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Warriors Notes: Young Players, J. Green, DiVincenzo, Thompson

November 14th, 2022 at 12:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors‘ two-timeline plan of mixing young players with their established stars isn’t working, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. The latest example came Sunday against the Kings when coach Steve Kerr had to pull his reserves midway through the fourth quarter and reinsert Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

“We’re not a team right now where we can afford to let guys make mistakes,” Kerr said after the loss, which dropped Golden State to 0-7 on the road. “We’re not good enough to withstand a lot of mistakes.”

Third-year center James Wiseman, whom the Warriors valued highly enough to take with the second pick in the 2020 draft, has already fallen out of the rotation. Moses Moody hasn’t played at all the past two games, and his fellow 2021 lottery pick, Jonathan Kuminga, is seeing minimal time, usually early in the game. Even Jordan Poole, who received a lucrative long-term contract extension last month, sat out nearly the entire fourth quarter against Sacramento.

There’s more on the Warriors:

Another problem for Golden State is that offseason additions JaMychal Green and Donte DiVincenzo haven’t replaced the production lost when Otto Porter Jr., Gary Payton II and Nemanja Bjelica all departed, Thompson adds. Green has lost his rotation spot, while DiVincenzo is coming off an injury and hasn’t been as productive as the front office was hoping. Thompson notes that Damion Lee and Juan Toscano-Anderson would both be seeing regular playing time if they hadn’t also left in free agency.
Draymond Green believes the Warriors are still adjusting to their reserves (video link from Anthony Slater of The Athletic). The second unit used to present opponents with a different look on offense, Green said, but now the first man off the bench is usually Poole, who is similar to Stephen Curry in his style of play.
Klay Thompson has been struggling with his shot so far, but he promises things are going to change, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. After Sunday’s loss, Thompson posted a message on Instagram that read, “My belief is stronger than your doubt. I PROMISE you it’s coming. And when it does, the floodgates will open.” His shooting percentage currently sits at a career-low 35.1%.

Pacific Notes: Leonard, LeBron, Monk, Wiseman

November 12th, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers are just a game above .500, but they’re willing to give Kawhi Leonard all the time he needs to start playing again, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Leonard participated in a five-on-five workout Friday for the first time since experiencing right knee soreness on October 23. Although that’s an encouraging sign, his teammates don’t want to rush him back into the lineup.

“I’m excited to get him back whenever he’s ready,” Paul George said. “Nobody here wants to put added pressure on his return. His return is his return. Like I’ve been saying, we got a job to do and that’s to continue to play ball, win games, compete. When he’s ready, he’s ready, but that’s his timetable, not ours.”

Leonard, who missed all of 2021/22 while recovering from a torn ACL, has only been able to play in two games this season. Kevin Durant, whose Nets won in L.A. this afternoon, said Leonard understands what he needs to do to get healthy.

“He knows how to deal with his body,” Durant said. “He knows his body better than anybody. The league is better though, when Kawhi Leonard is playing.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

After missing Friday’s game with a left adductor strain, Lakers star LeBron James has been upgraded slightly for Sunday but still remains doubtful, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN. With James sidelined, coach Darvin Ham said “self-inflicted mistakes” cost L.A. in a loss to the Kings, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic. The Lakers committed numerous turnovers and defensive mistakes in the closing minutes of both halves. “We’ve just got to get some wins, especially in the West,” Anthony Davis said. “Every team is good. Got a lot of basketball left but we dug ourselves a hole. So we’ve got to put some wins together, got to start winning — ASAP. Try to stay positive, obviously. The energy around our locker room feels like 2-10, as it should. But we’ve got to start putting wins together immediately.”
Malik Monk, who left the Lakers for the Kings in free agency, has been a good fit in Sacramento, according to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. L.A. wasn’t able to offer Monk more than the taxpayer mid-level exception, so he signed with the Kings for $9.5MM. “People probably may not look at him like this because he’s so young, and he’s bounced around as a young guy, but he knows how to lead,” coach Mike Brown said. “He uplifts the group. He’s fun-loving. He’s always messing with somebody, and guys really, really enjoy that, and you need that when you’re together as much as we are.”
The Warriors should consider trading third-year center James Wiseman, who doesn’t fit the team’s style of play and isn’t ready to be part of a championship contender, argues Nekias Duncan of Basketball News.

