The NBA Should Have Seen The Warriors Coming..

The NBA Should Have Seen The Warriors Coming..

We really should have learned our lesson the first time just when we start to ride off the Warriors they go on a run like we’re seeing right now before the season started Warriors fans were given a lot of hope they were coming into the Year healthy and made a massive deal

Sending out Jordan pool in exchange for Chris Paul but that hope really didn’t last all that long Steph hadn’t lost his step which was great news given that’s no longer a guarantee season to season with where he is in his career but he felt like the only player that was

Reaching their expectations Klay Thompson was putting together the Worst season since his rookie year during the summer he had been making claims about how this would be a statement season given his desires for a new Max contract and while he was definitely making a statement just not the one he was hoping

For through the first 24 games where the warriors were four games below 500 he was averaging 16 points shooting only 41% from the field and 36% from three given his three-point volume okay numbers in a vacuum but not what we expect from Klay Thompson now somehow he wasn’t even the most disappointing

Player for the Warriors at that point in the year Andrew Wiggins possibly the most instrumental part of their 2002 title run outside of stev was putting together one of the bigger collapses we’ve seen in recent memory through those first 24 games someone that was only a season removed from being named

An All-Star starter was averaging 12 points shooting 41% from the field and 26% from three Golden State just can’t escape these dramatic falloffs a year ago it was Jordan P now clay and Andrew Wiggins then their new addition Chris Paul he wasn’t surprising anyone at 38

Years old he was averaging 9 points and seven assist open the year shooting 41% from the field and 35% from three unsurprisingly when all this is happening game after game their title chances were plummeting Mo struggled to see any kind of path for them to turn things around because of that we started

To see a lot of conversations surrounding the team past this current season as they have a massive payroll unlike anything we’ve ever seen before Klay Thompson said to be a free agent and most of this core is well into their 30s in the eyes of many this this was

Truly the end of this Warriors team as we know it but then something interesting happened something that at the time seemed to only emphasize the disaster that was this season for the Warriors oh man well that’s going to be a flight ground Raymond gets suspended indefinitely could things be going any

Worse at least that’s how it felt little did we all know just how impactful that suspension would go on to be and when I say impactful I mean in a good way in the 16 games Draymond would go on to miss the Warriors managed to hold things

Together with a record of 8 and8 now no one was suggesting that the Warriors had gotten any better without Draymond but what made that time so impactful is what it Unearthed we didn’t see anything too surprising from the core Klay started to play a little bit better he was

Averaging 20 during that time returning to his usual efficiency Andrew Wiggins was still struggling his numbers had actually only gotten worse it was the young guys for the Warriors that made this time so interesting most notably jonath Jan kaminga he had upped his averages to 16 points shooting 56% from

The field and 35% from three Trace Jackson Davis their second round selection saw a massive jump in his role he was now playing 20 minutes a night averaging 11 shooting 73% from the field in their first round selection Brandon PO jimsky he was starting to look like

One of the bigger steals of the draft he stepped up and was clearly willing and unafraid to buy into any role the team needed he helped fill the void left by Draymond as a playmaker he was bringing a grit an energy level defensively that was infectious and a confidence level

Offensively you just can’t teach he was averaging 11 points6 rebounds and four assists on really solid efficiency this was very promising for so long this team had been struggling to get valuable production from their youth it looked like they were starting to turn a new page in that regard making draymond’s

Return from suspension very intriguing a return that would come on January 15th against the Memphis Grizzlies this game would go on to show just just how impactful that suspension was for this Warriors team in the long run the time without green allowed them to see enough and have enough confidence to allow

Kaminga to hold on to a big role in this rotation when Draymond returned kaminga did go back to the bench but he was now out there 30 minutes a night compared to the 20 sometimes less he was getting to open the season and the success he had

Had over the last few weeks that didn’t slow down this roll coming off the bench only lasted a mere three games a three- game stretch where he dropped 20 then 25 then 31 he forced the warriors’s hand and was back in the starting lineup where the tear just continued somehow

The return of Draymond wasn’t hurting kinga’s momentum it was expanding on it from mid January when green returns to present day the potential we always knew kaminga had has been Unleashed he’s averaging 21 points six rebounds and three assists shooting 57% from the field and 39% % from three those numbers

Are exciting they’ve been the Talk of the Town lately but the results that’s what’s even more interesting for the last few years the Warriors have been put in a tough spot with kaminga despite all the talent in the world which we were consistantly seeing in little spurts they struggled to find a place

For him in the rotation it ended up reaching the point that he was pretty much benched entirely for their most recent postseason appearance the biggest issue with him that they were encountering was just the lack of success the team found with both Draymond and kaminga on the court together both offensively and

Defensively the most common fiveman stack with the two together last season was alongside Curry clay and Divan chenzo a group that had an abysmal negative 23.3 net rating and a team worst 132.5 defensive rating the worst net rated lineup for them a year ago was that same group just with pool in place

Of diven chenzo even kaminga in place of Draymond with the starters produced a negative 15 net rating of all the minutes that Curry kaminga and Draymond played together the team had a negative 10.7 net rating of all the minutes Curry clay and kaminga played together a

