Because the star of the show is going to be spending some time away from his regular job.

Green’s chokehold of Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in the Warriors’ loss Tuesday night was, as Green so often says on the show, “absolutely incredible.” His textbook form and his dragging of the 7-foot-1 center down the court would make a UFC grappler envious.

That chokehold is also well beyond the scope of the sport of basketball, so the NBA suspended Green for five games on Wednesday. Green will now miss matchups with the Thunder, Rockets, Suns, and Spurs. He can return to the Warriors’ lineup on Nov. 28, pending an appeal.

It’s impossible for you, me, or NBA commissioner Adam Silver to be objective regarding Green. Not after 12 seasons in the league. Not after that many direct shots to opponents’ groins.

Green’s reputation as someone who crosses the line doesn’t just proceed him; it flies in a day ahead of him. To list all of his transgressions against fair play would make this column read like an Excel spreadsheet.

Suffice it to say Green doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt on subjective matters like this.

Green might be receiving unfair treatment by the league for being banned for five games. He might be getting off easy with only five games.

It’s all arbitrary, especially when it comes to Green. And no one will be happy with the number.

USA Today called for a seven-game ban. ESPN’s Jay Williams thought it should be 10. Twitter was ripe with bloodthirst — no amount of games was too many for those jackals.

Here’s what I know about the situation: there was a fight on the court, and while Green didn’t start it, he did end it.

What else do you expect from an enforcer?

Gobert had his hands around Thompson’s shoulders and neck. In the eyes of the game officials, this was considered “peacemaking.” Green protected his teammate by pulling Gobert away.

After all, American policy is to provide peace through strength.

Was Green supposed to ask nicely? Should he have tapped Gobert on the shoulder and said, “Excuse me, sir, would you please unhand my teammate?”

All the discussion about Green knowing “exactly what he was doing” is only correct in the sense that Green knew how to remove Gobert from Thompson.

Any suggestion beyond that is over-the-top psychoanalysis — a byproduct of time to think about something nobody on the court had time to consider.

Nothing was more preposterous than Gobert’s postgame comment.

“Before the game, I was telling myself that Steph (Curry) is not playing, so I know Draymond is going to try and get ejected,” Gobert said. “Because every time Steph doesn’t play, he doesn’t want to play – it’s his guy Steph. He’ll do anything he can to get ejected… Clown behavior.”

What about Tuesday’s situation struck you as premeditated?

We’ve all seen Green get himself tossed from games before. He knows all the right words to say to a referee.

But Green usually waits until there’s no reason for him to be in the game to get tossed. The man’s basketball genius is also beyond question. No thinking was involved Tuesday night — what happened was visceral.

It was a fight-or-flight moment.

Green chose to fight.

Of course he did.

Would you have preferred him to stand around and let Thompson fend for himself, as Towns did for his teammate, Gobert?

Ducking a skirmish is not in Green’s DNA.

It’s OK to have it out for Green. He has made a lot of enemies in his day. His antics are, on the whole, indefensible. Last season alone, he punched a teammate and also was suspended for a critical playoff game for stomping on an opponent.

No one is arguing that Green is “misunderstood” here.

But his role on the Warriors is undisputed. Green brings force to the Dubs. He protects the guys whose shots rip the net. (So long as they are not Jordan Poole.)

There used to be so many players like him across sports — the guys you hated to play but wanted on your team.

Gobert can tell himself whatever he wants after being rag-dolled by someone half a foot shorter than him. Rudy claimed he was the “bigger man” after the game, but he sure didn’t look it in the moment.

In fairness, Green did seem to sincerely enjoy putting Gobert in a headlock. Perhaps that’s where the objection lies.

But if Green’s actions qualified as gross misconduct — an assault on society and the sport — coach Steve Kerr or his Warriors teammates would have said so. They’ve made that claim many times before.

I’m yet to hear any objection.

But even if Green’s actions were justifiable to his teammates, they’re suspension-worthy to the league.

The NBA spun the wheel of justice and came up with an arbitrary number of games for Green to sit out. The suspension would have been a game or two for another player. I’ve seen players get away suspension-free after similar chokeholds.. But Green isn’t any other player. There’s not much point in him appealing the ban.

And while I’m sure it will be frustrating for the Warriors to be without their best defender, there might also be some positives to Green being restricted to the podcast studio — we won’t have to watch the Warriors play a two-non-shooter lineup with Green and Looney for a while. (That combination is a minus-1 in net rating in 130 minutes this season.)

We’ll wait and see – a luxury Green didn’t have Tuesday night when one of his teammates was outnumbered in a fight.

And aside from a second All-Star, that’s what these Warriors need as much as anything.

Brandin Podziemski played like an All-Star on Tuesday. With Steph Curry sidelined, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson ejected before points were on the board, and Andrew Wiggins and Chris Paul still playing like their best basketball is behind them, the Warriors’ hopes of beating the Timberwolves were tied to Podziemski, Dario Šarić, and Moses Moody.

Do you smell that? It’s the stink of the 2019-2020 season.

Luckily, it was only for one night.

And all three players deserve major kudos for their performances, even in a loss.

