Mike Loginoff

Impact Report #48, #DubNation    The Santa Cruz Sea Dubs get run outta the gym by the Ant-less Timberwolves, 108-83 This isn't an NBA team without Steph Curry. Ant and Austin Rivers were mocking Podz on the sidelines. This team is a joke. This organization is a joke. They seem Hell-bent on wasting yet another year of Steph Curry's career. Absolutely insane. Put those Clown Lacob PFPs on and pray that they do something meaningful next week. They've got $85M in salaries and ALL their draft picks. Even TIM KAWAKAMI is saying go get Lauri! The fuck is this nonsense? Better be posturing... #LacobIsAClown #SendDaPicks 📸 .@cfuerte13

Impact Report #45, #DubNation The FO has $85M+ in salaries and ALL of their picks. They have an elite Steph Curry. They're telling you there's nothing they can do outside of hoping Giannis shows up (Year 7 of that btw). They talk about Trey Murphy knowing the Pelicans probably won't move him. There are realistic moves they can make. Flip JK for Wiggs. Flip Jimmy for MPJ & Clax or Lauri. Hell, get me LaVine and Clax. Commit. Send some picks. Get Steph help. These bozos won't even trade JK... They seem hell-bent on wasting yet another year of Steph's career. Just buckle up. When they tell you "trades are hard," there's nothing that they could've done... It's utter bullshit.

The Golden State Warriors (23-19) by Impact (EPM)

Impact Report #40, #DubNation The Warriors (21-19) can't keep up with the Hawks and get smashed, 124-111 Jimmy: +3.7 EPM Steph: -0.1 EPM Dray: -0.1 EPM GP2: -1.2 EPM Horford: -1.4 EPM Moody: -1.8 EPM Gui: -1.9 EPM Post: -2.0 EPM Melton: -2.8 EPM Podz: -2.9 EPM Will: -3.8 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was -1/+1.1 Net. The best lineup was Steph/Melton/Jimmy/GP2/Dray +8/+50 Net. We could make this complicated. We could analyze all sorts of things. Let me keep this simple to start. The Warriors shot 10/42 from 3. That's 23.8%. They also had 16 turnovers. Can't shoot. Can't hold onto the ball. That's an L. Every single time. If we're going to dig a bit deeper, the fact is that Jalen Johnson and NAW wrecked us. Jalen Johnson, especially. He was just too talented and too athletic for us. Nobody could contain him. Though the game was close at Halftime, the Hawks blew the game open early in the 3rd quarter and their 59-53 lead ballooned to 70-58 quickly. The Hawks started hitting everything from deep. And by the Hawks, I mean Luke Kennard who went absolutely unconscious. Steph, by contrast, scored well, but couldn't hit his 3s. Jimmy was really the only guy we had that could get whatever he wanted to on offense. Note that he was the only player with a positive EPM in this game. I think we see a pattern here. These are the types of teams we just struggle against. Young, athletic, talented... And guess who we play next? THE BLAZERS! Look #DubNation it's sounding pretty dark, ngl. Lacob and Mike are clutching those picks tightly. I even read they're still yapping about Giannis. That's SEVEN YEARS in a row. Look it up. It's insane. You've had Steph Curry this entire time and you're holding your picks for Giannis? WTF. This team isn't nearly as bad as their record implies. This team can make noise. They just need a chance. You can't put all these young guys, guards, and specialists around Steph, Jimmy, Dray, Melton, and Horford and expect success. Gotta #SendDaPicks. We won in 2022 with balance. We had Wiggins, Otto, Bjelica, Klay, Poole... Now we've got Moody, Podz, JK (DNP), Buddy, Pat, GP2, Will (rookie), TJD... We are a top heavy roster. Get some talent in here and we will see results. #January15th is 2 days away... Look at this plot... Upper right... I see two guys who could help and I don't mean Jokic. Get one of them, I beg.

