Are the Golden State Warriors a contender? Only if you let their past frame the present picture

One of the issues I’ve all the time cherished maximum about Bill Simmons is that he hasn’t ever, now not even in the slightest, attempted to cover his fandom. He’s a Boston man. As it relates to the NBA, he watches just about the whole lot thru Celtics-colored glasses. 

I’m the identical method. I used to be born and raised in Northern California, method north of San Francisco in the a part of the state most of the people assume is Oregon, and I went to school close to the Bay Area. The Warriors had been on my TV sooner than I may just stroll, and they have stayed on my TV, or a minimum of proper at the entrance of my NBA ideas, in all the years since. 

I’ve to power myself to be function about the Warriors. I’m now not certain I all the time prevail. I’m almost definitely a little too prime on them when issues are going smartly, and a little too essential when they are not. Remotes have certainly been identified to fly when Steve Kerr refuses to run Steph Curry pick-and-rolls till he is sponsored into a Game 7 towards the freaking Kings. 

Yes, I do know the Kings don’t seem to be the freaking Kings anymore. 

And sure, I do know Steve Kerr is an all-time nice trainer. 

Still, I am getting labored up about these items. But one thing feels other about this Warriors workforce, and it has me oddly relaxed. They’re now not a official name contender. Not as lately built. I’ve authorised that. For now, a minimum of. When they are treading water on the play-in line in February and are not making a industry for a actual distinction maker, I will’t make any guarantees. 

But as we sit down right here in mid-November, this Warriors workforce ain’t it. Trying to wedge them into the contender dialog is a legacy play, and that legacy was once constructed with Klay Thompson and Draymond Green at the top of their powers. That is not the case. It simply is not. 

Green remains to be tremendous impactful, do not get me improper (when he can stay his head on instantly, a minimum of), however the Thompson decline is an excessive amount of to triumph over for a workforce already strapped for any type of constant scoring outdoor of Curry. The Chris Paul Kool-aid went from the actual deal to sugar loose actual fast. If Thompson is not the participant he was once, Paul is not even shut. 

Sure, he protects the ball higher than Jordan Poole, however the juice ain’t there, guy. The guy can slightly get the ball to the entrance of the rim from 3. You can glance up on any given evening and spot him with two issues and now not be shocked. 

The two-timeline factor was once a bust. Poole was once a main a part of profitable the 2022 name, however let’s be truthful: the actual two-timeline avid gamers had been James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga. Wiseman is long past. Kuminga goes to be a excellent participant and already is to a point, however depending on him for actual championship oomph isn’t a life like hope. 

Moody is excellent, as smartly. But he is redundant subsequent to Thompson and to a point Wiggins as a 3-and-D man, and I’ve merely authorised that the Warriors are going to trip the Thompson nostalgia into the floor. So Moody’s mins are sporadic. And he is not some excessive needle-mover anyway. 

The Warriors are fifteenth in offense and twelfth in protection with mainly a impartial internet ranking. They hardly ever even win the Curry mins anymore (plus-0.4, consistent with CTG). Sure, a part of this is Andrew Wiggins, who has been a shell of the participant the Warriors have got used to and has dragged the Curry lineups down significantly, however that is hiding from the actual, larger fact. 

This Warriors workforce simply does not have sufficient. They may have sufficient, in all probability, if they had been open to a large industry, person who would possibly contain Thompson, however I simply do not assume they will do this. I’m now not even certain I need them to. Again, I’m connected to this workforce. Have been for so long as I will keep in mind. I’ve simply as comfortable a spot for Thompson as each different diehard Dubs man. 

But objectively, he is not anything greater than Steph make stronger now — or even that handiest once in a while. That’s the arduous fact. The days of Curry having a true spouse in scoring and taking pictures crime are long past, and with out a top-shelf protection or an excellent bench or, dare I say, some Jordan Poole juice to make up for that, smartly, this sort of is what it’s. 

In our CBS Sports preseason predictions, I used to be the just one who picked the Warriors to complete outdoor the height 4 in the Western Conference. I had them 5th, and my bias was once accountable for no less than 50% of even that a lot optimism. 

In truth, I knew this was once almost definitely a workforce that will hover round the play-in line, and to this point I have never noticed the rest to signify another way. The Warriors are 6-7 and two of the ones wins got here on game-winning photographs. It may just simply be a 4-9 state of affairs. 

Last 12 months they could not win on the street, this 12 months they may be able to’t win at house. It’s tricky, guy. But it’s what it’s. The glory days are over. We nonetheless have a puncher’s likelihood each evening for the easy undeniable fact that Curry stays at the top of his powers, however that is about it. Unless they shake up the roster. Which I don’t believe they’re going to do.