Is “giving a damn about every single possession” easy, though?

[Xs & Os and, well, basketball impotence]

If you’re trying to root for your team, but being bombarded by social media rants resulting in Brandin Podziemski and/or Jonathan Kuminga as the flavors of the month for getting thrown under the bus, this article is for you — and, please, tell a friend. Really. High-vibrational Warriors fans who want to talk about the team in constructive, creative, yet appreciative ways are truly hard to find.

That’s why I’m running the Love Your Dubs Summit marathon on Thanksgiving and Black Friday next week — more details coming soon! Register for free at https://loveyourdubs.com.

But here’s an IG Reel I just posted, a snippet from the SF Chronicle’s Sam Gordon’s clip from the Orlando locker room, as Anthony Slater of ESPN pressed Jimmy Butler about the turnovers that the main guys were committing:

@letsgowarriors

Let’s Go Warriors 🫶💙💛 on Instagram: "Is it easy to give a da…

“We just gotta get back to giving a damn about every single possession,” Jimmy said. And then he added, “Which is easy.”

Woah. Is it easy, though?

They didn’t give a damn about every possession with Giannis Antetokuonmpo absent. They didn’t give a damn about every possession with Tyrese Haliburton on the bench. And they didn’t give a damn about every possession with Paolo Banchero out.

I don’t know, I see a pattern.

Now, Q1 of the Portland game will show if they can flip a switch, but then again they already know what to expect, with the Trail Blazers having drawn first blood a while ago. I would assume there’s an intention going in to stop Shaedon Sharpe at the point-of-attack this time.

So, who knows when the next young-team-with-their-star-out will be, or lengthy athletic ball-handler you’ve not seen much of in the past, but that will be the true test of the bad habit, of not being able to lock in against certain opponents.

Again, as I said in a recent post, I count three losses already to young teams with their star out, teams the Warriors should’ve beaten. Ergo, Golden State should be 12-5, not 9-8. Let’s call those three losses roughly 1/6th of the games played so far (17). One-sixth of 82 games would be roughly 13 games. That’s a lot of games to be handing over this season. This habit needs to be broken.

But can it?

I’ve now had some time to think about possible solutions to “basketball impotence,” which is another way of saying “mentally and physically not being able to give a damn about every possession because, well, you’re old.”

As I said before, here:

The solution is not to wish Kuminga score like an All-Star. The solution is not to wish Podz or any other bench player play like a fringe All-Star. Those are unreasonable terms in a solar system that’s been built over a decade to revolve around one Wardell Stephen Curry.

So, he has to be healthy and he has to be motivated. He also needs the same for the other two old superstars in Jimmy and Draymond Green.

At 35, 36, and 37, it’s okay if you come off two extraordinary wins on the road against a quality San Antonio squad, then you sort of stink it up right away in Orlando.

Look at this horrid defense by Steph out the gate, followed by an impossible pass by Dray that was supposed to thread the needle with the recipient a mere two yards away:

That’s a couple of exhausted minds and bodies, imo. Perfectly okay, though, especially after righting the ship in San Antonio, twice in a row.

And I get Jimmy. He knows the turnovers from Steph and Dray are inevitable. Steve Kerr has said it: the formula has been “organized chaos” led by Steph and Dray and then, when things get wild, settle it down with Jimmy.

So when Butler goes and does this at the end of the opening frame:

…Jimmy thinks the fix is himself. That may be true, but it doesn’t really address the mental fatigue of Steph and Dray. But, we’ll see.

Again, it’s understandable. Our old guys can’t get up for every game. I’ve said it on the livestreams many times now: the legacy of a guy like Draymond is like a radar screen. A November regular season road game in Orlando in Year 15 is not going to show up as a blip on that screen, especially not after two incredible defensive efforts against the alien Victor Wembanyama (oh, and 95 points from a GOAT). I mean, aliens definitely show up as bright blinking blips on that radar screen!

The coaching staff has got to have some Spidey Sense about this, right?

And yet what are they to do as they headed into Orlando? You can’t have Trayce Jackson-Davis sub for Dray after one or two bad turnovers. Heck, you really can’t sit Steph at all. He’s the ecosystem, after all.

