Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson Already Showing Growth
By Ben Woodward
Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson definitely had his favorite Halloween since that year in middle school where he dressed up as his favorite TV or comic book character and got more than one full-sized candy bars in his loot by the end of the night.
As details of his newly-signed maximum extension were released, the relief across Warrior nation was palpable. Despite all the talk of being about basketball and letting the details of paperwork come second, you could tell that Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors can finally just play basketball.
All summer long, word of the extension seemed to surface every few days. Fans decided for themselves around the water cooler. “He doesn’t deserve a max deal, all he does is shoot threes,” was the common statement.
The Golden State Warriors even popped up in trade conversation when the Minnesota Timberwolves made it known that power forward Kevin Love was available and on the market. But when the Wolves and Dubs engaged in talks, they eventually broke down.
Why? Because the Wolves tried to pry Klay Thompson from the grips of the Golden State Warriors’ front office. The Dubs showed us their hand. They thought they have something special. And boy, are they looking smart.
In the Golden State Warriors’ second game of the 2014-15 season, the Dubs took the court with the Los Angeles Lakers and they cruised to an easy 127-104 victory, riding the hot hand of Klay Thompson.
That kid who doesn’t deserve the big contract, the kid who shouldn’t be in the conversation for the league’s best shooting guard, led all scorers with a monstrous 41-point career-high performance on 14-of-18 shooting.
If you ask Klay whether or not the 41 points had anything to do with the pay raise, you probably wouldn’t get the answer he would really like to give. But one thing is obvious — he’s probably grateful to be given what he wanted all this time.
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Thompson has shown he’s become more than just that three-point deep threat. And now that his contract situation has been squared away, he can focus 100 percent of his efforts on becoming one of the NBA’s best shooting guards.
Slowly but surely, as the 2014-15 NBA season starts to unfold, we will begin to know Klay Thompson for what he truly is: a two-way, offensive-minded yet defensively-gifted, three-point sniper ready to blossom into an elite starting shooting guard who is all in for the Golden State Warriors and their championship aspirations.
As I write this piece, the Golden State Warriors are at halftime at the Moda Center in the second game of a back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers. In this particular game, like Saturday night against the Lakers, Klay Thompson has been absolutely, positively unguardable.
In first half play, Klay Thompson has already tallied 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, and 2-of-4 from deep. In his third game, he continues to maintain his shooting average of well over 50 percent.
In addition to the point totals at the halftime mark, Klay also leads the Golden State Warriors in minutes, shot attempts, free throw attempts, and steals.
I view this game as a microcosm for what the 2014-15 season can be for Klay Thompson. He has the chance to get it going early and often, on both ends of the court. Klay can lead this Golden State Warriors team alongside Stephen Curry. Klay can alleviate some of the gravity that Steph created for himself last year, and they have the opportunity to truly become the best back-court tandem in the NBA.