Focus on youth:
Kerr aims for player development
On a few occasions at staff meetings this season, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr asked his colleagues a familiar question: “Is now the time?”
Kerr’s assistants knew their boss was referencing whether to make rookie center James Wiseman a permanent member of the first unit. It was a tricky decision for Kerr, given that starting Wiseman carried a key implication: prioritizing player development over a playoff chase.
Though the Warriors see Wiseman as a potential perennial AllStar, no one at those coaches’ meetings could dispute that Kevon Looney gives Golden State better odds of winning now. By inserting Wiseman into the first unit for Tuesday’s game against the 76ers and announcing that the 19yearold would start the rest of the season, Kerr showed that, as much as the
Warriors might want to reach the playoffs, they’re more concerned about next season.
Guard Klay Thompson’s return from a torn right Achilles tendon early in 202122 will help Golden State significantly, but that addition alone won’t vault the Warriors back to title contention. To have a shot at hoisting another Larry O’Brien Trophy before guard Stephen Curry, 33, declines in production, Golden State must develop its young players.
The Warriors have nearly $140 million committed next season to Thompson, Curry, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green. Between salaries and luxury taxes, Golden State could owe more than $500 million — a sobering figure for a team hosting fanless games amid the coronavirus pandemic.
With few paths available to add differencemakers, the Warriors are depending on their youngsters to blossom into valued players. That’s part of the reason Kerr thrust guards Jordan Poole and Nico Mannion, both fresh off G League stints, into important rotation roles three weeks ago. If Poole and Mannion proved they’re capable of playing meaningful backcourt minutes next season, Golden State could use its relatively limited resources in free agency this summer to fill other needs.
Poole, who has averaged 20.6 points on 51.3% shooting (41% from 3point range) over his past eight games, is making a strong case to be one of the first players off the bench in 202122. Though Mannion continues to struggle with his shot, he has impressed enough as a facilitator for the Warriors to believe he can be a second or third point guard.
“We all bring something different to the court,” Mannion said of himself, Poole and Wiseman. “Me as a point guard, JP can just really score the ball, and then James, of course, being a big, he can kind of do everything.
“I think we kind of just check almost all the boxes just because we’re all such different players.”
With 28 regularseason games left, Golden State still has plenty of questions other than whether Kelly Oubre Jr. will be dealt at Thursday’s trade deadline: Can Eric Paschall, who didn’t play Tuesday despite being available, become reliable as a power forward and not just a smallball center? Will Mychal Mulder and Juan ToscanoAnderson figure into the team’s 202122 plans? Can Damion Lee be the an eighth or ninth man?
No query will play a bigger factor in the Warriors’ longterm outlook, however, than whether Wiseman can start to play up to his predraft billing as a franchise center. If the past three months taught Golden State anything, it’s that Wiseman needs extended minutes to tap into his potential.
This could result in a few losses in the short term, but the Warriors recognize that bringing along Wiseman and the rest of their young players will better position them to contend next season and beyond. Waiting any longer would risk hurting Golden State’s ability to maximize what’s left of its core’s prime.
“This feels right,” Kerr said of the decision to start Wiseman. “This feels like the right time to do this.”
Before betting on youth, the Warriors had to ask themselves: How much does a playoff berth this spring matter? Though Golden State would like to get its newcomers and nondynasty holdovers experience in those highstakes situations, it knows it might not have enough talent to win a firstround series. What majority owner Joe Lacob really cares about, anyway, is winning championships.
But by playing their young players more, the Warriors are hardly quashing any shot at the playoffs. The new playin tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds ensures that the conference’s top 10 teams at least have a chance at the postseason. Entering Thursday’s game at Sacramento, the Warriors sit ninth at 2222.
A restofseason schedule that ranks as the league’s fourth easiest suggests that Golden State might be able to do it all: develop its young players and get back to the playoffs.
“I did think about holding off putting (some of our young players) out there,” Kerr said. “And then I thought, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s just go for it.’ It’ll be fun to see how it all unfolds.”