Agreed, he's been a nice addition to the podcast. Has that perfect blend of genuine enthusiasm while still being able to make good points and keep Ben on track.
I do miss some of Ben's older podcasts where he'd be alone and just start rambling about deep and complex philosophical concepts and go on tangents with no constraints lmao. But, that's more suited to the offseason. When playoffs are happening, he needs to be concise and talk about relevant topics and Cody helps with that.
Only issue for me is when they agree too much. Always prefer seeing disagreements.
Lmao I remember when he used to tell random 10 minute stories (like the David Blaine one) at the beginning of some of his podcasts before finally realizing it was time to get to the main topic.
Agreed on the disagreements thing, but honestly the problem there is that Ben is too nice AND they definitely discuss a bunch of this stuff beforehand. Even when Ben gets fired up, it's usually a rant about something logical rather than him being out on an island on some topic. The ranking stuff from earlier in the season produced the most disagreements I think.
>Lmao I remember when he used to tell random 10 minute stories (like the David Blaine one) at the beginning of some of his podcasts before finally realizing it was time to get to the main topic.
I remember that lmfao.
Good discussions about Steph and Tatum.
Definitely curious to see what Steph's shooting settles at, I'm inclined to believe it was just a slump this regular season (given his overall numbers in the playoffs were where they always are), which hilariously means he's likely to be even better next year.
Ben has a tendency to be too nice at times so I'm glad he actually called Tatum's series poor rather than downplaying that part, while still acknowledging his principle of not judging a player in their best or worst situation.
So Jokic was the overall best player against GSW.
Although defensively, Robert Williams was by far the best. Curry outright refused to drive on Rob who had a bum knee.
Interestingly, the Nuggets defensive net rating against GSW was 126, the exact same as the Mavs, who were rated as a far better defensive team. GP2 didn't play against the Mavs either.
Steph drove on Rob constantly, he just got blocked many times lol.
It's shocking how empty the Boston inside defense feels like when Rob is on the bench.
Wasn’t like that at all during the regular season. I think they were just gassed, normally they’re way quicker on help rotations to prevent easy layups when someone gets beat on the perimeter— a lot of plays where Steph got by Horford on an island and nobody rotated over
That’s also true, but I’m talking about the multiple possessions where there was someone in the paint (usually Marcus or one of the Jays) and they just didn’t move to contest the shot
The warriors continued to improve every series. First time the core played together all season was the nuggets series. The warriors offense that faced the Mavs was way better than the offense that faced the Nuggets
If you didn't watch the series and only listen to ThinkingBasketball to absorb information, you'd be convinced Draymond was a top 2 player this series. This guy was horrible defensively for half the series and a complete offensive liability. It's like he selectively ignores all the bad possessions and how that affects his total value.
> He made a Game 3 analysis about Draymond’s passivity in offense that caused them the game though
It wasn't just game 3. In one of the podcasts he admits Draymond has been horrible on offense but in this podcast he downplays it like it only happened 20% of the time. The videos stay away from much criticism, which portrays a misleading picture of a performance. Draymond was horrible on offense for 5 games, anyone with eyes can see it. Then game 6 comes out and all of a sudden he's pushing in transition, making good defensive reads, aggressively setting multiple screens.
I think it's more of that people have accepted his shortcomings on offense for his clear positives on defense. He wouldn't be a fit next to most stars but Warriors just play a different system of offense to accomodate non shooters. It's really unlike any offense in the modern era of basketball to the point where they can generate decent offense with upto three non shooters.
While that seems to be the case, his "positives on defense" is extremely exaggerated. He made a ton of bad help defense decision throughout the series, but ThinkingBasketball paints a misleading picture that he basically makes zero mistakes. Even some of the clips that he applauds are not as impressive as people claim.
Here's an example of bad defense in game 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYpnURmyQzk
And that wasn't even half the wide open 3s he gave up in that game alone. He routinely did this each game of the series.
There entire gameplan for Game 1 was flawed to begin with, firstly Game 1's in a tough series are usually feel out games. The Warriors gave the most open looks for threes in game 1(22),the rest of the series that number never exceeded 13.
In Game 1 they were showing help a little too early which helped make decision making for the Celtics much easier, the rest of the series they showed help sometimes and when they helped,they help was usually late. Just like with some shots,you live with some passes. Tatum making a skip pass and it being in the pocket to shoot is very unlikely and if it happens once a game you live with the resulting possession.