Impact Report #39, #DubNation The Warriors (21-18) blow out the Kings, 137-103 #LightTheBeam Steph: +3.1 EPM Post: +2.9 EPM Podz: +2.6 EPM Melton: +2.4 EPM Jimmy: +0.9 EPM GP2: +0.8 EPM Horford: +0.4 EPM Moody: -0.1 EPM Dray: -0.4 EPM Will: -1.0 EPM Gui: -3.1 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +5/+29.4 Net. The best lineup was +14/+121.8 Net! Jimmy's crew does it again (Jimmy/Podz/Melton/Will/Horford). Win the Steph minutes. Win the Jimmy minutes. Win the game. Simple formula, really. The final score is so misleading. This was actually a very close game for 3 quarters. And then... a 47-14 run? Insane right? This is what happens when Melton is hitting his shots. Horford is hitting his shots. Gui is running around like a madman grabbing boards and cutting to the rim. Even GP2 and Podz chipped in. We're getting a glimpse of what the off-season vision was for this team. Now that the schedule has loosened up and we're playing at home, we're getting the better end of 3pt variance. It's quite a sight to behold. We spam 3s like no other team in the league. If we can hit 40%+ from 3, we're gonna be tough for ANY team to beat. The shot quality is great, the question is always shot making. All of that said, we have to face facts that while our offense has been humming, our defense has shown some serious warts. It's hard to say what adjustments could be made with guys on the roster. This may be a consequence of Kerr's rotations. This may also be our dreaded lack of POA and over switching that results from it. In any case, if the offense is this potent, you can live with a little slippage on defense against subpar/mediocre teams. We'll see what happens against tougher competition. #January15th is just 5 days away. Adding MPJ to this team would be a dream come true. Just a matter of whether Joe will #SendDaPicks. The guys have done their jobs. They've won 8 of their last 11. They're only 3 games out of 6th in the West. The signs of a decent team in need of an upgrade are there. In truth, we won last night with ~$30 million doing nothing? Subtracting JK, Buddy, and Moody to get MPJ would be a game-changer. Steph, Jimmy, and MPJ are currently 8, 12, and 15 in Andy Bailey's HNI. Imagine this new Big 3. Replacing Klay with Buddy was always a pathetic joke. MPJ? Different story. He slots right into that Klay, KD, shot-making mold. The season and the rest of Steph's career are on the line. All we can do is pray :)

Impact Report #38, #DubNation The Warriors (20-18) shoot their way to a relatively comfortable win against the Bucks, 120-113 Steph: +7.8 EPM 🐐 Moody: +2.2 EPM Horford: +0.7 EPM Podz: +0.6 EPM Jimmy: +0.0 EPM Dray: +0.0 EPM Post: -0.8 EPM Melton: -1.0 EPM Gui: -1.7 EPM Will: -2.4 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was -6/-30 Net 🫣 (please start Melton, I beg). Shot Quality: High. Shot Making: High? Is the the same Warriors team we've been watching all season? The final score is a little misleading because this was a relatively comfortable win. Melton and Horford came through with some amazing shot making. I could've cried tears of joy. *This* is what you want to see. Every time the game got a little tight, it felt like somebody made a huge 3. Even Draymond got in on the action. Sure, we had no answer for Giannis, who does? Dray tried his best and things got heated, but he stayed locked-in and not ejected. Speaking of Draymond, he was pretty amazing. This new low turnover version of Draymond is a potential game-changer. He's currently at 19 ast:2 to over the last 2 games. Incredible. I also couldn't help but notice that without GP2 around, Steve played Gui more. In fact, we saw a considerable amount of minutes from our 6'5" and over contingent. Interesting... Steph was incredible. This level of play at age 37 is insane. Especially from a 6'2-3" guard. Insane. He's currently 5th in overall impact (EPM) in the NBA. Only Jokic, SGA, Giannis, and Wemby are ahead of him. He's that good. Jimmy is also playing very well - he's currently 17th in overall impact (EPM). They are the best duo outside of Shai and Chet (2nd & 10th EPM, respectively). What's great about Jimmy is that even when his shot isn't falling he gets to the line. A lot. He currently leads the league in percentage of total points scored from FTs (34%). With that win, the Warriors are 7-3 over their last 10. Solid. The team stats, however, aren't so great. 11th Offense, 17th Defense, 14th Net. Offense has improved some but our defense has fallen off of a cliff. Very concerning. Still, wins are wins and we'll take every one of them. #January15th is quickly approaching and it remains to be seen if Lacob will send the picks for MPJ or Trey. Getting either could really make this team dangerous, but we'll see. We all know who Lacob is. First round picks are his children and he tends to only let them go for massive names (attempt at KD reunion, "Giannis" hypothetically) or to salary dump (Poole, Iggy). Next up Sacramento, let's keep stacking wins. Have to clean up during this homestand to keep this season afloat.

