#thegentleginger

Well that really depends on who you’re asking. Our opinions on who to start are all well documented. If you don’t feel like clicking on those links, what it basically boils down to is I feel Iguodala should start at the 2 guard, Greg feels he should start over Harrison Barnes at the 3 spot, and Angelo would love to start Klay, Iggy, and Harrison, and have David Lee come off the bench.

I think Coach Jackson will try to spread minutes where they are due. If someone fights for his minutes, I believe they will be rewarded. All 12 guys on our roster can play and have their own arguments for why they deserve minutes. It’s a good problem to have.

Honestly, depending on our starting lineup will depend on who doesn’t get minutes. With my model and Iggy starting over Klay, it opens up minutes for Draymond Green as backup Small Forward behind Harrison Barnes. Greg’s lineup (and what is looking more and more like the accurate lineup) leaves us without a backup 2 guard, much like last year. Last year we had Steph slide over to the 2 guard with Jack, and it worked well, but this year, those minutes will go to Kent Bazemore, at the expense of Draymond Green, who will slide down to 3rd string. In Angelo’s ideal world, David Lee comes off the bench, who would then also take minutes at center, along with Mo Speights, Andrew Bogut, and Jermaine O’neal. As injury prone as our front court has the potential to be, that’s still a lot of people on the totem pole above Festus Ezeli, while giving huge minutes to both Kent Bazemore and Draymond Green.

But right now, we don’t have to worry about that too much, because Festus Ezeli is still recovering from surgery on the ligaments in his knees, and at the time of the surgery, was slated to be out 6-9 months. That puts his return timetable anywhere from December to the All-Star Break. The later he comes back, the more established our rotations will be, and the less likely Festus is to get significant minutes, but should he come back earlier than expected, handling minutes will become much more of a challenge.

I know it's just summer league, but I saw a team go down by 14, Kent Bazemore get blocked on a drive, and then subsequently take over. He got a tech for slapping the floor, which I am completely okay with, because it's a tech given for emotion. He then threw down a MONSTER dunk on the next possession, slapped his chest, and shouted something to the rest of the team. Whatever he said worked.

I said that once I saw that Kent Bazemore can prove himself as a viable 2-way player, I'd be on board with giving him time at backup 2. Well he just played 35 minutes and scored 25 points, grabbed six rebounds, and nabbed 2 steals, and led his team from down 14 to a win.

I'm on board.

I think we can all agree that Dray deserves a substantial amount of minutes given how well he produced during the regular season and post-season, yeah? If not more, then at least the same amount. He averaged 13.4 minutes during the regular season and 18.6 during the playoffs. Obviously the spike in minutes was thanks to David Lee getting hurt, but that uptick in minutes also saw a rise in field goal percentage (32.7% to 42.9%), 3-point percentage (20.9% to 39.1%), twice as many free throws per game, a full rebound more (3.3 to 4.3), another assist (0.7 to 1.6), and half a block more per game (0.3 to 0.8).

So if we start Iggy at the three and slide Harrison to backup SF (even though Angelo wants to start him at the 4, which I don't think would work well over the course of a full season), then where do Green's minutes come from? Not only would he be a 3rd string small forward, but he'd be a 3rd string power forward behind David Lee and Marreese Speights. (Side Note: Marresse is a weird name. Well, weird spelling at least.) So why clutter up the forward positions when Draymond Green has been working hard to slim down and condition himself to earn his minutes?

Especially when we don't have a backup 2. Brandon Rush would have come in as a backup shooting guard if we hadn't traded him. Draymond is not a shooting guard in any stretch of the imagination. So I don't think it's fair to cut into Dray's minutes at small forward and power forward and give Kent Bazemore a substantial amount of minutes as a backup two. I love Bazed God, but until he shows me that he can be a viable 2-way player, I'd rather keep him in the role he is now, playing double duty for Santa Cruz and Golden State and developing his game. Toney Douglas isn't confirmed yet (as of 7/15) and if Nedo can't or doesn't play, he'll already get plenty of playing time.