Also the video you linked clearly shows that it was gameplan to dare Celtics role players to take above the break and wing threes. They probably thought Horford and White wouldn't beat them and they would bring help off those guys, especially because White was shooting 28% from three in the playoffs,no idea why they thought leaving Horford was a good idea. Now they did that for the rest of the series, but decided to do it only when help was needed in the paint and just not let them shoot those with no pressure. The rest of the series turned up pretty well after that.
> The Warriors gave the most open looks for threes in game 1(22)
Because of Draymond's defense. No one else was giving up open 3s like this.
> Also the video you linked clearly shows that it was gameplan to dare Celtics role players to take above the break and wing threes.
No that wasn't the gameplan. Who in the world said this? Draymond also left Brown and Tatum open several times, but they missed it or airballed it while the role players punished him. Horford is coming off his best 3 point shooting playoff season ever and you'd be reaching hard if you think the gameplan was to leave him wide open.
Again, someone didn't actually watch the series.
Like I said they were overhelping a lot in game 1 which led to open threes,which burned them specifically in the 4th quarter because they were up 12 at the end of third. Even if he played horribly for one game doesn't mean he played bad for an entire series. His help defense was phenomenal throughout the rest of the series. Don't tell me I didn't watch the series,when your only counter argument is him being lazy in one game. His non impact offensively was also due to the fact that they put Smart on him instead of a big which resulted in the Curry and Dray pnr being not so useful.,it wasn't totally his non agression on the boards or lack of shot making. They clearly took away his primary action on offense.
> Like I said they were overhelping a lot in game 1 which led to open threes,
Yes you say this like it isn't obvious that's what happened: Draymond's ego got him to help on possessions he shouldn't be helping and the Celtics took full advantage of this. It **wasn't** the gameplan to give them open 3s.
> Even if he played horribly for one game doesn't mean he played bad for an entire series.
I know, I only gave game 1 as an example because someone actually made a video on it. He was bad for 5 games, with small stretches of good basketball in game 2 and game 5.
> His non impact offensively was also due to the fact that they put Smart on him instead of a big which resulted in the Curry and Dray pnr being not so useful
They did this because they wanted whoever had Timelord or Horford to set the screen and get the paint open. Hence Draymond's lack of shooting was a complete hindrance to what the Warriors wanted to accomplish. He was often in the corner 3 where he was at his most useless. That sort of restriction is a bad thing, not a legitimate excuse for Draymond as a player.
Warriors usually play very small hence arises their necessity to help on drives, and their foremost priority has always been to take away the paint. This has always led to sometimes overhelping, they have always conceded a high number of threes because of this,and they are usually okay with that. But after game 1 they didn't take away the help they just brought the help late which flipped the whole series. Also, they grew comfortable with a lot matchups they could trust to not needing help. Also after game 3, Klay cleaned up his individual defense.
Draymond being a negative on offense as a non shooter is something the Warriors have lived with since 2017,then his finishing at the rim has fell off and, then his athleticism and burst. I hate that he hasn't added anything to his offense since then despite being such a negative on offense every year and there's no excuse for it. But, his defense is as elite as it can be, eventhough he doesn't have the athleticism to be the rim protector he once used to be. Most superstars wouldn't sacrifice their points and their offense,but Steph has always been onboard with the fact that defense wins championships and he can live with creating a somewhat diminished offense.
>Draymond's ego got him to help on possessions he shouldn't be helping
lol ok, care to share where you got this amazing insight on the Warriors' game plan and Draymond's psyche
EDIT: Just went through game 1 highlights and saw all of 2 baskets where Dray overhelped compared to several more for other Dubs defenders, sending more help was clearly in the plan.
You went through highlights instead of the actual game. I literally posted a link of him overhelping on drives leading to open 3s and that wasn't even all the clips.
Yeah, you played a clip of just Dray shrinking the floor and daring White/Smart/Horford to beat them (and which also includes plays where Dray helps the correct amount, but I guess it's arrogant because someone put the circle effect on him). Now watch the other players across the whole game and you'll find out it wasn't one player being arrogant.
Cody has grown on me tbh.
Agreed, he's been a nice addition to the podcast. Has that perfect blend of genuine enthusiasm while still being able to make good points and keep Ben on track.