Impact Report #37, #DubNation The Warriors (19-18) get cheated into a 1-point loss against the Clippers, 103-102 Steph: +7.8 EPM 🐐 Jimmy: +6.0.EPM 👹 GP2: +2.1 EPM Dray: +1.3 EPM Post: +1.1 EPM Moody: +0.4 EPM Gui: +0.1 EPM Al: -0.3 EPM Podz: -0.6 EPM Will: -2.6 EPM Melton: -3.4 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +0/+0 Net. The best lineup was Steph/Melton/Jimmy/Gui/Dray +10/+125 Net 👀 Yet another game where the Warriors just couldn't shoot. Shot Quality: High. Shot Making: Low. Defense was fine. Jimmy had Kawhi in HELL. Ultimately, though, we just couldn't shoot. Tale of the season. Another common theme of the year is some random guard having a career night against us. This time it was Kobe Sanders! Wow... Look, even with the terrible shooting, this is a game the Warriors should've won. They finally protected the ball well and limited their turnovers. Sadly, as is often the case, the referees had other plans as they orchestrated a brutal 4th Quarter 8(?) point swing where they didn't give Steph continuation on an extremely late call where they waited to see if the ball went in first (what?!). They "missed" an obvious goaltend on GP2. They watched as Kawhi Leonard dribbled the ball almost over his head and carried the ball on a fast break. Kerr got ejected. Two FTs. Total fucking disaster. Even with all of that the Warriors *still* had a chance to win but Steph fouled out before he had a chance at a game winner. He hadn't fouled out in FIVE years. Just to give you a taste of how poorly officiated the game was. Not sure why he was out there on defense anyways. Big mistake from Stotts and a brain fart from Steph to foul like that. Jimmy had 7 seconds left to try to hit a game winner but he got doubled and airballed a fadeaway jumper. Would've been nice to see him get to the rim but Draymond was inexplicably on the floor on offense, sitting in the corner, making it easy for Jimmy to get double teamed. Again, wtf Stotts? 😭✌️ There is a great team hiding amongst the poor rotation decisions from Steve (PLAY GUI!) and poor roster construction (too many specialists and JK is unplayable). All told there's at least $42M in wasted salary on the team. The only question is will Lacob finally put picks on the table to fix (not just salary dumping!) this team that he single-handedly destroyed with his disastrous Two Timelines lottery picks. Players he's held on to so long they have no value. We'll find out soon enough. The season and the rest of Steph's career depends on it. Get loud #DubNation it's all we can do as fans.

