It's Crucial For Warriors to Compete, Title or Not

Most of the league’s best teams are also coming off of a short offseason after an October NBA Finals, while the Warriors were able to stay home, resting Stephen Curry and Draymond Green after five straight seasons of runs into deep June.

With injuries and protocols forcing absences throughout the league, including Golden State’s loss of Klay Thompson, an opportunity is created in an unprecedented pandemic season for a talented, albeit up-and-down team like the Warriors.

But they don’t need to mortgage their future – an easier schedule is coming up, they have newfound money for buyout recipients created by Thursday’s trade deadline and the hope their two future Hall of Famers will return healthy down the stretch. Golden State should not close up shop on the wonky 2020-21 season just yet, even if they will not be competing for a championship.

Firstly, as consistency has been the major issue for the Warriors so far this year, it is worth noting the instability of the team’s rotations. Brad Wanamaker – who was dealt Thursday to the Hornets – served as backup point guard for the opening part of the season, but one-time afterthoughts Jordan Poole and Nico Mannion are now locked in to backup Curry when the two-time MVP is again healthy.

Kevon Looney, James Wiseman and Eric Paschall are all back, and after flip-flopping between Looney and Wiseman as the starting centers, even resorting to starting six-foot-six Juan Toscano-Anderson for a few games at the five, Kerr said the rookie Wiseman should be the starter for the duration of the season.

Kelly Oubre Jr., whose performance in his first season with Golden State serves as a metaphor for the rollercoaster year, is now locked in for the remainder of the campaign, with the desire for his return for years to come clearly expressed by Kerr.

From Durant to Thompson in the 2019 NBA Finals, the Warriors also know how seasons can be torn apart at the whim of a bad bill of health, and the new variable of COVID-19 throws another wrench into the mix. It may also be easy to forget what Golden State has amidst games with few players available.

Curry has been in the MVP conversation, Green is dishing out double-digit assists on the regular and Andrew Wiggins, whose own season has been irregular, has added a defensive dimension to his game and has been an acceptable second scorer. The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers are without their two stars, and there’s no telling what other team might be befallen by injuries in the such.

Additionally, the Warriors have been so spoiled that it is sometimes easy to forget the reality most basketball teams face, having zero Hall of Famers instead of two likely ones available this year. It might feel different than having Curry, Green, Thompson, Durant, Iguodala and Livingston together on the same team, but deciding whether to compete or not is not a binary choice dependent on if you could realistically win a championship that season. Competing is important.

The fight of the team from 2012-14 is what attracted Iguodala and Kerr, and after the blowup over Kerr’s comments about the waning days of the Durant era, it is clear Golden State may need a cultural reshift and a reminder they are not the best team in the league anymore.

The quickest road to competing again is showing the rest of the league it is open for business, that Poole, Paschall and Wiseman are a young supporting cast a piece or two away from competing for a championship once Thompson returns.

Competing gives Wiseman a chance to develop in meaningful games, while phoning it in makes this year seem like an extension of 2019-2020, wasting time when the greatest player in the modern history of the franchise is still capable of performing at his peak. Competing now attracts free agents, respects Curry and Green’s contributions and skills and does not place in jeopardy the Warriors’ pick from the Timberwolves for the next draft.

The front office can begin by trying to ink reliable veterans bought out this season – with players from LaMarcus Aldridge to Andre Drummond and Moe Harkless being potential options – acknowledging the end of the dominant era and the beginning of a new wave while maintaining the same desire to win by adding talent sorely-needed in some spots.

The argument for tanking can revolve around better times ahead when Curry, Green and Thompson are all healthy, but draft picks yielded from tanking could take years to develop and come into form too late. However, the argument for trying to win now does admittedly depend on things clicking better than they have.

But competing now creates future benefits via culture building and showing the league the Warriors are serious about winning championships when Thompson is back, helping their future potentially just as much as tanking now to take a flyer on a first rounder, especially as Wiseman and the potential high pick from the Wolves in 2021 is in their back pocket.

Competing now signals the team is back in business as it waits for Thompson to hopefully regain its form, willing to solidify the roles of players like Wiggins for the years to come.

And most importantly, competing now gives the fans something to root for, because without that, one is hardpressed to find the point of watching all these games.