March 2016 Basketball Wiretap

Joe Lacob: We Drove Idea Of Small Ball, We're On To The Next Idea

Jun 22, 2016 8:27 PM

Joe Lacob spoke on Tuesday at Stanford's Director's College summit just two days after his Golden State Warriors lost in Game 7 of The Finals after blowing a 3-1 series lead.

Lacob said the Warriors lead trends and then look for the next, which is similar to Silicon Valley businesses.

“We drove this idea of small ball, and it’s a different style of play,” Lacob said. “Having said that, I think it’s important to know that whenever everyone else starts doing things, it’s time to start doing what’s next. We’re on to the next idea — How can we iterate to evolve to get an advantage? I can assure you we’re very forward thinking in that regard.”

Lacob even said the Warriors were the reason why the salary cap went up to $94 million. The big spike in the cap is due to the NBA's new television deals.

“The free agency market is like the talent market in Silicon Valley,” Lacob said. “It’s about hiring the best people and letting them do their job. I set the highest goal and pay them whatever it takes. Great people attract great people.”

Jennifer Elias/Silicon Valley Business Journal

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA B-Ball IQ

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LeBron James Has Highest Finals PER Since Shaq In 2002

Jun 18, 2016 12:59 PM

LeBron James has the highest Player Efficiency Rating of any player in a single Finals since Shaquille O'Neal in 2002.

Through six games, James has a PER of 35.1 while averaging 30.2 points, 11.3 rebounds, 8.5 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.2 blocks on better than 51 percent shooting.

2016: LeBron James, 35.1

2015: LeBron James, 27.5 (Andre Iguodala, 19.2)

2014: LeBron James, 32.6 (Kawhi Leonard, 25.2)

2013: LeBron James, 29.2

2012: Mike Miller, 33.7 (LeBron James, 29.7)

2011: Dwyane Wade, 32.6 (Dirk Nowitzki, 21.8)

2010: Pau Gasol, 25.3 (Kobe Bryant, 24.5)

2009: Kobe Bryant, 28.7

2008: Ray Allen, 20.6 (Paul Pierce, 19.2)

2007: Tony Parker, 25.4 

2006: Dwyane Wade, 30.5

2005: Chauncey Billups, 24.4 (Tim Duncan, 22.4)

2004: Chauncey Billups, 29.3

2003: Tim Duncan, 30.4

2002: Shaquille O’Neal, 38.5

2001: Shaquille O’Neal, 33.8

2000: Shaquille O’Neal, 36.6

1999: Tim Duncan, 28.0

1998: Michael Jordan, 28.7

1997: Michael Jordan, 29.3

1996: Shawn Kemp, 27.5 (Michael Jordan, 23.8)

1995: Hakeem Olajuwon, 25.7

1994: Hakeem Olajuwon, 25.6

1993: Michael Jordan, 31.7

1992: Michael Jordan, 27.1

1991: Michael Jordan, 34.1

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Tags: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ, NBA Playoffs

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LeBron James With Career-High 35.1 PER In 2016 Finals

Jun 17, 2016 1:01 AM

LeBron James has had two of his best four playoff games in his career in Games 5 and 6 as the Cleveland Cavaliers have forced a Game 7 after going down 3-1 to the Golden State Warriors.

James' PER for the series is now at 35.1, which is his highest mark in seven appearances in The Finals.

2007: 13.4

2011: 17.1

2012: 29.7

2013: 29.2

2014: 32.6

2015: 27.5

2016: 35.1

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Tags: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Warriors +54 With Draymond Green At Center In Finals, -24 Without Him

Jun 11, 2016 10:20 PM

The Golden State Warriors have a +54 with Draymond Green at center over 81 minutes in Games 1-4 of the NBA Finals.

With Green not at center over 111 minutes, the Warriors are -24.

The Warriors have been at their best since last year's playoffs with various iterations of a lineup with Green at center.

Zach Lowe/ESPN

Tags: Draymond Green, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ, NBA Playoffs

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Cavs Want Kyrie Irving To Be Quick With Attacks, Not Excessively Dribble

Jun 5, 2016 4:48 PM

Kyrie Irving was aggressive for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 but Tyronn Lue wants him to be quicker and not excessively dribble the ball.

"Well, we talked about it, and we want Kyrie to be aggressive, but it has to be sharp, quick attacks," said Lue. "You can't dribble for eight or nine seconds. We had that discussion, and he understands that.

"But we need him to score the basketball. We need him to be aggressive. If there's one guy that can go one-on-one on the perimeter, it is Kyrie, because he's very special. Outside, taking advantage of mismatches in the post with Kevin and LeBron, Kyrie is the one guy that we have that can break guys down off the dribble. So it's going to be a fine line, but he has to be quicker on the attack rather than letting him load up and trying to go four, five, six seconds and then they're loading up their defense and he's trying to attack. So it has to be a little faster."

Irving was asked about how he can maintain a balance between being aggressive and staying within the framework of the team.

"You kind of just have to pick and choose your spots, watch as much film," said Irving. "But at the end of the day I understand what my value is for this team in order to have an aggressive mindset and using my skills to the best of my abilities and going out there and trying to create shots for my teammates and also myself, especially if things aren't going the way we kind of want it to go.