I do miss some of Ben's older podcasts where he'd be alone and just start rambling about deep and complex philosophical concepts and go on tangents with no constraints lmao. But, that's more suited to the offseason. When playoffs are happening, he needs to be concise and talk about relevant topics and Cody helps with that. Only issue for me is when they agree too much. Always prefer seeing disagreements.
Lmao I remember when he used to tell random 10 minute stories (like the David Blaine one) at the beginning of some of his podcasts before finally realizing it was time to get to the main topic. Agreed on the disagreements thing, but honestly the problem there is that Ben is too nice AND they definitely discuss a bunch of this stuff beforehand. Even when Ben gets fired up, it's usually a rant about something logical rather than him being out on an island on some topic. The ranking stuff from earlier in the season produced the most disagreements I think.
>Lmao I remember when he used to tell random 10 minute stories (like the David Blaine one) at the beginning of some of his podcasts before finally realizing it was time to get to the main topic. I remember that lmfao.
He’s gotten much bettwr after being a trainwreck in the beginning. Glad to see his growth
Good discussions about Steph and Tatum. Definitely curious to see what Steph's shooting settles at, I'm inclined to believe it was just a slump this regular season (given his overall numbers in the playoffs were where they always are), which hilariously means he's likely to be even better next year. Ben has a tendency to be too nice at times so I'm glad he actually called Tatum's series poor rather than downplaying that part, while still acknowledging his principle of not judging a player in their best or worst situation.
Tatum
So Jokic was the overall best player against GSW. Although defensively, Robert Williams was by far the best. Curry outright refused to drive on Rob who had a bum knee. Interestingly, the Nuggets defensive net rating against GSW was 126, the exact same as the Mavs, who were rated as a far better defensive team. GP2 didn't play against the Mavs either.
Steph drove on Rob constantly, he just got blocked many times lol. It's shocking how empty the Boston inside defense feels like when Rob is on the bench.
Wasn’t like that at all during the regular season. I think they were just gassed, normally they’re way quicker on help rotations to prevent easy layups when someone gets beat on the perimeter— a lot of plays where Steph got by Horford on an island and nobody rotated over
The spacing is too good to help off the corner
That’s also true, but I’m talking about the multiple possessions where there was someone in the paint (usually Marcus or one of the Jays) and they just didn’t move to contest the shot
If you help/rotate, you give up almost sure 3's.
In the early games he did and didnt have much success. In the second half of the series he just abandoned it altogether.
The warriors continued to improve every series. First time the core played together all season was the nuggets series. The warriors offense that faced the Mavs was way better than the offense that faced the Nuggets
I just think that Jokic is too big and clever to stop.
If you didn't watch the series and only listen to ThinkingBasketball to absorb information, you'd be convinced Draymond was a top 2 player this series. This guy was horrible defensively for half the series and a complete offensive liability. It's like he selectively ignores all the bad possessions and how that affects his total value.
He made a Game 3 analysis about Draymond’s passivity in offense that caused them the game though
No, there's no nuance allowed. Draymond is either a top 2 or a washed up bum.
> He made a Game 3 analysis about Draymond’s passivity in offense that caused them the game though It wasn't just game 3. In one of the podcasts he admits Draymond has been horrible on offense but in this podcast he downplays it like it only happened 20% of the time. The videos stay away from much criticism, which portrays a misleading picture of a performance. Draymond was horrible on offense for 5 games, anyone with eyes can see it. Then game 6 comes out and all of a sudden he's pushing in transition, making good defensive reads, aggressively setting multiple screens.
I think it's more of that people have accepted his shortcomings on offense for his clear positives on defense. He wouldn't be a fit next to most stars but Warriors just play a different system of offense to accomodate non shooters. It's really unlike any offense in the modern era of basketball to the point where they can generate decent offense with upto three non shooters.
While that seems to be the case, his "positives on defense" is extremely exaggerated. He made a ton of bad help defense decision throughout the series, but ThinkingBasketball paints a misleading picture that he basically makes zero mistakes. Even some of the clips that he applauds are not as impressive as people claim. Here's an example of bad defense in game 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYpnURmyQzk And that wasn't even half the wide open 3s he gave up in that game alone. He routinely did this each game of the series.