Pacific Notes: Kawhi, Crowder, Poole, Thompson, Warriors

November 11th, 2022 at 4:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who has been out of action since October 23 due to right knee soreness, took part in a five-on-five workout on Friday for the first time since he has been sidelined, writes Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Leonard won’t be available on Saturday when the Clippers host the Nets, but head coach Tyronn Lue said he is encouraged by the forward’s progress.

“The first time he was able to get on the floor and play five-on-five and he looked pretty good,” Lue said. “Still have a ways to go, but that was the first sign of positivity of him getting on the floor, playing five-on-five.”

As Youngmisuk relays, Lue said that Leonard will need a “few more (workout) opportunities” before the team is comfortable clearing him. The Clippers’ head coach also said he’s not sure whether the former NBA Finals MVP will continue to come off the bench when he returns, like he did in his first two games of the season.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Since Cameron Johnson went down with his knee injury, the Suns have made an effort to reopen some old Jae Crowder trade talks, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst stated in the most recent episode of his Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to RealGM). Like Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, Windhorst and his ESPN colleague Tim Bontemps have both heard that there’s no indication the Suns and Crowder will mend fences and have the veteran forward report to the team.
Moving Jordan Poole into the starting lineup in place of Klay Thompson isn’t something the Warriors will consider to jump-start their struggling bench, head coach Steve Kerr said during an appearance on Damon & Ratto on 95.7 The Game (YouTube link). “No, that’s not something I’ve given any thought to,” Kerr said. “Jordan and Klay are very different players. Jordan’s more on the ball, Klay’s off the ball. … Klay is a starter. That five-man (starting) unit is the very best unit in the league.”
While it’s a good thing that Warriors two-way players Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome can be counted on to play regular roles, it’s not a great sign that they’ve already earned more trust from Kerr than the team’s young prospects, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area, who considers whether Golden State’s plan to develop three youngsters (James Wiseman, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga) while trying to contend is flawed.

Warriors Notes: Myers, Trade Market, Green, Wiseman

November 9th, 2022 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic about the Warriors‘ underwhelming 4-7 start to the season, head of basketball operations Bob Myers repeatedly stated that he’s not worried about the team’s ability to turn things around and dismissed the idea that Draymond Green punching Jordan Poole during a training camp practice has messed up the club’s chemistry.

“I don’t think anybody’s playing at their best, maybe besides (Stephen) Curry,” Myers said. “Draymond’s been pretty good. But everybody else has a lot more upside than they’ve shown, whether it’s the bench or Poole or obviously Klay (Thompson)‘s going to be better. So there’s that part. And there’s the combinations of the bench and kind of revitalizing the energy to get back on track. (Monday) was the beginning of it, and hopefully, we can continue. But yeah, rough start for sure. Sometimes it’s tough to get out of those.”

Asked about James Wiseman‘s early struggles and the fact that the Warriors’ two-way players are seeing more action than former lottery picks like Wiseman, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga, Myers stressed that it’s a “really long season” and that the rotations now won’t necessarily look like the ones the club is using in a few months or even a few weeks. He also spoke specifically about why he’s not concerned about Wiseman.

“I would say that James needs to play. And (head coach) Steve (Kerr)‘s trying to figure out how to do that,” Myers said. “We’ve seen the growth over the last few months, preseason, start of the season, then he hit a little rut the last few games. But we’re not ready to get super-concerned. We just think he needs to play. Steve believes in him; we believe in him.

“… I think a lot of people want to rush it. I’m sure James wants to rush it. We all want it to happen right away. But he has the talent, he has the desire, he has the work ethic. He’s a good kid. I would be more concerned if I thought he wasn’t putting in the work outside of the games. But he is. And he cares. And it’s just going to have to run its course.”

