We need a playable starting center

[whatisacenter]

Trayce Davis + 25 tonight
Looney -19 tonight.

I will never dog Looney. Looney has earned my loyalty but we should not be afraid to play Trayce Davis.

Saric has been OK. We can play Trayce at PF with Saric or Looney while Draymond is out. Trayce is fast enough for power forward but I do see him as a center.

tonight was your night! TJD was by far the best big on the floor in this game.

[jozef]

...Dario Saric - too slow on defense so his ceiling is to be neutral on good shooting nights, no inside threat
Kevon Looney - too slow to be an inside threat or rim protector, basically he hides on the offense killing the flow, capable of backup center duties or start versus Sacramento
Trayce Jackson-Davis - at 23 years old (older than Kuminga and Moody) he is mature enough to play in Warriors system, by default he is the only one athletically suited for starting center position able to finish above the rim or protect the rim
Basically the team success depends on solving the center position either via a trade or giving that job to TJD...

Dario is not OK. His lateral movement and vertical leap is a disaster.
WTF is loyalty to unathletic center?!

[jozef]

TJD is what his father was. Big power forward who can play at C but his higher ceiling is at PF spot.

[Mac1958]

TJD is what his father was. Big power forward who can play at C but his higher ceiling is at PF spot.

Yep. Pair him with a C with range and you're in good shape.

[B-King]

The game slowed down for him tonight. Big strides moving forward...

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Nurkic just dropped 31 points on Jokic and my guy DiVincenzo shot 7-9 3P making it .435 3P% this season.
And Yurtseven in his 5th start 4-8 FG, 14 rebs, 4asts, 1 stl, 1 blk, game-high +10.

Dereck Lively II - 20 pnts, 16 rbs, 1 stl, 7 blocks, 9-9 FGA and +12 for Dallas yesterday.

I wanted Lively but knew he would not drop to where we drafted Podz.

I am happy with our consolation prize Trayce J Davis.

[DonaldSanders]

Nurkic just dropped 31 points on Jokic and my guy DiVincenzo shot 7-9 3P making it .435 3P% this season.
And Yurtseven in his 5th start 4-8 FG, 14 rebs, 4asts, 1 stl, 1 blk, game-high +10.

Draymond just dropped a deuce on your boy Nurkic

Nurkic: 6/6/4
Draymond: 15/7/9

Suns had to pull Nurkic after Draymond kept torching him late in the game.

[jozef]

Draymond kept torching Nurkic late in the game with what? ONE layup?

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

We got a playable starting center; his name is Draymond, he is very undersized.
I worry about Draymond wearing down.

We have 3 decent back up centers. They are all 6’ 9” and undersized but they are very different from each other and each have unique strengths do their game.

I expect Looney to get back to being what he was in the playoffs vs the Kings last year. I have not seen anything saying Looney is having injury problems but Looney has not played as well as he usually does this year.

Add a 4th back up center who is barely an NBA level player but is 7 foot tall and 260 pounds and can block shots almost as well as Trayce does and I would say we are OK at center. I want a big stiff borderline NBA level player just to give us the option of being big for 10 minutes per game.

[michaelm]

Draymond kept torching Nurkic late in the game with what? ONE layup?

So Nurkic had a major influence on the game despite Draymond Green’s best efforts ?.

[jozef]

Nurkic messed few one-to-one possessions in low post otherwise he was solid. Draymond Green is the best defender in the league.

[DonaldSanders]

Draymond kept torching Nurkic late in the game with what? ONE layup?

Torching someone doesn't mean they always score. On one possession Draymond blew past Nurkic, who tripped him and a foul was called otherwise Draymond was scoring. Warriors inbound, Dray blows past Nurkic and Allen, throws a lob to JK. Next Warriors possession Draymond blows past Nurkic for a layup and Suns have to pull Nurkic in crunch time.

[jozef]

Are you serious?
Dray did not blow past Nurkic and Allen... Nurk made hard show to force the ball out of Steph's hands - it was Suns defensive tactics, Dray rolled and threw a lob pass over hesitant KD.
Vogel decided to spread the floor with Gordon and let Booker cooking. It was good for them till last two possesions - Nurk would be helpful to save the lead.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Are you serious?
Dray did not blow past Nurkic and Allen... Nurk made hard show to force the ball out of Steph's hands - it was Suns defensive tactics, Dray rolled and threw a lob pass over hesitant KD.
Vogel decided to spread the floor with Gordon and let Booker cooking. It was good for them till last two possesions - Nurk would be helpful to save the lead.

Dray outplayed Nurkic.
Nurkic successfully took advantage of Dray being too small on some plays.
Dray took advantage of Nurkic being slower than him on some plays.

Dray at center gives other teams the option of playing a smaller line up because you don’t need a truly big man to sstop from being overpowered by Dray. In theory playing Dray at center creates an opportunity for a big center to overpower Dray but in reality taking advantage of being bigger and stronger than Dray is not so easy.

