Warriors coach Steve Kerr promised lineup changes before Wednesday’s game at San Antonio and then unveiled a starting five that didn’t include Jonathan Kuminga, writes Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle.
Kuminga had started the first 12 games of the season, and Kerr said two weeks ago that he had earned a full-time starting role. Golden State’s recent struggles changed his mind, as the team had dropped five of its last seven and was on a six-game road losing streak before beating the Spurs tonight. The Warriors have four more games left on their current trip, with a rematch in San Antonio on Friday followed by stops in New Orleans, Orlando and Miami.
“It’s very clear that we’ve been a little clunky recently,” Kerr said during his pregame press conference. “I obviously watch everything and look at all the lineup data. … There’s times in the season where it’s obvious you’ve got to make some changes.”
Kerr replaced Kuminga with rookie shooting guard Will Richard, using a small-ball starting lineup that also included Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody. It’s the second career start for Richard, who had made 10 appearances coming into tonight and was averaging 10 points per game while shooting 58.6% from the field and 43.8% from three-point range.
Green spoke out about “personal agendas” following Tuesday’s 24-point loss in Oklahoma City and suggested that it doesn’t feel like everyone is committed to winning. He didn’t mention anyone by name, but it’s easy to interpret his comments as a swipe at Kuminga, whose summer-long contract standoff with the team included a desire for more consistent playing time and a larger role in the offense.
Gordon points out that Kuminga has done fine as a starter, averaging 14.9 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game while connecting at 48.9% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc. The Warriors’ two main starting lineups that feature Kuminga and Curry have both won their minutes, Gordon adds. They’re plus-10.8 points per 100 possessions when teaming with Butler, Green and Brandin Podziemski and plus-13.7 when paired with Butler, Green and Quinten Post.
Kerr also told reporters that his lineup change shouldn’t be viewed as a way of blaming anyone for the rocky start.
“It’s never any one individual’s fault,” he said. “It’s all about the team and how we can get the best out of everyone individually so that the collective is stronger.”
Another idiotic starting lineup with 3 guards that put up 14 points in the first quarter. Moody is a strict 2, he is the next Klay, he is 3 and D exactly like Klay was. Kerr plays him at the 3 and he clearly has no idea what to do there. Put him next to Steph in the Klay role and this team is going places.
Insane win by GSW vs Wemby, everyone who called Steph washed: delete your account. You aren’t needed around here. Never count Steph out. Also: haven’t we all been through this enough to understand Steph does this -every- damn year?? He opens great, then becomes inconsistent, then goes into a shooting slump and will lose 3-5 games a year all by himself by shooting 4-18 or the like. Then he comes good and wins like 40+ games by shooting 40+%. Happens every year. Will happen this one too. This is the “inconsistent” stage. He will then play really bad in December, then go nuts in January. Like clockwork.
Why does everyone act like its over for him, when tonight’s game showed he clearly is in his prime?
Draymond with the 10 fouls+turnovers and shot 1-10 from the field…but with a +15 and locked Wemby. Makes no sense. Draymond isn’t even washed, he is more of himself than ever.
Podz was absolutely brutal and again played 29 minutes. Payton gets clutch 4Q minutes, but why? Curry wins games despite being handicapped by these terrible lineups, always been like this. Imagine if Kerr actually wanted to win every game? He could. He doesn’t. On purpose. These lineups are utter nonsense and play zero defense and get destroyed. IMO this is because Kerr is trying to lose games on purpose, due to gambling and likely mob issues (remember how Kerr’s dad was assassinated? a country’s mob likely is forcing him to do these nonsense games).
Another idiotic starting lineup that worked?
It didn’t work. Warriors lost the first quarter and stopped rotating Richard in with starters after that. Kuminga was also among the closing 5.
@reflect thank you for correcting these idiotic reply guys just trying by any means necessary to “own” me. Gross people. They all need to be quiet.
@ reflect
Not true. In the 2nd Q, Kerr put Richard, Curry, and Horford in together at the 7:43 point, and Moody and Green were still on the court.
Starting the 3rd Q, Richard was on the court with Steph, Green, Butler, Moody until Podz came in for him at 5:34.
4th Q, Richard comes in at 10:37 joining Green, Moody,Podz, and Butler. He was subbed out at 5:13.
link to basketball-reference.com
14 points in 1Q. Did you even watch the game?
Locked Wemby? stop. lol but yo its early…a lot of teams are still working lineups out.
