The Golden State Warriors season is on the brink. They may have entered the All-Star break not quite as smoothly as they might have hoped, but they have sure exited it in disastrous fashion. No longer are they looking up in the standings, hoping to secure a playoff berth without having to enter the NBA’s new play-in tournament. Now their eyes are firmly behind them looking down at the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans wondering if they can keep their tenuous hold on the final play-in spot.
Little wonder that Draymond Green, a man who has played in five consecutive NBA Finals, said after a recent loss “fighting for a play-in spot does not motivate me.” Green clearly doesn’t have time for this losing nonsense. Klay Thompson is out until next season, but even he was apparently lamenting the miserable state of affairs after the latest debacle, a 53-point loss to a Toronto Raptors team on it’s own tailspin season.
Then there’s Stephen Curry. It’s not his style to air any grievance publicly. But he is 33 years old, gutting it through a painful injury to try to salvage something from a second lost season of his prime. This summer he will eligible for a four-year extension to his current contract that will lock him into the Warriors until he’s 38, basically ensuring he is a Warrior-for-life. This is something all sides clearly want, but the Warriors can’t take anything for granted. If he signs that deal, they owe him a genuine shot at more championships.
What is clear is that the Warriors have three stars who when healthy together have wrought destruction on the league. But it’s also fair to say they didn’t do it alone. Obviously Kevin Durant made them unassailable, but players like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston were vital components of the whole dynastic run. Indeed Erik Spoelstra, Iguodala’s current coach, said after the Heat’s win over the Warriors this week “those were great teams, and he was a big part of them... I think you can make an argument they miss Andre equally as much [as Thompson]. He does so many things that help you win."
Is a playoff series what this team really needs?
Zoom out, you have to wonder whether the Warriors should lean into the direction they’re currently trending. Naturally any time Curry and Green are on the floor, they want to win. As competitive as they are, they don’t want a second season missing the postseason. And with a relatively soft schedule down the back end of the season, they could certainly make it.
But the Warriors’ real aim of making the playoffs this season was to give their younger players a taste of that high-pressure action, and start to mold some winning habits in a competitive environment. What is crystal clear though is that at this stage James Wiseman needs a proper summer league and training camp much more than he needs a playoff series likely against one of the league’s best teams.
That’s not his fault. It’s what happens when a team with playoff hopes drafts a player who has barely played high-level competitive basketball. This was always to be a slow burn. It will be a bumpy ride. But the Warriors need t0 make sure that ride progresses at the right speed to actually bring Wiseman along, rather than putting him in positions where he’s going to struggle. Ramping up the minutes over the next couple of months in a less pressurized setting, and then having a full developmental summer in an NBA system, may well be more conducive to his long-term growth than exposing him to the crucible of the NBA playoffs at this early stage of his career.
Time to embrace the tank?
The other side of this equation is that the Warriors are highly likely to have their own pick, and a 60% chance of the Minnesota Timberwolves pick, currently likely to be in the top 5, in a draft laden with superstar talent. The nightmare scenario for the Warriors would arguably be that the Timberwolves pick doesn’t convey, and their pick ends up too far back to really get a solid contributor next season.
Flip it the other way round though, and the Warriors are within touching distance of potentially two top-ten picks. Indeed if they continue to drop games at the rate they have been they could conceivably end up with somewhere around the 8th-worst record in the league. With the flattened lottery odds, that is a big deal. Last year the Hornets jumped from the 8th spot to 3rd, and the Bulls from 7th to 4th. Back in 2018, the Pelicans won the Zion Williamson sweepstakes from 7th. Even the 9th-worst record gives you a 20% chance at a top-four pick.
Given the way the Warriors season is trending, and the clear need for a further infusion of talent, and you really do have to wonder whether playing the long-game here is the right move. Two top-ten picks in this draft, plus Wiseman brought along at a pace that works for him, could be just what the Warriors need to set them up for the next five years.
Alternatively if the top brass are seriously considering a superstar trade this summer, then having three prime assets rather than two should enable the Warriors to hedge their bets a bit and keep hold of something that helps their future rather than having to throw every last thing into a deal that might not put them over the top anyway.
So while the losses sting now, if the Warriors genuinely want to give their stars an end that is worthy of remembrance, perhaps the time has come to admit this season hasn’t gone the way they planned and salvage what they can from the wreckage.
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April 03, 2021 at 08:00PM
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Has The Time Come For The Golden State Warriors To Tank? - Forbes
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