TORONTO – For the primary time under .500, the existential query of how much of the long run the Warriors can or should sacrifice to enhance the current is as relevant as ever.
With a 104:101 loss to the struggling Raptors, the Warriors reached the low point of their season. Steph Curry scored 26 points, seven rebounds and 7 assists within the loss, but Golden State ultimately fell short.
According to Curry, the Warriors (19-20) are in the center. After starting the season 12-3, they’ve fallen out of the playoffs in free fall and have passed through periods through which they lost their soul, their strength and their competitive spirit. They're still attempting to work out who they’re, but at this point there's little evidence that the present roster can compete for a championship.
Ask yourself the age-old query: How can the Warriors maximize what's left of Curry's championship-level excellence?
Neither Curry nor Draymond Green want the team to make what they consider a desperate trade.
“It's a responsibility to keep the franchise in a good environment and a good place when it comes to where we leave this team when we're done,” Curry said at his locker at Scotiabank Arena.
“That doesn’t mean you’re not committed to improving yourself in some way. If you have an opportunity where a trade makes sense or becoming a free agent in the summer makes sense, you want to continue to improve. Nobody wants to be stale or find themselves in a situation where they miss opportunities. But that doesn’t mean you’re desperate and just throwing assets everywhere because you want to do something.”
Curry said Mike Dunleavy knows they need to win and he works the phones like all good general manager. Asked if he was pleased with the extent of activity three weeks before the Feb. 6 deadline, Curry said the expectation, as at all times, is to remain informed because the team monitors options.
Curry's comments got here on the identical day Green was quoted in a single Yahoo Sports article She and head coach Steve Kerr agree that they don’t comply with “mortgaging the future of this organization.”
“Bad teams do that,” Green told Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports. “Bad organizations do that. We're not one or the other.”
Before Monday's loss, Kerr was asked concerning the challenges of keeping a dynasty alive. A member of the six-title-winning Chicago Bulls and four-time champion Warriors teams, he’s as expert in the sector as anyone.
“Nothing lasts forever,” Kerr said. It's the truth of sport and life.
“You want it to last as long as possible, and you go out of your way to make that happen as best you can,” Kerr said. “And those runs (you’re talking about) happen because of Michael Jordan and Steph Curry, those once-in-a-lifetime players. And so you ride these guys as long as you can, as long as they're capable. Then you have to move on and everything changes.”
The Warriors' championships got here 10 years ago, in 2017 and 2018, and again in 2022. Runs like this occur rarely, and for good reason. Players get old (and expensive in a salary cap league). Superstar challengers emerge and the sport changes around you.
Golden State had a rare opportunity to increase its championship window with the No. 2 overall pick in 2020. They selected James Wiseman.
One of the explanations the Warriors were in a position to make their surprise run in 2022 was the emergence of Jordan Poole, a late first-round pick that didn’t materialize. But shortly after they paid him in the summertime of 2022, Green hit him in practice, derailing the trajectory of his profession, his future with the team and the organization's path.
Since the 2022 championship, the Warriors have lost within the Western Conference semifinals and been eliminated within the play-in game. This season appears to be heading towards an identical fate; The Warriors are fifteenth in net standings and have lost 17 of their last 24 games.
The Warriors' young core now consists of Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and their future first-round picks (they each have their very own through 2029, with picks being trade-eligible in alternating years).
That's essentially the long run in query in relation to taking out a mortgage or cashing in on a hypothetical win-now trade. The Warriors tried to sign Paul George and Lauri Markkanen over the summer; each have bad seasons. That's them is reportedly not viewed as a viable option for Jimmy Butler. The next possible step is unclear.
Curry turns 37 in March. He remains to be one of the vital productive players within the league, rating in the highest 15 in advanced metrics reminiscent of Box Plus-Minus (ninth) and Value over Replacement Player (thirteenth). Green stays one of the vital versatile and effective defenders within the league.
You are still capable. But for the way for much longer?
“I think that’s where we are right now,” Kerr said. “Steph is still playing at a really high level. The last few years we've fought like crazy and competed just to stay in the game. Last year, 46 wins weren't even enough to get into the playoffs. So it has become more and more difficult. But we are fighting, and we will keep going until we can’t anymore.”
Originally published:
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