Expectations have changed dramatically for the Golden State Warriors this season, so we checked in with our friend Jannelle Moore of goldenstateofmind.com to compare notes about surviving a down season. We learn about how the Warriors are juggling 45-day contracts and how being hard capped lead to letting Marquese Chriss go. (Since we recorded, Chriss himself was signed to a 45-day contract.)

Talking to her was illuminating because even though the Trail Blazers are having a tough year, at least they are not hard-capped, and they have some flexibility. We are also thankful that the coaching staff has always had a strong focus on development. 

Listen to the latest episode of the WHAT podcast to hear all of this plus our favorite NBA family dynasties, NBA All Star votes, and more Olympic basketball history! 

Highlights

3:00 Which NBA family dynasty is your favorite? Some of our favorites are the Millers, the McGees, the Currys and the Grants. 

7:30 How has watching the Warriors changed for Jannelle?

13:00 Is there a particular position where they are thin? They have enough guards, at least, they are not looking to replace the guards because Stephan Curry and Klay Thompson will be back.They are really suffering at center. Jannelle is not a fan of Willie Cauley-Stein. 

15:15 How are Golden State fans doing? Mostly they are treating this season as a gap year. A lot of people have embraced the tank. Jannelle is not there yet and is disappointed that they don’t seem like they are fighting at the end of games. Tanking doesn’t seem like a good strategy because they need a wing or a big but most of the upcoming draft seems to be guards. 

18:00 How does she watch the teams knowing that it might be so different from next year? 

20:50 We make a solid plea for Jannelle to be a Blazer fan for this season while she’s waiting for Curry to recover. 

24:15 Players to watch? Omari Spellman. He’s fought a lot to become a good player. He is earning playing time after really hard work. Eric Paschal has been good but lately Kerr hasn’t been playing him much. Warriors don’t seem to be doing great with development this year. They haven’t needed to be so much recently. Development is not something they have had to focus on in the past several years, at least they didn’t seem to.

30:00 All Star votes. Who are we voting for this year? Cassidy goes in hard on “stupid fan voting”. 

36:00 How about a 1v1 competition at All Star? Think of the rivalries that would ensue!

42:00 Olympic Basketball Moments: 1936 Olympics, the first year Basketball was officially a sport. It was a pretty big disaster.

Follow Blazer’s Edge on Twitter @blazersedge, WHAT Pod @HoopsAndTalks, Tara @tcbbiggs, and Cassidy @CassidyGemmet. This week’s guest: @jannelle12

Join the Women’s Hoops And Talks Facebook group to talk about Trail Blazers with others who identify as women who love basketball.

Music used in the episode: “Happy Alley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

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