is Klay done?

[michaelm]

His lower body shooting mechanics are just different. It was always questionable about what type of leg lift he would get post surgery. Klay had picture perfect shooting mechanics, best in basketball. Nice leg lift to get a high release on the ball and get it over defenders length.

Problem is he doesn't shoot with much leg lift now and his shooting stance is wider. The ball is just coming in flatter which has less of a chance and his lack of leg lift means a more contested visual on the release.

I swear if this guy gets his lower body mechanics back he will be one of the absolute best players in basketball again.

The frustrating part is believing it's his mental stance when it's mechanical issue.

My view as well. The mental aspect is that he is apparently and understandably concerned about re-injury, to the extent he didn’t do much in the off-season. I was surprised how many minutes he played last season and thought he was turning things around particularly in the finals. It sounds like he was more or less starting from scratch this season which is problematic, with the best will in the world rehabilitating playing heavy minutes as a starter is probably not ideal, but it was his defense as well as his shooting which made him a perfect pairing with Curry which Poole for one does not offer.

[floppymoose]

Steph's slump was mental. Klay's is physical. I would definitely unload him and Wiseman if the chance arose.

Curious, what about it makes you feel it's physical?

I definitely think his body isn't able to keep up with what his mind wants to do, but I also am not totally sure if that's shaking off rust or something larger.

Mostly its just my own experience tearing an achilles playing bball. Its hard to get all the way back. I think for some people you never get back to original ability.

[Warriorfan]

Done as an all star yes. Playoff contributer I don't think so. Hopefully game 6 Klay is still possible but age and injury has done in better players.

[WarriorGM]

If Klay's shots go in the basket is he done? Klay needs his shots to go in it's that simple.

[zhuangcorp]

If Klay's shots go in the basket is he done? Klay needs his shots to go in it's that simple.

There's 100 variables that impact whether the shot goes into the basket. Klay is being impacted and his efficiency is abysmal. It's not simple as you claim.

[KevinMcreynolds]

he actually played pretty well in the playoffs until the finals, had some big games for us

[KevinMcreynolds]

on offense

[WarriorGM]

If Klay's shots go in the basket is he done? Klay needs his shots to go in it's that simple.

There's 100 variables that impact whether the shot goes into the basket. Klay is being impacted and his efficiency is abysmal. It's not simple as you claim.

Are you sure it's not that simple? Because a lot of factors seem to be pointing to the same thing:

His shot is frequently short.
His stance does not seem ideal.
He had two major injuries recently.
He sat out for a long time.
He's older.

All of the above suggest he is not generating sufficient power. The coaching staff needs to work with Klay and go through his shot mechanics with a fine tooth comb and Klay needs to be open-minded enough to make small adjustments if called for.

[wco81]

Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer says he's being targeted on defense and he's front-rimmed the most shots in the NBA, suggesting he doesn't have the same leg lift on his shots.

[Big J]

If Klay just chilled all summer and didn't really work out it makes sense that he's not back in game shape yet.

[Crazy-Canuck]

Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer says he's being targeted on defense and he's front-rimmed the most shots in the NBA, suggesting he doesn't have the same leg lift on his shots.

Klays only reprieve right now from getting targeted is to have poole on the floor.

[cpower]

he is intentionally killing us out there. someone tells him it needs to stop

[ILOVEIT]

His lower body shooting mechanics are just different. It was always questionable about what type of leg lift he would get post surgery. Klay had picture perfect shooting mechanics, best in basketball. Nice leg lift to get a high release on the ball and get it over defenders length.

Problem is he doesn't shoot with much leg lift now and his shooting stance is wider. The ball is just coming in flatter which has less of a chance and his lack of leg lift means a more contested visual on the release.

I swear if this guy gets his lower body mechanics back he will be one of the absolute best players in basketball again.

The frustrating part is believing it's his mental stance when it's mechanical issue.

My view as well. The mental aspect is that he is apparently and understandably concerned about re-injury, to the extent he didn’t do much in the off-season. I was surprised how many minutes he played last season and thought he was turning things around particularly in the finals. It sounds like he was more or less starting from scratch this season which is problematic, with the best will in the world rehabilitating playing heavy minutes as a starter is probably not ideal, but it was his defense as well as his shooting which made him a perfect pairing with Curry which Poole for one does not offer.