Podziemski, in particular, deserves a look every night for the Warriors. Not only was he aggressive and scored, but he also helped push the pace (a necessity for the Dubs against all teams, but especially against big squads) and showed an excellent feel for the game.

The Warriors need all of those things amid a four-game losing streak.

And while 23 points a night — like he scored Tuesday — is far too much to ask Podziemski, it’s not ridiculous to think he can chip in five if he plays 10 minutes or so a game.

But the bottom line is this: You don’t carve up the NBA’s best defense, score 23 points, and play plus defense yourself and return to sitting at the end of the bench, do you?

Find this kid a role.

The Clank Bros.

If Andrew Wiggins was going to break out of his funk and prove, again, that he can carry an offensive load for a Warriors team that desperately needs a No. 2 behind Steph Curry, Tuesday’s game was the perfect opportunity.

Given his performance, it might be foolhardy to think Wiggins is merely in a slump.

Wiggins went 4-for-15 from the floor against Minnesota, going 1-for-7 from behind the 3-point line, shooting zero free throws, tallying zero assists, and turning the ball over four times.

That is abysmal offense.

And while Wiggins played plus defense on Tuesday, the Warriors need him to be a two-way player capable of making an All-Star team.

His offense isn’t just poor; it’s benchable. The player we saw in the 2022 playoffs seems so far away.

Also far away is Chris Paul’s offensive confidence.

Paul passed up at least half a dozen open shots in a game where he needed to take them.

Some of that is Rudy Gobert looming in the paint — if I were 6-foot, I would think twice about challenging him — but most of it must be tied to Paul’s shooting struggles this year and his unselfish style of play.

But, again, if there was ever a night for Paul to be selfish, it was Tuesday.

Wiggins and Paul are providing positives for the Warriors. Wiggins’ defense is strong and Paul’s intelligence, play-making and ball control are much-needed for a Warriors team that has lacked those things with Curry sidelined in the past.

But with every poor shooting performance from the Clank Bros, it becomes more difficult to believe that regression to the mean is coming. Yes, the Timberwolves play good defense, but going 10-for-29 from the field in a game like that is unforgivable.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble

Some quick thoughts on the ridiculous 0-0 fracas.

[Some expanded thoughts on the ridiculous 0-0 fracas.]

Absolute chaos between the Wolves and Warriors started by Klay and Jaden pic.twitter.com/QHjpuijvuc

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) November 15, 2023

• The referees and league overdid things by kicking out Thompson and Jaden McDaniels. That’s a double-tech every day of the week.

• It’s hard to argue that Draymond shouldn’t have been kicked out. Yes, he was defending a teammate, but he put Gobert in a headlock that would make Stone Cold Steve Austin proud and dragged the 7-footer away from the fray. Intent doesn’t matter — he was over the top and will probably be suspended.

• The fact that Gobert was given the benefit of the doubt regarding intent is preposterous. The pool report following the game claimed that Gobert was a “peacemaker.”

There’s no such thing if you’re wearing a jersey.

If you’re tossing folks, toss ’em all. The inconstancy is annoying.

• Green really wanted to put Gobert in a headlock, didn’t he? He saw a scuffle breaking out and made a beeline for the Timberwolves’ center. This man knows his business.

But right now, the Warriors’ Batman, Stephen Curry, is surrounded by a team of Alfreds.

This is not a winning formula for the Warriors for the remainder of the season.

Golden State is on a three-game losing streak, and with all three losses coming to teams with elite big men, there has been plenty of consternation in the fan base over the Warriors’ size.

But the Warriors’ biggest issue so far this season is players — and if we want to be serious, one in particular — not playing up to the size of their role.

While the Warriors might be deep, the lack of a clear No. 2 has left Curry to singlehandedly carry the burden of winning every game.

The two-time MVP still plays at a superhuman level, but he can only do so much. I shudder to think of what happens to the Warriors if he’s not around.

One stat encapsulates how isolated Curry is this season: He’s the only Warrior to score more than 20 points in a game.

It leaves the Warriors with a strict formula to victory that gives them a chance to win every night but leaves little margin for error.

First, Curry needs to score 30-plus points per game. (The Warriors are really taking this man’s greatness for granted.)

The second part is that the Warriors must play top-level defense, holding their opponent under 110 points.

And finally, the Warriors need to score somewhere in the range of 75 points with quality team basketball — transition buckets and back-cuts off of set plays.

You can guess where the breakdown most often happens.

Placing the secondary scoring burden on the collective leaves too many points of failure.

What Curry needs is someone else in the muck with him late in games — someone who could, on a big night, be the team’s leading scorer.

Chris Paul is past that point in his career. He’s brought many positives to the Dubs, but he did not bring a time machine to San Francisco.

Upstart Jonathan Kuminga is not ready for that job yet. He might never reach that level.

Klay Thompson once held that No. 2 role. Sadly, he doesn’t appear to be capable of that anymore following two catastrophic leg injuries. Thompson’s smaller reserve of athleticism is also strained by his new defensive responsibilities, which require him to take on opposing big men. (A role he has played well.)

