{~}Official 2023/2024 NBA Thread - playoffs are here {~}
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Think how cool of a story line it would be for Michael Porter Jr. of the Colorado Springs McNuggets to have the series of his life and beat the Lakers in honor of his fallen brother. Save the playoffs from LeBum and become the hero on some Jess Willard shit. Middle America gon eat this shit up nigga. TV ratings and social media engagement bout to go craay craay!! Do it for Jontay bruh.
Curry is a all time great but people don't realize that he was great because of how great Klay was, they were known was the “Splash BROTHERS“, they made it impossible for teams to plan a defense against them because you had not one but TWO deadly shooters. Steph is credited with changing the way basketball is played but Klay deserves just as much credit because teams started this 3 pointer or bust mentality to compete with those TWO players. With Klay being washed up the only way the Warriors are going to be what they once were is it you bring KD back
KD isn't coming back, that's done. Unless nutcase draymond retires because he's useless now unless he can do some wwe move on the player because other than that he ain't got shit.
Klay is a shell of himself.
The warriors need to get younger and plan for the future when the core is gone and kerr is no longer the coach anymore.
Chris Paul should just hang it up but I guess he won't until a team stops calling him since he's trying to get a ring before he retires
They need to put younger people around Wardell and they may make a run for next year. Agree with you about Klay Thompson…..He is a shell of his self.
All the supposed "Laker fans" on the board ain't said a word. Tell LordSinister to log in these accounts and let's get to work. Kobe stans love Curry too much.
Cant tell me Stephs the leader when the other splash brother is making public appeals to the actual leader and begging him to get his shit together.
Face of the league!!!!!!!!!!!
Always.
Wasn’t his fault Kerr sat his ass and then only had 4 shots….
It’s Chris Paul dusty ass fault.
The ball wasn't moving. Kuminga bailed then out going into the half.
Shitty ass offense I don’t know what they was doing and Klay killed them.
Honestly, this extra moist shit from Klay is getting old. Then you got Steph crying and shit.
Settin' light skin niggas back decades w/ this shit!
Watch ya back bitch nigga.
You're wilding to say Klay is "just as much responsible" but I otherwise agree with you. It is definitely more Steph than Klay who revolutionized the game. Steph is more flashy, shoots from further more frequently and did much more to capture the public imagination.
But Klay doesn't get nearly enough credit for his contributions to the Splash Brothers and what his spacing did to enable many of those threes. They were symbiotic.
You either don't watch the games or don't understand what you're watching.
Most people are bashing Draymond because he's so valuable but wasn't available. It can't be that but he's also "useless."
By far the second best player on the team. Defensive player of the century.
Chris Paul is 11 hours from his 19th NBA season ending. He’s less than a month from turning 39. He takes a seat in the third row of Golden 1 Center after the Golden State Warriors’ morning shootaround in Sacramento. Later that night, the Sacramento Kings blow them out 118-94, an elimination that also throws into question Paul’s immediate future.
But this much is clear: Paul is not retiring. He will play a 20th NBA season somewhere.
“I’ll talk to my wife and my kids, my family, my support system, see what it looks like,” Paul told The Athletic. “But this isn’t (the end of my career). I know it for sure.”
Paul remains under contract for the Warriors next season, but there’s a necessary caveat. All $30 million of his deal is non-guaranteed. Part of the Warriors’ reasoning behind the Jordan Poole for Paul trade last offseason was the financial flexibility it would provide this summer. The Warriors can use it as a trade vehicle or wipe all $30 million off the books before it guarantees on June 28.
Those options and decisions will be explored in the coming weeks. But Joe Lacob and the Warriors’ ownership group have already indicated a desire to avoid the second apron and even duck the luxury tax entirely, resetting the repeater clock. Salary slashing is needed for that goal. Tuesday’s elimination — capping a turbulent 46-win season that finished with the 10th seed and zero playoff home dates — would only seem to accelerate that desire for a financial pullback.