Impact Report #36, #DubNation The Drayless* Warriors (19-17) get Curry flurried to victory over the Jazz, 123-114 Steph: +4.0 EPM Jimmy: +2.2 EPM Post: +2.0 EPM Melton: +0.6 EPM TJD: -0.5 EPM GP2: -1.1 EPM Podz: -1.3 EPM Moody: -1.5 EPM Will: -2.0 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +3/+23.6 Net. The best lineup was Podz/Will/Moody/Jimmy/Post +7/+60 Net 👀 Apparently, if you play against the Warriors the refs allow you to camp in the paint for 5-6 seconds instead of 3. I mean, why not? They already allow you to maul Steph on and off the ball all night. F it, camp in the paint! Mondgreen gotta chill though... Another ejection? Like be fr man... You job is to stay on the court. Don't let your emotions compromise you... Who am I kidding though? He's Draymond. Look, the Warriors probably should've lost this game. We had no answer for Lauri. Having GP2 and Will guarding him was so damn stupid, I'm impressed. Steve is truly special. You'd think that you'd counter with size when your opponent is running Lauri and Filipowski double bigs but... Fortunately, Steph saved us... Again. Yet another 20 point quarter. He just went Steph. Utah couldn't recover from the shelling. Steph was getting contained in the first half so I suppose it wasn't surprising he adjusted after halftime, but holy shit Steph... No look 3s. Logo 3s... 🐐 That's 6-2 over our last 8 games. A serious team wins at least 4 of the next 5 games against the Clippers, Bucks, Kings, Hawks, and Blazers (😱). That'd be 10-3... I think it's possible. Melton is showing signs of improvement. So is Horford. TJD has been great. Theres a chance for a real turnaround that you hope nudges the FO to go ahead and pull the trigger on MPJ or Trey (probably MPJ, he's cheaper and his contract aligns with the core). Alas, only #January15th can give us an honest swing 🙏

Impact Report #33, #DubNation The Warriors (17-16) move to 4-1 over their last 5 games with a solid win over the red hot Brooklyn Nets, 120-107 Steph: +6.0 EPM TJD: +4.3 EPM Jimmy: +4.1 EPM Melton: +2.7 EPM Will: +2.1 EPM Buddy: +1.1 EPM Dray: +0.0 EPM GP2: -0.9 EPM Podz: -1.2 EPM Moody: -2.3 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was -8/-95.2 Net 🤢. The best lineup was Jimmy/Podz/Melton/Gui/TJD at +9/+112.5 Net 😤 Egor Dëmon amirite? Man... That was scary. Fortunately, Steve made some adjustments and tried to match size with size. Gui was first off the bench 👀 We got plenty of TJD, who apparently was sick last game? We also got plenty of Will Richard and Melton was back. Honestly, it's hard not to imagine this rotation beating the Raptors... Let's hope that with Melton's bump in minutes we see less Moody and Podz. Let's hope Steve makes sensible adjustments like playing Gui and TJD when we're up against long, athletic wings. Shout-out Jim Park! They make a difference! Won't say too much about the game tbh. Even when it was close, I wasn't particularly nervous. As hot as the Nets were, I never quite trusted they'd be able to win unless MPJ and Cam Thomas both went off on us. That's 4-1 over our last 5 games going into Charlotte. 5-1 over 6 would be amazing despite how low the vibes are. Just a few more clutch Ws instead of fumbles and this team could easily be like 22-11. Oh well. Plenty of time left in the season. Denver is banged up, which puts them at serious risk of dropping in the standings. Lakers without Reaves? Yeah, tough scene. Minnesota could slip too. Ultimately, everything hinges upon #January15th just like it always has. I'd say MPJ passed his audition. If you can't get Trey, get MPJ. We move!