"Sometimes you just take it upon yourself to either get a bucket in transition or a lay-up in the half court. But attacking my matchup is what has really worked thus far. I've talked to T. Lue as well as LeBron over the last few days of how to attack better in Game 2 in order to get -- in order for everyone to feel good. A few easy missed shots, the few lay-ups in the paint that I missed, which is okay, I'm fine with. But I'm going to continue to have that aggressive mindset."

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Tags: Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ, NBA Playoffs

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Steve Kerr's Rhythm And Flow Offense Synthesized From Triangle, Popovich, D'Antoni

Jun 5, 2016 4:26 PM

The Golden State Warriors have run one of basketball's most interesting offenses during Steve Kerr's two seasons as head coach which emphasizes rhythm and flow.

The offense stresses ball movement to create easy, high percentage shots at the three-point line and near the basket.

“You see it on their faces when we start to score and when it starts to become overwhelming, when we’re hitting and rolling on all cylinders," said Shaun Livingston. "It’s just a crushing feeling when you take somebody’s will away, to where they don’t really think they can win, they’re not competing at the same level. That’s kind of a gratifying feeling.”

“I don’t think I’ve made up anything that we do,” Kerr said in an interview with The Chronicle. “I’ve stolen from everybody, but most coaches would tell you the same thing.”

Kerr began collecting video clips of plays he liked when he was a broadcaster and those filtered through what he learned playing for Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, along with working with Mike D'Antoni.

Bob Myers and the Warriors' front office didn't like Mark Jackson's isolation-heavy offense.

“We hired Steve on the heels of the Spurs’ clinic against the Heat (in the 2014 NBA Finals) on how to play basketball,” Myers said. “We felt that was the right way, that kind of ball movement. At the end of the year we looked at our passes per possession on halfcourt, and we were on the low end. Our offense was fine, we were scoring points, but how could we improve? Steve actually brought a better blueprint (to the job interview) than any candidate we could find.”

Kerr said Curry was the key to the offense in lessening his responsibility as a ballhandler and decision-maker.

“That’s the biggest change we made,” Kerr said, “was just getting the ball out of Steph’s hands and having him run off screens. ... I wanted to make the game easier for him and I wanted to utilize his tremendous skills to leverage openings for other guys, and to compromise the defense by having to chase Steph around and having to pay so much attention to him.”

Livingston said the new offense “definitely made Steph better, for sure. ... Now it’s a lot harder to guard him, because he’s constantly moving without the ball and with the ball. With Mark Jackson, Steph was great, and got confidence to be able to play his game, but it was more of an isolation system, which takes a lot of energy. ... Now he can score in a greater variety of ways.”

There are definitely elements of the triangle in the offense but no reset is needed after a fastbreak.

Kerr said his offense isn’t “nearly as uniform as the triangle — it’s more random and we give our players a lot of freedom to move wherever they want.”

The Warriors do have a playbook, on tablet. It consists of four or five main concepts, with five or six plays for each concept. In a typical game of about 100 possessions, Kerr will call a play from the bench 15 to 20 times.

Scott Ostler/San Francisco Chronicle

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Warriors Outscoring Cavs 637-540 In Six Matchups Since Game 3 Of 2015 Finals

Jun 3, 2016 3:13 PM

Since losing Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors have won six consecutive games against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Warriors went on to win Games 4, 5 and 6 of last year's Finals along with their two regular season matchups in 15-16 and Game 1 of the 2016 Finals.

The Warriors have outscored Cleveland 637-540 (+97 or +16.2 points per game) since Game 3 of 2015.

Below are the points scored per 100 possessions in each individual game for the Warriors on the left and the Cavaliers on the right since Cleveland won Game 3.

June 11, 2015: 116.0 - 92.4 (+23.6)

June 14, 2015: 115.9 - 101.4 (+14.5)

June 16, 2015: 108.4 - 100.1 (+8.3)

Dec. 25, 2016: 92.8 - 86.5 (+6.3)

Jan. 18, 2016: 139.2 - 103.3 (+35.9)

June 2, 2016: 116.3 - 99.5 (+16.8)

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Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ, NBA Playoffs

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Steve Kerr Never Imagined Warriors' Death Lineup Coming When Hired In 2014

Jun 1, 2016 1:30 PM

When Steve Kerr was hired by the Golden State Warriors as head coach in 2014, he had no idea they would so heavily use a lineup with Draymond Green at center.

"No, because I didn’t know how good Draymond was," said Kerr. "When I took the job, I was anticipating David Lee would start. I had no reason to think otherwise. I knew Draymond was a great competitor. I didn’t know he could guard centers. And that became clear when David was out for the first 20 games or so that he was injured.

"We randomly fell into some switches where Draymond was on a big guy and we kept watching on tape, ‘Man, this guy, he can guard a 7-footer and still hold his own strength-wise and get in there for the rebound.’

"So it just kind of evolved. The first quarter of the season with David’s injury turned into a blessing in disguise, because that all became apparent during that time."

Even though the Warriors' small lineups have Green at center and Harrison Barnes at power forward, there's still collectively a lot of length on the floor in Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and sometimes Shaun Livingston.

Tim Kawakami/San Jose Mercury News

Tags: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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