But all that’s OK — the Warriors believed they prepared for Thompson’s demise.

After all, Andrew Wiggins was the second-best player on a title team.

And after a strange 2022-23, the Warriors expected Wiggins to put that behind him and return to that same level of play this season.

Instead, things remain bizarre.

After 11 games, where does Wiggins fall on the hierarchy of positive impact for the 2023-24 Warriors?

He’s certainly not second.

Is he even top-five?

Wiggins has played every game for the Warriors this season, but you’ll be forgiven if you haven’t noticed him. The wing averages 10.5 points per game, shoots 41 percent from the field, and has made four 3-pointers all season.

That’s half of what the Warriors need from him. Wiggins is the team’s fourth-leading scorer.

There are several excuses I’ve heard for Wiggins’ underwhelming offensive play.

Blame has been placed on his rib injury, picked up in Game 5 of the Warriors’ second-round series with the Lakers last season. Wiggins had a left costal cartilage fracture, and while he played in Game 6 of that series, he was a shell of himself.

Cartilage fractures can take up to a year to heal — that stuff is finicky. It wouldn’t shock me if his ribs were still bothering him.

At the same time, Wiggins and the Warriors haven’t blamed — or even acknowledged — that injury this season, so can we pin his struggles on it?

The other excuse I’ve heard is that it’s simply bad luck — that he’ll come around soon enough.

I get that argument. The season is still young.

And if it was a player other than Wiggins, that might hold more weight.

Wiggins’ nickname might as well be “The Enigma.”

This player’s talent — save for a few weeks in the fall and spring of 2022 — has consistently exceeded his performance. His love of the game has been questioned by former teammates, coaches, and scouts alike, with plenty going on the record about it.

And remember, Wiggins is the player who left the Warriors for two months at the end of last season for circumstances that remain not fully explained and have been deemed verboten by the team months later.

He’s a player who cashed in his elite performance in the 2022 playoffs with a contract that paid a little more than half of his market value. There are hometown discounts, and then there are strange contracts. Wiggins’ deal fell dangerously close to the second category.

It’s all just a bit too peculiar to write off his struggles as solely lousy luck.

Wiggins is not only clanking shots all over the floor, he’s shooting less frequently this season, shooting four field-goal attempts fewer per game. His four games of fewer than 10 points scored are already more than he had in each of the last two seasons.

No matter what the reason behind Wiggins’ slow start is — if there’s a reason — the need is the same: He needs to snap out of it fast.

No one else on this Warriors can or will consistently rise to the role of No. 2. It’s Wiggins or bust for the Dubs.

This season’s Warriors aren’t going to be juggernauts, but they can replicate the model that won them the title less than a year and a half ago. A big part of that team’s success was a solid start to the season.

I think they can exceed that team’s level of play. This team is more talented.

But all that roster depth doesn’t matter much if it’s just Curry and a stable of role players.

But the 2021-22 Warriors had three All-Stars: Curry, Draymond Green (on the back of his defensive prowess), and Wiggins.

This season, just like last, they’re back down to one.

We saw how well that worked last spring.

Improved team talent can compensate for missing that third All-Star — it can’t do the same for missing two.

And without that No. 2, the Warriors will be a second-tier team, at best.

What three-game losing streak?

On Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers looked like world-beaters again, blowing out a hot Jacksonville Jaguars team — in Florida, no less — by 31 points to move to 6-3 on the season.

The 34-3 victory was the kind of comprehensive, never-let-up performance we came to expect from the Niners in the early weeks of the season when the juggernauts opened with a 5-0 record.

It was the kind of performance that looked fleeting as the Niners trudged into last weekend’s bye carrying that three-game losing streak.

So, where does the truth lie with this team?

Are the 49ers really the kind of team that blows out playoff-caliber teams like Dallas and Jacksonville, or was that three-game skid the accurate indicator of this squad’s quality?

Here’s another way to put it: Can we trust these Niners?

I think so, because I believe the true Niners are closer to the team we saw Sunday than any other version we’ve seen this season.

Ultimately, the NFL is too competitive for losses not to happen, but good coaching and good players right the ship.

And if you give those good players and coaches an extra week of preparation, as the 49ers had with the bye, course corrections are inevitable.

Not only did the bye give the Niners time to heal two of their most important players and better integrate a new Pro Bowl player, defensive end Chase Young, but it also allowed the Niners’ coaches to self-evaluate and adjust tactics.

Put it all together Sunday, and we saw a team that looked like a Super Bowl contender again, smacking around a team on a five-game winning streak that was garnering love as a darkhorse Super Bowl contender.

These 49ers are no darkhorses.

They’re still favorites — if they can maintain this level of play.

And they better, because San Francisco has one of the NFL’s most challenging schedules ahead.

This team’s biggest key to success was on full display Sunday. It has been evident since Week 2: The Niners’ best players need to play.

Groundbreaking analysis, I know.

But what else can you say after Sunday? What a difference it makes having left tackle Trent Williams and wide receiver Deebo Samuel on the field.

