With the return of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors once again have championship aspirations after a retooling year that saw them finish with a league-worst 15-50 record, earning them the second overall pick in this upcoming draft.
Doing research on potential lottery picks isn’t something the Warriors staff and their fans have been used to during their five straight finals appearances. Golden State will be looking to return to their former glory in the 2021 season.
Obviously, two-time MVP Stephen Curry is the x-factor here. Curry played four games before suffering a broken left hand on October 30 which, sidelined him until March 5 where he made a brief one-game return against the Toronto Raptors.
During the 2021 season, Stephen Curry will be 33 years old and while his playstyle is not as physically demanding as most, Father Time is undefeated. Coach Steve Kerr has already stated “it’s on [the coaching staff] to try to begin to manage his minutes”, which is to be expected.
Curry averaged around 33 minutes a game across their five-year finals run, and it is likely he won’t be playing that many minutes consistently. You can also expect he will take the occasional night off, probably not to the levels of load-managing savant Kawhi Leonard, but enough to raise some concerns about the Warriors’ consistency.
I myself am a Curry fan, how can you not be? He is thrilling to watch and an all-time great. While I hope he can be in MVP contention next season, he’s not getting any younger.
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
That brings me to my next point, the Warriors bench is awful. Sure, the combo of Curry and Klay Thompson is deadly and will give every team problems, but what about when they’re on the bench or taking the night off? You cannot rely on the likes of Jordan Poole, who had a historically bad rookie season in 2020, Glenn Robinson, Ky Bowman and Juan Toscano-Anderson to keep your team afloat while the stars rest.
Sure, Eric Paschall is a nice piece who had a pleasantly surprising rookie year after being drafted 41st overall, but you can attest that to the largely increased role as a result of Curry and Thomspon’s absences. Paschall had the highest usage rate of players that played 50+ games for the Warriors, but that is not going to happen again next year.
Paschall can be a nice contributor, but you can’t rely on him as a sixth man if you want to seriously contend. He has the potential to be a good player one day, but he’s not there yet. The Warriors need someone who can contribute now to give them the best chance at a title in their rapidly-closing window.
That begs the question of what do they do with their pick? This is a very tame draft compared to previous years, which diminishes the value of the pick a little bit. The only obvious good pick for them is James Wiseman, who has been held in high regard as “the next Anthony Davis”.
But as I said earlier, the Warriors need someone proven and Wiseman is the complete opposite of that, playing just three college games at Memphis before leaving to focus on the draft due to concerns around his eligibility. We all saw in those three games that Wiseman has potential, which is why he is still held in high regard as a likely top-three pick.
While the Warriors do need a centre, it is not in the Warriors’ best interest to gamble on a player for the future. They need to trade the pick. While it isn’t the best draft class this year, plenty of teams will still take the chance on the second overall pick.
The Warriors aren’t in desperate need of more star power, they need depth. Trading the pick for a backup point guard as well as someone who can be a solid contributor in the starting centre spot should be the Warriors’ top priority this offseason. With Curry on a super-max deal, Thompson on a max, Andrew Wiggins on a max and Draymond Green on a $100m deal, the Warriors have a very rough cap situation.
They need to use this valuable asset wisely.
When the 2021 season opens, Klay Thompson will step foot on the court for the first time since June 13th, 2019 after suffering an ACL tear in Game 6 of the finals. Whenever the season starts, it will be almost two years since Thompson played NBA basketball.
(Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
His offensive game is probably the least physically demanding style of play there is and while he will be rusty and inconsistent for a while, eventually he should regain his footing. His defensive ability on the other hand, could be a problem.
In 2019 Thompson received All-Defence second-team honours and he has been an integral part of the Warriors’ defence over the years. He relied on his quickness, lateral movement and quick changes of direction on the defensive end, which will be heavily impacted after recovery from an ACL tear.
His teammates are Curry and Wiggins who are not exactly known for their defensive capabilities, a yet-to-be-determined centre and Green, who is a former defensive player of the year but is not anywhere near that level anymore. The Warriors’ defence is going to be a problem if they don’t address it this offseason.
To put it nicely, Draymond Green did not have a good 2020 season. 8/6/6 on 49 per cent true shooting are not flattering numbers and while it’s well known that Green’s impact extends beyond the basic numbers, all you had to do was watch him to know that he was not very good.
Green is a guy who is made better by the team surrounding him and without Curry and Thompson by his side, it was rough for him. Curry and Thompson are now back, but will this really solve all Green’s problems? He has been slowly getting worse every year since his peak in 2016 and will be turning 31 next season.
Not to mention reduced minutes and load managing is inevitable for Curry and Thompson, what is he going to do on nights where they don’t play? He’ll have his moments, but he’ll be inconsistent and not someone the Warriors can rely on night-in and night-out.
