I'm not saying Livingston isn't an important contributor... he has been... I am saying the degree of that importance is overrated as he's had a couple solid moments. Overall he's been a pretty ho hum bench player. The GSW team is made to elevate players like that to appear more important/better/etc than they are. See Bogut, McGee for example. Manu got a big offer because (i) it was Philly, who always needs somewhere to park money, (ii) it was coach Brown who had a deep personal relationship with Manu, (iii) coach Brown and Philly valued Manu's veteran leadership as a VERY important piece of multiple championship teams. That said, if someone wants to come along and offer an 18 mpg max, 6 ppg max bench player $30 million over two years (ala 76ers offer to Manu), then so be it. Warriors won't match that and will be absolutely fine finding his replacement... I suspect they're more concerned about Ian Clark's free agency. As for Iggy, I think he probably can get more than $11 million. I think he will work with the Warriors and vice versa to see if there is some middle ground that makes sense for both parties... not sure what will happen there. Losing Iggy would hurt, but even in that case, we're still talking about a team that should waltz through the WCF with relative ease. Maybe not 12-0 ease, but they only have to go 12-9 to make it to the Finals. Their biggest competitor could be a healthy Spurs team that somehow manages to get CP3 (rumored interest on both sides) without losing too much of their core. Also, the Warriors became a juggernaut because of (i) Kerr. This can't be understated. He IMMEDIATELY came in and changed and improved the system, both offensively and defensively, though they were already solid defensively under Jackson. Offensively the team went from middle of the pack in pace to the top, and from BOTTOM of the league in ball movement and assists to top...., and (ii) Draymond's improvement and permanent insertion into the starting lineup. This can't be understated either. Unfortunately, there's no analogous situation possible on the Rockets. They made their coaching move, and while an improvement, with slight improvements, they are still a solid if predictable offensive team and middling defensive team. And there's absolutely no Draymond type player lurking on the roster.
When I was as kid and in my teens, I loved watching la liga. Into my early 20s, I realized hmmmm only the ones with the most re$ources win. I feel like the president of the Sevilla club when he lashed out that the biggest clubs diluting the quality but that's what the nba has turned into. The ones with their eyes closed that just follow players like drake, they'll say it was always like that. Truth is. Look again, those guys had to earn it. Jordan's teams had to get by the bad boys. The bad boys had to get beatings from the celtics. Sacramento was a couple of legit refs from taking out the Lakers. Every city had their star that took pride in making that attempt for the ultimate prize. The NFL any city has a chance. Had a certain coach opted to run the ball, the patriots and their almighty would have gone 11 seasons without a sb victory and a laughing stock of a franchise through the 80s and 90s was going to be back to back champions. It was getting fun watching the almighty throw tantrums and his wife sending tweets after superbowl losses. But no..just had to pass it. I'm not even a fan of the seahawks so I don't blame their players for turning their backs on such. b.s. Run the ball. throw it down, big man. what's this thread about? oh yeah. It's unfair but I don't blame Golden state .They've done it the correct way. More at the mentality of this generation. unwritten rule, Under 30 fight for your city. Over 30, go team up wherever you want. F' the nba. I watched the scy fy channel instead. and F' the city of dallas. Who has my shipment of peyote??! now!
?? His usage % was 12.9%. Which is behind Barnes (doesn't play all the time, but similar mpg when he does), McAdoo (same story), Ian Clark and David West. As Yolo stated, the thing with Livingston is he is a VERY high IQ player, who the Warriors can count on to not make mistakes, be a relatively consistent ho hum bench player that then once every 7-10 games will go like 6-8 or something by abusing smaller opponents and hitting mid range after mid range. He has a 10.1 PER this year. He's solid at their defensive scheme but not an amazing individual defender. He's replaceable... principally by giving Clark more time.
The GSW took advantage of a one-time cap spike and then NBA changed the rules to prevent superstar movements. Then, it is....
