Klay Thompson is back, returning to the Warriors. #NBA #Klay
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Kawhi was on the Raptors, Westbrook and Paul George were still on the Thunder, CP3 and Harden on the Rockets, AD on the Pelicans, Kyrie on the Celtics, Jimmy on the 76ers, Ben Simmons playing games, point is a lot has happened, over 2 years, the game has changed and **yet Klay could come back better than ever, and here's why.**
Without Klay, the Warriors are the best team in the NBA, adding Klay makes this team a superteam. Imagine actually believing that when before the season started**, so many people were saying that the Warriors just need to stay afloat until Klay comes back and then make the playoffs as a lower seed. Revisionist history is something huh.*
Yet the Warriors don’t have lockdown perimeter defenders. Their team defense is amazing. Draymond puts on a masterclass, I mean there are so many times that Dray is doing it all, whether it’s defending an off-ball cutter, recognizing a mismatch, and recovering to defend a layup at the rim. He’s commanding off-ball switches to make sure the defense doesn’t breakdown. The Warriors have players who work hard and play good team defense. Thinking Basketball did a great breakdown on it, but I wanna focus on this one play.
Wiggins has become a much better team defender, in fact one of the biggest reasons the Warriors have done so well this season apart from players knowing how to play with Steph now is Andrew Wiggins developing into an All-Star. Wiggin’s glow up from this to this is amazing.
In fact, the Warriors are 7-7 when Curry shoots under 40%, .500, of course there is Curry gravity, but Wiggins has covered a lot of the offensive by being a second option. Steph can at times be inconsistent, and while he does a lot of other things, at the end of the day, the Warriors offense is still Steph Curry. They are 21-0 when he shoots above 40%. All this is for a championship and each game in the playoffs counts, so having 1 sub shooting performance every 3 games is not great.
Klay just standing there on the court on the wing one pass away may be enough alleviate some of these high traps defenses use against Curry. If you didn’t know, Klay’s career average 3 point percentage is 42%, and he’s doing stuff like this. **Game 6 Klay is godly**. If you’ve seen the g-league highlights of Klay, he hasn’t lost his shot, it’s lethal in all situations. Klay doesn’t need to be super explosive, although that would help him running off screens and more speed don’t hurt unless you’re going too fast (*Westbrook missing open layup, meme effect)*. His game was never predicated on bursting by opponents. He scored 60 points in 3 quarters on 11 dribbles. Klay as a decoy is an amazing weapon. And maybe that gets Curry out of the worst slump of his career. Man got to 3000 threes and decided that was it.
But perhaps the most important thing, which I was alluding to is Klay’s individual perimeter defense and his ability to guard wings.**
**You see quick lateral movement and even quick vertical movement can get obliterated by injury.** That first step is a bit slower and that matters a lot in defense. But there is something in his favor, the rule changes. See if you’ve ever watched Klay Thompson play defense, you might have noticed that he does not really foul in the regular season. He’s only averaged 1.8 fouls per game since 2014. That changes in the playoffs where Klay averages 2.6, but still that’s amazing for guarding the opposing team’s best player. But with the rule changes and how refs have been officiating, Klay may benefit from being physical, but not truly reaching in, because in most cases, offensive players will try to initiate contact and even that won’t work so Klay can use his size more.
**But why is this so important? Because having Klay means Steph gets to work less defensively, especially when he’s constantly moving offensively.** You get a 6’ 6” guard that is the ultimate 3 and D specialist and as good as Klay’s shooting is, he’s easily a top 5 shooter of all time, his defense is what makes Klay different from so many 3 point marksman. If his defense is there, the Warriors are back.
**Medicine has changed over the years. We’re seeing more and more players come back from previously thought to be career ending.** Zach Lavine tore his ACL 5 years ago, came back, and became an All-Star while still dunking like this. Kevin Durant ruptured his achilles 2 years ago, and now he’s leading the league in scoring. These types of injuries even 7 years ago meant that the player wasn’t going to return back to form.
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