The biggest mystery for the Warriors and maybe the whole league this year is Andrew Wiggins, who they received in a trade mid-season. Wiggins played a shaky 12 games for the Warriors, although we did see the occasional flash we haven’t seen from him since 2017.
A common hope among Warriors staff and fans is that Kerr can fix him. Wiggins has never had a good coach, going from Flip Saunders in his first season, Sam Mitchell in his second year, Tom Thibodeau in years three, four and five and Ryan Saunders in the first half of year six.
Now he comes into Golden State to play under the greatest coach of the modern era, Steve Kerr.
Kerr is well known for taking otherwise poor players and turning them into contributors. While Wiggins isn’t a star, he is not a poor player. It’s clear that he has the potential to be something, which is why the Timberwolves awarded him a max contract which he is now in year three out of five on.
Kerr can work his magic, but at the end of the day it’s all up to Wiggins whether he wants to buy in. He has been criticised for his lack of energy and effort since receiving his max deal and Kerr can’t fix that, but Wiggins can.
He needs to step up as that third guy for the Warriors.
Ultimately, the Warriors have lots of things to be concerned about as well as things to look forward to. Their bench needs some serious upgrades, as they can’t be relying as much on an ageing Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. Bob Myers has proven his competency as a general manager, but this will be the toughest task he has faced yet.
As their team currently stands, I can see them finishing anywhere between sixth and eighth in the West. A team that will be riddled with inconsistencies and issues will have a tough time securing a high seed in what is going to be an absolute bloodbath of a Western Conference.
I think they will be that team that can give the top teams such as the Lakers, Clippers and Nuggets trouble. Look for them to screw up other teams’ playoff hopes late in the season. Now, if they can make some nice acquisitions in the off-season, most importantly filling out that bench, and their stars can be relatively consistent, they could be looking at a third or fourth seed.
It’s going to be an interesting year for Golden State.
Gabriel Young
Roar Rookie
They don't need to trade anyone currently on the roster unless they need to salary dump for whoever they get in exchange for the No. 2 pick. That's assuming they do trade the pick in the first place, I think it would be a mistake not too with this lacklustre draft given their best players are all on the wrong side of 30. Their current starting line-up alone is arguably the best in the league - it's just a matter of staying healthy.
astro
Roar Rookie
The Warriors shouldn't and wont trade Draymond. Its easy to look at his stat line and not be impressed, but check his numbers from last year when the Warriors made the Finals, and you'll see his numbers are down, but not by much. Fact is, he does a lot of things for this team which don't show up on the stat line and his understanding with Klay and Curry, makes him invaluable. And the idea that no team would trade for Draymond is crazy...He is not an offensive player who can create his own shot, so when playing on a team with a terrible roster (and a team which was making moves through the season to set themselves up for next season), its hardly surprising he wasn't great. He was also injured through the year. Once Draymond gets locked in with Klay and Curry, my bet is he reminds everyone why he is so important to this team. BTW - great article! Its hard to know what to make of the Warriors as they have so many moves to make. And don't forget Kevon Looney...he's a valuable player and someone who gives the Warriors additional flexibility.
Liam Clark
Roar Guru
Definitely need a decent bench and a scorer who is capable of leading the bench as the sixth man. It needs to be a major point for the Warriors. I reckon they will try and ship Draymond as well, but as you said no team will probably be keen to take him. I could only see a team taking him who wants to get rid of some players themselves and are willing to take the salary. I could see him getting traded to an average team and getting his contract bought out, and potentially picked up by a contender on a minimum deal.
Jayden Rule
Roar Rookie
I don't think they should trade for a star. Hypothetically, they could have a realistic chance at the likes of Bradley Beal and Victor Oladipo if they wanted to, but I don't believe they should. They already have Curry and Klay, another star is not what they need, they need a bench. I 100% agree with needing a sixth man who can score. That needs to be their main priority this offseason. I mean, they probably will TRY to ship Draymond. But I don't see any team willing to take a washed star on a 100m contract who needs some of the best shooters ever to be a good player. Trading him would be more of a salary dump for the Warriors then a trade to improve the team.
Liam Clark
Roar Guru
Great article, the warriors are in a very interesting position. I agree with he pick needing to be traded and an improvement of the bench. Their bench is absolutely woeful, and they can’t rely on just curry and Thompson to get them by. I believe a trade with the number 2 pick and Wiggins could potentially net a Star from another team that wants to rebuild and start fresh, however it will be interesting to see what they do. I think they need a sixth man who can score, in the vain of someone like Lou Williams. Their bench lacks fire power, and when Curry and Klay are subbed out, the Warriors will struggle. Could we also potentially see them try and ship Draymond Green? I don’t believe anyone would want him after last season though, if he doesn’t come with a cheap price tag