The Golden State Warriors returned form the All-Star break on Thursday night, and lost 121-110 to Jaylen Brown and the Boston Celtics. But before that game happened, I put out a call for mailbag questions … and Dub Nation didn’t disappoint! You all came through with some great questions. Hopefully my answers can do the questions justice.
There are certainly some key differences in their games, but yes, I think that’s fair to say. I think it’s asking too much to expect Will Richard to be able to match De’Anthony Melton’s value as early as next year, but reasonable facsimile? Yeah, I think that’s very doable.
Melton has skill with the ball in his hands that is far above what Richard is currently capable of. It would be a major win if Richard is ever able to penetrate the defense, get to the rim, playmake, and score in isolation the way Melton does; and if he does get there, it probably won’t be for a few years. But he can make up some of that with his transition offense and his cutting, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to hope he is as good of a shooter and defender as Melton is, as early as next year.
The biggest issue is that Richard is, in my eyes, fundamentally an off-guard, whereas Melton is a combo guard who is quite comfortable running the point. Unless the Warriors are comfortable letting Pat Spencer be a 20-minutes-per-game backup point guard, they’re going to need to make sure they have someone on the roster other than Steph Curry who is comfortable (and talented) with the ball in his hands, and I don’t think that’s Richard.
This isn’t a fun answer, but I think it’s an honest answer: the key to the Warriors rising into one of the top six spots in the Western Conference is for someone on another team to get injured. The Warriors are five games out of the sixth seed, with only 26 games remaining. With Jimmy Butler III out for the year and Steph Curry out for, at minimum, a handful more games, I don’t think it’s realistic for Golden State to play their way out of that deficit.
But the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the teams six games ahead, and they’ve dramatically outperformed their net rating (which is significantly worse than Golden State’s); if LeBron James or Luka Dončić misses some time, they could tumble down. The Minnesota Timberwolves are also six games up on the Dubs, and they would fall apart entirely if Anthony Edwards suffered an injury.
Hopefully those things don’t happen. But I don’t see the Warriors getting further than the No. 7 seed without a whole lot of help.
I don’t mean this to sound patronizing, but I think sometimes fans aren’t aware of how much coaches and players talk about things. Steph Curry and Draymond Green making careless passes that result in turnovers is something that Steve Kerr has probably talked with them about thousands of times. It probably gets mentioned in almost every film session. Sometimes there’s a sentiment among fans that because something hasn’t been fixed, that no one is addressing it, and that’s not the case. Kerr has called out those two in the media a notable number of times for careless passes … and it’s safe to assume that any criticism Kerr is levying through a presser is something that has been said to the player at least 10 times.
The reality is, this is who Curry and Green are. It’s a weakness in their respective games — one of the few weaknesses, in Curry’s case. But it’s also a situation where you can’t always have the good without the bad. They are exceptional playmakers, and it’s probably not realistic to ask them to cut back on the careless passes while maintaining all the good ones.
Bob Myers’ legacy is simple: he is the architect of the greatest stretch of basketball in Golden State Warriors history, and one of the greatest dynasties of all time. When all is said and done, that’s how he’ll be remembered; and it’s how he should be remembered.
First off, let’s clarify some facts. Myers was hired a month before Jerry West was. West had no involvement with the Warriors when they drafted Steph Curry; he wasn’t hired for another two years. He had a role in drafting Klay Thompson in 2011, but so did Myers, who was the assistant general manager at the time, and a very respected voice in the organization as he was viewed as the heir apparent (a voice that was part of the team hiring West, it should be noted). Myers was promoted to GM in 2012, before the draft … meaning he was the man in charge when they selected Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes later that year. So if you want to call those the Jerry West Years for narrative’s sake, that’s fine, but just remember that Myers had as big — and I’d argue, a much bigger — role in acquiring the dynastic trio as West did.
More importantly, Myers played an absolutely critical role in building the dynasty. He was the primary person involved in the — at the time, unpopular — decision to fire Mark Jackson after a successful season, and against the wishes of his own players. And he was the primary person involved in hiring Steve Kerr. That sequence of events is, after drafting Steph Curry, the most important move of the century for the Warriors. The dynasty doesn’t exist without that, nor does it exist without the slick maneuvering to add Andre Iguodala and the signing of key veterans like David West and Shaun Livingston, or his role in acquiring Kevin Durant. The shocking 2022 championship doesn’t happen if Myers didn’t use Durant’s departure as a chance to overpay D’Angelo Russell for the sake of maintaining a salary slot that he then used to add Andrew Wiggins … to make no mention of drafting Jordan Poole, a move that drew criticism at the time, and for a full year, before paying massive dividends en route to a trophy.
There were some bad moves, but those are going to happen when you run a team for well over a decade. I don’t criticize him as much as others do for the Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody picks, and I think if you glance at the history of the No. 7 and No. 14 slots, you’ll offer him some grace there, as well.
It wasn’t a perfect tenure, but it was a great one. And it should be remembered as such.
I think most people would prefer that the Warriors get a lottery pick rather than lose in the play-in tournament, that’s for sure. It would massively help them in their retooling efforts, either as an opportunity for talent or as a trade chip.
