Topic: 2019 NBA Pre-Season - page 129. (Read 921500 times)

Klay has no problem with the accuracy of his shooting. If you look at his stats, you'll notice that his field goal percentage is about the same as before the injury. The reason why Klay's performance has worsened is probably the injury, and more specifically, the fact that any player is limited in his movement on the court after such kind of injury.

After that bad performance last season maybe he already knew that the managements will not going to offer him the contract that he wanted and he wanted to prove something I guess that's why he went out and work with that trade, we might see him differently this upcoming season as he got two of the best offensive players from their position, and adding him to work with outside threat, it will be an interesting season for Mavs fans.

Okc is dependent on their young guys making another step, chet jaylen etc.  I think grabbing isiah hartenstein was a great underrated move.  He was great for the Knicks and will do the dirty work under in the paint.  This will allow chet to free roam the court and do what he does best.  Gonna be a fun year to see who steps up.

Not the same pre injury but still he can shoot and explode 3s on some of their games that time unlike the previous which he is totally useless.

Warriors back then have a great bench players aside from Poole while Wiggins is doing so good on attacking the paint while Klay and Curry still both contributing well with their perimeter threat. I’m not sure what really happened to Klay but it’s more on a psychological compared to injury as reason to his inaccuracy shooting right now.

He was already not the same anymore after he recovered from a serious injury, and although the Warriors won a championship when he returned, that was due to Poole^^the Poole Party guy^^and Wiggins also playing great at that time. But when Poole was out and CP3 came in, Thompson was still the same, and the team really struggled a lot as he was still trusted to make some shots, but his accuracy had dropped significantly.

He suffer from major injury plus disappointment from his past position in GSW and it affect him mentally. So maybe this add in those reason on why his performance decline since he think he's not important on current Warriors roster anymore. That's why he decide to leave and get more better position and quality minutes. Maybe in Dallas we can see a classic Klay since at that team for sure he knows that all eyes on him and he need to prove something that Warriors just waste a legendary player like him.

But lets give them a chance if there's really be an effect in their defense since maybe their current player could adjust. Also for sure they know they lose those perimeter defensive guys but provably they can handle it well since they also have good defenders left in their roster.

It's probably that one season wherein Klay was not shooting well in the outside, hence he suffer. The expectation though is too high obviously from him and he didn't produce hence he was not offered a good salary and so he chooses to go out after many years with the Warriors. And he did choose a good team and I think Klay could still ball and shoot and will try to get back this season.

But I do agree that missing those guys from the Dallas team that give them good defense might have a negative effect on them as they will have to compensate and then Klay will have to play defense too. They say that he is a good defender, but for me he is just average though.

I agree that they're scarier now. After reaching the finals but falling shortly against the Boston Celtics last season, that roster they've got managed to reach that far and with Klay Thompson's addition, they'll be more on point this time. I am hyped at first and waiting for the season to come and see how they'd play. Because in the past seasons, there have been superteams that we thought were going to dominate the league but they didn't.

I understand that rotation needed of ball when Luka holds it for a longer time. He's got Kyrie and Klay and I think that the main runner of the ball should be Kyrie. Anyway, Jason Kidd will have to figure that out and this is going to be another long season that we're going to tune in. There's so much to adjust on this roster by the addition of Klay but I know that the management have got plans of it especially the coaching staff on how they're going to be utilized and used on their maximum potential.

Yeah, even if Klay isn't in his prime anymore and didn't perform well last season, others are saying he is already done. Yeah, maybe, but hey, they can't just leave Klay wide open. Still a good addition to the Mavs lineup, I believe, especially on offense. Even more so now that things have ended like that between him and the Warriors. His pride might boost his confidence back, showing them that he is still worth it and can bounce back.

Back injury, yes.

I was following that kid when he started his career in the NBA but sadly that back problem had a big impact on his performance. I even remembered one game where he was forcing it but he played like he was laboring and I could see in his face that it really hurt bad but the game was too important for him.
He has a lot of heart for the game but he cannot force it or else his career will be ruined.
After he took some rest, he played differently. More like a Klay Thompson after the injury too. Mental effects. This is what we don't see in reports because they always just tell about the physical condition but not the mental ones.
It's a surprise that they won a championship with that and Murray just came back from an injury too. I guess that year was really for them.

Yes, I will agree that this guy could play better if not for that injury. PG13? Maybe. Or a sharpshooter type.

