Here is my take on the Warriors current situation: pending there were no injuries.
I felt they were still a dominant force in the west even after trading Kevin Durant for D’Angelo Russell. The knee injury to Klay Thompson was definitely the shock and with Steph Curry going down with a hand injury early on it only puts the dubs in a deeper situation.
Draymond Green can hold his own but even he is struggling to stay healthy and even if he’s on the floor can he guide the new guys to mesh together?
If this season was a bust that would be understandable, because it is hard to compete for high standings in the west which is very much the deeper of the two conferences.
Hey, seeing how things have ended up, who’s to say the warriors miss the playoffs and end up with a top 5 draft pick? Only time will tell but in the meantime let’s all enjoy some NBA basketball!!
In the endless talk of the demise of the Dubs, there has been nothing but pessimism and mentions of tanking. Amongst the many pundits, critics, bloggers and social media influencers (of which I am not one), I must be the only one who thinks tanking is a TERRIBLE idea.
Before I get to to my reasons, let me point out the obvious reasons in which to tank. Each one valid, but still the concept overall is disagreeable:
get a high draft pick
…that’s all. That’s the only benefit to tanking.
Now for why I disagree (especially as a Golden State Warriors fan):
Being a star is about opportunity — Really, it’s true. In today’s NBA, the only thing that separates a major star from a role player is the amount of opportunities a player has to make mistakes. The quantity may be determined by salary or how high in the draft the player went. Therefore, there’s a vested interested in seeing a prospect make it, but true skill is often not a factor.
Nonetheless, what makes Anthony Davis “better” than, say, Julius Randle is the amount of opportunities Davis has had to mess up, to be injured, and still demand the ball go through him on offense. Perhaps too, management and coaches’ egos keep giving a player chances so they’re not proven wrong in their decision to draft.
Lottery draft picks rarely turn out in the end. There are countless examples of lottery picks just not panning out: Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, Michael Olowokandi, Andrea Bargnani, Markelle Fultz. To waste an entire season tanking to get a high draft pick that may not work out seems like a risky move to me.
Young, proven “vets” are more valuable than a rookie prospect. Players that were undrafted, went the G-League route and make it to the league seem to be extra thirsty competitors who want to stay in the upper echelons of basketball. They know and have what it takes to compete at the NBA level.
A rookie coming out of college, especially high school, is still adjusting to the big man’s league. It can take three to four years for that prospect to even be relevant to an NBA team any way (i.e. Jermaine O’Neal). Draft now, maybe reap rewards later is not a good look.
Winning DNA. If you are or are building a championship-level team what type of DNA do you want to infuse in your team culture and chemistry? I watched the Warriors, Clippers, Mavericks, Bucks, and more suffer for many years trying to get that elusive Kobe-Bryant-type draft pick only to be let down year after year. Their cultures took a turn for the worst and took years to build back to even being respectable.
Take the Los Angeles Clippers for instance. They could have tanked last year, got a decent draft pick and rebuilt for the next upmteen years. Rather they remained competitive, gave the Warriors fits in the first round of the playoffs and built a championship DNA. That DNA attracted the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George and now the Clips are on the verge of dominating the NBA for the foreseeable future.
If you’re the Warriors, you still have Steph, Klay and Draymond in the fold. Let your young players develop, but don’t call it tanking. When you’re a champion, stay a champion by competing to the fullest. Leave the tanking to the teams who have no interest in ever winning anything.
Will Steve Kerr have a job at the end of this year? Will Klay Thompson return better, the same or worse than his pre-injury self? Will Kevon Looney come back from this nerve thing? Will D’Lo’s ankle be alright?
These questions are major cause for concern for the defending Western Conference Champs. There are a lot of unknowns. And those unknowns make for a very, very interesting season for Warriors fans like myself.
More and more people, fans included, are starting to write-off the Warriors’ playoff hopes. I’m not so quick to pass that opinion on to you. I’m certainly growing more pessimistic each day with each missed layup or rebound opportunity, yet I still feel like the Dubs are still ok.
With Eric Paschall showing us glimpses of what he can really do, Omari Spellman energizing the bench, Cauley-Stein making an immediate difference on defense, and the shooting of the wings starting to come around, the Warriors are in better position than most would think.
This is a prime time for the lowercase dubs to get quality run early in the season, build confidence, and develop their NBA game quicker than they normally would. Besides, they’ve seen some really good teams already (e.g. Clippers, Spurs) and the experiences in those games are starting to show in a positive way.
Imagine when Curry comes back in a few months and the young Warriors are no longer the lowercase dubs we see right now; rather, they start sentences and leave no questions.
One advantage the Warriors have in abundance that most teams don’t have is youth. While it may hurt to watch them this early in the season, at just under 25 years of age, the Warriors are one of the youngest teams in the league. The Lakers are old. Rockets, old. Utah, getting there. My point is, over the course of a long 82-game season, youth certainly has its advantages. Sustained energy is one. The other is proneness to injury. I hope all players have a healthy season–both physically and mentally. However, there are no guarantees (as we just saw with Steph’s broken hand). Even the top teams are just an injury or two from exploring tanking options.
So the question becomes–and has always been (as the Spurs figured out)–how deep is your bench? How well do you develop the young guys? How solid is your G-League program? All this experience on the big stage for the Warriors’ two-way players and rookies is invaluable and will only pay major dividends in the near future.
If Golden State can secure their first win at the Chase Center against a strong Portland squad this evening, their confidence can ride them to a stronger-than-expected record with Curry out. However, if they lose, no biggie…It’s a learning opportunity and a chance to get better. On to the next one.
Many have speculated D’Angelo Russell will be traded in the 2019-2020 season. Some even bring up the Monta Ellis days as a reason to trade him believing small ball won’t get it done. However, I believe D’Angelo Russell to be exactly what the Golden State Warriors need this season and the future.
He’s young. At just 23, he has many viable years left in his career. In fact, his career and his prime are just getting started. And with a young roster, Russell can be the young leader the Warriors need to bring their bench along. Too many times a team’s superstar is too old to relate to younger players, making it harder for the younger players–and team overall–to develop a chemistry.
Instead, Russell can be a great liaison between the aging Warriors and their young talent. With the respect of both ends of the spectrum, Russell should fit right in, be an integral part of the team and a critical part of player development.
Besides, Steph Curry’s baby face doesn’t show his true age. Yet, no matter the player’s conditioning, diet and so forth, age plagues all and eventually injuries lead to retirement. To have a young, high-caliber talent like Russell on the Warriors means a chance to remain competitive without going into a rebuilding phase. Especially when the dubs hold on to Curry, Thompson and Green, we’re looking at years of championship contention a la the aging Tim Duncan Spurs. Russell could fill a Kawhi Leonard type roll for the next few years and possibly become “the man” when the big three inevitably fade away.
Add a few high-character players like they have in recent years, and things will work themselves out in the long run. They always do….
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