Williams and Samuel, together, raise this offense’s floor. If the Niners need a positive play, they can always run left behind Williams, or give the ball to Deebo. More importantly, those two players remove the weight of the game from quarterback Brock Purdy’s shoulders.

And the kid — still only 23 years old — is pretty good when he can be light on his feet.

Purdy completed 19 of 26 pass attempts for 296 yards and three touchdowns Sunday. Most importantly, he had zero interceptions.

Samuel, even as a decoy, opened up the whole field for Purdy and the Niners’ offense — the Jaguars couldn’t manage him and running back Christian McCaffrey being on the field at the same time. There’s probably not a defense in the NFL that can.

But while the 49ers’ offense receives more attention, it wasn’t the team’s biggest issue during the three-game losing streak.

The defense was. The once-elite unit had become predictable, bland, and lifeless in the 49ers’ prior three games.

Sunday, they were dynamic, innovative, and aggressive.

Just as Niners’ defensive coordinator Steve Wilks deserved criticism for his guys’ play last month, he deserves praise for their play — and the changes he made — on Sunday.

First, Wilks came down from the coach’s booth to better communicate with his players on the sideline. At the same time, he rediscovered some of the aggressive tactics that, for whatever reason, had become rare in recent weeks.

Linebackers were back to feigning blitzes at the line of scrimmage, the Niners’ defensive line was back to shuffling positions and techniques, and Wilks called something other than standard pass coverage.

The changes gave the Niners’ defense the upper hand once again.

Pair the defense and offense we saw Sunday, and it’s hard to imagine anyone beating the Niners.

Of course, every game plan is bespoke, and success in this league can be fleeting. The 49ers had the Jaguars’ number Sunday, but they’ll face different challenges next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs could prove problematic.

But the Niners started the second half of the season with nothing but reasons to be optimistic for the remainder of the campaign.

Quality players made quality plays, and the 49ers picked up a quality win against a quality team.

And quality coaching made it all possible.

It’s hard to be a favorite. It’s a near-impossible task for a successful team — coaches, specifically — to properly balance the desire to stay the course with the need to adapt.

Surely, there will be some more tough times for the Niners ahead.

But when those times come, remember what the Niners did on Sunday.

They righted the ship and played at their best.

And I’ll take a team that can do that any week of the season.

And blowing out a quality Jaguars team — in Jacksonville — left no room for interpretation.

The three-game slide is over. These Niners can still play juggernaut football.

An outstanding performance from the San Francisco offense and defense — the kind of complimentary football coaches pine for — gave the Niners a 34-3 win heading into arguably the most challenging second-half schedule in the league.

They’ll do just fine if they play the remainder of the schedule like that.

STUDS

Trent Williams and Deebo Samuel

It’s incredible what the 49ers offense can do when they have a world-class left tackle and wide receiver.

Suddenly, the offense looks pretty easy.

The Niners could move the ball to the left side without resistance or hesitation — Williams was dominant in all three levels and both phases of the offense.

And with Samuel, the Niners could use the whole field again. Kyle Shanahan foreshadowed how he’d use Samuel early in the contest, when he put Samuel in “orbit” motion three times in a row. The Jacksonville defense had no idea what to do with it.

They never figured it out. Samuel put the Niners up 27-3 in the third quarter with a 23-yard touchdown run.

The lead blocker? Williams.

George Kittle

The People’s Tight End was Brock Purdy’s safety valve on Sunday. Three big catches resulted in 116 yards and a touchdown. It’s difficult to imagine the Niners’ offense being mediocre or poor if Kittle is cooking.

Steve Wilks

I don’t know if being on the field helped or not. I do know the 49ers defense had serious juice on Sunday.

Of course, the 49ers’ defense will look significantly better when the pass rush is winning — everyone up front deserves a game ball — but Wilks helped his defense in three ways:

1. He brought back the tactic of putting linebackers on the line of scrimmage and mixed up the defensive front, including the clever move of starting Javon Kinlaw at defensive end.
2. He played more single-high coverage, bringing Talanoa Hufanga into the mix, allowing him to play his true position — strong-side linebacker
3. He stopped playing Isaiah Oliver in the slot, opting to move Deommodore Lenoir inside, where he is markedly better.

Now, the real trick: staying on top of things.

Brock Purdy

This is the quarterback that Kyle Shanahan wants. Purdy was exceptional on play-action bootlegs Sunday, returning the bread-and-butter pass play to the Niners’ offense.

In a game where the 49ers were pass-first, Purdy’s play — and that play, in particular — was critical.

Were there a few “Jesus-take-the-wheel” moments for Purdy? Absolutely — his first and second touchdown passes were bold throws (and that’s being nice).

But Purdy didn’t turn the ball over, he made smart decisions with the ball, and won when he took risks.

The Niners have enough talent that they don’t need to put the game on the quarterback’s shoulders.

Purdy plays pretty well without that weight.

DUDS

Deommodore Lenoir

Jacksonville targeted the 49ers’ cornerback in both the run and the pass game. It worked out for them far more often than not, even if it didn’t result in points.

Lenoir is a significantly better player in the slot. And while Ambry Thomas isn’t a massive upgrade on the outside, he is an upgrade.

