is Klay done?

[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.

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.

I agree, but Klay has to come to grips with it. Klay was bad last year in the regular season. They made it work in the playoffs though. Kerr has to make the hard decision and find a way to tell klay to take better shots and until he does limit his minutes. But it's hard because if they do something with Klay they could lose Klay for the rest of his career and he becomes Duncan Robinson.

[thunderdunk]

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?

That would probably be the worst thing, IMO. That just ups the pressure on him to hit his first couple shots. Pretending that he's just off to a slow start is also not the right approach. It doesn't solve the problem. I think that they need to have an adult conversation with him about it, and work with him to figure out what's wrong with his mechanics. And maybe Kerr tells him to focus on spot up shots and not trying to do too much for now. Involve Klay in creating the solution. But the answer can't be to just let him shoot badly until he doesn't.

[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?

That would probably be the worst thing, IMO. That just ups the pressure on him to hit his first couple shots. Pretending that he's just off to a slow start is also not the right approach. It doesn't solve the problem. I think that they need to have an adult conversation with him about it, and work with him to figure out what's wrong with his mechanics. And maybe Kerr tells him to focus on spot up shots and not trying to do too much for now. Involve Klay in creating the solution. But the answer can't be to just let him shoot badly until he doesn't.

A lot of shooters think that the best way to get out of a slump is to shoot your way out of it.

[and1GS]

When Klay came back from injury he played limited minutes, but started. He still took the same amount of shots. I'm not sure that solves our offensive flow issue.

[Onus]

The biggest problem is that we don't need peak klay. We just need a solid 3 and d player or at least one or the other.

[Big J]

The biggest problem is that we don't need peak klay. We just need a solid 3 and d player or at least one or the other.

We should sign Danny Green.

[vagelis]

The biggest problem is that we don't need peak klay. We just need a solid 3 and d player or at least one or the other.

I think Thompson could be a lot better in this role.
The problem is that Kerr wants Thompson to be the old Klay.
He is sticked with his old guys and he does not treat his roster fair.
He is a very smart coach but he may is wrong with this imo

[clyde21]

he's only done if he refuses to believe that he's not that same player anymore and doesn't adjust to a new role accordingly, can still be very useful off the bench in the right capacity but if that's not a role he's willing to accept at this point, then yes he's done

[Onus]

he's only done if he refuses to believe that he's not that same player anymore and doesn't adjust to a new role accordingly, can still be very useful off the bench in the right capacity but if that's not a role he's willing to accept at this point, then yes he's done

If Russ can take coming off the bench then Klay can accept being a spot up guy at least until he finds his shot. Kerr just has to tell him specifically. Not just everyone needs to play as a team, pass to the open guy. No be like Klay stand in a corner.

[Romulus]

[url]

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=AthleticAlchemy[/url]

Watch this. Athletic Alchemy nails it. The Warriors -- from Kerr to Steph to Draymond to the FO -- they all need to be honest and address the Klay situation. He's killing the team right now. It has to change.

[Samurai]

It is certainly possible that as Klay continues his recovery from injuries, that his leg strength may return and give him a proper base. Then his jump shot could return. It is entirely possible for a 32-year old to gain leg strength. But can he regain the quickness, particularly lateral quickness, on defense? That seems more unlikely as he ages. So let's assume his shooting returns as his leg strength grows. How much value does he provide as a $38M "3 and no D" guy?

[and1GS]

I really appreciate this thread because nobody here is saying '**** Klay.' What I'm mostly seeing is he needs to accept his limitations and maximize what he has.

That means critical attention to 'the little things' on D. Not just the ego stroke 'I'm guarding the best guy' ****. It also means taking fewer shots or smarter shots. Hell he doesn't even need to do both, one or the other would be great. An above average, 6'6", strong wing defender that's scoring 15 a game on 40% from 3 would be a MASSIVE win. How different would this team look if Klay just did that?

But nope he wants to do the glamour game 6 Klay **** and it is killing us. Comes down to him and Kerr, and time is running out.

[floppymoose]

It is certainly possible that as Klay continues his recovery from injuries, that his leg strength may return and give him a proper base.

It's possible. For KD, it seems he got pretty much all the way back. The surgeries are very good these days (I got the modern surgery for torn achilles). But some people never get the strength all the way back. I did not. And given where we are in Klay's recovery, I think he would be back by now physically if it were going to happen.

[zhuangcorp]

Why is Klay worse than last year? If he had more time to recover, he should be better.

I think the age is catching up to him. So he must be done.

[tarantism]

It is certainly possible that as Klay continues his recovery from injuries, that his leg strength may return and give him a proper base.

It's possible. For KD, it seems he got pretty much all the way back. The surgeries are very good these days (I got the modern surgery for torn achilles). But some people never get the strength all the way back. I did not. And given where we are in Klay's recovery, I think he would be back by now physically if it were going to happen.

I think the one caveat to that is that he didn't play ball all summer. Could be that the leg strength for NBA basketball isn't there. I don't know, I'm not a doctor. But the amount of shots falling short seems to indicate that.

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[TB]

There is just no way Klay is now this type of player:
38% from 2
33% from 3
75% from FT

Even last year right off of the injuries, he was high 40s from 2, high 30s from 3, and normal great FTs. Sure it was down from prime Klay, but it was still doable to space the floor and counter his bad defense. I personally think he gets back to this level. Pretty bad defense with pretty good shooting numbers. Now, that may still end up warranting going to the bench behind Poole, but it wouldn't be the team killer we are currently seeing.

And yes, regardless of that, he needs to adjust to becoming a bit more selective with his shots and finding open teammates. He's capable of that too.

[DonaldSanders]

Ben Simmons and Russell Westbrook have better FG and eFG%s than Klay.

When your SG is shooting like that after 12 games, they have to hit the bench or the whole concept of meritocracy is shot on the team. Young guys aren't getting time and we're losing. Klay needs to have the expectations of him to be lowered with a bench role, and for him to be put into easier spots (especially on defense). Tell him the nights he is on fire he will get more time.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Every NBA player turns into a pumpkin eventually.

Is this Klay's time to be over?
My guess is that Klay will return to being good this year. 85% of 2016 Klay will be good enough.

But I would not be surprised if I was wrong about Klay returning to being good this year and Klay is finished.

Just wait.

[B-King]

Klay and Poole are taking terrible shots period. Get back to Warrior basketball and move it around and find the open guy. I don't mind missing good looks at the baskets. Both these guys are killing our flow with these early desperation shots.

Klay is not 2019 version and that's ok. Just adjust accordingly and move on. He can still be very effective.

[wco81]

Klay had a lot of open looks vs. Phoenix. Some in transition. But when they're not going down, they're bad shots.

Normally for an NBA player, those kinds of looks are high percentage.