This is a solid observation. But I can't tell if Klay is shooting while favoring one leg, thus off balance, or if it's because he is out of position and is hunting jumpers from bad angles.

But when you wrote this, it did look like he's drifting a lot...He rarely jumps or lands square after the shot. I'll have to keep watching.

[superunknown]

if he worried about re-injury he better off quitting and retiring.
he's a 4 times champion professional basketball player who just won a championship less than 6 months ago playing quite consistent minutes per game as a starter.
in professional sport you cannot have room for this, you go on the court and give out everything you have, at whatever cost. there cannot be room for fear. if you wanna win. if you wanna just play go play pickup basketball on the playground.
go out there and do your job at the best of your ability. it's the bare minimum you can do for your teammates and the organization that pays you. if you cannot, then find something else to do. because just trying or having fears is not cutting it.

[Jerry Maine]

It's probably fair to think Klay will improve with further conditioning and a regression to the mean.

It's also fair to think that improvement will only get him perhaps halfway from where he is today and his pre-injury peak, and he's better suited as a 6th man microwave than doing the heavy lifting he could previously.

I'm fine with them rolling Klay out with the other OG's until perhaps Christmas, and beyond that keeping him as an overpaid supersub until he hangs them up. The dude is a **** legend and I hope he gets to retire a Dub. Kerr should set him a deadline and make the lineup/usage change if he is still struggling

[SpreeChokeJob]

He should try sixth man like Ginobili. He was already sixth msn before his injury because his starter minutes leaked into bench minutes before. I can see why Kerr is hesitant to pull him because the big 3 has built up chemistry, but they already played without him last year and Poole benefits playing off Curry’s gravity. Poole isn’t good enough to be a first option.

[cpower]

He should try sixth man like Ginobili. He was already sixth msn before his injury because his starter minutes leaked into bench minutes before. I can see why Kerr is hesitant to pull him because the big 3 has built up chemistry, but they already played without him last year and Poole benefits playing off Curry’s gravity. Poole isn’t good enough to be a first option.

he cant create for others nor can he dribble...so he cant be a sixth man... over the course of his career he never develops any other offensive skills other than catch and shoot.. its a problem that Klay is not able to realize what he is capable and what is not..his ego is way too big for what he can do

[Onus]

He should try sixth man like Ginobili. He was already sixth msn before his injury because his starter minutes leaked into bench minutes before. I can see why Kerr is hesitant to pull him because the big 3 has built up chemistry, but they already played without him last year and Poole benefits playing off Curry’s gravity. Poole isn’t good enough to be a first option.

Kerr is being hesitant because if he benches klay that could be the end of klay's career. Confidence is so huge for a shooter, once you lose it, you can really lose it forever.

[Big J]

Could we just keep Klay as technically a starter to appease his ego, but pull him after 3 minutes into the game unless he’s hitting shots from the jump?

[DonaldSanders]

He should try sixth man like Ginobili. He was already sixth msn before his injury because his starter minutes leaked into bench minutes before. I can see why Kerr is hesitant to pull him because the big 3 has built up chemistry, but they already played without him last year and Poole benefits playing off Curry’s gravity. Poole isn’t good enough to be a first option.

Kerr is being hesitant because if he benches klay that could be the end of klay's career. Confidence is so huge for a shooter, once you lose it, you can really lose it forever.

The thing is, we kinda hid Klay last season with the starters. GPII would come in for him and he was clearly playing better than Klay. Klay should move to a bench role, but if he continues playing this bad he might not get deserve to play at all. The whole team looked better the game he sat, young guys got to play more and all our pieces looked like they fit together. We're not gonna blow people out every game but at least we were playing Warriors basketball.

I assume Klay will automatically still get time, even if he doesn't deserve it. That kinda messes up our young guys though -- we need to make sure the lineup is a meritocracy. But I don't want to get ahead of things, we need to first try Klay in a backup role and see how that works. At least him guarding the backups shouldn't be as hard for him, it was ROUGH watching him guard Booker.