Tough game up the road in Sacramento earlier in the week for the hometown Golden State Warriors, as they lost to the Kings in the preliminary game of the play-in tournament. The game was out of flow from the start for Golden State, as they battled an early deficit only to have Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis come in and dominate them for the rest of the night.
Curry was turning the ball over, Wiggins missed 2 of 3 free throws before the end of the third quarter after getting fouled on a 3, and when Draymond lackadaisically went out of bounds on a ball on the sideline when the team was down 15 or so and needed some magic to actually get a win, you know it was more or less over...
It's been a bit of an odd vibe for the Warriors since Draymond famously one punched Jordan Poole at pre-season practice in October 2022. The team underperformed that season, lost their GM, this year Draymond was getting in fights and dealing with more violence and suspensions, Klay was inconsistent with role poorly defined, and they lost to the Celtics in primetime on a Sunday afternoon last month by 50. That said, they still won 46 games in a stacked and balanced western conference - with another offseason upon them, how does the team maintain themselves as the class of the Association without going full rebuild? As our resident Warriors blogger, Danny Dials has a few ideas:
1) Trade Andrew Wiggins - I don't know what the personal situation is with him, but the last two seasons have just not been great. Missing games, inconsistent from a production standpoint, and just not close to the effectiveness he had in the 2022 championship run. Need to clear him out, give that time to someone else.
2) Get a legit big like they had with Bogut in their early runs - feel like a Porzingis would be perfect for the Warriors, but the brilliant Brad Stevens already snatched him up in Boston (thank you Brad). Looney is a fan favorite and plays well on the boards inside, but he's not going to get it done against this competition out in the west. He should be contributing off the bench - find a few guys to develop in the draft - the Warriors need a hit there - or go after some big name in the offseason. Somebody with real length - Brandon Ingram comes to mind, Pascal Siakham would've been a good one if he didn't already get traded this season.
3) Keep Klay Thompson - lots of folks assuming he's gone since he's a free agent and he hit zero (0) field goals in his last game for zero (0) points. Kind of unheard of for one of the great snipers in the history of the NBA. It's a make or miss league - this is an anomaly of all anomalies and the fact it happened at the end of the season shouldn't change the fact that the dude played well down the stretch, and he still has a lot of game left. Keep him squarely in the 6th man role and talk with him about embracing that in the offseason - he'll still be in the game for crunch time, and this will reduce his minutes on aging legs. Keep that man!
4) Get rid of Draymond Green - Yes I know he signed a 4 year deal at the end of last offseason, but he's really no longer a threat offensively and the Warriors need to evolve their play style a bit in order to thrive in this iteration of the NBA. Need a threat on ball screens to slip, hit a midrange, or hit a 3 - right now it's very easy for teams to just double Curry off of any ball screen and take their chances with Draymond having to be the playmaker on offense. Never mind the distraction he was this season with his on court antics. He is integral to the team dynamic, but similar to the Celtics getting rid of Marcus Smart last season, it will hurt in the near term but will be best for the team in the long term. Rip the band-aid and move on. Nobody does the dribble hand off keep quite like Draymond, but that works about a handful of times per season - need more production from your bigs.
5) Bring back Juan Toscano Anderson/Otto Porter Jr. - those guys were really good in the '22 run, not sure why they got let go.
This team has legitimately struggled in multiple seasons since Kevin Durant left after the 2019 finals loss in Toronto - '20 and '21 they didn't make the playoffs, '22 they got hot and made a nice run taking advantage of some favorable playoff matchups and a next era of stars not at the level to win it all yet (Doncic, Tatum, etc.), and the last two seasons have been disappointing as well. Steph Curry ain't gonna be here forever, hope they can take advantage while he's still at the all world level. I don't think the dynasty is over... people forget the Patriots had ten years between super bowls from 2004-2014 season, and as long as you still have the key player and the key coach, with the proper coaching staff around them, you're in business. As long as they keep the Gio Monaldo looking coach I'm happy for them... guy is electric.
Social Media