Of course we should compete. GSW are a very good team, but going on a 3 or 4 year vacation ain't gonna happen. RedNationArmy marches on. Maybe Harden will reach down & pull his head out of his azz, maybe Morey will pull a magic trick & get us some help. Who knows. I will still watch & cheer on the Rockets. I know you will too. GO ROCKETS!
Sign Gordon Hayward this off-season then trade him and Harden as soon as you can for top 3 picks. I mean really, what are we playing for here? 2nd in the West? Woohoo. Sounds great. BTW: **** KD.
try to compete as much as possible and then reassess in the summer of 2019 when Harden is a FA side note: if the team loses in the 1st or 2nd round next year and can't attract anyone of significance in 2018 FA then Morey will face the dilemma of Harden possibly leaving us for nothing in 2019
I'm saying we make our own super team. Sign Bosh, sign Gallo and trade every asset to pacers for Paul George for an epic 1 year run. Regardless if pg stats or not. Pg trade value will be low like Demarcus value Harden Bev/gord George Gallo CApela/bosh
So we agree Livingston is not useless. Like I said, some desperate team will throw money at him - if he leaves, they can only offer the minimum to a pretty slim free agency class, which weakens their bench. Sure, the system has the potential to make a below-average player look good, but they're not Popovich either to bring someone out of nowhere. Speaking of Ian Clark... they can also only offer him the minimum. Not a definite Warrior next year either. We also agree that Iguodala is the main factor here. The Hawks, Suns and Wolves are already lining up, more teams to follow. The Ginobili-reference was meant on this topic: Philly offered big money for Manu last year, why wouldn't they do the same to bring home Iggy, who played for the Sixers for eight years? Colangelo has $35M in total in the books for next year and no All-Star player will even consider them, so I expect him to offer Iggy around $40M/2years. Long story short: Things will get much harder for the Warriors, now that they have to pay Curry (and Klay in 2019 and Draymond in 2020). There's a good chance they will lose depth in summer, while other teams - like the Rockets - will improve. So no reason to call it a dynasty yet or waive the flag. I was referring to the regular season, when he had 13.5 as the non-starter with the highest usage. Barnes doesn't really count, since he was only signed for the time Durant was missing and is basically irrelevant since them. Livingston is replacable, for sure - but it's tough to find equal value if you can only offer the minimum to a weak class, like I wrote. Also, as already mentioned, Ian Clark will be a free agent as well and probably get paid.
Yeah I'm not saying it's good news to lose Iggy. What I am saying is it's a "blow" they can handle. This is a team that's 13-0 so far in the playoffs and currently sits at the highest single season ELO rating of all time. We know what this team is. If replacing Iggy with Matt Barnes like full time takes them from 12-0 in the west to 12-6 they're still dominating. And you do that all day every day as opposed to worry about resigning the star guys. As for Livingston. His usage rating this regular season was 12.9%. To put that in perspective, Dekkers was 14.9%. Hrs replaceable. Big picture my point is this might be the peak of this squad just because of cap implications... but it is far from the end of their dynasty. They can get worse and still be amazing. It is what it is. As a basketball fan of course the only way I'd ever like this situation is if I'm a fan of the dynastic team in question. I've heard some talking heads talk about how neat it is even though the playoffs was a bore until the finals. We get to see one of the best teams ever going up against one of the best players ever!!!!! I'm sorry... parity makes for better entertainment and league. I want to see greatness... going up against equal greatness throughout the playoffs
Entertaining post. But anyway... I don't think people are hating on "Golden State" as much as Kevin Durant. Personally, I don't like Golden State at all, but I respect that they're a home-brewed team. KD on the other hand...............
Harden does not have motion offense stamina. He had start/stop kind of stamina like a football player.
It really is depressing to finish with the third best record and know we're nowhere near GS's level. Elephant in the room: we need another star. Everyone knows this. Hell, we probably need two more of them if we plan on going toe-to-toe with a team armed with four All-Stars. Unless KD bolts, we're kind of just spinning our wheels and wasting Harden's prime if we choose to stand pat.
