[Kendrick Perkins](https://sports.yahoo.com/kendrick-perkins-says-warriors-finished-220850494.html) says the Warriors are done for the year. I say that it’s far too early to make that call, but it’s hard to ignore two facts: 1) the Dubs are a .500 with Curry having an MVP season, and 2) now Curry is hurt for at least a couple weeks.
So what could the Dubs have done to have avoided this problem? I’ve seen a number of people here criticizing the “dual timeline” strategy that the front office chose, but I can’t agree. Why?
If you subscribed to the “win now” strategy then you almost certainly believed in keeping last year’s team together. Well, GP2 hasn’t played a single game this year. OPJ has only played 8 games this year and will be out another month. Even JTA is having a terrible year in LA. The only free agent that we let go that is having a better year is DLee, and I didn’t see a single person here predicting that. So not letting FA’s go would have done nothing positive.
Then there was the free agents that we resigned. Wiggins came back after taking a pay cut, and has had a great year so far. Looney came back and has looked excellent. It’s almost impossible to criticize either move. Poole has been significantly worse so far this year, but I didn’t see anyone expecting that.
So if you believed in the “win now” strategy then the only way you would have been right, and have avoided the current struggle, is if you wanted a major trade. Considering that we just won a championship that would have been a very bold and risky strategy to partly break up the team.
On the other side of the equation is going with the Young Core. After an extremely slow start, Kuminga has had an excellent December. I don’t understand why Kerr isn’t giving Moody more minutes. He’s looked solid to me. No one expected PBJ and Rollins to get many minutes this year.
That only leaves Wiseman, and everyone seems to have already made up their minds about him. Like our season, I think it’s too early to pass judgement on him. There’s no doubt that he’s not good enough yet. There’s also no doubt that getting him serious minutes in SC has done wonders for his play. Either way Wiseman doesn’t make or break the “two timelines” strategy. He hasn’t made a significant impact to effect the Dubs season yet, nor was it likely that trading him away would have gotten someone that could have made that impact.
Basically I’m saying that I would have done exactly what the FO did, even with the benefit of hindsight. Only a partial tear-down of a championship team with risky trades would have allowed us to avoid this dilemma.
by gjohnsit
20 Comments
Not much the salary cap is a fact of life, could they have traded young talent and gone for a championship this year and maybe next? Maybe but A) Takes two to trade B) Warriors have a legitimate chance to transition from one dynasty to another with a 1-2 year dip.
Although I do think they should switch to youth development and tanking for Wembayma soon.
The front office could have not agreed to make Lamb and Jerome two-way players. If they had done that, our lottery picks would be playing much better. That’s one thing they could have done. Sit Kerr down and said that the job is to develop our young guys. Let them play and they will be really helpful players.
At the sacrifice of this year, I think the team can seriously develop all the young guys and holy shit imagine the following year. I’d say if things went right we’d have the deepest, youngest bench in the league. Enough to take the load off on Curry, Klay, Dray. But that’s just wishful thinking at the expense of this season considering where we’re at right now.
Our starting lineup is the best in the league. Even if we’re in the play-in, the top 2 seeds would be sweating to face us and would probably tank just to make sure they don’t face us/clippers.
I can’t blame Lacob for not trading our young guys. He’s paying bank for the top 6 guys on the roster, flipping wise/Kuminga/moody/PBJ ~ 25M$ in salary won’t tip the scales in our favour whatsoever, especially if they are rentals like POETL/Kuzma.
It’s all down to the coaching staff to make adjustments, develop youngins for a 10min playoff role to make it to the finals. Poole Klay have to be consistent for us to have a chance, not the 8th/9th man.
As of now, our 6 + Donte are solid 7 guys for a playoff team, which are generally 8-9 deep. If moody/Kuminga/wise pick it up, and kuminga is absolutely improving each game with stellar play and moody will figure it out for sure. Wise with 5-6 mins when Looney rests is not a big problem. Like I said, it’s all down to Poole/Klay/Kuminga’s improvements and the coaching staff.