Impact Report #32, #DubNation The Warriors (16-16) fumble multiple 12 point leads and run out of gas in OT against the Raptors, 141-127 Steph: +2.3 EPM Dray: +1.0 EPM GP2: -0.5 EPM Will: -0.6 EPM Buddy: -1.8 EPM Podz: -2.9 EPM Moody: -3.1 EPM Post: -3.2 EPM Jimmy: -9.0 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +14/+87.6 Net 📈 This is all so exhausting. Another squandered W. Steph was on fire. Scorching the nets. We had a double-digit lead multiple times... But then... Steph got subbed out with ~3 minutes left with a 12 point lead. We shit our pants. 4 point game going into the 4th. Steph starts the 4th. We push it back to 12. Steph subs out at 7:51. We shit our pants again. Steph understandably runs outta gas. OT. Blowout. Game. So what went wrong? Honestly, the usual. Another long, athletic team overwhelmed us. They did a lot to disrupt Jimmy too. As you can see, that's his worst single-game EPM all season. Scottie Barnes gave him HELL. And guarding Ingram seemed impossible. Scottie looked like Wilt Chamberlain out there. 24 boards?! Dray didn't do a thing to stop him and without Gui or TJD around for reinforcements, not sure what we could expect. Stubbornly, instead of at least playing Gui and TJD, Kerr opted to stay small... Buddy Hield? Really? And don't get me started on Moody and Podz... Just not enough size, athleticism, or consistent quality. A profoundly flawed roster but we also have a profoundly stubborn coach who doubles and triples down on questionable rotations... Tough. To be charitable though, do we really lose the game if our bench unit didn't squander TWO different TWELVE point leads? I've seen better basketball from JV CYO teams... Like you can't handle ball pressure? And why were GP2 and Will Richard bringing the ball up the floor? Inexcusable. That last Dray TO was fucking insane... Classic sloppy Dubs basketball! A bit of optimism: that's 3-1 over the last 4. Win in Brooklyn, that's 4-1... Win in Charlotte too? That'd be 5-1 over 6... That's very good tbh. Gotta just keep fighting to stay afloat for #January15th. We've got roughly $43M in movable contracts and a boatload of valuable FRPs. Will Lacob finally invest in Steph (he's All-NBA First Team level at age 37) and fix this team or will he continue his usual bullshit? He made this mess whiffing on lottery picks and holding them too long. Look at Atlanta already trying to dump Risacher... Clean it up, Joe!

Impact Report #31, #DubNation The Warriors (16-15) survive and secure an ugly Christmas W against the Mavs, 126-116 Horford: +2.4 EPM 👀 GP2: +1.2 EPM Post: +1.1 EPM Steph: +0.8 EPM 🥶 Decembrrrr TJD: +0.4 EPM Melton: +0.3 EPM Will: +0.1 EPM Jimmy: -0.7 EPM Moody: -1.8 EPM Dray: -3.3 EPM Podz: -3.7 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +2/+9.5 Net Christmas Steph (and Draymond) were absolutely unserious. Thank God, Jimmy fried with the bench unit and Horford hit some 3s (finally!). What should've been a blow-out, especially with no AD most of the game, was uncomfortably close as the Warriors phoned it in. Brandon Williams won the game's Ryan Rollins award as he torched us relentlessly in the 2nd Half. Along with Cooper Flagg, they did just enough to make the game interesting until the Dubs finally pulled away. Look, I'll keep this short. 3 game win streak. Vibes starting to recover. Horford making some shots. Melton looking slightly better. Buddy and JK out of the rotation. Kerr playing double bigs (finally!). There's a rotation... The schedule is indeed looser. There's no reason why this team shouldn't head into January 15th several games above .500. In fact, they should win their next 3 and get the win streak to 6 heading into the new year. FWIW, DunksAndThrees has the Dubs as a Top 4 team. There should be every reason to go ahead and make that trade Joe. Cut the shit. None of this, team is too good no trade, team is too bad no trade, nothing will help bullshit. Despite Mike's public messaging, we'd be foolish to think he isn't trying to package JK, Buddy, and picks for help. That's $35 sitting on the bench. Rotting. Unsustainable. Throw in Moody too and that's over $40M... Insane. Gameplan has to be that the team stabilizes their record over the next few weeks, makes a serious trade, and goes on another post-midseason run. This time, though, you hope Steph and Jimmy stay healthy. Lakers are slipping. OKC isn't invincible. Nuggets are banged up. There's a spot in that Top 6 if things break our way. There's plenty to be hopeful about 🙏