Wemby should have put up 50/50/50 with 50 blocks vs this too small team. Wemby could not get loose. He was locked. Watch the game, not the stats sheets.
Moody is the next Klay… LMFAO, what a clown. First, Moody isn’t a kid about to be the next anything. Moody is who he is. Klay is a hall of famer.
Wemby wasn’t locked. I watched the game. Dray played him well though considering he’s a foot shorter.
Draymond held him to 7-17 shooting – that locking him. It’s Wemby. If you get him to a -9 with 31 points, that’s locking him. He should score 50 easy vs this GSW tiny man squad. He literally just has to dunk every time. It’s Podz what the hell is he gunna do?
You either respect Wemby’s greatness AND Draymond elite defense, or at least one of them. You people are disrespecting both.
If locking home is holding him to his career average FG% then I guess lol
Draymond with elite defense is no longer true. This aint 2016 Draymond.
And 50 blocks bro you almost made me choke when I read that LOL
hehe
Take your meds please ….. Warriors are .500.
Be happy you won. 70 gms to go.
@Al
7-6 is above .500
That’s exactly my point …. when will you learn to chill bro. Warriors are not a contender yet. They are a .500 team. Doesn’t mean they will stay there. Its about putting together winning streaks. Teams are still finding themselves. Give them 20-25 gms before being critical. Or passing blame.
Have to say getting Will Richard (No. 56). Is a major score. He looks good. To add a player at #56 and he can make an impact. Is not done very often lols. Whoever is responsible for him (I see you).
Great Pick 👏
Warriors are an elite team who will likely win 55+ games if everyone is healthy. That is fact. I am allowed to gloat with my dynasty team that’s still in the dynasty – if they win another this year thats 5 rings in 10 years, that’s a modern day dynasty.
Try getting by half the season first. Nothing to gloat about now. You can love n support them always. But winning is never guaranteed. Enjoy the building of this team.
@Davey
That’s a fact. But they’ll be back to .500 tomorrow night.
@ Davey…20 more free throws than San Antonio today/tonight? Stop whinging.
Oh wow, you are making multiple comments about a game you did not watch.
Tell me where any of Jimmy’s 12 free throws were bad calls. They were actually fair refs for once. You should not talk about games you did not watch in person, the stats sheet only tells you so much. You might think Podz with a +8 played well last night, for example. He was 100% awful for like 90% of his 29 mins (too much time).
@Nrg82
Apparently he thinks the team that shot way more threes getting the
winning points from free throws is fair officiating, not ref help.
(How often does a team that shot 67% of their FGAs from three pt range (57-85) get +14 free throws over the team that shot 41% of their shots from three (39-84)?
@ Davey J
Will Richard could be the best draft choice for the Warriors since Steph. He needs to play more time so he can develop.
How they spending on a bench warming bum?
they didn’t need him tonight. Not sure if his injury on the knee is worse than he is letting on but the past 4 games he has not looked himself not driving to the basket.
He is who exactly where we said who he was during the offseason. He is not a $30 million player. He is capable of some really good But he won’t be consistent in he’ll regress. He is the perfect 6 man. He will look even worse in the playoffs when teams are really just scouting you out and game planning for you each and every game. He is a NBA player and a decent player but trying to make him a 3rd or 4th option is idiotic at this point there’s enough film and anybody still arguing that or won’t admit they were wrong during the off-season really doesn’t know basketball or watching like we are
Just hoping Kuminga can be the third option guy but so far he has not proven he is capable of being cionsistent as 3rd option. Last night it was Moody as third option. The bench didn’t put up enough points.
Can’t be traded till Jan 15. Hope he looks good by then. So you get good value. He is better in another system. Warriors are better with his return.
Claxton and a future pick ……
I’d say getting Claxton would be excellent, but i don’t think the Nets want Kuminga.
Imo Claxton will be moved. He is not in Nets timeline. A team would be wise to pursue him. He doesn’t want to go thru major rebuild.
PG. Curry SG. Heild SF. Butler PF. Green C. Horford
This should be easy to figure out
Buddy is utter garbage. Trade him.
Best lineup is:
PG Curry
SG Moody
SF Butler
PF Green
C Post
Offer Heild, Payton, Rowe’s two way contract plus a pick to Dallas for Klay Thompson. Sign Wiseman and Cryer
PG. Curry
SG. Thompson
SF. Butler
PF. Green
C . Horford
Horford and Thompson are the first to get subbed out for Moody and Post
Great win today but yes still line up issues, Kuminga issues and people on here overhyping the Warriors.