The Niners would be well served to start Thomas outside next week and lock in Lenoir as the team’s nickel corner — and only as a nickel corner.

Colton McKivitz

The Niners’ right tackle was worked over in pass protection in the game’s early goings.

(Can you blame Jacksonville’s defense for slacking once they were down 20-plus?)

On one hand, this is an issue the Niners have dealt with poor right tackle play for years, with Mike McGlinchey manning the position.

On the other hand, it’s not a good thing to maintain McGlinchey-level play.

McKivitz was solid in run blocking, so it wasn’t all bad — but it’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.

The FOX broadcast

I’ve watched a good amount of football in my day  — including more low-level college and high school football than I’d ever like to admit.

Sunday’s FOX broadcast was one of the worst-directed games I’ve ever watched. It truly made it difficult to understand what was happening in the game. (So blame that if you disagree with any takes I have here.)

Joe Davis and Daryl “Moose” Johnston were fantastic, as usual, but the camera crew and folks in the truck missed multiple turnovers and left the announcers — and the viewing public — in the lurch. It was an unacceptable performance and I hope the NFL took notice.

They need to rev up the pass rush — the acquisition of Chase Young is aimed at doing that. They need to stop calling such plain and predictable plays, which could be helped by film study over the bye.

But perhaps this defense’s biggest issue heading into the second half of the season is that it has lost its swagger.

And I don’t think defensive coordinator Steve Wilks moving from the coaches’ booth to the sideline is going to help with this.

A little film study of my own shows a defense that is devoid of juice.

The Niners’ defensive personnel is arguably better than last season. And yet they look to be a shell of that former team.

Like a balloon without air, this Niners’ defense looks limp.

Someone needs to pump them up.

The NFL is a billion-dollar business with innovative coaches, but it’s still a simple game in which padded men run into each other at full speed, and defensive players supply the force that makes it a full-contact sport.

And as I watch the 49ers over the last few weeks — the three consecutive losses looming largest — I don’t see a unit eager to go out and inflict pain.

More importantly, I don’t see anyone on the sidelines who can create that kind of energy.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan is one of the best offensive playcallers in the game and has shown he can run an effective operation in Santa Clara.

But he is not a rah-rah guy. Sure, he’ll lean into refs, the media, and NFL Players Association player directors, but it is rare to see Shanahan unloading on a player on the sideline. I can think of only one time he did it with Jimmy Garoppolo.

Shanahan is more of the passive-aggressive type — if Brock Purdy throws a bad interception, Shanahan is liable to avoid eye contact with him as he comes off the field.

It isn’t a question of right or wrong. He’s just a thinker, not a yeller.

The Niners’ head coach is also so focused on offense that he delegates nearly all of the defensive responsibilities to his defensive coordinator.

They run their team, Shanahan runs his.

And Shanahan did something quite self-aware when he hired his first defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh: He hired a rah-rah man.

Saleh is a smart guy — you weren’t going to beat him tactically — but unlike Shanahan, he is a yeller.

His emotions were external. He was perpetually liable to bash his head open by headbutting a helmeted player.

Saleh even had a motto for his high-intensity temperament: All Gas, No Brakes.

He brought the juice to his defense, which brought juice to the whole team.

And when Saleh left to become head coach of the Jets, Shanahan promoted linebackers coach DeMeco Ryans to defensive coordinator.

Being a former NFL linebacker, Ryans knew what players needed to be at their best.

A strong game plan was part of that package, no doubt.

But being an energetic force on the sideline was just as important.

He made sure his guys were so fired up, they couldn’t think on the field.

“We allow our guys just to go and shoot your gun,” Ryans used to say. “Nobody’s hesitating.”

Both Saleh and Ryans were so amped up they required “get-back” guys on the sideline during games, responsible for ensuring they didn’t run onto the field.

Now Wilks needs a get-down coach — as in Shanahan had to tell him to get down to the sidelines following this bye.

Wilks will organize the defense. He’ll be a positive influence. It made him a great interim head coach.

But Wilks will never need a get-back coach. If you’ve watched his press conferences, you get it.

Wilks was the defensive coordinator at my alma mater — Mizzou — in 2021.

An NFL head coach coordinating a college defense? Sounded like a big win.

The Tigers finished with the 113th-ranked defense in the country. It wasn’t for lack of talent, either.

It turns out that the kids didn’t need high-level instruction — they needed someone to convince them to run into another guy. They needed to think less and hit more.

It’s not Wilks’ fault this Niners’ defense is juice-free — it’s Shanahan’s. He failed to recognize what made Saleh and Ryans great. He failed to understand the necessary formula for success on that side of the ball for this team.

He hired someone like him. That was never going to work.

Like Shanahan, Wilks is an intellectual. A football tactician. A professor. He’s a thinker, not a yeller.

And while I’m sure that made the interview process enjoyable, the fact is that thinking on the field is death to a defense, even at the NFL level.

There’s a weekday temperament — studious, curious, cerebral — and a Sunday temperament — go break bones.

Wilks does not have that Sunday mode and halfway through the season, it’s rubbing off on his defenders.