Impact Report #29, #DubNation The Drayless* Warriors (14-15) survive against the Suns in a rematch, 119-116. Will: +1.2 EPM Gui: +1.1 EPM (7 minutes) Jimmy: +0.8 EPM Post: -0.2 EPM Steph: -0.5 EPM Moody: -0.5 EPM TJD: -0.9 EPM Podz: -1.0 EPM Pat: -1.4 EPM Melton: -3.1 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was -4/-44.4 Net We almost lost, again. Incredible isn't it? Dray got ejected in seemingly record time. Dillon Brooks couldn't miss. Devin Booker got EVERYTHING he wanted. All night long. Things were looking grim. And then... Will Richard fresh off of multiple DNPs came in and took the game over (in 19 minutes... #noticing). Insane stuff. He's a rookie! Steph and Jimmy did their thing, as usual, even when it looked rough sometimes. It's just so clear we need another guy to step up and score an efficient 20 every night. It takes us to another level. #January15th feels so far away... Sadly, Moody and Post couldn't hit the side of a barn with Charles Barkley slung from a catapult. They at least had the decency to cut their shots down to 12 from 24... With Dray out, Jimmy's usage spiked and he looked way more dominant. Something for the team to consider going forward. Enough Dray and Podz ball pounding when Jimmy's on the floor. Steph and Jimmy need the ball. End of story. Run that Steph/Jimmy 2-man game. A lot. When Jimmy's resting, you can play Dray with Steph, fine. Run your motion, Kerr, but it's time to adapt! Mix. It. Up. Can we talk about Gui? In just 7 minutes, he was actually the second most impactful player on the team (EPM). I'm at the point now where, depending on the matchup, I say you experiment with starting Gui over Dray. Just try it. You know you want to CTEve. Having the same starting lineup every night is so boring... *whispers* DO IT STEVE *whispers*. Starting or not, I think it's time we reduce Dray's minutes. Keep Buddy on the bench. Turn down those GP2 minutes... It's getting weird, Steve. And if you EVER DNP Will Richard again, I'm grabbing my pitchfork and joining Jim Park's army. Last warning! Can we string some Ws together to get us to #January15th? I certainly hope so. Contrary to what Joe is saying though, I don't think it's up to the team to prove they are worthy of trades. I think it's time that Joe prove HE can put a winning team together without Jerry West holding his hand. There's an elite team hiding in the rubble... DunksAndThrees currently has us 4th in the NBA... Art: .@luckymong1

Impact Report #28, #DubNation The Warriors (13-15) implode in the 3rd Quarter and fumble into an L against the Suns, 99-98. Jimmy: +4.9 EPM Podz: +3.0 EPM Steph: +2.0 EPM Gui: +1.9 EPM Dray: +0.5 EPM Buddy: -1.8 EPM Melton: -2.2 EPM Moody: -2.2 EPM Kuminga: -3.1 EPM Post: -3.7 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was -3/-18.6 Net. 5th in Shot Quality, 24th in Shot Making, 21st ranked offense, and the 4th ranked defense. People may cry about "nerd stats," but are they wrong? Open/Wide Open 3s: Post 2/9 Steph 1/6 Moody 0/5 Dray 0/5 Melton 0/4 That's 3/29 on open/wide open 3s. We lost by 1. Steve tried playing "bigger." JK got some charity mins. Jimmy scored 31. Still lost. Isn't it obvious what's going on? Nothing will ever work unless they get CONSISTENT shot makers on this team. The NBA is very high scoring this season. If you struggle to score, you're cooked. Short-term: play Will, get Seth back out there Celebrini, turn down these Buddy minutes, keep playing Gui, tell Post to chill the fuck out (14 shots? Clanking all night), get that ball outta Dray's hands and let Jimmy orchestrate the offense... Long-term: #January15th