Davey says Draymond clamped Wemby, he had 31-15-10. He shot 50% from the field and 100% from the line. Yes he had 8 turnovers but Draymond himself had 4, he also went 1/10 for 6 points and only had 4 assists. Sure his plus minus was great but he didn’t clamp him.
Curry dropped 46, Butler was on fire 28-8-6 with 3 steals and Moodys 19 was massive. Fox wasn’t firing 5/14 and 6 turnovers and Vassell struggled 5/13. Playing at home they won by 5, have to wait and see for the rematch in a couple days time but I think the Spurs beat them.
The fact Kuminga leads them in rebounds with less than 7 is a major concern for this team. Sure they might make the playoffs but what happens when your going from Sengun to Jokic to Wemby to AD your going to struggle when you don’t have any bigs. Surely with Kuminga dropped again you have to look into trading him for someone to play centre. Nic Claxton would make a bunch of sense.
He’s young but ready to win. He’s got the size while still mobile and athletic. He’s a great defender, he’s also shown ability as a passer, he’s efficient as a scorer, he’s now making FT’s, doesn’t foul out, he’d be perfect.
Nets aren’t trying to win now and Kuminga would be a great fit next to MPJ, he’s a two way player, he’s only 23, does a lot right but still developing.
Nets have Sharpe and Wolf who could eat up the centre minutes.
Even if you wanted to extend the deal maybe you could get Haywood Highsmith too whos be a solid back up two way forward and help replace Kuminga
I agree with most of what you said, fox is not need on SA. I think Harper and Castle fill those positions and there’s not enough balls to go around for everybody to get all the shots they need. They need another backup big like you said. The scary part about San Antonio is they have the cap space and the assets and players and picks to get anything they need. I still think they are out in the 2nd round and the warriors health are a long match up for any team in the playoffs minus OKC. Kuminga is just not starter on a championship team.
I said this in the off-season. He’s a small forward that has to play power forward because he doesn’t have the handles in his own shot. He is not consistent enough. But I like your trade or Nick Claxton
Whoa… respect levels gone. Young guys you mentioned need Fox for their development. It’s not like the Spurs are paying anyone else. When the time comes Fox can leave. Today isn’t that time. It amazes me posters think like this sometimes. Didn’t you get paid to play?
Seen a mock trade at the start of the season Fox for Lauri.
Same type of thing Spurs have Castke and Harper for the backcourt and not enough touches to go around. The idea was Lauri is a very good catch and shoot player who doesn’t take many touches to score also the fact he can play either forward spot and his height and shooting would be great with Wemby (forming a twin towers) and opening the floor for two guards that like to drive rather than shoot threes.
As for the Jazz Gox would be their point guard and help Ace develop and same with Walker Kessler. However Kessler is gone down injured and Keyonte has been great to start the year plus they have Collier and Clayton not sure if you need a point guard but at the time I could definitely see the idea and liked it. Maybe it’ll get revisited in the offseason or something
I think the guy Simmons Russ summed it up perfectly. Castle got a year under PG. Fox made since until Harper got drafted. He fits the time line better. They are not expecting to win a chip this year.
2nd I did play ball and basketball is not 2k there this thing called rythem. As someone who played point guard my original comment said there is only one basketball. Fox needs touches to get his rythem so do the other guards.
Last I’ll say this you are starting to get added to the guy who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Anytime someone starts a post with insults it lets me know they don’t know basketball. You can articulate you opinion with the extra sassy stuff. Debating is healthy and obsession with being correct means you are key board warriors who don’t know basketball. Look at AL Knicks don’t be that guy he thinks he is better then everyone here and probably never touched a ball in his life.
Being sassy is fun though. Lighten up. Live a little. Think outside the box. Watch a team that wins a title for once in your life. When Big D says something funny, laugh at it.
@Nrg82
I agree 100%. Fox’s experience as a PG that has led a team is important for the 2 young guards’ development.
@Buying buckets
This was only the 2nd game back from injury for Fox, and he played well in the 1st one.
Without the Scott Foster-led +14 free throws for GSW, the Spurs would have won this game.
Fox can definitely help those 2 young guards learn. Trading him now would be a mistake.