Think about all the cutaways television broadcasts make to the coaches’ booth during a game. Have you ever seen a lick of emotion from Wilks when he’s on camera? No. That’s not his style.

Why would that change if he moved to the sideline?

(Juxtapose that with Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. He’s in the booth, but you often see him standing — he’s living and dying with every play. Is it any surprise his defense is as kinetic as any in the NFL?)

Wilks wants a birds-eye view of the action. He’s a secondary-first coordinator and the All-22 provides far more information in that regard.

But more information isn’t what this defense needs.

It needs someone to convince it to run through the brick wall again and again and again.

And that’s not Wilks. It never will be.

So where can the Niners’ defense find that charge?

Here’s an outside-the-box idea — literally.

Niners general manager John Lynch was one of the toughest dudes of the NFL’s modern era — a human torpedo coming in from the secondary.

He’s in this job and not broadcasting because he loves being part of a team. He needs the action.

Sitting in a luxury box for most of the game, he looks forlorn.

I can’t think of a better person to charge up this defense.

The Niners cannot win if “limp” is the team’s new defensive identity.

It’s time for Lynch to take off the suit, get into some logo-laden Nike apparel, and start dishing out headbutts.

This team is a title contender once again.

Yes, there’s a long way to go this season — we’re roughly one-tenth of the way through the campaign — but you see it, too.

Barring injury, the Warriors look like a lock to make the playoffs (remember, that was no guarantee last season) and win more than they did last campaign.

These Warriors are deep, smart, led by an MVP-caliber player, and back in the mix.

And on Wednesday, they can prove they’re more than a contender when they play a team that’s a true class above — a bonafide title favorite.

I rolled my eyes when Nuggets coach Michael Malone said his team would repeat as champions moments after winning the title this past summer.

If you did the same, I hope you rolled them back in time to watch this season’s start.

These Nugs are not messing around. They look great.

After all, they are deep and led by an MVP-caliber player.

The season just started, but Wednesday’s Warriors-Nuggets matchup in Denver could prove informative to more than just the regular season.

It’s too early to say that this is a preview of the Western Conference Finals — it won’t be a strength vs. strength matchup. Denver will be without star guard Jamal Murray, who will miss the next few weeks with a hamstring injury, while the Warriors will be playing their eighth game in their eighth different city.

But if the Warriors can win this game, it would tell the rest of the NBA that such a matchup is a distinct possibility — if not a certainty — down the line.

Winning the game will be anything but easy, though.

The Warriors’ bugaboo is opposing big men. Golden State has two players who can play above the rim — one is 6-foot-7, the other is a generous 6-foot-2. The lack of verticality has been a problem against some of the league’s longest, springiest players.

But Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is neither long nor springy. No one would ever call his game “athletic.”

It is, however, the best.

And if the Warriors’ most prominent issue is simply size, and not the ability to play above the rim, then the Warriors are in for a world of hurt on Wednesday.

Jokic is already a two-time MVP. He should have won a third straight award last year, but historical narratives undermined his candidacy. It was thought you couldn’t add a player who had not won a title to the uber-elite club of three-time MVP winners.

So Jokic went out and won a title. He’ll likely win that third MVP this spring. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him jump.

The man is a singular force of basketball competency operating at his highest level, and the Western Conference — just like the Nuggets offense — runs through him.

Unlike James Harden or Luka Doncic, Jokic’s success is fundamental to his team’s success.

Stop Jokic, and you stop the Nuggets. Fail to slow the big man down, and you’ll chase him and his teammates all night.

And while Draymond Green — all 6-foot-6 of him — has been successful against Jokic in the past, the Warriors haven’t faced this version of the Serbian Hoss.

This guy is on a different level than perhaps any player in the history of the NBA.

So beat him — and Denver — and the confidence gained could carry for months.

The Warriors have plenty of reason to be confident going into Denver. So far this season, they have executed their big-picture game plan.

Two seasons ago, when they won the title, the Warriors started the campaign with 16 wins by Thanksgiving, 27 wins on Christmas, and 31 wins by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In short, the Dubs built up a nice pile of wins to start the season and coasted down the stretch.

Last year, the Warriors tried the opposite technique — a slow start followed by a frantic finish to merely make the playoffs.

You can guess which direction they wanted to go this season.

For a veteran team like the Warriors, putting as many wins in the bag as possible as early as possible is simply pragmatic. Older players need their cushions — their ligaments and muscles cannot be trusted not to stretch beyond comfort as the season progresses.

The same truth should apply to statement wins, too.

But if there is, indeed, a quota of wins over quality opponents that must be hit before the spring, isn’t it better to meet it as early as possible?

The Western Conference has one true elite team. The Celtics and Bucks in the East qualify, too.

Golden State won’t play those two teams, respectively, until Dec. 19 and Jan. 13.

Maybe the Warriors are the NBA’s fourth elite team. Maybe not.

We won’t know until we see Golden State play one. We can’t put the Dubs in that category until they beat one.

And doesn’t that make Wednesday’s matchup in Denver the biggest game of the early season?