It makes more sense for our depth chart to have Iggy be at the 2 with Klay off the bench and two Small Forwards in Barnes and Green, rather than Green being 3rd string SF and PF and Bazemore being backup 2. Let's take a look at the Depth chart if Iggy starts at the 3.

Point Guard:

Starting: Stephen Curry

Backup: Toney Douglas??/Nemanja Nedovic

Shooting Guard:

Starting: Klay Thompson

Backup: ...Kent Bazemore?

Small Forward:

Starting: Andre Iguodala

Backup: Harrison Barnes

3rd string: Draymond Green

Power Forward:

Starting: David Lee

Backup: Marreese (Still weird) Speights

Center:

Starting: Andrew Bogut

Backup: Jermaine O'neal??

All I'm saying is why create more depth at a position with depth at the expense of depth at a position where we need it? Why create a problem that doesn't need to exist? Two birds, one stone.

So I promised you guys my thoughts on the entire Western conference, as well as my predictions for the Warriors season.

Let's see.

Stephen Curry will play in at least 75 games.

Andrew Bogut will play somewhere between 60-75 games, but will average almost 2 blocks a game.

Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala will be all-stars.

David Lee will not, but he will pass the 10,000 point mark for his career.

David Lee and Andre Iguodala will both have at least one triple-double.

Stephen Curry will have at least 2 40+ point games.

Golden State will have AT LEAST 50 wins.

Warriors beat Clippers, Clippers have better record.

As for the way the Western Conference will end up, in my opinion.

San Antonio Spurs (59-23)

Oklahoma City Thunder (58-24)

Los Angeles Clippers (56-26)

Golden State Warriors (53-29)

Houston Rockets (52-30)

Memphis Grizzlies (51-31)

Portland Trailblazers (45-37)

Minnesota Timberwolves (43-39) if healthy/Los Angeles Lakers (42-40)

I only say that the Lakers would get in because I know Denver won't, and I'd say Dallas, but you can't have the Spurs, the Rockets, and the Grizzlies have over 50 wins without the other 2 teams (Dallas and New Orleans) taking it on the chin. I actually think that New Orleans isn't going to be that bad of a team, they just have the misfortune of being in the same division as San Antonio, Memphis, Dallas, and now Houston. My money is still on Minnesota making it, now that Kevin Martin is alongside Ricky Rubio and Kevin Love. But this is a team that loves to get injured, and the Lakers still play 8 games against Sacramento and Phoenix, so you can't count them out.

The first round matchup against the Houston Rockets is something we should get used to seeing for years to come as a rivalry continues to grow between these two clubs. I think that the Warriors, with a healthy Andrew Bogut, are a better team than the Rockets. Then the second round rematch against the Spurs with them another year older and us another year better. Then who knows?

Okay so I lied.

My next post after this one will be about the predictions for this coming season as we relate to the Western Conference.

This post will be about, as the title states, the possible rotations for next season.

I've thought of a couple.

Please Note: All lineups are based off of the current roster. Chances are we will sign a backup 4, but for the time being, I'm going off of who we have.

Starting Lineup

Stephen Curry

Andre Iguodala

Harrison Barnes

David Lee

Andrew Bogut

"Bench Mob" Lineup (probably not utilized in it's entirety unless full-on garbage time)

Nemanja Nedovic/Kent Bazemore

Klay Thompson

Draymond Green

Dwayne Jones

Ognjen Kuzmic (until Ezeli is fully rehabbed)

"The Forest" (Big Lineup)

Stephen Curry

Andre Iguodala

Draymond Green

David Lee

Andrew Bogut

"Muggsy Bogues" (Small Lineup)

Stephen Curry

Klay Thompson

Andre Iguodala

Draymond Green

David Lee

"Both Barrels" (AKA Athletic Lineup/offensive lineup) (look for this a lot, but I don't think it should be the starting lineup)

Stephen Curry

Klay Thompson

Andre Iguodala

Harrison Barnes

David Lee

"Defensive Shock Troopers" (The "We need a stop" Lineup)

Kent Bazemore

Klay Thompson

Andre Iguodala

Draymond Green

Andrew Bogut

"Weird amorphous blob with no point guard" (Just something I've been toying with. Will probably never occur unless Curry gets hurt. 1-4 is all the same height. Probably a lot of zone defense with this)

Andre Iguodala (Primary Ball Handler) (Hehe. Ball handler.)