Impact Report #25, #DubNation The Steph & Drayless Warriors (13-12) absolutely demolish the Chicago Bulls, 123-91. Jimmy: +5.4 EPM Post: +5.4 EPM Podz: +4.9 EPM Will: +3.6 EPM Melton: +2.6 EPM Moody: +2.0 EPM Pat: -0.5 EPM Gui: -1.4 EPM Buddy: -1.6 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +18/+72 Net! I must admit being nervous before this one. The vibes have been so high. We're coming off of a great win. Could we keep up the momentum? Answer: Yes! The ball was zipping around on offense and our defense felt superb. Jimmy and Pat took turns orchestrating the offense and Podz looked far more comfortable as a secondary ballhandler. On defense, Post showed just how much of a leap he's taken. He's objectively one of the best bigs on defense in the league AND when he's hitting his 3s, he really is Vuc/Myles at Home. He sees Vuc and just turns all demonic. Love to see it. Through 25 games, Post is currently our 3rd best player in terms of impact (EPM). What a Year 2 leap! Astounding stuff! This game felt basically like a wire-to-wire domination from the Dubs. Sure, the Bulls went on a run in the 2nd Half, but then Jimmy put his foot on the gas, took over, and with the help of some great shot-making, we slammed the door shut on a Bulls comeback. The uptick in shotmaking was extremely noticeable. Podz had a bounceback game. Melton was being Melton. And Jimmy knocked down some pivotal 3s too. Overall, this is the type of game you re-watch the tape on with a huge smile if you're Steve Kerr. You handed out a DNP to Kuminga, which was bound to draw a lot of controversy and drama, and came away with one of the best wins of the season. With the emergence of Pat and Post and the return of Melton, it's clear that the rotation won't be the same as it was earlier in the season. This raises questions about what sort of lineups we'll see once Steph, Draymond, and Al come back. Personally, I've advocated for Steph/Melton/Jimmy/Dray/Post. Not sure if Celebrini allows Melton to start, but he did last season to great success. With Pat as Steph's backup, you don't necessarily *need* to run Melton off the bench. Perhaps, Kerr will try Pat and Podz together or staggered with Jimmy off the bench? Gui is clearly earning more time. Seth is available. There's a lot of 'depth' as Steve likes to say. A consolidation trade will go a VERY long way to improving this team; and it seems that's where we're headed. In any case, the vibes are high. We're winning games again and doing so without Steph, which is always impressive from a team so reliant upon him. Hopefully, The Others don't relax once Steph returns. Keep that same energy. The schedule lightens up a little the rest of the month. Can they win 8 of their next 10 games? It's reasonable to assume that a team that's currently the 3rd best defense in the league, but 22nd ranked offense, could jump up a tier if they add some offensive firepower. Will Money Mike do what it takes? Will he even be allowed to? All we can do is pray for #January15th

Impact Report #24, #DubNation The Uncless Warriors (12-12) shock the Cleveland Cavaliers (and the World) with a 99-94 victory spearheaded by Lacrosse God, Pat Spencer. Gui: +5.2 EPM Pat: +4.7 EPM Post: +3.8 EPM Buddy: +2.1 EPM Podz: +1.3 EPM TJD: +0.8 EPM Moody: -0.2 EPM GP2: -0.8 EPM Will: -1.3 EPM Kuminga: -2.7 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +4/+11.5 Net. Pat was a +9/+13.8 Net On and -4/-8.2 Net Off. After two gut-wrenching, narrow defeats, the Warriors finally managed to hang on to cross the finish line with an Uncless, upset victory. As you can see from the analytics, our "bench" went on a total tear. I say "bench," because Pat Spencer got his first career start and boy did he take advantage of it! He commanded our offense masterfully and hit huge shots (3s and FTs) down the stretch to seal the deal. As Steve said after the game, Pat is that MOTHERFUCKER. He plays with heart, IQ, and fearlessness. Our assistant GM, TJD, notably remarked, post-game, that he wished we had "more guys like him." While it's true that Pat was the heart and soul of the team, it'd be unfair not to highlight key contributions from Gui and Post. Gui hustled hard. Hit some great shots. Grab boards. And, ultimately, earned the right to close the game over Kuminga, which JK, reportedly, did not take well. Even Buddy hit some shots and got some stops. This sort of win shows that effort and decisiveness can lead even a totally depleted team to victories *if* they play the right way. The right way, in this case, was adhering to Steve's system, while mixing in a bit more PnRs to optimize Pat's approach to offense. Doing this kept us afloat enough to take advantage of a poor shooting night from the Cavs that was certainly brought about, at least, in part, by the Dubs excellent defense. As of last night, the Dubs now have the #3 rated defense in the NBA and it's worth noting that Post has emerged as one of the best bigs on defense in the NBA too. Imagine if his shot starts falling more consistently from deep. Very exciting stuff! After the game, it was more clear than ever, especially given who led us to victory and closed the game, that moves should and must be made. Podz, who was once "untouchable," is looking expendable and JK's time seems all but over. When Tim Kawakami is smacking JK stans, you know time's up. Let's just hope the Uncs heal up well, stay healthy, and the right moves are made on #January15th. All things considered, things could be worse. There still seems to be hope of turning this season around.