The Dallas Mavericks looks really scary to be honest especially with the addition of Klay Thompson now, but they might have some lapses in defense though with losing Derrick Jones Jr which means Klay Thompson would have to do some defensive duties, however my major concern is Luka Doncic, I think he does inhibit the performance of some his teammates with being on the ball 95% of the time, perhaps there should some rotation and him playing a bit more off the ball to help improve the teams chemistry a bit more, just like like Curry play off the ball with Green a lot, it would unlock even better opportunities for Doncic, it might reduce his numbers a bit, but it will be at the benefit of the team because just like in the finals against Celtics, after the Celtics cut out Luka Doncic passes to his teammates, they ran out of options and needed Luka do the scoring alone, while the Celtics were fine with him scoring 100 points by himself the limited connection to his teammates but if the teammates were able to play more off another facilitator besides Doncic, they might have had stood better chance. With like the Celtics asides Jaylen Brown and 70% of the players on the court are pretty good ball handler, unlike with the Mavs where you players like Tim Hardaway Jr, Derrick Jones and PJ probably not being to touch the ball at all unless they needed to catch and just shoot, or grab a board.

^^ Yeah and that's what we love about Luka, he trash talks but he can back it up with his game specially close out games. Just like what they did against the Wolves, before that series, I think the Wolves is the favorite on the strength of Edwards, Towns and Gobert.

But Luka has been on the same spot, and he knows how to respond with this kind of pressure. I do agree, it will still be the same teams, but I will put OKC as the likely dark horse again for this year. SGA will lead this team again and most likely in the top 3.

Yeah experience probably had a lot to do with it.  Closing out series after series takes some stamina mentally as well.  I expect Dallas, minn, okc and Denver during it out all year.  The rest of the teams just can't compete.  If I had to give honorable mention it might be sacramento but either sabonis or fox needs to take it to all nba level to get them in with that other tier.  Just can't wait to watch some meaningful nba again.

Fair enough, I guess we can say that Minnesota doesn't have that experience last season, after a long time, this is the closest that they get and with Edwards athleticism still not enough to overcome Dallas. Luka has been in this situation before, and so very familiar on how to play and close out games. But with the the Wolves exposure to this kind of situation, they could really improved this year. For the Center of Dallas, they are underrated, but the good thing is that Lively is still very young and a lot of leg room to improved as well. And getting Gafford and Washington in the trade deadline really help the chances of Dallas last season to go to the finals. As for Klay, let's see, he might have this chip on his shoulder and with that he could be motivated this season.

I think that's exactly why they got klay.  Luka and especially kyrie like to operate in the 2 point area and this will open it up a little.  Now klay needs to make them pay but if he is there as a spot up shooter I don't think he will have any issue succeeding in that role.  The problem will be on the defensive side.  But no team is solid all the way round.  It's about covering as much holes as you can.

This is true, even if Klay doesn't shoot that well, it's a psychological thing where other teams just can't leave him wide open, so it's another player they need to defend, and Luka could find more free room to play, that's all that matters.

Luka is just a very very talented player, he really does super well and I believe that he is going to be MVP soon enough, not saying it will be this season (which it could be) but he is going for that triple double season and may achieve that soon and could take his team to high seeds, in which case he might be given the MVP as well.

This is going to be a tough season for them because expectations are super high, just because they got to finals doesn't mean they will do it again and again, however that is the expectation. If you reach the finals once, people expect you to build the team better and go there again which is hard to achieve, took Celtics so many years but Dallas looks like they are on the right path at least.

I think the PG addition won't move the needle.  He is 34 and the last 4 years has been in and out of the lineup with perennial injuries.  Those things don't magically get better as you get into your late 30s in the NBA.  Same with embid.  That body has some miles on it amd think he has one or 2 more years before we start to see his game deteriorate.  The real x factor is maxey.  I bet by the end of next year he is gonna be the one that defenses have to worry about.  Philly will love amd die based on how much maxey steps up

Ya, it has a lot to do with the type of injury. PG13 did suffer that horrific leg break in the Olympics a few years back but 1) he never was as good as he was pre-injury, & 2) his injury while looking absolutely horrific, was just a broken bone and those tend to heal well and not hinder a player beyond getting them out of shape and out of practice. MPJ’s injury could have been career ending.

There’s always a talk like this but remember that even the players that are using as reference for what if skills use to suffer some injuries too yet they can still perform better. Injury is part of the players career so this is one thing be always look forward to avoid in every game if they want to become great player.

Some players use their injury as an excuse with their bad game telling the same exact words on the post that you share while others keep moving forward without giving much shit about injury and work hard.

Even PG13 bad injuries but still can perform good.

I was just talking about how Michael Porter Jr’s injury fresh out of college set him back and had he not had that injury he would’ve been one of the best in the league. Today, Trae Young gave an interview talking about just that and said he would have been as good as Paul George without the injury. Watch a clip of the interview here: https://x.com/thedunkcentral/status/1824456803641438655