Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr talks to the only active holdover from last year’s roster, Damion Lee.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group.)
Normally, I want to spotlight the winners in these columns but I am just so captivated by this topic. I promise you that I don’t hate the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors were in such a… unique situation Saturday night in their game against the Charlotte Hornets. So we all know about Stephen Curry. Well, Draymond Green is going to miss a few games because of an injured index finger. Let’s bring up that roster again from last season.
Data from Basketball Reference.
So get this: only ONE of those players from last year played in Saturday night’s game. Shall we give you an update on every single one of those guys?
Jordan Bell: Went to Minnesota.
Andrew Bogut: Went back to Australia.
Quinn Cook: Now plays for the Lakers.
DeMarcus Cousins: Also went to the Lakers. Currently out with a torn ACL.
Stephen Curry: Just had surgery on his hand. Out for three months minimum.
Marcus Derrickson: Currently on training camp with the College Park Skyhawks, the G-League affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks.
Kevin Durant: Left for Brooklyn in free agency. Not expected to play this season due to a torn Achilles.
Jacob Evans: Adductor strain. Could be out for a number of weeks.
Draymond Green: Out with an index finger injury.
Andre Iguodala: Traded to Memphis. Currently not playing.
Jonas Jerebko: Went to the Euroleague.
Damian Jones: Playing for the Atlanta Hawks.
Shaun Livingston: Retired last summer.
Kevon Looney: Hamstring injury. No certain timetable on return.
Alfonzo McKinnie: Picked up by the Cavs off waivers.
Klay Thompson: Possibly out for the season with a torn ACL.
The only one that I did not list there… was Damion Lee. And he only played 32 games for them last season. And you know what was kind of hilarious? He didn’t even start the game.
To add insult to injury, their big acquisition, D’Angelo Russell, was also out with an ankle injury. That’s just… insane.
So if Damion Lee wasn’t in the starting line-up… and if Russell wasn’t playing… who the hell started?
These guys are hardly recognizable. Well, some might know one or two. But I’ll let you know who they are, anyway.
Ky Bowman: Went undrafted out of Boston College. Has a two-way contract with the team and its G-League affiliate, Santa Cruz Warriors.
Jordan Poole: Went 28th overall in last summer’s draft out of Michigan.
Glenn Robinson III: Okay. Someone might know him. 6th year in the league. 2017 Slam Dunk Champion in an underwhelming contest. Most recently played with the Pistons.
Eric Paschall: The Dubs’ second round pick (#41 overall) out of Villanova. Notably a friend of Donovan Mitchell.
Willie Cauley-Stein: Spent four years as a Sacramento King before signing with the Dubs.
If THOSE were the starters, who came off the bench?!
Damion Lee: Undrafted out of Louisville. In his third overall season in the NBA. Only holdover from last year’s roster that was active Saturday night.
Alec Burks: 9th NBA season. Spent most of his career in Utah before spending time in Cleveland and Sacramento last season.
Omari Spellman: Last pick of the first round in the 2018 NBA Draft selected by the Hawks. Traded to the Dubs for Damian Jones.
Marquese Chriss: Picked #8 by the Kings in 2016 before getting traded to Phoenix for multiple lower picks and the draft rights to Bogdan Bogdanovic. Has played for Houston and Cleveland since.
That’s it. They had nine active players. And wouldn’t you know it, they almost beat the Hornets at home. Too bad, they couldn’t get a rebound to save their lives.
I was trying to think of any NBA Finals team that had SO MUCH turnover in their next season. The only team I can think of was the 1999 Chicago Bulls. That team was dismantled after their sixth championship because organizations win championships, according to the late Bulls GM Jerry Krause. Ron Harper was the only starter that stayed from that title team. Toni Kukoc, Bill Wennington, and Randy Brown were the key reserves that stayed. Dickey Simpkins and Rusty LaRue would round out the holdovers. So four rotation guys and two end-of-the-bench dudes. That Bulls team went 13-37 in the 1999 lockout year. That’s equivalent to 21-61 in a normal regular season. That’s a bit down from 62-20 and an NBA championship there, Bulls. Great job with the winning there!
While there was only one player left from last season that played on Saturday, the Warriors still have their core three from their five-year run. They just happen to be all hurt. Jacob Evans and Kevon Looney were the other two that stayed from last year and they are also both hurt for a bit of time. Probably not the team Steve Kerr envisioned.
I don’t think we’re going to see anything like this for a while. This entire thing is just so crazy to me.
Bullet Passes
*Andre Drummond had another 20-20 game in their win over the Nets. That makes it his 4th 20-20 this season and they have only played seven games. That would be 36 for his whole career.
But you probably shouldn’t lose sleep on whether he would get to the top of the all-time list for 20-20 games. The incomparable Wilt Chamberlain had 588 of those! At least, that’s what Basketball Reference told me.
*Yes, I continue to watch Markelle Fultz’s comeback. On Saturday, he made his first start of the season in the Magic‘s game against the Nuggets. He didn’t do too bad at 9 points and 3 steals. Fultz even closed the game but the Nuggets won, 91-87.
*In case you’re wondering about the teams of the two giants serving suspensions, they did pretty well. The Wolves blew out the shorthanded Wizards. As for the Sixers? You’ll see at the bottom of this column.
*Rookies Ja Morant (24 points, 7 assists and Brandon Clarke (16 points, 11 rebounds, 3 steals) did really well for the Grizz. But they fell short against the Suns, who are off to a blazing 4-2 start.
*In a rematch of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bucks held off the champion Raptors, 115-105. Milwaukee got off to a 12-1 boost and led by as many as 26 points. But NBA CHAMPION Kyle Lowry pushed back with 17 of his 36 points in the third. Raps cut the gap to four points many times but Toronto got Linkin Park‘d. In the end, it doesn’t really matter.
Giannis Antetokounmpo went for 36-15-8 along with 4 swats. That is last year’s MVP.
*Hey, I know you want to see a windmill dunk from last year’s dunk champion. Click if you want to see Hamidou Diallo do that thang.
*Remember when Josh Hart witnessed James Harden hit himself in the chin with the basketball? Well, he ain’t letting it go:
Josh Hart, this looks familiar. 😂 #Shaqtin pic.twitter.com/hCUuQ37mlu
— Shaqtin’ a Fool (@shaqtin) November 3, 2019
Josh Hart is hilarious, man.
Watch This Play
No Joel Embiid on the last play BUT FURKAN KORKMAZ was there!
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
And nobody needed to be held during a screen there! Great execution there by the Sixers, who are still the lone undefeated team in the league at 5-0.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.