Negative 19.5 net rating it was clear as talented as kaminga was as good as some of the moments were something just wasn’t working alongside this Warriors core flash forward to this season in the story is the complete opposite again as impressive as those box score numbers are that’s not what should be getting

Warriors fans excited it should be the success they’re finding as a team with him on the court since Draymond came back him and kaminga have had a 12.7 net rating on the court together the most exciting element of that being their 104.5 defensive rating that changes everything if the Warriors are

Effectively able to put out a green kaminga front court on a nightly basis this is a completely different team but it might actually not just be kaminga that’s leading to so much success there’s another very key element in this run that the Warriors are in the middle

Of someone that’s not just been a key in the team success but in the success of guys like kaminga individually the rookie Brandon po jimsky someone that’s really starting to look like a match made in heaven for this group and if you don’t believe me take a look at this

Since draymond’s return the Warriors most played lineup has been Curry po jimsky Wiggins kaminga and Draymond that fiveman lineup has a 123.3mi rating combining for a 22.4 net rating utter domination it’s the second best net rated lineup in the entire league during this stretch of time so it really shouldn’t come as much

Of a surprise that the Warriors have gone 12 and three in their last 15 games they’re finding what’s working what’s not and they’re doubling down on it now that’s come at the cost of some players most notably cavon Looney and Klay Thompson Klay is far from the defender

He once was but that’s been the case really since his injury the big issue presently has been his inconsistency offensively his few games coming off the bench so far have made that pretty clear in the first game it looked like he had something to prove he’d been disrespected the decision might have

Just lit a fire under him play three okay who’s hot Klay Thomson’s hot he dropped 35 points against the Jazz knocking in seven threes but then in the very next game he scored three points against the Lakers three he went 1 for n from the field he’s still a very

Valuable piece to this team but as a streaky player that can have those 35.7 three nights at any point something that might be ideal coming off the bench his departure from the starting lineup doesn’t leave this massive void that PO jimsky or anyone else has to come in and

Fill what Bo jimsky brings in that aspect of the game is more than enough for this lineup as a whole he’s a really solid shooter who can have some of those blowup games so it’s really the additional ball handling and playmaking alongside Draymond that potentially makes this swap so advantageous they’re

Able to play faster take even more advantage of Curry off the ball and Domina in transition this is pretty much what some thought Chris Paul would be bringing to this team this season but now instead they’re able to get it out of someone whose Superior size doesn’t cause nearly the same lineup headaches

So here’s where they are now they’ve got a starting lineup playing at by far the highest level of any iteration so far this season while also having a back court of Klay Thompson and Chris Paula coming off the bench that at least appears to be a pretty good spot to be

In now another massive piece of this Warrior’s recent success that needs to be mentioned is Andrew Wiggins finally getting things going since Raymond came back he’s been averaging 15 points with 54 46 splits he is absolutely vital to this team the value he brings from a lineup configuration standpoint cannot be

Understated but unfortunately once again he’s away from the team it’s being reported as tending to a serious family Family Matter he’s widely expected to return this season but no one knows exactly how long we should expect to see him away from this team and with him out we’re actually seeing another massive

Rooll increase this time it’s Moses Moody who’s actually been inserted in the starting lineup these last two games without Wiggins where he’s been playing really solid just adding to how promising this current run is now with all this excitement surrounding the team we do need to make it very clear it’s

Not like they’re being looked at as some major threat to win the title they currently sit with only 42 to1 odds that that’s compared to 17 to1 before the season there are still some serious questions for them when it comes to the playoffs if they even make it there at

All as right now they’re only the 10 seed in the Western Conference one of the bigger questions for them is how they would match up with some of these top contenders across the league as much success as they’re finding with these small ball lineups with kaminga and

Draymond in the front Court during the regular season how would it hold up in the playoffs are playing matching up with guys like joic ad if they somehow made it all the way porzingis Giannis Etc it’s obviously tough to say as it’s been less than 20 games with these two

Playing this well together then as dominant as his teams appear to be over the last month closer examination adds a lot of key context there hasn’t been too many high-profile matchups and over the course of the entire season we’ve seen that they’ll beat up on the bottom half

Teams of the league they’re 2-0 against a jazz 3 and0 against the Blazers 2-0 against the Rockets against the Pistons against the Wizards they’ve been winning the games they’re supposed to against the teams that currently have a less than 500 record the Warriors are 16-1 on the season they’re only lost being a

Couple weeks ago against Atlanta it’s against the top teams in the league where things have really Fallen apart for them they managed to take down the Celtics in their one matchup this year but they’ve gone 0 and forward against Denver 0 and2 against Minnesota 1 and3 against OKC 1 and three against Phoenix

1 and three against the Clippers seeing that it’s hard not to be a little concerned about the validity of this run they’re on but maybe I’m crazy Maybe my eyes are deceiving me but it does feel like this team is transforming in front of our eyes that it’s a way different

Team than it was beginning the season even just a couple months ago so even if things aren’t as great as they initially seemed they definitely have made the end of the season a whole lot more interesting

The NBA Should Have Seen The Warriors Coming..