"I'll just ask, who does Klay Thompson think of himself?"
American fans posted a picture of Kobe Bryant on social media with a defender forcing a back-up jump shot and wrote it. This questioning Tomp Tweet received a lot of retweets and likes, and many people agreed.
It is no wonder that the recent state of Thompson is "unreasonable + inefficient". To put it bluntly, Thompson has recently become a black hole in the court, the ball will not come out of his hand, and he only has the basket in his eyes, which inevitably has a large number of unreasonable shots in the defense of the ball-holding offense. This style of play at Thompson's peak was not his forte, not to mention that he is now in the recovery phase after two serious injuries.
As a result, Thompson has enjoyed the highest shooting treatment of the whole team in the last three games, but none of them have shot more than 40% from the field. Today, the Warriors won 112-97 at home to the Clippers, Thompson wasted time on the court, but in the end only handed over 9 of 23 shooting, including 20 points on 9-of-9 three-pointers, which is already the most efficient game in his last three games.
For Thompson's doubts are overwhelming, many media and fans believe that Kerr should let Thompson play as a substitute first, but the Warriors are not moved. Stephen Curry, as the boss of the team, has always encouraged Thompson in public. Cole insisted on letting Thompson start against thousands of insults, and gave him 30+ minutes of playing time per game. Even if the team's record is not good, Kerr must insist on giving Thompson a chance to find his form.
Why are the Warriors' tolerance for Thompson so high? It's not just because Thompson is a Triple Crown hero, but also because the Warriors need a Thompson who is in 80% or more form. For the current Warriors, Thompson is still an indispensable puzzle, the Warriors want to seize the tail of the trident to return to the throne, this season is the best chance, so they must try to help Thompson find the form.
Fans who only pay attention to the game and the results can of course spray Thompson, but as a comrade who fights side by side with Thompson in the same trench, the Warriors general cannot, they know that Thompson's inefficiency is caused by many reasons, and the temporary downturn does not mean that Thompson has been unable to return to normal state.
With a serious knee and Achilles tendon injury, Thompson did not compete in real combat for more than 500 days. After his comeback this season, Thompson's left and right leg muscle dimensions are markedly different. Thompson has said a heart-wrenching quote before, saying, "It really feels weird when you look in the mirror, and there are no clear muscle lines in the broken leg." They even told me that my calf muscles might never fully recover, but I could still regain full strength. ”
Because of this, Thompson's shots have been significantly unstable this season, with shots often hitting the front of the basket and lower arcs than in the past, which is typical of insufficient leg strength.
Thompson's comeback did not come in time, and no one expected that Thompson's first game of return coincided with Draymond Green's sore calf suspension. I thought that Green could return soon, but the re-examination found that the root cause of Green's calf soreness was a problem with the lumbar disc, and Thompson had come back for so long and did not appear at the same time as Green for even a minute. Without Green and Iguodala, who know how to create opportunities for him through cover and passing, Thompson has obviously increased his attack with the ball, and Curry also admitted that Thompson sometimes rushes, is too eager to find the state, and barely shoots too much.
Coupled with Thompson's return due to rotation, knee pain, illness and absence from the game, his process of finding form was not smooth, and he caught up with the Warriors' poor performance during this time, And Thompson's problems were infinitely magnified.
The Warriors are eager to take back a Thompson who has recovered to at least 80% or more, because in the Warriors' lineup, Thompson is still an indispensable puzzle, he can decide the Warriors' ceiling, and his vacancy can not be filled. When Thompson is at his best, he is the most complementary player to Curry and Green on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends.
In the last two seasons, the Warriors have let Jordan Poole, Bazemore, damian Lee fill Thompson's position, and also ask Wiggins to increase the offensive and defensive roles, but they can only replace Thompson in one or a few aspects, and no one can completely replace Thompson.
Why has the Warriors' recent rotation been so chaotic? In large part because Thompson hasn't yet returned to the way the Warriors expected it to be. Previously, to ensure that there was another wing defender in the starting lineup to help Wiggins share the pressure, Kerr sent Gary Payton Jr., but Payton Jr. and Looney were on the floor at the same time, and opponents could focus all their defensive attention on Curry.
Many people applauded Poole for being snubbed after Thompson's return, but Poole could not replace Thompson because of his unstable attack and poor defense. As the warriors' flank number one gate at the moment, Wiggins will inevitably suffer from his offensive efficiency as he takes on more defensive responsibilities.
So in the end, the Warriors have to count on the unique Thompson to get back to form as much as possible. As Marcus Thompson wrote in The Athletic, "The Warriors have to look to Thompson to solve the problem, he has to figure out what not to do, he has to find his shooting point, hit the key shot, play a tough defense." 」 Aside from waiting to see if Thompson can do that, the Warriors can't do much. ”
Warriors management has repeatedly stated that during the trident contract period, that is, this season and at least the next 2 seasons, the Warriors intend to continue to build a championship team around the Trident. Warriors management firmly believes that no matter what has changed in the league over the past two years, no matter how much has changed within the Warriors, as long as the Trident is there, they are a championship team. Warriors management also believes that as long as Green is healthy, interior problems and defensive problems are not problems at all. As long as Thompson recovers to at least eighty percent, Trident will remain the top trio and can lead them back to the throne.
But the question is, with the passage of time, can the warrior's past set really work?
The Warriors have not made the playoffs in the past two years, and although they have regained the style of play in the early days of the dynasty by bringing in players with higher ball quotients this season, in recent years, teams have accumulated a lot of experience in how to deal with the Warriors' five small lineups. And in the past 3 years, the final winning team has a tall center, and even if a small lineup is played at a critical moment, it can top a tall team from the fourth position to the fifth position. In this era of Embiid, Jokic and Antetokounmpo vying for MVP, can the Warriors' small lineup still play?
What's more, the Warriors' five small lineups need a healthy Thompson and Green, need a group of role players who can contribute, but now that Thompson can recover a few percent of the state when he enters the playoffs, how Green's injury will affect him is unknown, the Warriors role players have experienced a surprise at the beginning of the season after the performance gradually declined, such a Warriors can really become a real championship contender?
At least, the Warriors themselves believed.
"I shudder when I think about how strong our full squad is," Thompson said.