Curry injury leaves Warriors with painfully thin roster.
Ky Bowman spent Wednesday morning at training camp for the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. By 9:30 p.m., he was playing garbagetime minutes against the Suns, unaware that a broken bone in Stephen Curry’s left hand would thrust him into Golden State’s regular rotation.
Curry has yet to learn whether he’ll need surgery, but the Warriors are bracing for him to miss a month, perhaps longer. With Jacob Evans already out at least three weeks with a hip injury, Bowman — an undrafted rookie out of Boston College who signed a twoway contract with Golden State in July —
must slide in as D’Angelo Russell’s primary backup at point guard.
Such is the Warriors’ new reality.
Less than a month after it opened training camp eager to quiet those eulogizing its dynasty, Golden State now faces the fact that its thin, inexperienced roster was illequipped to handle the rigors of an NBA season. Four games in, a barrage of injuries have reduced the Warriors to Russell, Draymond Green, Alec Burks, Willie CauleyStein and nine players 23 or younger.
Even the most ardent Warriors fans can’t pretend that this makeshift roster is poised to contend in the Western Conference — or even make the playoffs, for that matter. As head coach Steve Kerr waits to hear how much time Curry will miss, he must adjust on the fly for Friday night’s game against San Antonio, heaping more responsibility on youngsters who already stared down massive learning curves.
Rookie Jordan Poole probably will replace Curry in the starting lineup. Forward Eric Paschall, who heard 40 names called before his during June’s NBA draft, will try to replicate the 20point gem he posted in an otherwise ugly loss to the Suns on Wednesday. Bowman and fellow twowaycontract player Damion Lee hope to show they belong in the league longterm.
Even under such dire circumstances, the Warriors have shunned the notion of tanking for a topfive pick. The ownership regime believes progress can’t be made without a consistent desire to win. Just weeks removed from unveiling the $1.4 billion Chase Center, Golden State isn’t about to ask fans paying hundreds — even thousands — of dollars for tickets to watch a team jostling for lottery position.
However, what majority owner Joe Lacob wants and what he has are two different things. The Russell signandtrade with Brooklyn created a hard cap that has made it nearly impossible for the Warriors to improve their roster this season. Without Curry, Evans, Klay Thompson (knee) and Kevon Looney (hamstring),
Golden State has no clear path back to relevance.
What is obvious is that what it has been doing hasn’t worked. Even before Curry collided with center Aron Baynes and broke the second metacarpal in his left hand Wednesday, the Warriors were pairing a matador defense with an inconsistent offense.
Through Wednesday, Golden State (13) owned the NBA’s thirdworst net rating (the points margin between offense and defense per 100 possessions). With Green as their only proven defender, the Warriors will be forced to try outscore opponents, a tricky proposition without Curry.
Kerr might have to temporarily abandon his motion principles to run an isolationheavy scheme through Russell. In four games playing off Curry, Russell posted the worstplus minus of any player in the NBA. Allowing Russell to control the ball would help neutralize his supporting cast’s shortcomings and ensure he is comfortable.
Last season, his pickandroll prowess helped propel the Nets to their first postseason in four years. CauleyStein, who had 12 points on 5for5 shooting in his Warriors debut Wednesday, offers an ideal screensetter for Russell.
Though high pickandrolls for Russell would give Golden State its best chance of winning without Curry, they hardly fix the worstrated defense in the NBA. And Green — hobbled by nagging back and elbow pain — can’t singlehandedly quell the slow rotations and missed defensive reads that have plagued the Warriors.
Regardless of how antitanking Golden State’s decisionmakers are, they can’t ignore the fact that the Warriors are one of the least talented teams in the league without Curry and Thompson.
According to Dr. Rachel Lefebvre, a hand surgeon in the USC Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, a broken hand sometimes can heal in as little as a few weeks. But if it requires surgery, recovery might take two or three months.
Even a month without Curry could deflate the hopes of a playoff berth. If the Warriors are near the bottom of the conference standings come Christmas, Kerr might have to reevaluate his approach. There is no need to rush back Curry or Thompson, or overburden Green, for a lotterybound season.
The Warriors won’t shut down Green to pursue a top draft pick, but they could ease his workload as they turn their focus toward developing young players. This might put Golden State on a similar path as the 199697 Spurs, who, after an injury to center David Robinson derailed their season, finished 2062 and took Tim Duncan with the No. 1 pick. Two years later, San Antonio won its first of four titles in nine seasons.
That type of bounceback is possible for a Warriors team that could open next season with a healthy Curry, Thompson, Green and Russell, as well as whomever it selects in the 2020 draft. The pick sent to the Nets is top20 protected, which means Golden State can use the selection in June as long as it doesn’t finish with one of the league’s 10 best records this season — at this point, essentially a guarantee.
As for youngsters like Bowman? The growing pains they endure in coming weeks would only prepare them to contribute to a contender.