Here are two not-so-fun facts about the Golden State Warriors:
• They’re the most expensive team in NBA history.
• With 12 games remaining this season, they’re closer to falling out of the play-in tournament than moving up to the No. 9 seed.
Let these facts be your north stars as the Warriors close out this absurd, incongruous season.
And then let me know where they take you, because, outside of “don’t let the Warriors’ front office manage your investments,” I’m finding it quite difficult to garner purpose or meaning from this cursed campaign.
This team seems to be on a road to nowhere, and it’s as bumpy as an East Oakland side street.
The Warriors, of course, didn’t expect to be in this unbecoming position — No. 10 in the Western Conference. They might not even hold that position much longer, as the young, plucky Houston Rockets, the hottest team in the NBA, are now nipping at their tail, one game away from fully closing what was a five-game gap earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the Warriors, losers of three of their last four, are either a team that has run out of gas or is playing with an entitlement this season’s squad hasn’t earned.
Either way, alarms are ringing, and the Warriors seem stunningly unaffected.
“I don’t give a damn about the Rockets,” Draymond Green said after Sunday’s loss to the Timberwolves.
Green might not care about the Rockets, but they care deeply about him.
The whole league cares about the Warriors.
They have collectively plotted their revenge for years, patiently waiting for a weak Warriors team. Now that they have one, they’re keen to vent some pent-up frustration.
The Warriors can’t decide what they want to be this season — contenders or chumps — so the league is deciding for them.
It all throws more than just the season’s final few weeks into question.
In past dynastic years, the Dubs waited until the last minute to “flip the switch.” Is this far less talented team—hanging on to the last postseason spot in the West by the narrowest of margins—planning on doing the same?
Is there even a switch to flip?
These big questions may or may not be answered in the campaign’s final weeks.
They certainly make the (justified) debate over whether Steph Curry should have played 30 or 32 minutes in Minnesota on Sunday seem trite.
After all, Curry didn’t force Andrew Wiggins, Trayce Jackson-Davis, or Chris Paul to turn the ball over to start the fourth quarter. And while Curry is part of the Warriors’ season-long problem of allowing opponents to shoot wide-open 3-pointers, the Warriors seemed capable of allowing those wide-open looks for deep without him on the court for those two fourth-quarter minutes, too.
“We’ve put the burden of this franchise on his shoulders for 15 years,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after that game. “We can’t expect him to play 35 minutes … If you want to say that him playing 30 minutes instead of 32 is a difference between a win and a loss, I totally disagree with that. We’re trying to win the game. And we’re trying to keep him fresh, too.”
Fair enough. Logical and sound thinking.
That acknowledged, riding Curry like there’s no tomorrow seems to be the only viable and repeatable plan for success for this Dubs team.
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The Warriors need a special type of center next to Draymond Green. The Pacers have one.
The Warriors lack an honest-to-goodness No. 2. It’s the defining truth of their season.
Klay Thompson can’t play that role anymore, Andrew Wiggins — the second-best player on a title team less than two years ago — doesn’t seem interested in the job, and Jonathan Kuminga desperately wants the gig but cannot fully perform the duties on a night-to-night basis. He’s 21 years old, after all.
So if the Warriors want to win games, they have no choice but to ride Curry — a true superstar — until the wheels come off.
And let’s be honest: that could be any day now.
Sorry if that offends you, but it’s plain to see if you’re willing to accept the reality of the situation.
We’re seeing Curry struggle as if he was a mere mortal as of late. He played at half-speed against the Pacers on Friday, getting easily outrun down the court when he was on defense and doing a lot of standing on offense.
An uncharacteristic performance? Sure.
But it wasn’t a one-off.
At least one lug nut is loose here. Amazingly, it took this long for that to happen.
So, following Friday’s game, can you blame Kerr and the Warriors coaching staff for being hesitant to push Curry at the start of a stretch where the Warriors will play eight games in eight different arenas in 13 days?
Not long ago, the Warriors managed Curry’s season-long workload by resting him for fourth quarters of blowout games.
Now, fighting for their postseason lives, they have to decide whether to rob Peter to pay (Chris) Paul with his minutes.
I reject the belief that titles are all that matters in the NBA. But as we watch this Warriors team flounder amid the season’s home stretch, it is fair to wonder, “What are we doing here?”
I’m not suggesting Dubs should not give up on this season. Golden State still has moments of worthwhileness.
But they are fleeting and far too infrequent.
The ratio between quality and disjointedness is out of whack and only worsening. It’s hard to imagine a dramatic turnaround in the final three weeks. Perhaps they hold onto that play-in spot. Maybe not.
I don’t know exactly how this season ends, but I don’t foresee it ending in a better position than last year when the Dubs were embarrassed in the second round.
After that series, the Warriors veterans were adamant they would run it back.
Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson shouldn’t be allowed to peddle that same kind of soft power again at the end of this season.
Who would want to run this back?
The Warriors can’t afford to stick with the current plan. The league’s new collective bargaining agreement is exceptionally punitive (to the point of being vindictive) to teams who remain in the luxury tax. The Warriors have an opportunity — narrow but clear — to hop under that line and re-set.
There is no future for this team. Not as currently constructed. Kuminga might become that No. 2 in due time — perhaps even next season — but how long will that align with Curry’s timeline as a No. 1?
And will Kuminga ever be a title-worthy No. 1? I’d like to be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.
What other future is there? Brandin Podziemski is a solid role player, but one that fits best with veterans. He’s the energetic puppy that keeps the old dogs young. Trayce Jackson Davis is marvelous, but he’s a role player, too — the precocious youngster who can hang out with his parents and their friends.
This isn’t a second timeline or future core — this is “running it back” on the cheap.
And without a clear succession plan to an era that is fading fast, the Warriors find themselves in a strange spot.
They could lean into this, the beginning of their Yankees and Cowboys phase, where they play well enough to be interesting but dominate off of it by selling nostalgia for a now-bygone era of greatness. That route will keep butts in the seats and pay the mortgage at Chase Center.
Or they could risk it all and make big, bold decisions this upcoming offseason.
I’m not sure which route would cost more.
And at this point, I’m unsure which route is right to take.
Perhaps the Warriors will provide an irrefutable answer over these final 12 games.
But with less than a month left in this season and this team remaining an enigma (at best), I’m not betting on it.