Golden State Warriors
The 2020-21 Golden State Warriors season can be defined by the fact that with a limited roster and without Klay, they finished as the 8-seed but lost both play-in games.
What did we learn?
We got to see a good old friend of ours.
2015-16 Steph Curry showed up back into our lives as fast as he first arrived.
This time around was much, much different. Steph wasn’t surrounded by profound veterans who could all shoot, pass, and defend. Steph was flanked by young guns and mediocre vets.
This version of Supernova Steph appeared straight out of necessity. He had to bring it to will these Warriors to even have a chance at the playoffs. The Strength in Numbers Warriors with the real 2015-16 Steph Curry danced their way to the best NBA regular season record of all time.
The night that Steph dropped his career-high 62 points against the Blazers, Babs had convinced us to take the Blazers. We told him, “Okay, but we really don’t like to bet against Steph,” and we proceeded to laugh and laugh as he drilled dagger after dagger, taking our money but warming our hearts. We were not mad in the least. You can’t get mad at old friends you haven’t seen in a while.
That was in early January, but it was in April that Wardell Stephen Curry II put on a motherfuckin’ show: 37.3 points, 51.8% from the field, 46.6% from 3 (on 13.7 attempts!), 90.8% on free throws and a grand total of 96 made 3-pointers. It was a tremendous display of offensive brilliance and precisely the Steph that we have wanted to see since KD left.
The thing about Steph is that we have always suggested that he should shoot more. Like, what would happen if he took ten more 3s per game? He shoots soo well from way out there, 30+ feet, why not put some more up? We know it’s a better shot than whatever Kelly Oubre or Kent Bazemore is jacking up, with Mark Jackson’s all due respect.
Oubre began the season in the funkiest of funks. He never really recovered and then he got hurt. (We still need to know what happened to all of his Phoenix power dunking!?)
Draymond missed the very beginning of the season and things looked just as bleak as they did at the beginning of the 2019-20 season. But when Draymond returned to the lineup, the demeanor changed drastically as he somehow anchored this team to the 5th-best defensive rating in the NBA. (One of the most mind-boggling feats of the season, honestly.) Draymond was a savior on the defensive side of the ball and arguably, especially in retrospect, the Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and he also averaged a career-high 8.9 assists per game. Nothing like the Steph and Dray two-man game.
Hats off to Andrew Wiggins who believe it or not has turned our perception of him around. It took us the longest time to believe this was real (pretty much the entire season), but his defense and ability to get a bucket (a good bucket) has been a revelation compared to his days in Minnesota. Wiggins has advanced his recognition of when to attack and that makes a world of a difference. Yet it’s still hard to truly trust him.
James Wiseman had moments where you could see why Bob Myers was enticed enough by his size and raw ability to take him #2 overall. But it was also clearly evident that this raw talent needs some time to develop. And it was when Wiseman went down with a season-ending injury that the Warriors and Steph in particular played their best ball with the necessary spacing to fully thrive.
People forget that Eric Paschall was hurt. He was the Dubs best player of the bench, but Juan Toscano-Anderson stepped up. You know we are rockin’ with Juan T. Damion Lee hit some clutch shots! Did you see Jordan Poole in the play-in game!? Promising takeaways from a young, inconsistent and still inexperienced bench unit.
The Warriors were the most up-and-down team in the league with a high, high ceiling and a low, low floor, not a whole lot of room for error, but at their best, a force to be reckoned with. They played a lot of close games. They won some of those, but they lost quite a few as well.
No team in the league has a more fascinating next three months ahead.
Big decisions loom that will be crucial to the later chapters of Steph’s legendary career as Klay finally returns at long last.
Another reunion with an old friend awaits.
See you soon, bud.
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Did our preseason Over/Under prediction hit?
Under 39.5 wins and honestly, we hope that we are wrong.
Warriors 2020-21 Record: (39-33)
YES, our preseason Over/Under prediction hit! (Barely.)
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What’s Next?
Currently owning the #7 and #14 picks in the draft, it is strongly believed that the Warriors will try to make a trade to acquire players who fit the win-now window that they currently reside in. There has been a lot of talk about including Wiseman in that package. What does the return look like for that? That’s what we want to know. If Bob Myers does make a pick, 22-year-old Davion Mitchell from Baylor could be ready to roll from the jump.
Kelly Oubre is a free agent and considering the lengths (luxury tax) that the Warriors went to get him last season, it seems like they should try to retain him. Then again, that shooting slump was so brutal.
Speaking of the luxury tax and Tsunami Papi, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks, “Golden State is projected to have a $100 million tax bill before free agency even begins. If the Warriors bring Oubre back on a conservative $10 million contract and keep their first-round pick, it will cost them an additional $80 million toward the tax.” Yikes.
The Dame trade rumors are… difficult to comprehend.
The Return of Klay Thompson.
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