i think it's so cool when nba players have children who also grow up to play in the nba.
26% of the golden state warriors' roster are the sons of former nba players, which is wild. stephen curry, klay thompson, andrew wiggins, and now gary payton ii.
i've watched gpii play quite a bit over the years - he played in the pac-12 when i attended college at usc. so dope to see him get a legitimate shot in the league now and fully capitalize on it.
he's gary payton's son, so you already know the defensive prowess is there - here are some examples of him putting a few charlotte hornets in hell:
he's definitely got the size, athleticism, and mentality to be a tremendous guard defender in the league. i think most people always knew that; the questions were more around what he could do on the offensive end in the nba.
the good thing for payton ii is that he's now in the perfect era for him: the game is positionless and fluid, and there's a role for you as long as you have 1-2 strengths and your teammates can fill in for your flaws.
gary's strengths are his unselfishness, activity, and ability to play off the ball, crash the offensive glass, and be a decision maker in the short roll. he's the warriors' version of bruce brown… a 6'2"-6'4" guard who can defend 1-3 and somehow attack in the role of a pick setter/roller/dunker spot small-ball power forward.
because of his relative inability to shoot, opposing teams will often put their big on gp2. the warriors have actually implemented a new play to combat this:
too lazy to compile the clips right now, but they've used this exact play successfully so far against the new orleans pelicans, houston rockets, and minnesota timberwolves.
the young glove has arrived!
unrelated medium lights…
luka doncic's amazing pass along the baseline:
what a beauty. i've done a whole post on these passes before.
javonte green's offensive rebound:
talk about getting up on a board, and then the kick out to a 3 in one motion. awesome.
unrelated random thoughts…
i'm a big fan of the new nba foul rules.
miles bridges has made a leap. great at finishing with both hands, and has a bunch of moves in his bag.
tyler herro is back after a very underwhelming sophomore season.
giannis antetokounmpo's ascension is far from over. his shooting stroke looks much better, he’s shooting without hesitation, and he's added a rather smooth turnaround fadeaway now.
paul george is really fucking good at basketball. he's had three separate major "peaks" in his career now - the super athlete pg24 right before his awful leg injury, the volume sharp shooting pg who also played defense like an octopus who came in 3rd in mvp voting in oklahoma city, and the current pg who for the first time looks completely comfortable in a los angeles clippers uniform (well, since their playoff run from last season). without kawhi leonard, it's very clear he has to be the top dog and he's accepted his role completely.
the miami heat have a chance to be really special if everyone can stay healthy in the postseason. any lineup with kyle lowry/jimmy butler/pj tucker/bam adebayo will be a menace on defense - all four guys can basically switch 1-5 on any given possession and hang on (lowry is a great post defender for his size, bam is an incredible perimeter defender for his).
the chicago bulls are my favorite team to watch right now. they're so deep and have great individual talent. really fun. really wish patrick williams wasn’t injured.
anthony davis is truly remarkable on defense. like, one of the best to ever do it. to be able to basically singlehandedly anchor a team's defense that often plays russell westbrook, malik monk, and carmelo anthony all at the same time is historically great stuff.
dejounte murray has quietly been steadily making strides every season. he doesn’t get much attention because he plays for the san antonio spurs, but i think he's got stardom potential in his near future.
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