Foster had nothing to do with this win, Jimmy’s fouls were all legit as were Steph’s. Are you seriously misunderstanding that Steph getting ZERO calls EVER is not normal? And this is?
Hilarious. As if no calls on the Warriors isn’t the other half of the officiating that results in that imbalance?
The fact that Steph has the worst whistle of any superstar just makes his having shot 16 FTAs in this game (despite 16 of his 25 shots being threes) a huge outlier in terms of ref help.
I’m not denying that and I’m not judging this team or expecting them to win . Two things can be right at the same time and I do believe both of us are completely right. But I see other needs on the team and I think they’re not going to win a championship this year. So I would spread around the talent and grow. I really like Castle and Harper and I like that Lori trade. Not sure Utah needs fox. I think when it’s championship time I just don’t believe Fox will be on the team. And you’re correct, he did just come back from injury. It just just I believe in Castle and Harper’s time line a little bit better. They are like 2 years way though.
“Overhyping the Warriors”
LOUDER!
What team deserves more hyping on here?
What team has the most fans on here?
Silence, huh?
Wemby should have put up 50/50/50 with 50 blocks on this too-small team. That’s what clamped is. He could literally just dunk every play. Draymond got in his head and for Wemby, YES that is a clamping. Until an 8 foot guy who plays elite D comes into the league, this is as bad a game as Wemby will have.
“Yes he had 8 TOs” lmao you owned yourself there.
So because Wemby didn’t play like Wilt chamberlain he was clamped got it. Guess this kid kinda sucks then because he averages 26-13-4 which isn’t even close to 50-50-50.
31-15-10 which he put up is better than his average in all categories tho so be still preformed better than his usual, so again not clamped
@Simmons>Russ
Once again, you lack reading comprehension skills.
I literally said Wemby should have a 50-50-50 game vs this too-small Warriors team, but you turned that into “averaging 50-50-50” no I never said that, that’s impossible. But its possible vs small ball teams like GSW.
Lies lies lies, that’s the only way you can win an argument vs me. Either use my EXACT words, or understand I know ball and just step aside.
“Wemby should have put up 50/50/50 with 50 blocks on this too-small team. That’s what clamped is.”
LMAO
Notice how @Simmons>Russ turned that quote into me saying “Wemby averages 50-50-50” and yet some idiot liked his lying comment. That is why we should do away with upvoting. Morons on here are upvoting lies, just because they are written in reply to my takes – which are always hot, fresh and often spicy. Reply guy haters are losers to me. I will never respect anyone who lies on my name like that. Either cut and paste what I wrote, or shut up.
One game and we got answers. True geniuses.
Try enjoying the game for once. Let me let you in on a secret. In the NBA season games. Someone wins and someone loses ……try enjoying the ride. Both teams will probably be in playoffs.
How about those Lakers ….
Steve Kerr doesn’t have a contract extension for a reason, Team USA changed HC for a reason.. seeing a pattern?
Kerr been talking about retiring over a year. Kerr also took the HC job for team USA only for 1 olympics because its so tough to do for a long time.
I’m not a big Kerr guy. But his small ball works. Yet his obsession with no rim protector will ruin him.
Warriors also need another ball handler/playmaker.
Steve…..Steph, Moody, Jimmy, Draymond, horford is your starting and finishing line up. Doesn’t mean guys can’t kill it off the bench and play serious minutes. Kuminga and Jimmy can’t be on court together without curtain exceptions. F-sake these guys getting paid to be dumb frustrates me.
Waive Payton and Rowe
Sign Wiseman and Cryer
It is easier in the NBA. To control a SG or wing. Than it is to control a real BIG. Fact you need 46 from Curry to beat Spurs should tell you something. How long have we been saying you need a rim protector. He is as valuable as your second leading scorer. Every team should have one. Think of top teams in west you will need to go thru in playoffs. There is no reason in the world. Why you put all your money in the small ball basket. When you have a 15 man roster.
Buddy Hield <<<<>>>> Brook Lopez
☝️👏👏☝️👏👏☝️👏👏☝️👏👏☝️
Kuminga Bandwagon lasted …. 12 games.
Oh my ….. 😱…. longer than I thought.
He will be available to trade on Jan 15. Make him look good and ready to move him by then. Just shop him. He has plenty of value still. Make sure by playing him smart. His return will upgrade the team. He is just not on the timeline of this Warriors team. He is still a positive for team that way. The value you get back.