Here’s more on the defending champions:

Within a look at Golden State’s slow start, Tim Bontemps of ESPN wonders if the team might ultimately pivot to the trade market at some point in an effort to upgrade its bench. However, Bontemps admits it’s hard to envision the Warriors moving away from young players like Wiseman, Moody, and Kuminga this season, given how much time and energy they’ve spent developing them.
For what it’s worth, Myers was asked about possible trades during his conversation with Kawakami and said the Warriors are “always open to anything,” but that there’s no urgency to make any roster changes. “We’re not going to overreact to this start,” Myers said. “We’re going to see how we move through it. But we view ourselves as contenders. There’s no secret there. And we’ll look at the roster as we move ahead. But at this point, it’s way too early to kind of make any proclamations about what we’re going to do.”
After JaMychal Green and Wiseman were DNP-CDs in Monday’s victory over Sacramento, Kerr said both players will get the opportunity to work their way back into the rotation, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. However, for now, Kerr intends to lean on smaller lineups, with Draymond Green and Kuminga serving as backup centers for Kevon Looney.
Curry, who practically single-handedly led the Warriors to Monday’s win with 47 points, said he’s prepared for some ups and downs this season as the team gets its young prospects the necessary reps. “We have to understand that (the young players) are all going to get an opportunity to perform, and there are going to be some struggles — some real high highs, and some real low lows,” Curry said, according to Andrews. “That’s the story of this team. As vets, you understand every year is a little different and you are ready for that challenge. For these young guys to try to find themselves in this league and also a specific role, it’s challenging.”

Western Notes: Leonard, Wiseman, Vassell, Adams

November 7th, 2022 at 8:06pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There’s no timetable for Kawhi Leonard‘s return to action, though coach Tyronn Lue says things are moving in the right direction, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN reports.

Leonard will miss his eighth straight game when the Clippers host Cleveland on Monday. He was sidelined all of last season while rehabbing from a knee injury and has only appeared in two games this season.

“There’s really not a time frame of when he is going to be back,” Lue said. “The biggest thing is just the testing that he has to go through with the medical and the slow progression of just getting better every single day. And so we’re just taking it day by day right now, not really a timetable.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

James Wiseman has made a minimal impact off the Warriors bench, but coach Steve Kerr says the former No. 2 overall pick can handle the stress of his slow start, Shayna Rubin of the San Jose Mercury News tweets. “He knows how to overcome adversity,” Kerr said. “We have to help him because modern life is unforgiving and people don’t take into account organic growth. Everyone wants results right now. It’s not going to be that way.”
Spurs swingman Devin Vassell is hopeful that his minutes limit will soon be lifted, according to Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express News. Vassell played 25 minutes apiece in two weekend games after missing four games due to a sore knee. “I was itching to get back out there,” Vassell said. “I’ve been sitting the past couple of games, and I was sitting there watching long enough, so I wanted to be out there.”
The Grizzlies signed Steven Adams to a two-year extension because he’s the anchor of their interior defense. His toughness and strength continues to marvel his teammates, Damichael Cole of the Memphis Commercial Appeal writes. “He makes me feel like I shouldn’t be out here,” said forward Brandon Clarke, who often matches up against Adams in practice. “It’s like I’m trying to get the board and he’s not moving. He’s the strongest person I’ve ever played against.” Adams was out of the lineup on Monday due to ankle soreness, Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe tweets.

Warriors Notes: Losing Streak, Kuminga, Kerr, Howard

November 7th, 2022 at 11:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors are thankful to return to home after going 0-5 on what Klay Thompson called a “road trip from hell,” writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. The defending champs are frustrated to be 3-7 — and winless on the road at 0-6 — but they believe they’re close to a turnaround. Coach Steve Kerr pointed to a 2-9 stretch last February and March, noting that even the league’s best teams run into adversity.

“There are times in the NBA season when things can go off the rails a little bit,” Kerr said. “A big part of being a great team, being a solid organization, is just understanding how to work through that.”