So Paul’s future with the Warriors is as uncertain (and perhaps more unlikely) than any other player who left the locker room late Tuesday night.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Paul said. “I’m too in it. I was in the gym at 8 a.m. this morning, lifting and getting ready for this game. When it’s time for that, Mike (Dunleavy) and Steve (Kerr), we’ll have a conversation and see what it looks like. But I loved it. It’s honestly — this is my fifth year living without my family — I probably saw them more than any other year.”
That’s because of the proximity to Los Angeles, but also because of Kerr’s open culture. Families are welcomed into the interior of the Warriors’ building and around the team more than is typical in the NBA.
“That’s probably what I appreciated the most out of everything is just the communication of letting me know when days are going to be off,” Paul said. “Then your family can fly on the team plane like, I ain’t seen that. I’m grateful to Steve for that.”
When Paul went searching for a temporary place to stay in San Francisco after the trade, his wife helped him find a high-rise. Soon after moving into it, he discovered another notable tenet lived a floor below. He had moved into Draymond Green’s building.
“Luckily it’s nice enough that you can’t hear the person below,” Paul said.
Paul’s inner circle showed varying forms of shock and apprehension after he joined the Warriors, his heated conference rival the previous decade. There’d been so many competitive dust-ups and heated playoff nights between the sides. But Paul embraced it quickly, believing in the shared traits between the sides.
“I didn’t expect it to be bad,” Paul said. “When the trade happened, I was excited, I was energized. It’s been really cool to see all the basketball knowledge, the way different guys approach every day. When people ask about my experience here, I tell them I sort of got a chance to peek behind the curtain.”
The Warriors faced the Utah Jazz at home on a Sunday toward the end of the season. They faced the Lakers on Tuesday in Los Angeles. After the Utah game, Paul, Green and Klay Thompson — who all have homes in L.A. — chartered a plane down a day before the team. Trevor Ariza happened to be in town. Paul told Ariza to hop on their plane.
Ariza was a part of those Houston Rockets teams that the Warriors eliminated in the Western Conference finals twice. He knows how heated the rivalry became between Paul and the Warriors, how much Paul stewed over the losses, and how the Warriors taunted after the wins.
“He was sitting in the plane like, ‘Man, I would have never thought. …'” Paul said. “‘I would’ve never thought we’d all be on here together.'”
Paul and Green didn’t envision it, but they embraced it once it arrived on their doorstep. Literally. Green took the elevator a floor up and went over to Paul’s house on several occasions throughout the season, watching other NBA games, college, NFL — talking basketball schematics, life, family, kids, future.
“I’m thankful and honored, happy as hell I got the opportunity to play with him this year,” Green said. “It’s not something in a million years we ever imagined. Other than winning, it couldn’t have gone better. Built a relationship that’ll go beyond whether he’s here next year or not and whether I’m here next year or not. I haven’t come across many, if any, guys like him.”
Paul also built a relationship with Thompson. Paul accepted a reserve role in the third game of the season, coming off the bench for the first time in his 19-year career, a move that Kerr said sent a message to the rest of the roster about sacrifice. Thompson accepted a bench role in February for the first time in more than a decade. The two then connected a second-unit duo. Kerr tied their minutes together.
Paul told Thompson several times throughout the season that he’d get on his boat for a ride across the San Francisco Bay. They had to cancel once because of bad weather. This past week, before the last game of the regular season, Paul and Moses Moody rode across the water with Thompson to the game.
“Really cool,” Paul said. “It’s always going to be a little choppy when you get to the deep water, but…”
Then Paul went bigger picture.
“I got so many (former teammates) in my career that, like, I have no relationship with,” Paul said. “Don’t really care to or anything like that. Or people who don’t like me or whatever. That don’t keep me up at night. But I’m grateful that I got a chance to be here with these guys. Me and Steph were already connected. Me and Dray definitely, you know, got a real connection now. And somebody I’m grateful that I really got a chance to know is Klay.”
Paul understands the business better than just about any other current player. He knows his contract setup, the Warriors’ tax crunch and will be in on the conversations that dictate his 2024-25 NBA home. Some paths could theoretically bring him back on a cheaper deal. He says he loved his time with the Warriors on a personal level.
