Tag: Klay Thompson

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson selected to The Athletic’s All-Decade team

Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are three of the best Warriors ever.

As arguably the best backcourt ever, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson will go down as two of the best guards in NBA history.

Curry’s and Thompson’s greatness was recognized Monday by Zach Harper of The Athletic. Harper placed Curry and Thompson on The Athletic’s All-Decade team for the 2010s. Curry was picked as the lead guard for the first team, and Thompson was selected as a wing on the second team. Along with Curry and Thompson, Draymond Green earned honorable mention.

As three-time champions, Curry, Thompson and Green are arguably one of the best trios of all-time.

They’re up there with the 1980s Boston Celtics frontcourt of Kevin McHale, Larry Bird and Robert Parish; the Heatles that consisted of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh; the Celtics Big 3 of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen; the regularly competitive group of San Antonio Spurs legends Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

Curry and Thompson are two of the best shooters ever, and both are ranked in the top five among active players for 3-point field goal percentage. Curry has shot 43.5% from the 3-point line for his career, and Thompson has shot 41.9%.

Green is one of the best defenders of this era, and he’s arguably the most valuable role player of this generation as well. It’s hard to say the Warriors would have been as feared had Green not been on the team.

With his facilitating and hustle, Green was one of the Warriors’ most important players during their run from 2014-2019.

As the decade comes to a close, the Warriors are no longer one of the league’s best teams. Next season, though, with Curry and Thompson presumably healthy, the Warriors should be competitive again.

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The Warriors lead NBA in games missed with injury by a staggering clip

Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were just the start of the Warriors injury concerns. After 13 games, the Warriors lead the NBA with games missed due to injuries and the next team isn’t even close.

When Klay Thompson left Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals with a knee injury, the Golden State Warriors immediately had to start thinking of ways to replace their three-time All-Star for 2020. Then the offseason came and Kevin Durant departed for the Brooklyn Nets, leaving Golden State in uncharted territory. Replacing two All-Stars is hard enough, but that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Warriors’ 2019-20 season.

The Dubs started the season thin, then two-time MVP Stephen Curry suffered a broken hand after only four games, followed by a tirade of injuries through the rest of the team. Core players like Draymond Green and D’Angelo Russell have missed time, with role players like Jacob Evans and Alec Burks also out. The injury bug has torn through the Warriors roster from top to bottom.

  • Klay Thompson: 13 (ACL)
  • Alen Smailigic: 13 (Ankle)
  • Kevon Looney: 12 (Hamstring & Neuropathic)
  • Jacob Evans: 10 (Groin)
  • Stephen Curry: 9 (Hand)
  • Draymond Green: 5 (Finger)
  • D’Angelo Russell: 3 (Ankle & Thumb)
  • Alec Burks: 3 (Ankle)
  • Willie Cauley-Stein: 3 (Foot)
  • Damion Lee 2: (Hand)
  • Omari Spellman: 1 (Ankle)

Count that 74-total games missed with injuries according to Sportrac.com, with the next closest team being the Indiana Pacers at 46.

Glenn Robinson III, Jordan Poole, and Ky Bowman are the only players with Golden State to suit up for every game this season. Marquese Chriss and Eric Paschall have each missed a game due to coach’s decision, but have played in 12 of the team’s 13 other games. This number will continue to grow as players like Curry, Thompson, Russell, and Lee aren’t expected back soon.

The good news is they might have reinforcements on the way. The team announced Looney, Evans, and Smailigic will get reevaluated by team doctors on Wednesday. There should be new timetables set for their return post evaluation and the news can’t come sooner for the depleted Dubs.

The Warriors will kick off the first of a four-game road trip versus the similarly injury-laden New Orleans Pelicans. The Pels are one of the Dub’s two wins on the season, but each team will carry thin rotations this time around.

How Steve Kerr will craft a lineup with only nine healthy will be his newest challenge in a year full of tests for the championship coach.

Richard Jefferson picks Klay over Steph for new look Warriors

On Friday night’s edition of ESPN’s NBA Countdown 18-year pro Richard Jefferson weighed in on the Warriors.

After five consecutive trips to the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors have taken a step back, and even if it’s largely due to injury, people want to fire off their take on the former champs.

Former player turned ESPN NBA analyst Richard Jefferson has never shied away from the opinionated yet, sometimes controversial comment, and on Friday night’s edition of ESPN’s NBA Countdown, Jefferson weighed in on the new-look Warriors.

In a discussion with Jay Williams that centered around Draymond Green, Jefferson eventually revealed that he believes that it’s Thompson, not Curry, that the new look Warriors miss most.

“For him, at this point in time of his career, we’re looking at Klay Thompson here, I think that’s who they miss,” Jefferson said in reference to the 2-10 club.

“We’re talking about ‘Oh, they lost KD and Steph,’ I think, to me, if you just had to isolate one guy, I think with what Klay can do on the offensive end and the defensive end, I think they really—obviously everyone knows that they miss him—but I think they would be better if it was just Klay versus just Steph. Just because at both ends of the floor, the fact that you still have another scorer.”

The commentary begins at the 8:55 mark of the video below.

While the 18-year veteran was praising Thompson’s game, he perhaps took a subtle, passive shot at the other Splash Brother.

Jefferson and Curry have had back-and-forth banter since their time as teammates slowly turned into a rivalry. Jefferson was a member of the Cavaliers team that erased a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals against the Warriors, but before that, he was a part of the Warriors during Thompson’s rookie season.