I would have avoided having five players on the 15-man roster. I think the lack of experience/depth has contributed to host of problems—including Klay and Poole’s struggles. You probably could have signed Rollins to a 2-way, and given his roster spot to a vet—even someone like JTA would be more useful just as a depth piece in the frontcourt.
I get why they didn’t trade Wiseman, but I’m lower on him than they are and probably would have moved him for a good veteran if that deal was out there (Caruso, Poeltl, etc.). Or I would’ve moved him into some teams cap-space for picks and used the savings to resign GP2.
Inject Curry with that X-Men shit like they did to Wolverine to make his bones metal. Then he doesn’t hurt his shoulder.
Last time Perk put the Warriors name in his mouth he came to regret it. I hope we prove him wrong and shut up the fuck up once again
Cope
It’s time to rip the bandaid off.
Give Wiseman ALL of JMGs minutes. Give Kuminga ALL of Lambs and Jerome’s minutes. Find time for Moody or PBJ. They all need minutes.
The reason Poole is struggling is because he’s asked to be a primary playmaker, whereas when he starts and just asked to score off Curry, he’s brilliant.
I think any moves will be about the money for this season and future seasons. I don’t think Lacob is willing to pay a huge tax bill and lose out on tens of millions on playoff revenues for a championship run. Steph’s shoulder and their play while he’s out will determine if we try to package a large contract out at the trade deadline for tax savings or attempt to move off a youngster to bolster the bench in a trade. An off the street FA probably isn’t moving the needle and/or worth the millions Lacob will pay in luxury tax.
FO couldn’t really do much this year. They made mistakes with people they signed and drafted. Have to suck it up. Can’t get anything for Wiseman right now. Poole hasn’t turned out well.
Perkins also said the Celtics would beat the Warriors in the finals. 🙄
Not draft anyone unless we could stash them. Rollins and PBJ taking up roster spots that could be filled by vets is currently problematic.
Not bring Iguodala back unless we thought he could contribute in the regular season. We just don’t have the depth to afford to throw away a roster spot like that. That’s now three spots of non contributors + the vacant 15th spot as of now.
Put Wiseman in the G League to start the season. But since we were never entertaining that, give Kuminga a far longer leash than Wiseman received to start the season. It was absurd that Kuminga was barely playing while the other prospect was given relatively long stints.
I definitely would have kept GP2 and he would not be helping at all right now that is a fact. My main beef is the way they have spent their draft capitol the last 3 years on players that look the part but don’t play the part. They swung for the fences when a good single up the middle would have been much more effective in elongating their championship(s?) window
Play good warriors basketball
There’s only one timeline. The Steph timeline. Once he retires, the warriors won’t draft another player like him, probably ever, you have to maximize the title window and his playing level as much as possible. That’s what bothers me the most.
I don’t think there’s much else they could’ve done. They have four max contracts + Draymond, and are incredibly lucky Looney has opted into his team-friendly deals. They have no choice but to go with prospects and vet minimums to fill out the bench. We’re lucky when they turn out to perform like OPJ & GP2, unlucky when they’re Jaylen Green.
In order for this team to be championship-level, Curry and the other maxed players need to play to their potential. When they don’t, we can’t expect guys working to prove they belong in the league to pick up the slack.
Curry is just doing all this collecting receipt so when he wins the finals this season, he can show everybody what a clown they are.
When has this dude been right about anything dubs related????
People really think Perkins has an opinion that should matter. He’s a clown. He said MP won’t ever win a MVP and wants a trade in his rookie yr(because the coach wasn’t starting him). Guess what, MP played 5 seasons and won all the MVP, championships, FMVPs, DPOYs and 1st team ALL NBA+ALL DEFENSE. MP became a HoFer in just 5 seasons.
He’s blaming the 2nd timeline. He isn’t completely wrong tho. The roster construction isn’t really impressive for a defending champion. Yeah, the bench was bad because Kerr was substituting the whole bench at once like hockey. We are punting back to backs, and have lost atleast 4-5 games because we couldn’t execute in the clutch