What’s eating Draymond Green … or is there anything?

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Steinmetz

Let me start out this post by saying: I have no idea what I’m talking or writing about. I don’t know what’s going on with Draymond Green. I’m not even entirely sure there is something going on with Green. What I do know is that he hasn’t looked exactly like himself lately, even if I can’t quite put my finger on it.

And I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. I was flipping around the radio dial all day and heard four different shows address it. Although there wasn’t anything really tangible to discuss … Only that it “seems” like something’s up with the Warriors’ emotional leader.

We know about the incident at halftime of the Feb. 27 game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City, where Green was involved in a shouting match, presumably with coach Steve Kerr. While all the parties downplayed it afterwards, apparently it was serious enough that Green apologized for the outburst.

Now, against that backdrop, Green seems to be playing a little bit different. Notice I said a little bit different and not drastically different. Green is still doing all the dirty work and then some for the Warriors, and as always, filling up important columns in the boxscore consistently.

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Warriors’ weaknesses hard to find, but there might be some

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Steinmetz

The Golden State Warriors don’t have many weaknesses. That much we know. Yes, the Warriors got knocked off the by Lakers on Sunday in LA, but that doesn’t change the big picture: They’re still the odds-on favorites to win the NBA title.

As we head down the stretch of the regular season, a few minor issues have cropped up for the Warriors. These, of course, aren’t big problems because there can’t be any big problems when you’re 55-6. Still, if you’re looking to nit-pick, here’s what’s a tad troublesome:

Free throw shooting: The Warriors rank 17th in the league in foul shooting percentage at 75 percent, and all in all, that doesn’t sound like too much of a weakness. But we know those numbers are a little bit skewed when you consider Stephen Curry is shooting 90.8 percent from the line and Klay Thompson 85.9 percent from there.

But Draymond Green (.675), Andre Iguodala (.623), Andrew Bogut (.468) and the injured Festus Ezeli  (.532) have all had their issues at the line at one time or another. When you start to think of how efficient the Warriors can be at times, it might start becoming more tempting for opponents to foul

For example, in their Feb. 27 come-from-behind win over the Thunder, the Warriors had eight possessions in the game’s final eight minutes (three in regulation and five in overtime) where they came away with three points. That kind of offensive explosiveness could very well force opponents to begin to foul more — rather than take the chance of giving up the potential of three points per possession.

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Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk: On what team looks for in a player, what they saw in Draymond Green, why Anderson Varejao fits in, etc.

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Steinmetz

Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk is in his 12th year with the organization and is the only member of the team’s front office who has been around for every move the team has made assembling the current roster.

Schlenk joined the “NBA This Week” from Baltimore, Md., where he was scouting the CAA tournament. We talked in detail with Schlenk about the ins and outs of scouting and what he’s looking for in the next Golden State Warriors player.

Here is the link to the interview with Travis Schlenk on 95.7-FM The Game.

Here are bullet points from the interview:

–If you look at the Warriors’ core, you see their players have played for great college coaches. Steph Curry played for Bob McKillop at Davidson, a very respected coach; Andre Iguodala played for Lute Olson in Arizona; Andrew Bogut played for Rick Majerus in Utah; Harrison Barnes for Roy Williams at North Carolina and Draymond Green for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Is that something you look for, that kind of pedigree?

Schlenk: “And you forgot Klay Thompson with Tony Bennet at Washington State. Great coach as well. It’s obviously a huge advantage for players if they’re coached by good coaches, even before they get to college. If you’re a young kid and fortunate enough to have a good youth coach, a good high school coach you could be light years ahead just in your knowledge of the game and having it taught the correct way since Day 1.

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