One logical step from that was remembering that the Warriors drafted a 7-foot center with the No. 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft not long ago.

But last spring, the Warriors traded away James Wiseman, who landed with the Pistons. On Monday night, the Warriors will play in Detroit.

They’ll head to the Motor City looking like geniuses for making that deal.

Do the Warriors have a size problem? Absolutely.

But as they discovered firsthand, Wiseman was not a solution to that issue.

And while the center is only 22 years old, things have not improved in Detroit.

Now and again, there is a flash of that talent that pushed him to the top of the draft, but on the whole, Wiseman is fighting for his NBA life.

The Warriors, meanwhile, received Gary Payton II in the Wiseman trade. With the guard fully healthy entering this season, the Warriors lack any regrets for making that deal. Payton is a perfect fit on this Warriors’ team — a smart, energetic player who fits the Dubs’ systems and can even close games.

The Warriors made the Wiseman-Payton trade with a bit of hesitation. They were admitting defeat on a 21-year-old center with enviable athleticism — there was risk there.

With the hindsight of nine months, the Warriors would make the Wiseman-for-Payton trade 100 times out of 100.

The only regret the Warriors need to carry from the Wiseman era is why they fell for him in the first place.

There was some benevolence in the Warriors’ choice to move on from Wiseman. He was at the end of the Dubs’ bench last season, but the Pistons were — and remain — a team of second chances and young players.

If Wiseman was ever to reach his potential — once thought to be prodigious — it would come in a situation like Detroit’s.

But so far this season, Wiseman has been at the end of the Pistons’ bench, only playing in one game for six minutes.

Wiseman lost out on Detroit’s third-string center role to Marvin Bagley Jr. — himself a former failed No. 2 overall pick.

With Isaiah Stewart and impressive sophomore Jalen Duren on the roster, there doesn’t appear to be a path to playing time for Wiseman, who is in the final year of his contract.

Perhaps another team takes a flyer and trades for him this season. The third time is the charm, right?

But in all likelihood, Wiseman is heading down the path of an NBA journeyman.

He’s too talented to play in the G League or even an international league but not skilled enough to crack an NBA rotation.

And until one of those two things is deemed false, he’ll float around the league, grabbing league-minimum deals and only playing in emergencies.

It’s the path former Warrior first-round pick and center Damian Jones has taken. He’s played for six teams since the Warriors traded him in the summer of 2019. He’s now with the Cavs. He’s played in 46 games in the last three seasons.

Jones was the No. 30 pick in the NBA Draft, though. The fact that he is still being paid millions to be in the league, eight seasons in, is an accomplishment.

Wiseman carries the burden of being a No. 2 pick. Everywhere he goes, he’ll be seen as a “bust.”

It adds a dose of tragedy to his story. It’s not like his poor NBA career is karmic retribution — he’s a stand-up kid, but things haven’t worked out on the court.

Perhaps Wiseman plays when the Pistons host the Warriors on Monday. If there was ever a game for the 7-footer to show off his skills, playing the diminutive Warriors is it.

But the truth is that Wiseman probably won’t play.

And doesn’t that say it all?

The Dubs are playing beautiful, connected basketball and executing at an enviable level in crunch-time play.

The team’s five wins at this early juncture of the season served as a warning to the rest of the NBA: Golden State is back.

But the Dubs received a dose of reality in Cleveland.

These Warriors are small. Tiny. Diminutive. Itty-bitty.

And for all the positives this team possesses — and there are too many to list here — there’s not much the Dubs can do to fix that problem.

Luckily, I don’t foresee it being a massive problem for Golden State this season.

Now, the Warriors lost to the Cavs 115-104 Sunday, and the reason why was evident to anyone watching: The Dubs were out-rebounded by 10 and outscored in the paint by 34 points in the loss.

But Golden State is leaning into its reality. Don’t go snooping for lifted shoes with this team.

Against one of the NBA’s best defenses and a team that has absurd length — Cleveland plays two centers at the same time, for heaven’s sake — the Warriors closed with Steph Curry (6-foot-3), Chris Paul (6-foot), Klay Thompson (6-foot-6), Andrew Wiggins (6-foot-7), and Draymond Green (6-foot-6).

That’s JV-team height.

It led to critical moments in the contest where Thompson — the team’s power forward this season — was guarding Evan Mobley — all 6-foot-11, 7-foot-5 wingspan, 40-inch vertical leap of him.

It was just a bit of a mismatch.

There were moments where the smallball tactics worked, sure, but most of the time, they did not.

And with Cleveland taking away any shot near the rim, the Warriors were forced to jump-shoot their way to victory. They didn’t nearly shoot well enough for that to happen.

Here’s the good news: There are very few teams in the NBA that will give the Warriors this kind of trouble because there are so few players like Mobley — the centerpiece of the Cavs’ defense, even if he’s often playing the 4.

The combined athleticism of Mobley and center Jarrett Allen (6-foot-9 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan) made the Cavs the best defense in the NBA last season.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Warriors find anything from this game to help them against other big teams. The Spurs and Lakers come to mind.

But even the Lakers aren’t quite the Cavs. They’re big but not as spry.

