The Warriors are still considered title contenders by sportsbooks across the country and world, because Golden State has an institutional reputation for greatness. There’s faith in the market that this previously standout company will continue to perform well.
But this has been a bad quarter. Scatch that — it’s been a bad calendar year.
And despite that sterling reputation; even with the greatest winning trio in modern NBA history on the roster and presumably ready for the tournament, this could very well be the time to sell.
The Warriors have more problems than they have time to work through them.
There’s a simple way to look at the Warriors’ problems: their four highest-paid players are all question marks heading into the final two weeks of the regular season. The fifth highest-paid player, James Wiseman, has been ruled out for the season.
Steph Curry remains sidelined with an injured foot. While his injury was relatively minor — a week or so in a boot — he is still sidelined and his return is unknown, though presumed to come before the end of the regular season.
Klay Thompson is still finding his place and his rhythm on the court. Some nights it looks great. Most nights, it has looked like a struggle. Defensively, he has not yet shown the tenacity and movement ability that made him the most underrated on-ball defender in the game prior to his injuries. Perhaps that was expected. What was not expected, though was that the catch-and-shoot king is only shooting 35 percent on quick releases over his 28 games back with the Dubs.
The issue there is that Thompson needs to be an impact player for the Warriors, because Andrew Wiggins only reaches that level once a week (and that might be generous). Prior to being named an All-Star on Jan. 17, Wiggins was averaging 18.5 points per game on 49 percent shooting. Since then, he’s averaging 15.5 points per game on 43 percent shooting. The difference — All-Star candidate to often-forgettable role player — could prove to be the one between the Warriors being a title contender and just another Western Conference playoff team.
And then there’s Draymond Green.
Credit to the Warriors’ forward, he was exceptionally critical of himself following an embarrassing performance for him and the team Sunday in Washington.
Simply put, Green has been more detrimental than beneficial to the Warriors outside of the 22 minutes he and Curry played together between his return from a back injury and Curry’s exit with a foot injury.
They posted a net rating of plus-51 during that short stretch — a great number.
Green and Thompson are minus-27 in six games since Green’s return. Jordan Poole and Green posted the same number in 100 minutes together on the floor. Green and Wiggins? Minus-32 in 69 minutes.
“I’ve never really been on a team that gets worse when I’m on the floor,” Green said after Sunday’s loss, the Warriors’ fifth in seven games since his return.
Green is supposed to be the ultimate operator — the man who sees four or five steps ahead. But right now the game is moving too fast for him after 11 weeks off the floor.
I don’t think this is the end of the line for Green, but it could be a sneak preview of that unfortunate day. Green’s mind has always been his greatest asset on the court, but his body was able to execute. For both body and mind to be slower — it doesn’t matter which is to blame — brings about calamitous results. Contrary to belief in the Warriors’ organization — I’ve had this conversation at least a dozen times over the years — I don’t see Green as a player who will gracefully age. No, the supernova will burn out.
And while, again, we are not yet at that juncture, you can’t point to Green’s play sans-Steph — the Warriors’ play sans-Steph — and say that there’s anything distinguished about it.
There is the chance that this is all unnecessary hand wringing. Curry, Green, and Thompson have played a grand total of 11 minutes together this season.
In a Western Conference where the five other automatic qualifiers — and perhaps even one play-in tournament team — are formidable, there will be no early-round feeling out period. The Warriors will not be afforded the right to mess around and still walk away with a five-game series win like in dynastic years past.
But how many minutes will that trio be on the floor together before the playoffs begin?
This team needs to hit the ground running. But how do the Warriors establish some consistency, some rhythm, some positivity ahead of the playoffs, not knowing the sewer to that big question?
“That’s coaching,” Kerr said. Fair play.
So add that to the list of issues.
The Warriors are a .500 team — 21-21 — since Christmas. The underlying numbers during that stretch portend nothing more significant.
This squad has been nothing but average for months, and average won’t do a thing once the 82-game regular season is over. And that day is fast approaching.
