The Warriors moved into their fancy new arena last week, but they brought along the spirit of their decades of misery in Oakland, rather than the recent glory years. In the first game, they gave up 141 points to the Clippers, the most they’d given up in the Steve Kerr era and the most any team has surrendered in its first game at a new arena. The Warriors followed up that bomb with a 28-point loss to the Thunder in Oklahoma City, a game that wasn’t that close. Even after beating the Pelicans, it still feels like the Warriors are in deep, deep trouble.
First, they can’t guard anyone. Draymond Green hurt his arm in the opener after colliding with Patrick Beverley, but he easily could have hurt it while desperately waving his teammates into position. Or he could have sprained his neck watching opponents drive past D’Angelo Russell to the basket. With Willie Cauley-Stein and now Kevon Looney out with injuries, the Warriors’ big-man rotation consists of Draymond, rookie Eric Paschall, draft bust Marquese Chriss and second-year man Omari Spellman, who weighed at least 315 pounds at summer league. It’s entirely possible that Steph Curry is their second-best defender, which is like Justin Timberlake being the second-best actor in a movie.
Injuries are worrisome as well. Looney’s out indefinitely with a “neuropathic condition” in his leg. There’s no timetable for his return because doctors aren’t sure what’s wrong. Alec Burks should be back soon, but he has been racked with ailments his entire career. There’s so little depth that when Jacob Evans, last year’s first-round pick who rarely played, went out with a hip injury, it felt like a disaster.
It’s troubling that the Warriors have had so many injuries so early, months after the team suffered three devastating injuries to its starters during the playoffs last season. Does ownership regret letting the old trainer leave over money yet? What’s the point of spending $1 billion on an arena and then cheaping out when it comes to player health?
And after five years of dominance, Golden State will face many players eager for revenge. The Clippers’ Beverly already told Curry, “The next five years are mine.” (Curry replied, “Aren’t you 31?”) But because of teams that want to get payback for playoff losses and Curry shimmies, and the inexperienced players at the end of the Warriors’ bench, a lot of their losses are going to turn into fourth-quarter blowouts.
On the bright side, the Warriors shot unusually poorly in their first two games, but if nothing else, this team should be able to shoot. Curry and Russell are scoring dynamos, reminiscent of Curry’s old pairing with Monta Ellis. (They couldn’t guard anyone either.) Villanova products Spellman and Paschall have nice jumpers, Draymond is the NBA’s best passing forward not named LeBron James, and even nepotism hire Damion Lee (he’s married to Curry’s sister) made four threes in their win. They might score even more if Kerr adjusted to his personnel and started running pick-and-rolls for Steph and D’Angelo. Running a motion offense is well and good when you have veterans like Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala. With this team? Let the guards cook!
But it’s possible that Kerr has already lowered his expectations for this team. He let it slip that Thompson wasn’t going to play this season, and perhaps that comment was based on watching the team in the preseason. It always sounded like Thompson would be back no earlier than March, and Kerr’s comment implies a lack of confidence in the Warriors playing past mid-April. Even if they could slip into the seven or eight seed, the Warriors should have learned a lesson from last season‘s playoffs about bringing back injured players prematurely in a lost cause. And don’t forget: Kerr is a Gregg Popovich protege, so he might be weighing his tanking options. After all, in Coach Pop’s first season in San Antonio, he led his team to a 20-win season when David Robinson went down with an injury -– and he drafted Tim Duncan.
Should they tank? This isn’t a normal teardown of a championship team, because Thompson should be back relatively healthy next season, and Draymond and Curry are signed for years. Ownership has already received its money from the new Chase Center. Season tickets, luxury suites, personal wine cellars, butlers and untold baskets of crab fries have already been sold. You don’t get a refund just because you’re watching Glenn Robinson III and Evans instead of Kevin Durant and Thompson.
Honestly, a first-year tank job would be perfect for modern, tech bubble San Francisco. The tech industry is what makes the new arena such a cash cow in the first place, and the first year at the Chase Center is like an IPO. It’s only right that the bottom should fall out almost immediately, just like with Zynga, Pets.com and so many other hyped San Francisco startups. They’d probably liquidate assets like Russell –- who’s playing Thompson’s position –- maybe even uniting him with his good buddy Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota. They’d rebuild their depth with whatever they got back, and the Warriors would get one shot at a lottery pick that could extend the core’s playoff window for a few more years, no matter what Charles Barkley says. Let’s hope free agents aren’t dissuaded by the crazy Bay Area housing prices -– poor Alen Smailagic is paying in California every month the equivalent of three years’ rent in his native Serbia.
The most likely scenario is that the Warriors start making more shots, Draymond coaxes and intimidates the rookies into playing defense that’s just bad (instead of outright wretched), and they hover around .500 for most of the season. Teams with size will bother them, but they can still outscore anyone on any given night. Barring a serious injury to Curry or Green, the team will be too good to pack it in and, barring a huge improvement from one of the young guys, not quite good enough to contend. It’s a high price to pay for mediocrity, for the team, the players and especially the season ticket holders. But on those tough nights when Anthony Davis is repeatedly dunking on Cauley-Stein, at least they can drown their sorrows in crab fries and microbrews.