Klay Thompson

Harrison Barnes

Draymond Green

Andrew Bogut

"Splash-Tastic" (Drive and Kick/Space the Floor/Iggy Iso Lineup)

Nemanja Nedovic/Andre Iguodala

Stephen Curry

Klay Thompson

Harrison Barnes/Draymond Green (only if his shooting stroke stays with him through next season)

David Lee

I'm back guys.

So first things first, Andre Iguodala.

I'm going to go ahead and say that Andre Iguodala is the biggest free agent signing that the Warriors have ever had. Think about it. All the other big names the Warriors have had; Stephen Curry, David Lee, Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Chris Webber, even going so far back as the days of Rick Barry and Wilt Chamberlain, all came through the draft or through trades. The only even halfway prominent names in recent years with Jarrett Jack, Carl Landry, and Dorell Wright a few years ago. So I feel safe to say that Iggy is the biggest name we have ever signed.

Even better, we got him for virtually nothing in terms of roster. To clear cap space, we traded RJ, Beans, and Brandon Rush to the Jazz. Now think about that. Those three players, with the exception of Brandon Rush, who would have been an integral part of the bench had he stayed healthy (he only logged 25 minutes this season), the total minutes played was 1088 minutes. Less than 1100 minutes combined. The definition of spare parts.

Iggy is a player who is an upgrade at the two spot over Brandon Rush, and we're paying him too much to come off the bench, so he'll be starting. Klay Thompson is a great defender, but he wasn't on an Olympic team because of his defense. He is an all-world defender, and was named to the All-defensive 2nd-team in 2011. He's not Gary Payton, but he's close for a swingman. Not only that, but he is an extremely athletic attacker and scorer, which is hopefully something that will rub off on Klay Thompson.

For his career, Iggy has averaged 18-5-5. He loves to distribute the ball, and has the size to grab rebounds. Iggy has had 9 Triple-Doubles in his career. More importantly, for his career, he averages 4.8 free throw attempts per game. To put that into perspective, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes, and Draymond Green combined averaged 4.8 free throw attempts per game last season. So not only will we see an increase in trips to the line for the next four years, but for everybody clamoring for the Warriors to develop their core, what better way to develop than "watch and learn." I can handle Steph staying out of the lane because of his ankles, but could you imagine Klay Thompson with the shooting stroke of Reggie Miller and the Defense and slashing ability of Iggy? Klay is a gifted free throw shooter, and if he can learn to "finish or foul" in the way of a James Harden or Russell Westbrook, he might just go down as one of the G.O.A.Ts.

So Iggy starts. That much is certain. But where? Either we put him at the two and Klay comes off the bench (which I'm in favor of) or start him at the three and have Barnes' explosiveness adding to the bench unit. I think it makes more sense to put Klay coming off the bench, because a lot of the abilities Klay currently has is made redundant by having Curry on the floor. Also, if Nedo (who personally I really like, and I have total faith in the front office/drafting crew/Joe Lacob & co. He drafted Ezeli, Dray Day, and most importantly Harrison Barnes last year. The same guys who drafted Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry. Nedo will be sick.) is playing next season and drives and kicks it out to Klay in the corner to beat the Kings. You know, because Klay did that one time. You remember the one.

This also means that, because we have 2 shooting guards, that means that Steph Curry won't have to play 44 minutes a game, some of which at the 2. Yes, we could lean on Jarrett Jack late in game, but that rotation of Steph at the 2 and Klay at the 3 came as a result of necessity in the absence of Brandon Rush. So that way we can keep him and his ankles relatively rested and healthy for the playoffs that I firmly believe we will make. But my predictions about the team's result and the playoff predictions for the entire Western conference are going to be in my next post.

But all in all, absolutely amazing pickup by the Golden State Warriors. I'm completely sold on Iggy. He's been on my list for a while.

Side note: Ain't that some shit. We've thoroughly beaten the Denver Nuggets. We've beaten them out of the playoffs, gotten them to fire their coach, and then signed their most prized possession.