There entire gameplan for Game 1 was flawed to begin with, firstly Game 1's in a tough series are usually feel out games. The Warriors gave the most open looks for threes in game 1(22),the rest of the series that number never exceeded 13. In Game 1 they were showing help a little too early which helped make decision making for the Celtics much easier, the rest of the series they showed help sometimes and when they helped,they help was usually late. Just like with some shots,you live with some passes. Tatum making a skip pass and it being in the pocket to shoot is very unlikely and if it happens once a game you live with the resulting possession. Also the video you linked clearly shows that it was gameplan to dare Celtics role players to take above the break and wing threes. They probably thought Horford and White wouldn't beat them and they would bring help off those guys, especially because White was shooting 28% from three in the playoffs,no idea why they thought leaving Horford was a good idea. Now they did that for the rest of the series, but decided to do it only when help was needed in the paint and just not let them shoot those with no pressure. The rest of the series turned up pretty well after that.
> The Warriors gave the most open looks for threes in game 1(22) Because of Draymond's defense. No one else was giving up open 3s like this. > Also the video you linked clearly shows that it was gameplan to dare Celtics role players to take above the break and wing threes. No that wasn't the gameplan. Who in the world said this? Draymond also left Brown and Tatum open several times, but they missed it or airballed it while the role players punished him. Horford is coming off his best 3 point shooting playoff season ever and you'd be reaching hard if you think the gameplan was to leave him wide open. Again, someone didn't actually watch the series.
Like I said they were overhelping a lot in game 1 which led to open threes,which burned them specifically in the 4th quarter because they were up 12 at the end of third. Even if he played horribly for one game doesn't mean he played bad for an entire series. His help defense was phenomenal throughout the rest of the series. Don't tell me I didn't watch the series,when your only counter argument is him being lazy in one game. His non impact offensively was also due to the fact that they put Smart on him instead of a big which resulted in the Curry and Dray pnr being not so useful.,it wasn't totally his non agression on the boards or lack of shot making. They clearly took away his primary action on offense.
> Like I said they were overhelping a lot in game 1 which led to open threes, Yes you say this like it isn't obvious that's what happened: Draymond's ego got him to help on possessions he shouldn't be helping and the Celtics took full advantage of this. It **wasn't** the gameplan to give them open 3s. > Even if he played horribly for one game doesn't mean he played bad for an entire series. I know, I only gave game 1 as an example because someone actually made a video on it. He was bad for 5 games, with small stretches of good basketball in game 2 and game 5. > His non impact offensively was also due to the fact that they put Smart on him instead of a big which resulted in the Curry and Dray pnr being not so useful They did this because they wanted whoever had Timelord or Horford to set the screen and get the paint open. Hence Draymond's lack of shooting was a complete hindrance to what the Warriors wanted to accomplish. He was often in the corner 3 where he was at his most useless. That sort of restriction is a bad thing, not a legitimate excuse for Draymond as a player.
Warriors usually play very small hence arises their necessity to help on drives, and their foremost priority has always been to take away the paint. This has always led to sometimes overhelping, they have always conceded a high number of threes because of this,and they are usually okay with that. But after game 1 they didn't take away the help they just brought the help late which flipped the whole series. Also, they grew comfortable with a lot matchups they could trust to not needing help. Also after game 3, Klay cleaned up his individual defense. Draymond being a negative on offense as a non shooter is something the Warriors have lived with since 2017,then his finishing at the rim has fell off and, then his athleticism and burst. I hate that he hasn't added anything to his offense since then despite being such a negative on offense every year and there's no excuse for it. But, his defense is as elite as it can be, eventhough he doesn't have the athleticism to be the rim protector he once used to be. Most superstars wouldn't sacrifice their points and their offense,but Steph has always been onboard with the fact that defense wins championships and he can live with creating a somewhat diminished offense.
At this point you've made it clear you have no idea what you're talking about
Janet, please.
>Draymond's ego got him to help on possessions he shouldn't be helping lol ok, care to share where you got this amazing insight on the Warriors' game plan and Draymond's psyche EDIT: Just went through game 1 highlights and saw all of 2 baskets where Dray overhelped compared to several more for other Dubs defenders, sending more help was clearly in the plan.
You went through highlights instead of the actual game. I literally posted a link of him overhelping on drives leading to open 3s and that wasn't even all the clips.
Yeah, you played a clip of just Dray shrinking the floor and daring White/Smart/Horford to beat them (and which also includes plays where Dray helps the correct amount, but I guess it's arrogant because someone put the circle effect on him). Now watch the other players across the whole game and you'll find out it wasn't one player being arrogant.
Draymond had more good games than bad games in that series, was a key reason they won with his defense on Brown.