After opening the door over the weekend to a possible starting lineup adjustment, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr made a change at center on Monday night, inserting Kevon Looney into his starting five in place of rookie James Wiseman, as Nick Friedell of ESPN details.
Looney scored just two points on the night, but he was a plus-21 as Golden State defeated Minnesota 130-108. While the lineup change was effective on Monday, Kerr wasn’t ready to commit to it becoming a permanent solution.
“From the beginning, we’re trying to win games too,” Kerr said, per Friedell. “And so I have to figure out what that means. All it meant tonight was let’s start Loon, let’s try to get off to a better start, flip their roles, and I think it worked out well. It doesn’t mean I’m going to do it the whole year. It just feels like what I should do right now.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Following Monday’s win over Minnesota, Kerr admitted that he’s not ignoring the impact that beating the Timberwolves – and keeping them near the bottom of the NBA standings – has on the Warriors’ draft outlook (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic). Golden State will receive the Wolves’ first-round pick if it doesn’t land in the top three.
- Andrew Wiggins, who had spent his entire NBA career in Minnesota before being traded to the Warriors a year ago, praised Golden State’s “winning culture” after beating his old team on Monday. “It’s very positive over here, very positive, everyone’s getting along. No egos, nothing like that,” Wiggins said, per Friedell. “Everyone just wants to win. It’s just a winning attitude, winning culture, everything is about winning.” Although Wiggins didn’t specifically address the Wolves’ culture, it’s probably safe to assume he wouldn’t describe it in exactly the same terms.
- Jordan Poole and Alen Smailagic will join two-way player Nico Mannion in the G League bubble, Kerr confirmed on Monday, per Marcus White of NBC Sports Bay Area. All three players will depart Sunday and will suit up for the Santa Cruz Warriors at Walt Disney World next month. “Hopefully we stay healthy during that time so those guys get as much experience as they can,” Kerr said. “They all need to play.”
I would say bench Oubre before Wiseman. Wiseman is a solid player, and I can’t wait to see what he becomes. I think he becomes an All-Star
Draymond can’t shoot
Oubre and Wiseman turn out to be a problem
Oubre is top tier wing defender
If Draymond shoots like Durant, Oubre would be great
Wiggins have only 5 attempt a game from the three
Draymond shot 4-8 for 50% last night, you are wrong, Draymond Green is a Hall of Famer and the owner of the highest basketball IQ in the game. Watch any game, you will see his dominance while not getting any stats other than assists (he was in the top 10 for AST before last night)
HOF? Line him up statistically with any other HOF’r and I’ll buy it. Intangibles don’t get you in the hall, stats do.
Has the highest career winning%, including playoffs, of all time. As well as tied for 3rd most Top 2 DPoY finishes, and 3 Rings, it’s certainly not the WORST HoF case.
Actually he is right. Draymond is shooting 23% from 3-point range this season and has shot below 31% from three in each of the last 5 seasons. He’s almost as poor a shooter as Westbrick.
Oubre is not top tier anything. He is the worst starter in basketball by a wide margin.
The difference between the value of draymond and oubre though is Draymond is a leader on the court with solid defense. Oubre has proven to be a waste.
Wiseman? A problem? Have you watched him? He will be on the court for a LONG TIME. He’s a solid player and has a really good chance to be ROY
Wiseman is doing highlight reel stuff, but has been very bad otherwise, especially in tandem with Oubre. Kerr finally stopped playing them together last night and look what happened. Wiseman has elite skills but is still too raw and is doing things a 19 year old with 3 college games under his belt would do when put on an elite franchise. He will learn from this season and no doubt will be a superstar of the game. Lebron was a similar story at 19.
“Looney scored just two points on the night, but he was a plus-21.” – but sure, everyone keep telling us how bad Draymond Green is, as if he isn’t directly responsible for this – LOL
JaVale McGee is available under the IPE and is suuuuuch a sick fit for GSW, imagine giving some of those Looney minutes to JaVale? And he’s already a fan fave in GSW who won last year. It’s so perfect I can’t see them not winning a chip this year if it happens.
What is an IPE? How does that make McGee available? I doubt Cleveland wants to trade him. Therefore, he is not available.
He means DPE, and if the Warriors use it they will be even more into record-breaking luxury tax territory. And they also would have to release a player first since using a disabled player exception doesn’t give you an extra roster spot.
bruh the nets r also pursuing mcgee cuz they’re sick of jordan’s production especially on defense. and plus with the arrival of allen and prince, they might as well trade mcgee or even drummond. cuz the cavs r literally rebuilding their team around sexton. so obviously mcgee is avaliable
Draymond is, along with Curry, heart and soul Warriors. Looney does his job, Oubre is adjusting and Wiseman has all the future ahead of him! Go Warriors!
I agree, just Oubre needs to pick it up. If he can’t, he needs to be trade for someone who will be a contributor to this team. If Oubre was performing like he can, the Warriors would be unstoppable.
Imagine this:
Steph shooting crazy shots and moving the ball well, Draymond locking down on D and being the coach on the court, Wiseman posting up getting boards and points, Oubre performing like he can and has, Wiggins doing his thing, (and just for the fun of it) Klay bringing back the splash bros. This team has a lot of potential, they just need to put it together and prove it
I was excited when we got Oubre, however it has been sad seeing him essentially play like a prototypical PF, playing in the dunker spot and making athletic rebounds and dunks while dishing less than a single assist a game. Hopefully he’ll find his groove though, it’s not like he’s a rookie he has performed well in the past. Kerr likes to give his Vet’s a longer leash and on this young team, Oubre is one of the Vet’s
In today’s nba
Shooting accuracy is the most important
Both Green and Oubre can’t shoot
Embiid is MVP
Without Embiid, Pistons or any worst team can blow out fully healthy 76ers
Simmons can’t shoot
When was shooting accuracy not important in the NBA?
