FEELING A DRAFT
The Warriors’ horrifically depleted roster calls for the altering of plans
Stephen Curry is going to be out for at least three months after he had surgery on his broken left hand Friday morning in Los Angeles.
I have some thoughts. Fortyfive, to be exact. 1>> Curry will miss the Warriors’ next 45 games — at least. (Are you picking up what I’m laying down?) How many of those games will Draymond Green miss? I’d like to think the majority. The last five years have taken the largest toll on Green’s body — his shoulder is mashed potatoes, his elbow is all sorts of messed up, his toe is defective — give the man some time off, he earned it. 2 >> Put him on the injury report for “loneliness”.
3>> How many of those 45 games will the Warriors win? My guess is 15.
4 >> How should I start the email I write to my editors suggesting a long trip to Australia to “scout LaMelo Ball?”
5>> Of all the seasons to tank, I’m not sure this is the one. The three best players — Ball, Cole Anthony, Anthony Edwards — are guards. As the short-lived
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but oh-so-terrible D’Angelo RussellCurry backcourt showed us — that ain’t it. James Wiseman is a center at 7-foot-1. Maybe that’s the play if things go right-wrong.
6>>. The best wing in the 2020 draft? Israel’s Deni Avdija. He’s pretty fun to watch.
7 >> Warriors fans are going to become extremely familiar with how the NBA reformed the lottery system before last year’s draft. It’s nonsense. It might remove any silver lining from this lost season.
8 >> Steve Kerr chose the Warriors over the Knicks. Who knew he’d get to coach both teams?
9>> If Steve Kerr didn’t show up for a few weeks and let Jarron Collins or Chris D’Marco coach the team, would anyone blame him?
10 >> Is Ron Adams going to show up to work anymore?
11 >> Wait, is an opposing coach going to let the players coach the team against the Warriors?
12 >> The Warriors went from going to five straight NBA Finals to having no players in the All-Star game over the course of one offseason and four games.
13 >> Will the Warriors really be able to evaluate how D’Angelo Russell will fit in with this team in 20202021? Of course, the rest of the year will be a conversation about what they can trade for him, but I can’t imagine Warriors’ systems — the grand, overarching systems — is going to look anything close to what the Dubs run with Curry and Thompson. Meet the new D’Angelo Russell — he’s pretty much the same as the old D’Angelo Russell.
14 >> You can’t trade Russell for Giannis Antetokounmpo straight up. But Russell and the No. 1 overall pick (and Milwaukee native Jordan Poole and all the first-round picks the Warriors will ever have from 2021 on) for the Greek Freak? Now we’re talking.
15 >> The Warriors might have a grand finale to the campaign: Curry, Thompson, Green reunited! Back together again for 10 games only (this season)! That could be fun. We might be able to get a good poster and T-shirt out of it.
16 >> The rest of it? Not so fun. How many shots is Russell going to take a game?
17 >> How many shots is Jordan Poole going to take a game?
18 >> How many shots is Damion Lee going to take a game?
19 >> The Warriors should convert Lee’s contract to full-time when they can. There’s no need to save room or cash for two buyouts come the spring anymore. Pay the Splash Brother in Law.
20 >> At least there are no ring-chasing vets on this team. What a kick to the teeth that would have been for them.
21 >> Geez, what did it say about this roster that there were no ring-chasing vets on this team?
22 >> They have lamppost banners all over the Labradoodlepatch — sorry,
Dogpatch — with Curry, Green, and Thompson’s faces on them. Do they bother printing up some Eric Paschall ones?
23 >> The Warriors’ media basketball game this year might be an actual NBA game — live at Chase Center.
24 >> I need to get in shape for that. I can’t have Karl Anthony Towns embarrassing me.
25 >> Well, if you wanted to visit Chase Center this year, I know tens of thousands of people that will be willing to accommodate you for a reasonable price.
26 >> It’s a pretty nice arena. People are going to get real familiar with it this year.
27 >> The Warriors might end the season with the worst defense in NBA history. The Cavs allowed 116.8 points per 100 possessions last year. The Warriors are at 118.5 and they just lost their best perimeter defender.
28 >> Yeah, Curry was the Warriors’ best perimeter defender.
29 >> Which team wins more games this year: the Warriors or the currently winless Kings? Ignore that I picked both the Warriors and the Kings to compete for the playoffs this year.
30 >> It’s like if the Warriors are an expansion team.
31 >> It’s like if the Santa Cruz Warriors were promoted to the NBA.
32 >> Thank goodness there’s no promotion/relegation in the NBA — it’s one thing to stink for a year, it’s another thing to lose your spot in the league for it.
33 >> The Warriors are merely beta testing Adam Silver’s proposed midseason tournament.
34 >> It was an interesting sojourn, but the Bay Area is the Niners’ domain once again. Don’t mess it up — it can flip back fast.
35 >> Can the NBA move the Warriors off the Christmas Day schedule? At this point, it just seems cruel.
36 >> ESPN and TNT are scrambling right now.
37 >> I’m going to require the Warriors to run the offense through Omari Spellman for at least 10 minutes a game going forward. O Speights, baby!
38 >> Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III might end up as tradable assets if they play well. Gotta load up for this draft.
39 >> The Warriors should lean into this — full bore. I demand a re-creation of the “It’s a Great Time Out” commercial campaign.
40 >> Well, at least there won’t be massive swarms of media around the Warriors every day.
41 >> On the flip side, I doubt there will be massive swarms of people reading about the Warriors every day.
42 >> Tough break for new BANG Warriors beat writer Wes Goldberg. Now he’s going to only hear us talk about “the good ol’ days.”
43 >> Tough break for my Marriott status. Pour one out for late checkouts.
44 >> This is just the moment Kevon Looney has been waiting for — MVP season on deck once he gets over his chronic hamstring injury.
45 >> Eh, they should bench him for the next few months, too.