Kerr is placing an emphasis on boxing out and defending without fouling, two areas of concern that have cost the team in close games. Transition defense, where Golden State led the league last season, also needs improvement as the Warriors are 25th in points per shot allowed in transition and 23rd in field goal percentage allowed in transition.

“We just need to bring more of a sense of urgency,” Thompson said. “We had a long run last year, but 2022 is over. It’s time to kick into high gear and play that championship level of basketball that we’re used to. I fully expect us to do that. We know how good we are in this building. So I think we’re going to be off to a fresh start.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

Jonathan Kuminga has been promoted to a rotation role after scoring 18 points in 38 minutes Friday night, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Kerr has been giving frontcourt minutes to James Wiseman and newcomer JaMychal Green, but it appears Kuminga is now the priority.
The Warriors are in the unusual position of trying to develop several young players while defending a title, Slater adds. Kerr talked about the difficult adjustment to the NBA now that players are spending less time in college. “What’s changed is we are now doing the work that college coaches were doing back then,” Kerr said. “But you don’t have the advantage of allowing a guy’s confidence to grow playing against inferior competition. You’re throwing him right into the deep end. It’s sink or swim for a lot of these guys. I don’t blame anyone for taking the money. It’s a lot of money. If a guy doesn’t come out and gets injured and has thrown $10 or $15 million away, how do you reconcile that? So it’s a really difficult situation. But I’d say for the league now and these players coming in, it’s not at all an ideal setup for success.”
Free agent center Dwight Howard said he would be a perfect fit for the Warriors during a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s podcast. Howard said Golden State needs another center and he would welcome the opportunity to serve as a mentor for Wiseman.

Warriors Exercise 2023/24 Options On Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody

October 31st, 2022 at 2:50pm CST by Rory Maher

2:50pm: The options have been officially picked up, the Warriors announced (via Twitter).

12:29pm: The Warriors are exercising their 2023/24 rookie scale options on center James Wiseman, forward Jonathan Kuminga and wing Moses Moody, sources tell ESPN’s Kendra Andrews (Twitter link).

All three players will have their contracts for next season fully guaranteed. Wiseman will earn $12,119,440 in year four, while Kuminga and Moody are set to make $6,012,840 and $3,918,480, respectively, in year three.

Wiseman, the second pick of the 2020 draft, has been limited to 46 career games due to a series of knee injuries and setbacks, but he’s back and healthy again to start the ’22/23 season, averaging 8.7 points and 4.4 rebounds through seven games (14.6 minutes per contest). The 21-year-old will be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer after having his fourth-year option picked up.

Following a promising rookie year that saw him average 9.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 70 games (16.9 minutes), Kuminga has struggled to gain traction early in his second season, averaging just 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds in six games (10.8 minutes). Still, the seventh pick of last year’s draft just turned 20 years old earlier this month, so he has a lot of time to improve.

Moody played less as a rookie compared to Kuminga last season, appearing in 52 regular season games (11.7 minutes), but he’s playing more in year two, averaging 6.4 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 36% from deep through seven games (17.0 minutes). Moody was the 14th pick in 2021.

Today is the deadline for teams to exercise ’23/24 rookie scale team options. As our tracker shows, the defending champions were the last team with decisions to make.

Warriors Notes: Rotation, Thompson, Looney, Wiseman

October 31st, 2022 at 10:59am CST by Arthur Hill

The Warriors haven’t looked like defending champions in their three road games this season, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Golden State dropped to 3-4 after losing a pair of games this weekend to the Hornets, who were playing without their starting backcourt, and the Pistons, who were 1-5 before Sunday night.

Coach Steve Kerr is searching for answers as he tries to develop an effective bench. James Wiseman committed three fouls in four minutes at Charlotte and wasn’t used in the second half, but he looked better in Detroit. Two-way players Ty Jerome and Anthony Lamb both saw action Sunday, and Jonathan Kuminga logged a season-high 19 minutes.

While Kerr sorts through his reserves, Draymond Green said it’s up to the core of last season’s title winners to make sure the team stays successful.