In today’s NBA team defense is most important. That would include controlling the defensive boards among all the other stuff.
You can shoot lights out and still be benched. Your team can shoot lights out and still not make the playoffs.
Wizards-Syndrom
Klay Thompson’s spot was huge shoes to fill in the shooting department..main reason why the Dubs were so successful over the years..Splash Bros making it rain, getting that extra point for each bucket..
If Wiggins really wanted to be in a winning culture then maybe he shouldn’t have worked with Towns to drive out Butler and Thibobeau.
Imagine defending the Wolves, the worst pro franchise in American sports, lol they have NO culture at all and never have. They should be contracted.
Was this a hit piece on the timberwolves?
“While Wiggins’ didn’t give any specifics on the Wolves culture, its safe to say he wouldn’t describe it in the same terms”
A little Journalistic Liberty?
Wiggins other than age, is the same player he was in Minnesota. GSW didn’t waive a Magic wand, and start getting more production from Wiggins.
No doubt the Wolves have problems, this certainly isn’t helping. Looks like a lobbied effort to put a team in Seattle?
Nah, billionaires wouldn’t unfairly use their money to manipulate a business deal through the media.
No way!
the difference is Wiggins doesn’t have to be the man in GSW. All he has to do is go out and play hard. His defense has picked up a lot more at GS. Wolves fans wanted him to be what he is not a top 10 player. You can’t blame him for signing the big contract.
Correct, he is a good second option but a bad first option. He doesn’t a go to guy player but his defense and athletic skills make him to a good player (with a to high contract)
If you look at Wiggins quotes there’s no Liberty taken. It’s exactly what Wiggins stated.
It wasn’t the quotes he was referring to, but the inference after the quotes.
Wiggins’ is usually a man of few words, and there was obvious relief on his part getting out of Minnesota at the time. I always wondered if it was the Wolves, Owner, GM, Towns? It definitely didn’t seem like he resented his time with Thibs/coaching, and Butler
If Rosas is tasked with rebuilding a rebuild that is for sale? This is gonna get uglier. Towns is a really good player, but unlikely a superstar, and expansion teams love draft picks.
Wiggs has actually regressed, he ain’t playing at the level he did in MIN, why people keep sayin’ he is good now when he is worst… SMH!
Why do you say he has regressed? He has a career high in FG%, 3PT%, blocks, rebounds, turnovers (lowest), box plus minus, defensive box plus minus. He is also putting in excellent effort on defence. Now these stats could easily decline over the season but I think you made your statement just because he is scoring less points – is that correct or can you expand on your assessment of him?
ikr tbh wiggins improved tremendously on defense. leads the team in blocks. had a nice three steals, 3 blocks game against his former team. the reason why hes averaging less point is cuz he has to fill in thompson’s role and has to shoot more threes. once thompson’s back he might as well be having a 25/5/5 line he wil be attacking the paint more by then.
He’s way more efficient and his defense/focus is light years ahead of where he’s been in the past. Also when has he ever shot 40% from 3? He’s hitting career high 3PM and not even close to his career high 3PA, that’s efficiency. Nearly 18ppg and currently playing like a top 10 wing defender, I’ll take it. Most of Dub Nation is more than happy with Wigs. He’s not KD but he’s better than HB imo.
Green and Looney my not be spectacular numbers wise…..but, their contributions to the overall team effort makes the Warriors run smoothly. The Warriors don’t place a lot of weight on rebounding, but they still get their share and run the fast break very efficiently.
u cant blame green for the limited production tho cuz he jjst recently returned from a foot injury and is tryna return to his own self . without green, they wont have floor spacing and open shots yk.
Kerr need not worry… The NBA ill make sure the Warriors get MN’s pick. I’m not saying the NBA loves the Warriors that much. I’m saying the NBA HATES MN. How else to explain them falling back in the draft all but a year or two??? They didn’t FALL back last year.. They were tied , but ended up being the one that got what they deserved , in a crappy draft with NO clear cut #1 pick. Just like back in the day when Patrick Ewing magically ended up in NYC in that back room out of sight lottery “drawing”
So far I am pretty disappointed with Wiseman, I did expect him to be a 20/10 guy in his rookie year… maybe I was wrong & he isn’t the star I thought he would be!
Always knew he & LaMelo were the best players in the draft, with Avdija & Pokusevski… but so far seems that LaMelo is gonna be the superstar I thought & Wiseman just a good player, right?
u cant blame wisemen cuz he only played three games in college and never appeared in a single game in the preseason. at least hes better than looney on grabbing boards and floor spacing. plus hes just developing his game.
What?????? Watch you this game. Pokusevski? Ball a superstar?? Because he has 4,5 good games in this saison and the rest was terrible (no front, because many rookie Pg have difficult starts in the NBA). Sorry but you message. Never understand this a fan.
bruh el don thinks any top prospect will be superstar in barely their first game lmao.
What did you expect him to be LeBron James? He’s a solid player and has shown promise.
Watch: Wiseman will be a HOFer
I’ve been saying the Warriors need to change ge their rotation for like 10+ games now… Oubre, Wiseman, and Wiggins have all been problems for them in thise lineups.
Steph
Damion Lee
Wiggins
Draymond
Looney
Mulder, Bazemore, Oubre, Pachall, Mannion, Wiseman, Wanamaker, Poole
I think you maybe change it up with a couple of those guys based on matchups, but I think this is generally their most effective rotation
Yes I think you’re right.