Making any other lineup change doesn’t really matter. Okay, well, if JK is dribbling into two defenders or throwing the ball away five times in a game and Will Richard is not doing that, then yes, that matters and would affect said ecosystem.

So, alright, you can mix and match the other two spots and the guys filling those spots just have to not be a sieve on defense and not do anything egregiously wrong on offense. You just have to fit in, cut, not commit turnovers, and knock down open shot attempts.

In any case, you can’t really shave minutes off Steph’s rotations. Taking Jimmy off the floor when things get wild would defeat the purpose. Taking Dray out affects the ecosystem — maybe unless it’s Gary Payton II, although sometimes he can end up doing the Jekyll-Hyde thing.

Curry still has to get to 32 minutes because he is the ecosystem. Everything has to flow around him, whether that’s Richard or Kuminga or whomever. The losses at OKC where Steph was clearly rusty, therefore JK tried to do too much and ended up with 5 turnovers, and at Miami where Richard shot an “ofer”, both results just show that guys play better around Steph when Steph is healthy and playing at his best.

And so it’s really on the vets to come out at the opening tipoff and take every opponent seriously, give a damn about every possession. The die is actually cast for these “Olden State” Warriors in the first quarter and this was observed in the three aforementioned losses. Jimmy even said it: “I’ve always been one to lead by example, so if I’m turning the ball over, I guess it gives everybody else a right to turn the ball over.”

The die is cast by these Warriors in the first quarter!

The vets have to start realizing, that’s part of their identity. This is not the same as back when they won their four rings. You can’t spot the other team more than two possessions at the end of the first quarter.

Also, let’s give these young guys credit. They go as the vets go. You get sloppy, they get sloppy. You lock in, they lock in.

With the pace of the modern NBA, I think what we’re seeing is that when you’re old, you have to take the opposite approach.

It’s different than when you’re in your prime and you feel out a game, make your first big move to the hoop after a few possessions or buckle down on defense and box out like a maniac after you get a good sweat going and you’ve raised your body temperature to the right point. Anyone who’s been a starter on their rec league team knows, there’s a strategy one takes as the game evolves after tipoff.

Like, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t doing his rock steps and fadeaway elbow 2s right after the opening tip. He’s saving that for crunch time. He builds up to that.

My thesis: old guys can’t afford to do that in the modern NBA. That’s my theory after three bad losses to young guys.

How do you come out in Q1 locked in from the get-go? Just go hard earlier, right at tipoff. And if that’s difficult to do for some reason, then here’s how the coaching staff can help you re-focus:

I would just burn all five timeouts as needed in the first half, or even first quarter, whenever things get crazy and, as we say on the Watch Parties, Steph and Dray have opened the bakery and are handing out turnovers.

Or when the defense doesn’t look like it’s on a string.

Just do the Gregg Popovich thing and call a timeout 20 seconds after tipoff if you feel something is off.

Who cares? First half timeouts don’t usually affect the second half, unless a challenge is involved. Late first half is when you can get Jimmy to settle it down when Steph sits, and I don’t think anyone is really worried about Jimmy taking things seriously when needed.

It’s Steph and Dray who have a tendency to goof off because a few stops and a few “shared brain” pick-and-rolls and, boom, 12 points in 90 seconds!

The second half is when you can roll the dice with energy boosters Gui Santos or TJD, if needed.

Use your first half timeouts in the first quarter, Steve. Use more of them and don’t worry about messing up rhythm, saving timeouts, what have you.

Flow and rhythm occur because of being locked in when you’re older. That process should be more relied on than a couple hero shots by Steph to generate flow from nothing. I’m sure the basketball gods would prefer the former, too.

The goal is to get Steph and Dray to lock in early. Do that, plus trust your young guys to hold up the fort. When the two Warrior legends don’t lock in, you end up swimming upstream all game anyways.

Q1 is of supreme importance to these two ancient ones. It goes against conventional wisdom because when you’re old, you’re thinking you need to pace yourself for all 48.

Nah, go hard out the gate. If you need to recharge in the meat of the game, tell Steve to extend a youngster’s minutes. That should not be difficult and you should trust the young guys for that.

If someone has a better on-court suggestion, I’m all ears. Just remember that if you throw guys under the bus, it’s likely that we’re not really having an erudite discussion about the great game of basketball.

🫶💙💛