Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is excited to have veteran swingman Andre Iguodala back for his second stint with the club, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“He means the world to us,” Kerr told Poole, echoing a sentiment he recently expressed to The Athletic. “The last two seasons, we’ve been somewhat rudderless in many ways. I suspect we’re going to get our rudder back with Andre.”
Iguodala signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Golden State after spending the last two seasons with the Grizzlies (for whom he never played) and Heat.
There’s more out of California:
- The Clippers‘ reunion with point guard Eric Bledsoe received an A-minus grade from Kevin Pelton of ESPN. Bledsoe was re-acquired in a trade this week that sent point guards Patrick Beverley and Rajon Rondo and center Daniel Oturu to the Grizzlies. Pelton praised the cost savings of the deal, which will amount to a reduction of about $30MM off L.A.’s luxury tax bill. Pelton also notes that the younger, more durable Bledsoe could prove to be an on-court upgrade for the Clippers as well, though he struggled in recent playoff appearances with the Bucks.
- Fourth-year Kings center Chimezie Metu has been suspended for one Summer League game after punching two-way rookie Mavericks forward Eugene Omoruyi in the head during the fourth quarter of an eventual 86-70 win Sunday, per an NBA press release (Twitter link). Metu will miss the Summer League title game on Tuesday against the Celtics.
- The Kings will be hiring Mike Longabardi as a front-of-bench assistant coach, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link). Longabardi, most recently an assistant with the Wizards since 2019, won the 2008 title as a Celtics assistant and the 2016 championship as a Cavaliers assistant.
At age 37, going on 38, Iggy is no longer the guy they had during their dynasty.
Fire bob myers, fire bob myers. He’s botched TF out of the last 3 off seasons
Lol imagine any other team in the league playing without 70% of their team’s salary(2019-Steph+Klay) and 30%-40% of their salary(2020-Klay, then Wiseman+Oubre). I can’t imagine anyone else doing much better. Some times things don’t go your way when your 2nd highest paid player misses 26 months of basketball, nothing even the best GM’s could just fix.
Even Batum/his agent said(along with multiple others) that they were intrigued with Golden state until Klay’s second injury, his Achilles on the opposite leg of his ACL, so that limited players like Rubio/Danny Green/Nic Batum to Wanamaker and Bazemore.
HOWEVER, this season should be a lot better. Wiggins/Poole/JTA gets a full/non covid off-season/camp in the system/alongside Steph and Draymond.
Their end of season(final 2 months) rotation of Steph/Baze/Wigs/Dray/Loon(a top 10 lineup in the NBA, winning 10 of their final 13 games and 16 of final 22) and a bench of ONLY Poole/JTA/Mulder that’s been replaced by a healthy Damion Lee, Iggy>Wanamaker, Porter>Oubre, and Bjelicia>Jordan Bell/Eric Paschall. Now they actually have a second unit.
Iggy/Poole/JTA/Bjelicia/Wiseman or Poole//JTA/Porter/Bjelicia/Wiseman is MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER than a second unit of Wanamaker/Mulder/GP2/Oubre/JTA, and they have the added depth of Moody and Kuminga, who while impressive in the Summer League, still have a ways to go but Moody isn’t far from taking Damion Lee’s role if he continues to shoot well(near 50% from 3 this summer).
It depends on who they start at SG, as they could start Wiggins there and Porter at the 3. It could also be Lee at the 2 or Poole at the 2, either way, not having Oubre and Wiseman is going to be huge for their spacing, which helps out Wigs BIG TIME. As soon as Oubre/Wiseman we’re replaced with Bazemore/Looney, Wiggins became a 21ppg guy at 41% from 3. Now imagine Porter and Bjelicia mixed in, and Klay Thompson on his way?
Klay>Bazemore, Porter>Oubre, Iggy>Wanamaker, Bjelicia>Paschall is a reAlly good job of upgrading what this team needed most: DEPTH.