That said, there would be a downside, apart from the lost revenue of a potential series. If the Warriors fall out of the play-in — which would require a lot of losses — then that means they’re playing awful basketball, and that’s a bad sign for a team trying to compete next year. It means Kristaps Porziņģis is either injured or not playing well, and that hurts their plans. Ultimately, the best outcome is that they play good basketball that offers confidence for their 2026-27 plans. But a lottery pick is a very nice consolation prize if they fail.
I love both of those players for the Warriors. That said, I’m not sure that veterans who are known entities should be their target in the buyout market this year, since they’re not contending. I like the idea of them using the market as an audition for less proven players who could play a role on next year’s team, like Lonzo Ball.
I think Gui Santos is already better than Eric Paschall and Anthony Lamb, to be honest. Paschall was really a one-trick pony: a north-south scorer who couldn’t defend or shoot threes. And Lamb was a guy who never really played well, he just provided energy and effort when Steve Kerr was desperate for some. Santos, with his solid defense, smooth three-point shot, and ability to score in transition or with cuts, is already a better player, I’d say.
My guess is he’s a few years away from being an honest-to-goodness starter. He just needs a little more seasoning so that the game can slow down for him. Let’s not forget that he’s only 23 years old, and has barely played 1,600 career minutes. In minutes terms, he’s played one full season at fewer than 20 minutes per game. There’s a lot of growth left for him to do.
I’ll be honest, I’m not a very knowledgable draft guy, and it’s early, so I don’t have a good sense yet. But in the latest SB Nation mock draft, Ricky O’Donnell has the Dubs taking Baylor guard Cameron Carr, who has a long wingspan and a slick three-point shot. Seems about right.
It’s very difficult to envision, less because the Warriors are incapable of beating the Lakers, and more because the logistics of it just don’t line up. The Warriors are play-in bound, meaning if they make the playoffs, it will be as the No. 7 or 8 seed. The Lakers don’t have a realistic shot of reaching one of the top-two seeds. That means that, for the Warriors and Lakers to even face each other in the playoffs, the Dubs would have to escape the play-in tournament, beat either the Oklahoma City Thunder or San Antonio Spurs in a seven-game series, and hope that the Lakers both land in the right spot in the bracket, and pull off a first-round upset of their own. None of that seems likely.
There’s better hope for the teams meeting in the play-in tournament, though I doubt that happens, either.
If you ask the internet, I’d say Draymond Green is more hated than Brandin Podziemski. Pat Spencer is surely great at pickleball, but I’m picking Steph Curry over anyone in any hand-eye coordination dominated sport. Gui Santos is definitely the guy who enjoys SF the most, though I imagine Al Horford is up there as well. They’re hitting up different spots, but I imagine they both are relishing what the city has to offer.
As to your actual question … I don’t think Moses Moody has fully hit his ceiling, but it’s close. I think we can give up on him ever being a guy who can take his defender off the dribble to create a shot. But I do think he could add something of a low post game to his arsenal. Maybe Jimmy Butler III can teach him a thing or three.
I touched on this earlier, but I would like them to use the spot on someone who they might be considering signing this summer, and want to give a test run in the system to. Lonzo Ball is a great fit in my eyes, as he constantly keeps the ball moving and plays great defense. He could thrive in the Warriors system, but we’ve said that about a lot of players who struggled, instead. If they can find out now, instead of after giving him a guaranteed contract for next year, then that’s a win.
I definitely think Kristaps Porziņģis can return to All-Star form, and it’s worth noting he never fully lost that form, he just lost the ability to stay healthy. In his All-Star season, Porziņģis had per 100 possessions averages of 34.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks, while shooting 39.5% from three-point range; last year, his averages were 33.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks, while shooting 41.2% from deep.
There are really just two questions for Porziņģis: can he stay on the court, and can he fit a system that has stymied plenty of good players in the past.
I will say, I don’t think him signing a long-term contract is particularly feasible. I’d be very surprised if he signs — with the Warriors, or with anyone else — for more than two years. He’s just in that awkward spot where he’s too talented to take a long-term deal at a discount, but too injured to be offered a long-term deal that’s not at a discount. I do think he’ll stay on the Warriors, and it could become a long-term thing if he stays healthy. His minutes will likely always be monitored, so I think the ceiling is an All-Star level talent who is only playing 25 minutes a night.
The boring answer is that they work. The Warriors have had a lot of success with four-wing lineups. The NBA, as a whole, has had a lot of success with four-wing lineups, and it’s why you see players like Moses Moody and Scottie Barnes sometimes being classified as power forwards when you’d be inclined to call them shooting guards. Where the Warriors struggle from a lineup construction standpoint is that their guards and wings aren’t as athletic as the rest of the league’s, and they don’t shoot as well, either. But, for the most part, that still offers better results than throwing out two-big lineups and getting run off the court.
9ergold:
What’s your over/under on # games played out of remaining games to end of regular season for …Steph
Kristaps
Al
Dray
Melt
Seth
Great question. There are 26 games left. Here are my over/unders for games played:
Steph Curry: 13.5
Kristaps Porziņģis: 14.5
Al Horford: 18.5
Draymond Green: 20.5
De’Anthony Melton: 21.5
Seth Curry: 0.5
Thanks for the questions, everyone!