NBA Season 2025-26

[Vermont Green]

A couple of nice wins for GSW to start the season.  I thought Al Horford would start.  They are going small.  Draymond (6'-6") and Kuminga (6'-7") the "bigs", Butler as the wing, and two guards (Curry and Podziemski).  I know Draymond Green plays bigger than his actual height, but still, that is a small line up.  And even with that, GSW has 10 ORebs to 7 for DEN.

[Who]

A couple of nice wins for GSW to start the season.  I thought Al Horford would start.  They are going small.  Draymond (6'-6") and Kuminga (6'-7") the "bigs", Butler as the wing, and two guards (Curry and Podziemski).  I know Draymond Green plays bigger than is actual height, but still, that is a small line up.  And even with that, GSW has 10 ORebs to 7 for DEN.

Then they went even smaller. They took out Jimmy and brought in Buddy Hield.

G: Steph .... then subbed for Podz
G: G Payton II
G: B Hield
F: Kuminga .... then subbed for Jimmy
C: Draymond ... then subbed for Horford

The 2nd small ball lineup was interesting. Swapping out a wing in Jimmy for a shooting guard in Buddy Hield to play at SF. Made them even smaller. More interesting again was staying small as they continued to change the lineup. Horford replaces Draymond. Then Podz replaces Steph and Jimmy replaces Kuminga. A one big (small big) one wing (not big forward) three guard lineup.

The matchups were interesting too [with that small ball starting lineup]. They had Kuminga checking J Murray on a lot of those early possessions. Their PF on the PG. Jimmy took the PF. Steph took Braun. Podz took Cam Johnson at SF. So even with an already undersized starting lineup, they effectively played smaller again by switching the assignments to put a big wing on J Murray and then had the other 3 guys defend up a position.

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I was looking through the lineup data to see how much they used double big lineups. They use Q Post at center alongside Draymond for 4 minutes at start of Q2. They were the only minutes Q Post played. So Horford & Draymond the only other bigs.

Horford and Draymond played 90secs together in Q2. None Q1. None Q3. Kept separate until the final 4 minutes of Q4. And played all overtime alongside one another. So they got about 10 minutes together due to the overtime. Only 5 minutes in regulation.

So 5 minutes Draymond / Horford and 4 minutes Draymond / Q Post. 9 minutes of two bigs. So 39 minutes of small ball. And they do not even have any big forwards. They have small forward guys. Guys who are 6-7 220-230lbs. Jimmy and Kuminga. Only 2 of them. The rest are all guards.

[Who]

Cam Johnson was largely invisible. Barely involved in the game. Barely touched the ball. 5pts 3rb 2ast in 32 minutes. 2-8 FGA.

One of the big advantages DEN were hoping to get from Cam Johnson vs MPJ was Cam's superior ball-handling and passing. Someone who can facilitate the offense more. MPJ offered nothing offensively if his shot wasn't falling. Cam was a guy who was not as reliant on his outside shot. He could pass. He could dribble. He could drive the ball.

That is something to watch moving forward. DEN gotta make room for him in their offense. Not just sideline him. Treat him like MPJ and ask him to sit in the corner. Shoot when open. Otherwise you don't touch the ball.

[Who]

Denver's bench was interesting last night. Both the guys who played and who didn't play.

First the guys who didn't play:

G: Jalen Pickett
G: Hunter Tyson
F: Julian Strawther
F: Zeke Nnaji
C: Daron Holmes II

All of their young guys. They played none of them. Strawther and Holmes recent 1st round picks. Jalen Pickett was found gold last season. A good role player combo guard. Equivalent of a 1st round pick. They have high hopes for him. Then Hunter Tyson who I thought was a 1st round pick but was actually an early 2nd rounder. Plus Zeke Nnaji who was a 1st round pick 5 years ago. A defensive PF to give them cover behind A Gordon.

Then the guys they did play

G: Bruce Brown Jr
G: Tim Hardaway Jr
F: Peyton Watson
C: Jonas Valanciunas

Peyton Watson a holdover from last year; the other 3 are all new FA additions. All four are vets. Good experience. They also played a young guy I am not familiar with named Spencer Jones who is a 6-7 225lbs SF. He got 6 minutes.

I was impressed with their 2nd unit. So they played those 4 guys plus Jamal Murray. So Jamal was the man. The offense ran through him. They had Jonas in the high post as a facilitator. They went small with Peyton Watson (6-7 200lbs) at PF alongside Jonas. Probably a good idea. Jonas is slow. He needs footspeed alongside him. I liked the small ball look with him. Then Tim Hardaway at 6-6 210lbs at SF. So little size at forward. But two guards with good size in J Murray and Bruce Brown. Good amount of shooting. Having a skilled center in Jonas is a big upgrade over D Jordan in opening up their offense. More shooting on the wing with Tim Hardaway Jr. Balance is good.

Denver have had a lot of problems with non-Jokic lineups. I like this group. Good talent. Good chemistry. Looks like it will work well for them.

Interesting that they used that same 2nd unit lineup with one change when they wanted more size. Took out Peyton Watson and brought in Aaron Gordon.

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Back to the 3rd stringers. Good talent there in terms of guys to slot in when someone goes down. It looks like DEN want to stay big in the backcourt. No true backup PG. Only one combo guard. So it looks like that decision is a fight between J Pickett and B Brown Jr. B Brown Jr winning that battle. A bit disappointing not to see Pickett but you can see what they are trying to do.

Those big backcourts were valuable in DEN's title run in helping to protect Jokic defensively. To shrink / squeeze the floor. To avoid other mismatches that pull Jokic out of position. Going back to that is a good decision.