Monday, November 4th, 2019

• The current Warriors would be a decent G-League team 

• Ben Simmons still can’t shoot

• The worst case of stat-dumping so far

Tonight's must-watch game

1. The Warriors used to be a great team in a beat-up arena, now...

(Mini quiz: Who's the player above? Answer at bottom of this post.)The Chase Center, the new home of the Golden State Warriors, in downtown San Francisco, is a modern marvel. We could bore you with the specifics by using shiny words like sleek and chic to describe its cantilevers and terrazzo-clad bridges, but the San Francisco Chronicle has already done that PR loop for us.The thing cost a billion dollars, and it was clearly built with Silicon Valley types who couldn’t tell the difference between Monta Ellis and Perry Ellis in mind, who now don’t even have to travel to Oakland to watch their new favorite team.The ticket prices are stupid expensive. It’s full name is the Chase Center Experience. The Rich White Guy Smog that amasses at the top of the arena is thick enough to support a gold-gilded credit card.You can see why they did it, though: It’s the perfect place to house a team made up of Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. But, an ACL tear, a broken hand, a torn Achilles, a hurt finger, a trade, and a retirement later, here is the lineup the Warriors broke out against the Hornets on Saturday, which the bros who already comped tickets to their work accounts will get to see on a nightly basis this season:

The 2018-19 Warriors:

The team San Francisco deserves; the team Oakland would probably still pay to see, if it still had a team.

(Answer: Boston College legend Ky Bowman)

2. Ben Simmons still hasn’t shot a 3

The 76ers are a very good team. They’re 5-0 in the early-going, despite Joel Embiid’s suspension after getting into it with Karl-Anthony Towns, and are playing the Suns tonight, whose 4-2 start will soon be a distant memory.But you shouldn’t let that distract you from the fact that Ben Simmons, who sent out Twitter vids all offseason of him shooting effortless 3-pointers against YMCA competition, still has not attempted a 3-point shot in a real game this season. He is a cool zero for zero.In fact, he’s doubling down on his rim-crashing style:

• Of his 69 shot attempts this season, 49 (or 71 percent) have come from less than five feet from the rim.

• 17 of them have come from five to nine feet.

• The final three have come from 10 to 14 feet. 

The corner 3-point shot is the closest 3-pointer on NBA court, at 22 feet, which means the farthest shot he’s taken in 2019 is still eight feet being a 3-pointer.

3. The worst case of stat-dumping we’ve ever seen

From a Pelicans-Nuggets game last Thursday, we have the first overtly intentional stat-dump of the season:

The offender:

Josh Hart

The victim:

Rookie

Jaxon Hayes

Time of pass:

.4 left on the shot clock

4. FYI: The Book of Basketball is returning

Here is the most 2019 thing you can imagine: Bill Simmons’ The Book of Basketball, an 800-page behemoth from 2009 of mostly entertaining basketball ramblings, is coming back tomorrow, in podcast form.Some details on The Book of Basketball 2.0, which will serve as a sequel of sorts, via the Hollywood Reporter: 

“Book of Basketball 2.0 has been in the works for about six months, and Simmons has already taped several episodes. Some episodes will feature interviews like the one that Simmons recently conducted with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr. Others will involve Simmons' reranking the Hall of Fame Pyramid that he published in the book. He also plans to watch old game tape with players (a Steve Nash installment has already been taped) and to release audio essays with his thoughts on the game.”

You can subscribe to the podcast here. 

  Quick Hits 

• This James Harden stat is something: He’s missing more 3-pointers per game than anyone else is taking.

• Dwight Howard, through six games: seven points, eight rebounds, two blocks, 80 percent from the field, 22 PER. A worthy backup. 

• The Knicks are already a train wreck, but Mitchell Robinson ranks fifth in the league in PER. 

• Mike Scott as Jake Shuttlesworth is all we ever needed in this world. 

• Marcus Morris, on Tacko Mania taking over MSG last weekend: “How can you be upset at Tacko Fall?” 

• Steph Curry’s timetable: three to four months. 

• The Heat were at one point beating the Rockets, 54-17, last night.

 Concrete Reads 

• Paul Pierce says a weight has been lifted from the Celtics [The Boston Herald]

• Frank Ntilikina never deserved this Knicks nonsense [The New York Post]

• The ham-manded, money-driven mangling of Sports Illustrated and Deadspin [The New Yorker]

  Podcast Pick

Does Steph Curry’s broken hand equal a tank? [The Ringer NBA Show]