Impact Report #21, #DubNation The Warriors (11-10) manage to survive another Steph-less game, this time against the depleted, 3 win Pelicans, 104-96. GP2: +4.3 EPM 👀 Jimmy: +3.8 EPM Podz: +3.8 EPM Post: +1.4 EPM Pat: +0.4 EPM Kuminga: +0.2 EPM Buddy: +0.1 EPM Will: -2.5 EPM Dray: -3.6 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +4/+16.7 Net This was nasty. Nasty, nasty hoops. At one point, before halftime, the Warriors were 2/21 from 3 on mostly great looks. Just awful. Fortunately, the Hospital Pelicans couldn't shoot either, which kept the game much closer than it should've been. Jimmy and GP2 were masterful and eventually we overtook the Pels late in the 4th Quarter (take that Zion, GP2 is...). Yes, you read that correctly, we didn't take control of the game until LATE in the 4th Quarter. Insane, no? The news that Melton is close to returning and Seth Curry just signed is quite welcome, to say the least. Despite the offensive boost from Kuminga's return, it's crystal clear that the Warriors need perimeter shooting badly. Our defense was not as good as the stats will suggest, simply because the Pels couldn't shoot either, but I maintain our primary issue is offense (even with Saddiq Bey frying us). Once shots started falling, it didn't matter as much that Dray almost ended the night with no points 😭 He was pivotal on defense, especially late in the game. You simply don't win without him. All those people criticizing Jimmy's contract continue to have egg on their faces. The man nearly had a triple double and was in total control. Surround him with actual shooters and the ceiling on this team raises considerably. Our shot quality is wonderful. Guys just can't shoot. Despite the circumstances, there's a lot to be encouraged about. Steph will hopefully be back in another 2-3 games. Melton will be back soon. Seth is signed. Time to turn down these Buddy and Podz minutes. Tread water until #January15th and hope Lacob lets Money Mike cook.

Impact Report #19, #DubNation Steve Kerr yells at the Warriors (10-9) until they lock-in enough to stop the Jazz, 134-111 Steph: +6.5 EPM GP2: +4.1 EPM Jimmy: +4.0 EPM Will: +3.2 EPM Buddy: +2.2 EPM Moody: +0.6 EPM TJD: -0.8 EPM Post: -1.1 EPM Podz: -1.6 EPM Pat: -3.2 EPM Lineups/On/Off Notes: The starting lineup was +2/13.4 Net The game started off awfully. Keyonte George was wrecking us. My PTSD started was kicking in. I was shaking. Here we go again... Getting burnt by another guard from deep. And worse yet, no Draymond 😭 Fortunately, after looking absolutely lost on defense, Steve Kerr's sideline tirade got the Dubs to lock in. In the 2nd Quarter the game turned around. By the 3rd Quarter it was clear that Steph and Jimmy were just too much for the Jazz too handle. Let's face it. Steph and Jimmy look like All-NBA caliber guys. Steph is going band for band with a 26 year old Luka in terms of impact (he's 5th in impact (EPM) in the NBA). Jimmy continues to kill. The man is 12th in impact (EPM) in the NBA. This is objectively one of the best duos in the league. Winning or losing will mostly be a matter of whether or not The Others show up. As you can see in the report, we got great games from GP2, who started, and Will. Buddy hit some shots too and limited his mistakes. Love to see it. Notably, we won the turnover battle. Every possession counts. When Steph and Jimmy get some help, we are a tough team to beat. As much as the defense has been an obvious weakness, the Warriors still have the 9th ranked defense in the NBA. Their offense, however, is ranked 22nd. Getting players who can exploit Steph's gravity and Jimmy's high IQ playmaking on the offensive side will determine the ceiling of this team. Here's hoping that change is afoot.