So one game with them missing their second best player makes them a non-contender? 
And their third 
No Klay and Dray makes it pretty hard work, especially with their dodgy wing stocks.
Yeah ikr. Shocking how everyone is quick to hate on the Warriors 
I think they've got some depth concerns (guys like Poole and Bazemore aren't looking too flash), but if Klay can come back right, which basically just means being able to stay healthy given his shooting touch, they still have a nasty big 3.
Age concerns are fair, but it's risky to write off a champion trio
I agree, but their depth concerns look much less worrying when Klay and Green are in the rotation. Btw I think they'll start playing Mulder at SG a lot if Poole and Bazemore continue to disappoint, he's an underrated 3 and D guy who I think can be very valuable for GSW with Curry at PG. But yeah I'll withhold judgment on them until Draymond comes back, I think they're more geared towards being a defensive team with versatile wings and forwards around Draymond with a makeshift offence built around Curry that's just good enough to win games rather than the offensive juggernaut they have been in the past few seasons.
Imagine next year with all three of Steph, Klay and Dray being healthy, Wiseman with a year of grooming, trading Wiggins for some quality player or a couple great role players and getting the #4 pick in the 2021 from Minny and getting to add a Jalen Green or Jalen Suggs or Jonathan Kuminga. The Warriors could very well be contenders just next year with a solid future in Wiseman and whoever they get in that draft.
They aren't getting anything of value for Wiggins. If anything they are going to have to include an asset to dump him or take back an even worse contract/player in return. Wiggins just isn't any good and his contract his pretty big.
And I do really think Draymond is cooked. He has been regressing for years. Even the last couple of seasons when they were firing on all cylinders, Draymond was deteriorating. He is done as a core player to a real contender. He is still a rotation player, but that is what he is at this point, no where near an All NBA type player. Klay won't have played meaningful basketball in 2 years after two separate devastating injuries. Expecting him to be good is a huge stretch. And Curry is quite simply getting old and is going to put a lot of damage on his body this year. I pretty much wrote the Warriors off when Klay got hurt. I really don't think they will make the playoffs this year or ever be a contender again with this core. I don't think a rookie is going to save them either as it takes years for rookies to meaningfully contribute.
Now I certainly could be wrong about all of that, but watching them play, they aren't going to be good this year and I find it highly unlikely they are ever a real contender again.
I agree with you on Wiggins. He's definitely a negative value contract. I always liked the idea of a trade that would have sent Wiggins to the Hornets, Hayward to the Warriors, and a pick and trade exception to the Celtics.
How cooked do you think Green is? I think he is still elite defensively. Offensively, I think he was always a guy that benefited from pick and rolls with Curry and Thompson. When they were injured, his efficiency plummeted. I'm interested to see if pops back up. Their entire offense was predicated on the idea that a Curry-Green pick-and-roll required extra attention on Curry. If the defense gave that attention, he'd dump off a pocket pass to Green and Green would run 4 on 3 with the rest of the court to find the open man. I don't think Green has lost that ability.
Still, he has never been a reliable shooter and if he has lost explosiveness, then his finishing will be declining.
He's still a starter on a contender, right? He'd still be a super role player.
Green has been on a pretty steady 4 year decline, I don't see how that ends all of a sudden. He can't shoot and his defense while still good, isn't anywhere near what his peak was. He has always been smaller but got by on elite strength and excellent speed, and he just doesn't have that any more. And when I mean small, he is small for a PF not just as a center. He was never a great leaper and doesn't have a massive wing span. Him losing even just a touch physically really hurts his overall defensive effectiveness and he has lost some physically. Now because he is such a good passer, he'd probably be ok as a 5th option type starter on a contender, but he is no where near a core piece and he absolutely needs to be a core piece for the Warriors to be a contender because Klay and Steph aren't ever going to be as good as they were when they were winning titles. The Warriors are just old, Wiseman and a high pick next year aren't going to change that. They are done as a contender with this group and they absolutely should look to trade Green before his value deteriorates further, because I do think Green could help a contender in a role player type role. Heck he'd be great in Boston as the starting PF and small ball C. Not sure what it would take to acquire him, but if we are talking about Langford, Nesmith, and a future 1st or 2 (with the rest of the Green salary fitting in the TPE), I'd do that. It would save the Warriors a ton of money and get them 3 or 4 young players to start building around Wiseman. Boston would then have a starting 5 of Walker, Brown, Tatum, Green, and Theis with Teague, Smart, Thompson, Williams forming the main rotation. I like that team a lot better than the current one.
Topic: Warriors aren’t contenders anymore. (Read 9320 times)