Will the Warriors’ youth movement pay off?
OAKLAND — As the Golden State Warriors have navigated through a grind otherwise known as the regular season, they drove through various speed bumps.
They have handled complacency. They have faced every opposing team’s best effort and scouting report. They absorbed two overlapping injuries to their All-Stars in Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. They even had some in-fighting with that infamous Green and Kevin Durant argument.
The Warriors (25-14) also have encountered another road hazard entering today’s game against the Sacramento Kings (19-19) at the Golden 1 Center. They constructed their roster to feature more young players in bigger roles. But the Warriors have experienced mixed progress with that transition.
“It’s been a learning curve, for sure,” Curry said. “We talked about going into this year that it was highlighted a lot and it was going to be a big part of our depth. Honestly, there’s been some growing pains.”
That pain has affected the Warriors in various ways.
The Warriors did not retain their veteran centers in Zaza Pachulia (Detroit Pistons), JaVale McGee (Los Angeles Lakers) and David West (retirement). That way, the Warriors could allocate more playing time for third-year center Damian Jones, fourth-year forward Kevon Looney and second-year forward Jordan Bell until De-
Marcus Cousins returned from a left Achilles tendon injury. Before all three experienced varying learning curves, Jones suffered a season-ending injury last month to his left pectoral muscle.
The Warriors have essentially swapped training camp invitee Alfonzo McKinnie for Patrick McCaw, who recently accepted Cleveland’s two-year $6 million offer sheet after holding out through all of training camp and the first three months of the regular season. Fourth-year guard Quinn Cook experienced sporadic playing time after thriving last year as a two-way player with the Warriors and their G-League team. Warriors rookie guard Jacob Evans has not played much at all after the Warriors selected him with the No. 28 pick out of University of Cincinnati.
“The youth movement that we’ve talked about has not unfolded given Damian’s injury and the Pat situation,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “But it’s one of those things that can turn. You never know how it’s all going to play out. That’s the thing with the NBA and like life. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow or today. You just have to adapt and move on.”
Therefore, Warriors general manager Bob Myers argued “you have to be flexible in how you’re evaluating all of this stuff.”
“I always think as far as anything to do with the roster, it’s better to answer those questions in June,” Myers said. “Until you play the whole season and see exactly what guys can do in the playoffs, you don’t really know. Many players can be great in the regular season and not perform in the playoffs. Realistically, that’s what makes a great team. It’s what you can do in the playoffs. So you build your roster and see there. If you do well, great. If you don’t, you take another crack at it next season and address areas you felt you were deficient.”
Handling the big man rotation — The Warriors immediately addressed a deficiency at their center position last summer by acquiring Cousins for their taxpayer mid-level exception ($5.3 million).
Even if Cousins encountered a depressed market because of questions about his injury, plenty in the NBA cried foul for what the Warriors did. After all, they became the first team since the 1975-76 Celtics to have five starters that played on the NBA All-Star team the previous season.