But there’s the basketball side that also complicates the equation. Paul isn’t necessarily ready to just accept a lower-usage backup point guard role for the final seasons of his career. He remains of the belief that he can still run a team on a high-minute basis. Paul averaged 26.4 minutes per game this season. He’d been at 32 the last couple of seasons and averaged 34.6 for his career, never dipping below 31. All his counting stats were career-lows.
“I try to do the most with the opportunity that was given,” Paul said. “For me, it’s always been about winning, whatever that looks like. But I know I got a lot more to give to the game. The situation is what it is. But I’ve loved every bit about (this season). I’ve loved every bit of it. Getting a chance to compete with these guys.”
As the Warriors shifted around the rotation repeatedly this season, Paul fit perfectly as Stephen Curry’s backup point guard. They performed better as a team without Curry than they had in several seasons. But Kerr struggled to find usable lineups with both Curry and Paul on the floor because of the size disadvantage, especially with Thompson also out there.
“It’s a difficult situation for him that he handled beautifully,” Kerr said. “He’s always been the starting point guard for his team. But you look at our team and we’re pretty small. Even though he’s one of our best players, if we want to throw our best players out there — and he’s one of them — you start adding up Chris, Steph, Klay, it’s not the ideal roster for him.
“But he was fantastic for us because he became our backup point guard. As I’ve said many times, our non-Steph minutes were the best they’ve ever been because of Chris’ leadership.”
Not the ideal roster for him. That’s the subsection of that Kerr quote that probably hits the hardest. Paul, on a reasonable deal, still makes plenty of sense for the Warriors as a backup point guard to stabilize them with Curry out. But he still desires more and his on-court impact and production and market could justify that, making a reunion unlikely.
“You saw tonight, (the Kings’) size and physicality overwhelmed us,” Kerr said. “When you look at the combinations that we have out there, it usually kind of separates Steph and Chris and Klay. So there’s not as many minutes as Chris would like.
“But the way he handled it this season was incredible. He’s so professional. Such a great mentor for the younger guys. One of the great pros I’ve ever been around. I love coaching Chris and I really hope we bring him back.”
Like I said dude has gotten into too many fights and cussing at the the refs that were detrimental to the team. His antics got so bad that even curry was frustrated that he had him crying on the court.
Also, draymond didn't do shit last night at all because the kings had their way with him. When dude don't be hitting or grabbing people around the neck and leg or kicking people in the nuts then he got nothing else going for him.
Klay shot was off all night in the last half which is a sign he's a shell of himself because he was never the same after that acl.
Yes, I watched the game last night.
But just accept the fact the warriors had a good run and dynasty's come and goes.
Yup, like I said good things come to an end.
Warriors need to plan for the future because it's clear as day this team is no longer the splash brothers. Curry needs players who can shoot and run. Trying to build around with the same core and getting older players in return isn't gonna make them a better team for another run.
It's gonna be an interesting summer for warriors on what they do next.
He in the wrong league, dude needs to be in the NFL..
Welp, there goes the pelicans season because the kings aren't losing to them at all.
This dude is worse that Pete Rose cause there are so many electronics out nowadays!!! They bound to catch you one way or another! This dude must have a meth habit or something! What a fuck up!!!
You're wrong they both are equally responsible for revolutionizing the game, if Klay never became the shooter he was the Warriors dynasty never happens and neither does Stephs legacy. No matter how great a shooter Steph is everyone has without Klays shooting he hasn't been able to have that impact
He’s lost a lot of weight I think what he’s doing is not suppose to happen. Bo Jackson wasn’t suppose to be that big and strong and playing two sports.This fat nigga just can't stay healthy even when having the game of his career
Zion is not suppose to be that big and fast and athletic.
New Orleans is just a glass factory.......
He would succeed with that in the NFL with that speed and being a big dude who can play linebacker.
He would because he wouldn’t need to use his vertical….but his whole game is his vertical. Constantly jumping that high at that weight is killing his legs. If he played low to the ground he might have a chance.
