There are three weeks left in the regular season and as it stands the Golden State Warriors are the 10th seed in the West, 2.5 games back of LA in 9th and 1 game ahead of Houston in 11th. It’s safe to say this season hasn’t gone as planned with multiple storylines focused on discomfort within the franchise. If they fail to make the play-in or even the playoffs, we may witness the end of one of the most successful dynasties in NBA history.
Before the season started, Golden State dominated the headlines with the trade of Jordan Poole to the Wizards in exchange for Chris Paul, a trade that didn’t make basketball sense then and makes even less sense now. To add to the confusion around this move, they re-signed Draymond Green to a four-year $100 million extension which will pay Green $27 million in his final year, at the age of 36. To put this into perspective, Green will be paid more yearly than OG Anuoby, Domantas Sabonis and Mikal Bridges, who are far more productive players. In hindsight, with the array of issues Green has caused this season, Golden State may regret letting Poole go for a minimal performance return. It’s clear a series of questionable franchise decisions has led Golden State to this position.
Although Green is a concern for the franchise with his outlandish altercations that even led to a 12-game suspension this season, the play of Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins can also be attributed to the team's struggles. Both players have looked like shells of themselves this season. Klay is averaging over 4 points less a game and shooting his worst 3-point % of his career, which ultimately led to him being removed from the starting lineup in February and he has continued to come off the bench since. Wiggins is averaging 12.7 PPG and 26.7 MPG, which are both career lows. Klay and Wiggins have been instrumental parts of the Warriors dynasty but their decline this year is in plain sight and has clearly impacted the teams' performance.
Steve Kerr has also come under much scrutiny this season, most recently in the loss to Minnesota where he only played Curry for 30 minutes, almost 3 minutes less than his season average. When asked about this decision after the game Kerr snapped back saying “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." It’s difficult to understand this decision when they are teetering on the edge of the play-in tournament and only lost the game by 4 points. Even Curry expressed his surprise at the decision "I want to play as many minutes as I'm fresh and able to, so I'm a little bit [surprised] knowing that they were going on a run". It’s fair to say that Curry hasn’t been playing to his usual standards in March, averaging just 22.3 PPG, but without his heroic performances this year, Golden State may have already been eliminated from play-in contention.
In January, Jonathan Kuminga also had concerns with Kerr because of his playing time, stating he had lost faith in the head coach. During this time, Kuminga was being limited to roughly 19 minutes a game even with Green and Payton II sidelined, a decision that didn’t make much sense. It looked like Kuminga was on his way out, but Kerr listened and Kuminga was added to the starting lineup, which turned out to be a great decision. Kuminga is now a consistent starter playing over 30 minutes a game, averaging 17.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 2.8 APG in the 43 games he has started this season. You have to wonder why it had to get to the point of Kuminga talking publicly about his playing time for this change to happen.
Golden State needs to close out the season strong to ensure they make the play-in tournament and have a shot at making the playoffs. Draymond may not “give a damn” about the fast-approaching Houston Rockets, but the rest of the franchise should. Houston is currently on a 9-game winning streak and just a single game back of Golden State for the final play-in spot. If the worst happens and they do drop to the 11th seed, this may be Kerr’s last season and major changes may be afoot franchise-wide. Klay will be an unrestricted free agent at the season's end, Draymond continues to be more trouble than he is worth, Chris Paul is 38 years old and Curry is questioning Kerr’s decision-making more than ever. Only time will tell, but it seems like we are witnessing the final stages of the Warriors dynasty.
コメント