flashes of that. He was great against the Timberwolves last season in the postseason, right? But there’s not an quite enough versatility to his game. Just just not quite. If this is the mark of being a first option, he’s here. He’s incredibly close to being there, but he’s not quite there because he his game is still a tiny bit too oneed one-dimensional. He does a lot of iso ball in and-out dribble, in-n-out dribble, trying to get to that euro. When he plays against better defenders, when Steph’s on the floor, off the floor, when Jimmy’s off the floor, and all eyes are on Kuminga, he struggles to be exactly what we need him to be. Uh, which you don’t really blame him. He’s still a 22-y old guy going to progress and be a first option at some point for this uh franchise. But that’s why we’re going to struggle to win games when Steph and Jimmy are out. Uh which uh you know is unfortunate and there are going to be nights where Kaminga probably will play like a first option. He’ll he’ll hit threes. He’ll be good from the mid-range. He’ll get to the hoop, right? We’ve seen that before, but he’s not a certified first option yet, which is, you know, tough. It’s a tough pill to swallow because they’re going to be nights when Steph and Jimmy are both out and we’re calling on Kaminga. I hope he answers the call a little bit better than he did the last couple of games without Steph. Didn’t play amazing. Uh I still think he’s going to be a great player for this team, but I don’t think he’s quite a first option yet because he looks slightly uncomfortable when Steph and Jimmy are off the floor and he’s asked to do a little more. We’re great at home. We’re awful on the road. This has been the story for many years uh in the Bay Area. Uh we’re really good at home. We rally around the home troops. Hopefully we can continue and get to 5 and0 tonight against Indiana. Been poor on the road so far. One and five start. The age is worse than we thought. Uh, I mainly bring this up because Al Horford’s already missed four games. Um, Draymond Green has some back issues that are going to probably mess with him the whole year. Jimmy is I Jimmy’s played every game, I believe. Yeah. Or maybe he missed one. No, I think he’s played every game, but but with the injuries that are already piling up a little bit on his resume this season, he’ll miss games 100% this year. Steph Curry has an illness. He’s been out for two games, might not even play tonight, right? So, a lot of things that are getting in the way of these older guys playing in these games. Uh, and that’s going to be an an issue all year long. And the young guys aren’t there consistently yet. Pods has had moments where I’ve come on the channel and been said, “Wow, Pods has looked amazing.” And then there’s other nights where I’ve been, “Wow, Pods is awful tonight.” Same thing with Moses Moody. Um, same thing with Kuminga a little bit, but for the most part, he’s been pretty consistent. So, they’re not there yet. I think they’ll get there. I don’t know if it’s going to be this season. I hope and pray that it’s this season, but they’re just not quite consistent enough to where we need them to be yet. The thing that makes the Oklahoma City Thunder so great, they got young heck guys, but they are so consistent. Like every night when you need an Aaron Wiggins to step up, he steps up. Now you need AJ Mitchell to step up, he steps up. Right? That’s why they’re so good. We’re not quite there yet. When you look at the minutes breakdown of this team, just a couple of notes about things I want to see. I would rather replace the Brandon Pajki 28 minutes a game wi with more so a 22 to 23. I understand we ask him to come in and be the point guard for the second unit, but I’d rather those minutes go to Buddy Heield, Quinton Post, and uh Will Richard. I’d rather Will Richard get to around 21 to 22 a night. Buddy Heel, I think, thrives when he’s on the floor and can find a rhythm, right? He’s not a guy that’s going to come in like a Sam Hower and hit one three, right? It’s a guy who you want him to get shots up so that he can and not to say that Sam Hower is not a not a you know uh high efficiency or high he’s a high efficiency not a high product shooter volume shooter he can be but I think of Sam Hower as a guy who he’s on the bench for 15 minutes you sub in for five minutes he comes in hits a three goes out type guy right buddy he I think works really well when he gets a lot of opportunity and I want to see him with a little more opportunity because he’s not playing great yet but I think he can Quinton Post if he’s going to be a starter for us this season. Just needs to see more time. I think he should be at 20 to 25. And then um yeah, those are the three guys. I think Will, Buddy, and Al should or in uh sorry, Quinton should take a little bit more of Brandon’s minutes. Steph, Jimmy, Kuminga, Moody. I’m happy with all those guys where they’re at. Maybe Moody could take a little bit of Pods’s minutes. Um, and then listen, I’m not a I’m not a guy that’s really been lobbying for Pat Spencer to play that much, but he’s played pretty well when he’s been in the game. So has Trace Jackson Davis, so those younger guys are doing what we need from them when they’re called on it. Um, Gary and Gee haven’t really been fantastic this year, but I’m just interested to see. We’re 10 games through the year. Uh, we have a large enough sample size of rotations now for Steve Curry to be able to go, okay, that word rotation worked, that lineup worked, this one didn’t. Right now, we got to find a way to build around what’s worked and what hasn’t and put together a consistent effort. We’re going on a uh long road trip, right? We were at home tonight and then we got six at least straight on the road, right? So, it’s going to be difficult and we’ve already only played five home games, including tonight and then six on the road. So, we’re going to have started our first about 20 games with about 75% of those games being on the road. So, it’s encouraging because if you can just weather the storm and stick around 500, be about the seven or eight seed, then we can start to give ourselves a little bit of a push and try to get closer to higher up once we have a larger stretch of home games. But NBA, you guys screwed us over, let me tell you, with this uh schedule. It is a rough schedule as far as away games to start the year. Eight games in 13 days, and then we’ve got three backto-backs in that stretch. Brutal, brutal, brutal. But I trust the I trust the ability of these guys to get the job done. Got to win tonight against an underman Pacers team. Get to six and five, re-evaluate next week, see where we’re at, have some fun, get some dubs, and uh move forward with positivity. I’ve been Houston. You guys have been the fans. Thank you so much for tuning in. Let’s get a dub tonight uh in the Bay Area. Should be a lot of fun. We’ll catch you guys in the next one. As always, go Dubs.

Houston Boe breaks down the current Golden State rotations and where improvements can be made.
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Warriors Digest is a YouTube Channel covering the latest news, trades, reports, and rumors about the Golden State Warriors. Our channel provides in-depth analysis, game highlights, and player performance reviews. We focus on key players such as Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Kevon Looney, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, Buddy Hield, Quinten Post, Pat Spencer, and Gary Payton II. In addition, we share insights from Head Coach Steve Kerr, General Manager Mike Dunleavy Jr, and Team Governor Joe Lacob. Stay tuned for all the exciting updates and engaging discussions on everything Warriors!

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