They lost their final qualifying games by a combined 8 points. That’s not the fault of ANYONE BUT their bench. The starters were good, the problem is they can’t play 48 minutes and that doesn’t change if you give Wigs+Poole+Wiseman+Moody+Kuminga for Beal or Siakam or Simmons. You land exactly where you were.
Sure Beal scores 10ppg more than Wigs. He also gives up 10ppg more than Wigs ON DEFENSE. They’re a wash. Yet the capital to acquire Beal doesn’t make it worth it
Imma Die hard warriors fan and agree with what I said. That being said the picks and use of our assets aren’t going to contribute to another chip IMO when they could have. Another problem we are going to run into is if all these picks end up being good players in 3 years we have to figure out how to pay them while keeping our core 3. It doesn’t seem like they’re gonna give discounts like the Spurs core did
Agree with what u said*
What? No salary cap posts by you today? Minimum salaries are exempt from your bashing? LOL
If I am Kuminga, I would be an absolute sponge with Iggy around. Him learning from one of the best perimeter defenders in the last 15 years, and the basketball IQ to back it up, will be valuable as much as his game on the court.
but are you Jonathan Kuminga??
Perfect homecoming to a guy who should have never left in the first place. Felt so weird seeing him on Miami, he even wore GSW merch anytime he was seen in public, and was often spotted in the Bay area, lol.
He’s going to get a nice easy schedule too, GSW is stacked this year, Iggy might not need more than 20 MPG this year with how good GSW is from 1-15 now, which they definitely were not last year. If they make no more moves this is their best 15:
Looney-Green-Wiggins-Thompson-Curry
Wiseman-Kuminga-Toscano-Moody-Poole
Bjelica-Iguodala-Porter-Lee-Payton
Ring 4 incoming…
With all due respect, feels like a No 3 or 4 seed with a healthy Thompson and a rising duo of Kuminga and Wiseman. No way they get past Suns, Lakers or Clippers this season.
I think GSW will easily get by Suns, Lakers or Clippers next season, because they literally beat them all last season with only Curry, Green and the 6 other idiots. Now they have a full roster and a good one.
Lakers are going to be a DISASTER this year, its going to be hilarious. Clippers have no Kawhi, no chance. Suns are simply overrated. GSW is better than all of them with that 15 man lineup I posted above.
I’ll never forget originally Andre joined the warriors after losing to them in the playoffs. What a cupcake.
Something Pat Beverley would never do
Pat Beverly literally told Steph Curry “we got the next 5” and now he’s not even on the team, lol owned
Iggy wouldn’t try to injure a player on purpose like Beverley did. Beverley did a classless move in the playoffs losing all respect for him.
Patrick was ok, Joe Ingles was the dirty player breaking noses…. the dirtiest player since the beginning of time. It’s absolutely fun how he broke Kawhi’s leg and destroyed the Western Conference using multiples of flagrant 2 fouls. Lets go D-Wade
I find it ridiculous California has 4 NBA teams when big cities like St. Louis, Baltimore, Seattle, and Las Vegas have nothing. Sacramento does not deserve a team.
Take the Clippers. Please
Clippers moving to Inglewood in three years.
Don’t forget Louisville/Cincinnati area. I always think they’re left out for “good basketball cities”.
Sacramento got a new arena a few years ago they are not leaving.
Seattle and Las Vegas are getting expansion teams maybe next year.
I agree. Vegas and Seattle should definitely have teams.
Fun fact, San Francisco and Los Angeles are bigger cities with more money and people than those ones you mentioned. If anything the Bay Area could use another team in San Jose or Oakland. Sacramento is the only one thats “meh” and they got a new stadium, so they aren’t going anywhere.
Baltimore has the Wizards.
Seattle said they didnt want NBA in their city.
Vegas is an absolute hellhole not worthy of any pro sports team, it will probably be inhospitable there in 5 years due to climate change too.
NBA should not be expanding, it’s already too big.
Dumbest post of the year? Dumbest post of the year!
Any relation to Vince Lombardi (football coach)
No, this guy (coach Longabardi) is a surfer from Hawaii.