The Golden State Warriors may have found something.

The team is back to .500. They’ve won 7 of their last 10, with one of those coming off the second half of a back-to-back where the majority of starters were rested, and a second being an anomaly where Stephen Curry managed to score 50 and the Suns shot abnormally excellent. At the bottom line, the Warriors have started to return to form, and while they’re deploying personnel which may fell them short at times, Curry’s brilliance and a renaissance from Klay Thompson have been a major key to their improvement.

And it helps to see Draymond Green back in a leadership role, too.

Earlier this week, Green dropped some free and needed game on how difficult it is for the team’s recent lottery picks - Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and of course James Wiseman - to integrate in a winning environment. Here is the full soundbite from his postgame press conference:

The main point is that these kids don’t have the luxury many of their contemporaries do. Green was quick to point out how a lot of lottery picks aren’t playing for championship contenders. You could name maybe a few guys from recent drafts which are active contributors to teams with legitimate chances at winning this year’s NBA Finals, and a majority of them would be on the Warriors roster.

Dray’s point here is a uniting one, with discussions from multiple players, both vets and future stars, citing difficulty with the way fans manage their expectations. As it stands, the Warriors are in pretty good shape, with the NBA’s highest-rated starting lineup while bench guys like Jordan Poole and JaMychal Green look to find their rhythm. Once the team clicks, it’ll be shocking that there was any doubt, and it looks like that click is starting to be discovered by Steve Kerr and his staff.

The main message remains that the team needs patience. Moody has been a positive contributor this season, Kuminga has shown he has a wide variety of uses, and Wiseman’s G-League progress is promising if there’s a willingness to approach his start to the season with context of the expectations around him.

Will all of these young guys fill an immediate role? Likely not. But the dynasty’s success over the past decade has inflated expectations beyond what even the greatest basketball team in a single era can expect to meet. Going back-to-back in the NBA is hard, and another championship may take time.

While it’s important not to take Steph for granted, it’s telling that he’s almost 35 and putting up his best performance in a single season so far. Curry will be around and contributing for a long time, especially with how skill-based his game is, and it could lead to unprecedented longevity which extends the main timeline. Could the team trade their pieces and win again soon? Yes, but that trade would require perfect execution, something which may not be possible when we look at what the Warriors need to win relative to the current market.

And that’s where Draymond Green’s point is important. When we look at lottery picks in the NBA, traditionally they have loose leashes: They can afford to make mistakes constantly, and that’s often overshadowed by their flashes of upside because winning is out of the question off the bat for them. For Wiseman, Kuminga, and Moody? Being able to fit into a role they weren’t necessarily meant to cap out at can be a tall ask. As mentioned by Green in his interview, championship basketball will ultimately benefit them in the long run; it’s a matter of patience, however, for that experience to really begin to show.

(Photo credit: Abbie Parr / Getty Images)