“It’s not their fault,” Green said of the younger players. “It’s not solely their fault that we’re not playing well defensively or offensively. When you are playing younger guys, it makes it tougher to execute on both ends of the floor. But by no means is it the young guys’ fault. They have a part in it just like we all have a part in it.”

There’s more on the Warriors:

Klay Thompson sat out Sunday’s game after playing 32 minutes Saturday night. Kerr doesn’t plan to keep him out of back-to-backs entirely like he did after Thompson returned from his injuries last season, but it will continue until the veteran sharpshooter regains full conditioning, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
One positive sign is the recent rebounding surge from Kevon Looney, notes Monte Poole of NBC Sports. Looney had nine rebounds in 22 minutes against Detroit’s big frontline after pulling down eight against Miami on Thursday and nine in Charlotte.
In an interview with Katie Heindl of Uproxx Sports, Wiseman said he’s starting to feel like himself again after the long recovery process from a meniscus tear in his right knee. “When I first got injured, I was crying so hard I couldn’t even get to my mom’s apartment,” Wiseman recalled from when he hurt his knee in April of 2021. “My mom had to carry me to her apartment. I was just crushed. Having a lot of nights where I was crying a lot, like a lot of times where I had thoughts like … I wish this happened differently.”

Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Williams, Green, Brown, Kerr, Wiseman

October 24th, 2022 at 10:57pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Andrew Wiggins, who signed a four-year, $109MM extension before the season, is playing like a star in the early going. He’s averaging 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks through the first three games. Warriors coach Steve Kerr believes Wiggins is playing at the top of his game, according to Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area.

“This is the best I’ve ever seen Wiggs,” Kerr said. “He was an All-Star last year, he helped us win a championship and I think he’s used that momentum that he gained a year ago to kind of springboard into this season.”

We have more on the Warriors:

Suns coach Monty Williams was “quietly upset” that JaMychal Green joined the Warriors on a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Why did he go there?” Williams said.
The Warriors topped the Kings 130-125 on Sunday in a coaching matchup featuring Kerr and his former top assistant, Mike Brown. Kerr is thrilled that Brown got another head coaching job, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. “He’d always talk about how much he loved this job,” Kerr said. “That’s always what we’d lean on if he didn’t get an interview somewhere. Like, ‘You’ve got a pretty good gig. I’ve got it good. You’ve got it good. We’ll just keep it going.’ But we both felt like he was too talented and too young not to get another chance.”
In a subscriber-only story, Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated speaks to James Wiseman about his comeback from a knee injury that kept him out of action last season. Wiseman is averaging 11 points and six rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game.

And-Ones: Breakout Candidates, Wembanyama, Thornwell

October 21st, 2022 at 12:36pm CST by Luke Adams

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype polled 20 NBA executives on their top three breakout candidates for the 2022/23 season and found that Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey was the most popular pick. While I’d argue that last season represented a breakout year for Maxey, some executives have far higher expectations for him going forward.

“Maxey’s going to be better than James Harden,” one general manager said to Scotto. “He just keeps getting better and better and will be a huge reason why they have success this season.”

Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Magic forward Franz Wagner, and Rockets guard Jalen Green were among the other popular breakout picks, based on the responses Scotto got from executives. Interestingly, Warriors big man James Wiseman and Pistons forward/center Marvin Bagley III were each picked as this year’s top breakout candidate by one GM.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In his latest look at the top prospects in the 2023 NBA draft class, David Aldridge of The Athletic passes along several entertaining quotes from NBA executives, including one Eastern Conference exec’s response to whether Scoot Henderson could surpass Victor Wembanyama as next year’s No. 1 pick: “Scoot’s good, but, no. Short of Wembanyama having murdered somebody, there’s just no way.”
Veteran guard Sindarius Thornwell has signed with Frutti Extra Bursasport, the Turkish team announced this week (via Twitter). Thornwell has appeared in 160 total NBA games and played for New Orleans and Atlanta in 2020/21, but wasn’t in the league last season.
Longtime NBA referee Tony Brown, who officiated over 1,100 games, including one in the 2020 NBA Finals, passed away on Thursday after a fight with pancreatic cancer, according to his family (story via ESPN.com).