The two jokingly talked smack about the Cavs-Warriors matchup on Snapchat at Kent Bazemore’s wedding in 2017, and on Jefferson’s podcast, he took issue with Curry’s 2016 Cleveland locker room “champagne” comment.

D’Angelo Russell has been great, but he’s no Stephen Curry. And fortunately for Golden State, they don’t have to choose between either Curry or Thompson or Curry or Russell.

Warriors on pace for worst drop in winning percentage in NBA history

After their first twelve games of the 2019-20 season, the once-mighty Golden State Warriors currently have the worst record in the league.

After their first 12 games of the 2019-20 season, the once-mighty Golden State Warriors currently have the worst record in the league.

Their roster has been absolutely decimated, mostly due to injuries to their two franchise cornerstones Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. But their wild offseason also included the departures of two former NBA Finals MVP in both Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala. Golden State hardly resembles the team that won the Western Conference five years in a row.

While the offense has struggled without these players, it has been especially bad on the other end of the court. Their defensive rating (117.2) ranks as the worst in the league. Overall, their winning percentage (.167) is a far cry from their mark in 2018-19 (.695).

According to our research, that would be the largest year-over-year negative difference in NBA history. This pace would be worse than the Cleveland Cavaliers after they first lost LeBron James in 2010-11 and the Chicago Bulls after Michael Jordan retired for the second time.

The good news is their eerie similarities thus far to the San Antonio Spurs in 1996-97. Much like the Warriors who added an All-Star (D’Angelo Russell) in the offseason and have started 2-10, the Spurs signed a former All-Star in Dominique Wilkins before the season began and started 2-13. San Antonio received just six games from David Robinson due to an injury while Golden State lost Curry after only four appearances.

The Spurs finished the season 20-62 and ended up with a lottery pick that was used to draft Tim Duncan. Once he returned from injury and played alongside Duncan, they went on to win two titles together following their rough speed bump in 1997. If Golden State gets a high lottery pick to add alongside Curry and Thompson, perhaps a similar fate is coming to the Bay Area.

For context: This is not the first time that the Warriors have experienced an incredibly poor change in their year-over-year performance. They made the NBA Finals in 1964 behind 36.9 points per game from Wilt Chamberlain, who was traded the following season. Later the year, the team then finished with the worst record in the league.

HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report

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LeBron James says it’s not that weird playing an injured Warriors team

The Los Angeles Lakers star also eluded to his 2015 NBA Finals when he played the Warriors without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.

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LeBron James doesn’t think it’s all that weird to play a Golden State Warriors team without both Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but he did acknowledge when he’s watching them on TV the absence of the Splash Brothers is a lot more jarring.

After last night’s comfortable 120-94 win over the Warriors on Wednesday night, James was asked about the state of the Warriors as they fell to a league-worst 2-10 record. LeBron obviously knows what they’re going through, but he wouldn’t use the word “weird” to describe the feeling of playing against a deleted Warriors squad, because he’s been used to playing them with a depleted unit before in the 2015 NBA Finals without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.

Video from Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group

Irving played only one game in the 2015 Finals before suffering a broken kneecap in the first game of the series. Obviously James is still a little salty about that Finals run and who could blame him, as he pushed the Warriors to six games with Matthew Dellavadov and Timofey Mozgov as his 2nd and 3rd options.

James had an incredible stat line in a losing effort in the 2015 Finals, averaging 35.8 points, 13.3 rebonds and 8.8 assists per game.

Klay Thompson believes Paschall and Poole are ‘foundational pieces’

Klay Thompson spoke with ESPN on Wednesday night. He likes what he sees from both of Jordan Poole and Eric Paschall, two of the newest Golden State Warriors.

The Golden State Warriors’ 120-94 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers was a bore. Against the shorthanded Warriors, the Lakers showed why they are NBA Finals favorites. Golden State, meanwhile, showed why they are currently the NBA’s worst defense.

The bright spot in the Warriors’ blowout defeat came in the fourth quarter when a familiar face was pulled aside for an interview. Klay Thompson joined ESPN’s Jorge Sedano to discuss how he’s handling watching the Warriors from the sideline during his ACL rehab.

Thompson spoke about how “tedious” the rehab process has been, but his tune changed when he talked about the Warriors rookies, stating:

I’ve enjoyed watching these young guys develop, that’s for sure. Eric Paschall and Jordan Poole, their first year, I’m liking what I’m seeing because they have tremendous potential.

In a down year, Paschall has been one of the Warriors’ best players. He had the highlight of the night: finishing a layup on LeBron James. The rookie finished with 15 points in 32 minutes.

Poole has struggled at times, but his confidence in his shooting provides hope. The rookie knocked down three triples against the Lakers, and both he and Paschall have shown glimpses of potential. With the Warriors not expecting to compete for a playoff berth, there will be more opportunities for Paschall and Poole to display their skills.

“These guys are going to foundational pieces for years to come,” Thompson said.

That’s high praise from one of the league’s best players. Thompson’s willingness to compliment the young guys during a rough game demonstrates his leadership, as well as his hopes for the future.

Although both Stephen Curry and Thompson are injured, their fingerprints are still all over this roster. Having future Hall of Famers like Thompson in their corner should boost the rookies.

Before Thompson’s interview with Sedano ended, he provided a glass-half-full outlook for the rest of the Warriors’ season, stating:

We’re out here missing five key guys. It’s a struggle but we’ll persevere.

At 2-10, Golden State can only hope things do, in fact improve, and hopefully, before next season.