And there is no parallel with that No. 1 guy in San Antonio — Victor Wembanyama is on a different level than any other human.

Yes, Cleveland was — and is — a matchup nightmare for the Dubs, and unless the Warriors want to make a significant change to the roster — a move that seems inadvisable, given the fact that it’s one team and they’re in the opposite conference — there’s not much the Dubs can do about it.

The kid can play

There was one adjustment that the Warriors made to counter Cleveland’s size advantage Sunday:

Coach Steve Kerr played rookie smallball center Trayce Jackson-Davis in the second half of the contest. He provided highly positive minutes for a team that needed his energy.

Jackson-Davis doesn’t have star potential or game-breaking ability, but to have a young player that competent sitting at the end of the bench is downright absurd.

The Warriors have missed in the NBA Draft too many times to count over the years.

But Jackson-Davis has the makings of a massive hit, and Kerr having this much trust in him this early is a sign that we’ll see plenty of him in the coming months.

Dry Spell

The Warriors went more than eight minutes without making a field goal between the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter.

That kind of offensive lull could determine a game for other teams. Perhaps it did for the Warriors on Sunday.

But I think the Warriors’ demise came later in the contest, as the Warriors ended that incredible dry spell trailing by only six points before Klay Thompson hit a 3-pointer.

It’s no surprise that the Cavs were able to lock down the Dubs. Cleveland is one of the NBA’s best defensive teams with enviable length.

The surprising part was how well the Warriors played defense.

The rotations were excellent; their hands were fast. Rebounding didn’t go their way, but the Warriors’ second unit was connected and energetic.

The Warriors will not be an elite defensive team — they lack the athleticism.

But the Warriors can be a tier below “elite” this season — quite good.

As in top-10 good.

First field goal in 8:42

Since returning from back-to-back season-ending leg injuries, there had been a reliable, steady input and output from the five-time All-Star.

But, this season, with the addition of Chris Paul to the lineup and amid a deeper and better-built team, everything was in flux.

It hasn’t always looked pretty for Klay.

Don’t get me wrong: Thompson has been good. But his role is different, and there have been times when you can see it manifest in less-than-ideal ways.

This new role isn’t as active. Thompson spends much of the game on offense stretching the floor, instead of being directly in the action. On defense, he’s asked to defend in the post instead of on the perimeter.

Some of this is the Warriors conceding that Thompson isn’t the athlete he was before his injuries. Another part of it is the simple fact that Thompson is one of the tallest players on the team and the Warriors need his size and strength down by the basket.

It’s a big change for Thompson, and the Warriors not knowing if he’d take to it was part of why the team was hesitant to match his demands on a new contract before the season.

But on Wednesday, Thompson declared that he fits this new role just fine.

Not only did he hit the game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds remaining against the Kings, but he also added a brilliant defensive play seconds before.

Two game-winning plays in less than a minute of game action. That makes Thompson anything but an afterthought.

The game-winning shot will be replayed for years, as it should be — it was a great shot in a big moment.

But I thought Thompson’s block with 38.4 seconds remaining was just as critical to the Warriors’ win.

It was one of three — yes, three — blocks Thompson had in the fourth quarter.

Thompson might not be bulldogging the opposing team’s lead ball-handler, but he can still make a serious impact on the game as a defender. Wednesday showed just how committed he is to making this new role work.

OK, back to the jumper. It was vintage Thompson.

Yes, there were a few more dribbles than we’re used to seeing from him, but the wing cutting across the free throw line, right to left, and knocking down a 15-footer when there was no other offensive option is a throwback to the early days of the Dubs’ dynasty, when Thompson’s role was to make the most of disadvantageous situations for the Warriors’ offense, particularly with the second unit.

Thompson buying into this new role as a bonafide forward, not the 2-guard he’s played his whole career, removes one of the Warriors’ biggest possible hindrances to winning a lot of games this season.

There’s no question this new role helps them play an exceptionally entertaining brand of basketball.

No one knows if this will be Thompson’s last season in Golden State.

But if Wednesday is a sign of what’s to come for Thompson, I see no reason why he won’t be around for many years to come.

» I’ve been floored by the Warriors’ late-game execution this season.

It really does help to have Chris Paul on the floor in crunch time.

Wednesday, the Warriors were able to convert a 2-for-1 in the final minute — a play that allowed Thompson to take what was, effectively, the last shot of the game.

The play was initially set to be Curry bringing the ball up the court from a side-out pass (following the shot-clock violation). But when Sacramento picked up Curry full-court, Paul stepped into the backcourt to receive the in-bounds pass from Draymond Green.

Paul then pitched the ball to Curry, who had broken away from his defender, and who then dribbled — quickly — into the frontcourt. When no one else locked in as a defender against him, Curry took the opportunity to score on a floater with 32 seconds remaining.

Paul had several great passes on Wednesday. That simple one might have been the best of the game.

» That’s the game Dario Šarić had been hinting at all season. The stretch-5, second-unit big man had 16 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes.

If he is on, this Warriors team can argue they’re the deepest squad in the NBA.