All big true centers have the same issues with Dray. They should be able to physically dominate Dray like they could phyically dominte other gys as small as Dray but Dray has ways of neutralizing guys that are bigger and strronger than Dray. Some teams choose to go small when Dray plays center.

Nurkic succesfully took advantage of Dray being small on some plays but Dray took advantage of Nurkic being slower on some plays. Dray did outplay Nurkic.

Playing Dray at center instead of Looney, Sarc and Trayce appeared to be correct. Nurkic was not able to force us to play Looney.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

TJD is what his father was. Big power forward who can play at C but his higher ceiling is at PF spot.

TJD is faster and more agile than his dad.

Dale was smart and as great of a work man as you could ask fore and Dale was stronger than his son Trayce.

Mark Jackson was modeling the Warriors after the Pacer team that Dale Davis and Mark Jacson played on. Before Kerr took Curry off the ball which he could only do because we had point forwards Draymond and Iguodala Mark Jackson had Curry leadung the NBA in assists.

Mark Jackson the player was a great passer and floor general but old Pacers Jackson was too slow to beat anybody off the dribble without a pick. Dale Davis and the other Pacers gave Jackson multiple picks per play. While Curry is a fantastic dribbler and ball faker Curry like Jackson was slow for beating players off the dribble so cach Jackson gave Curry multiple picks as if Curry was Mark Jackson and the Warriors were the 1998 Pacers.

Jackson had Curry playing Mark Jackson and Bogut as a ball handling version of Dale Davis and Klay was playing Reggie Miller.
Harrison Barnes was old Pacers Chis Mullin. Draymond was Derrick Mckie. Iguoldala was Jalen Rose. David Lee was quite different from Rik Smits. Jermaine Oneal would be Antonio Davis but they also were different.

Kerr played Curry more like Curry was Kerr and the Warriors were a cross between the 1996 Bulls and the Pop Spurs. Curry is super Kerr but Kerr is still playing Curry more like he is Kerr than like he is Mark Jackson or Chris Paul.

My best of 1998 Pacers, Current Warriors, 2014 Warriors best of combined skill Super team for imaginary chamionships

Mark Jackson, 2014 Curry, Current Curry.
Reggie Miller, 2014 Klay, Current Klay
Derrick McKey, 2014 Draymond, current Draymond
Dale Davis, Bogut, Trayce Davis ( what a kick ass player, Trayce’s speed, Bogut’s smarts, Dale’s strength and relentlessness)
Antonio Davis, David Lee, Kuminga
Rik Smits, Jermaine Oneal, Looney (a 7’ 4” Looney with an inside scoring game)
Old Chris Mullin, Harrison Barnes, Podz
Jalen Rose, Iguodala, Wiggins
Travis Best, Steve Blake, Chrs Paul
Fred Hoiberg, Toney Douglas, Payton
Austin Croshere, Kent Bazemore, Moody
Old Mark West, Speights, Saric.

I am not sure of myself about Toney Douglas but I think he was a good defensive point guard. He is still playing pro ball in Portugaul.

Yup this imaginary best of combined talents team should definitely be favored to win the 2024 championship if they were a real team.

[jozef]

I agree it was not good game for Nurkic. But there was no torching either.

[DonaldSanders]

I agree it was not good game for Nurkic. But there was no torching either.

It was Nurkic's most embarrassing game of the season.

[jozef]

Not at all. You overreact.

[michaelm]

I agree it was not good game for Nurkic. But there was no torching either.

It was Nurkic's most embarrassing game of the season.

I have acknowledged previously you were correct pre-season about the center position for GSW and following the Suns box scores at least Nurkic has been quite good for them.

After this recent game I am wondering how good Nurkic would have been for GSW. I don’t think he would have been suited to the style they are playing now, although whether that style will be viable for longer than 10 games remains to be seen. Perhaps he would have been useful against the Centers on teams GSW would need to beat if they did manage to contend such as AD and Jokic, although I don’t think brute force is the answer to Jokic and GSW just managed to beat a team which included Nurkic himself and near 7 foot KD with the players they have. I absolutely agree TJD should be getting more playing time btw.

The incident for which Green was suspended was egregiously stupid and completely indefensible, but as I have said previously not I believe intended to injure Nurkic. I find myself at least partly in agreement with Green in a recent podcast that it was Nurkic’s exaggerated response that prompted his suspension. He was also trying to bait Green into a flagrant foul in the most recent game, which would likely have ended Green’s season and possibly his career, so **** him as Green more or less said.

[jozef]

Nurkic scored 31 on Jokic. Nurkic plays alone around the rim cause KD is outside player. Nurkic and Green would be great tandem. Just the first pass of the game was beautiful - Nurkic found KD on cut. He would score a lot of layups, hook shot and dunks for the Warriors. He sets good screens (as most bigs can, not a special feature).
Green exaggerated the Nurkic hold in the incident. Don't make excuses for a BS.
Nurkic did not bait him. He just played him same way. I am tired of Draymond stupid claims. He is Dennis Rodman of this era but he would cry if he would have to play Malone or Barkley and other 90s bigs.