San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
A DYNASTY IN DECLINE?
Curry’s demotion to All-Star reserve show Golden State is losing ground
Some of the most prominent NBA analysts left Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry off their All-Star forecasts. With five and possibly six backcourt spots open on the Western Conference roster and two of them taken by voted-in starters Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Curry was in certain quarters deemed unworthy behind Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray and De’Aaron Fox.
So let’s call a timeout. This game is a show, not a reflection of the standings, and Curry has to be on the team. Make him a starter, for my money, then figure out the rest from there. I want pure elegance in my All-Star theater, the art of shooting at its most sublime, so I also finish the game with Curry — and Booker.
Nobody’s right or wrong in this discussion, and justice was served on Thursday when Curry indeed made the cut (leaving Murray and Fox out). But the bigger picture illustrates a widespread crisis for the Warriors in their drive for the postseason, colored in inadequacy and envy.
To be specific: As they try to pull this off, consider what they don’t have, and how other teams compare:
Denver: Security. Rings on the fingers. A defending champion’s confidence, with the familiar starting lineup in place.
L.A. Clippers: Momentum. Most nights they’re crushing people, certain they’re about to win their first title. That’s a long way down the road, and James Harden has proved to be startlingly unreliable in the postseason, but he owns the court with his passing and step-back shots right now. Russell Westbrook is a holy terror off the bench. Kawhi Leonard is finally healthy and hasn’t lost a thing. Coach Ty Lue is a gem. It’s all good.
Boston: Floor spacing. Nothing that would remind you of the 1970s Knicks, Larry Bird’s Celtics, the 2014 Spurs or any of Golden State’s championship teams. This offense is light on screens/ cutters and heavy on guys
just hanging around the perimeter for a 3-point shot. This will haunt the Celtics in the postseason, where stagnancy always has an expiration date. But the open shots are there, and this has been a problem for a Warriors team in transition — so much so that they’ve been running the occasional isolation set for Jonathan Kuminga. Great idea, incidentally, for that budding star. But a dramatic veer off the franchise blueprint.
Oklahoma City: Assets. General manager Sam Presti and his staff have assembled the most impressive collection of draft picks in league history: as many as 15 first-round picks and 19-25 secondrounders (depending on contingencies) over the next seven years. The Warriors owe their upcoming No. 1 pick to Portland unless it’s one of the top four (signaling a dreadful collapse in the standings), and over the rest of this decade they have only one available
first-rounder to trade (2028).
Indiana and OKC: Potential powerhouses built strictly around youth. Nine of the Pacers’ top 10 scorers are under 30, Pascal Siakam adds a valuable two-way piece and Tyrese Haliburton’s combination of point production and elevated vision recalls the great Oscar Robertson. Meanwhile, the Thunder’s top eight scorers are 25 and younger, led by Alexander, ex-Santa Clara star Jalen Williams, cool-head distributor Josh Giddey and sensational rookie center Chet Holmgren.
San Antonio and OKC: Evolution. Two towering rookie centers, Holmgren and the Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, are changing the face of the league and could be All-Stars next season.
Minnesota: Leagueleading defensive efficiency (through Thursday). Whatever the category of defensive numbers, the Warriors are down among the league’s here, quite possibly half-baked and too late to stuff back in the oven: They get into the postseason. Sorry, but I’ll never bet against Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green drifting completely out of the mainstream. If you disagree, send your angry letters to Wow Are You Wrong, 3875 Blind as a Bat Ave. in the quaint California town of Nope.
Don’t insult her
• Wait a minute, Sabrina Ionescu wants to shoot from the NBA’s 3-point line in her AllStar Weekend showdown against Stephen Curry but won’t be allowed? Enough with that discrepancy. Deadly outside shooters are everywhere in women’s basketball, and they don’t need a closer line in the WNBA — or college, for that matter.
• Great to see the Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski make the Rising Stars game, raising the possibility he could make this year’s All-Rookie team. He’s a clear-cut backcourt candidate along with Portland’s Scoot Henderson, OKC’s Cason bottom 10. Wallace, Utah’s Keyonte
Phoenix: The most George and New Orleans’ promising Big Three since Jordan Hawkins, all of the Warriors teamed them averaging 20-plus Kevin Durant with Curry minutes and 7-12 points and Klay Thompson. per game through Thursday. With Booker, Durant and
Bradley Beal collectively • Donte DiVincenzo healthy and thinking enjoyed playing for the unselfishly, the Suns can Warriors last season, but run off a 10-game winning he has found his dream streak without blinking.
The conga line: Teams with an All-Star caliber guard in his prime, or getting there. As mentioned above, that includes Dallas, Minnesota, Phoenix, OKC, Denver and Sacramento. Add Boston (Jaylen Brown), Philadelphia (Tyrese Maxey), Memphis (Ja Morant, injured and out for the season), Atlanta (Trae Young), Detroit (Cade Cunningham), Cleveland (Donovan Mitchell) and the Knicks (Jalen Brunson). Curry has at least eight years on all of these guys, and that distinction must be made.
Add it all up, and you see a future of NBA elitism that does not include the Warriors. The prediction scenario: starting for the Knicks alongside former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart (filling in for injured Julius Randle). The Knicks went 14-2 in January, and after DiVincenzo scored 33 points on 9for-15 shooting from 3point range in a victory over Utah on Tuesday night, he said, “We have a deep team. We have an identity. Everybody buys in, and there’s a joy with our team right now.”
• LeBron James won’t settle for less. He left Cleveland for Miami and won two titles. Back in Cleveland, then in L.A., he won two more. And he’s reportedly losing patience with a Lakers team that has been horribly overrated since they were declared “winners” of the offseason after a series of dull transactions. Here’s a man with a business future in Hollywood and a son, Bronny, playing at USC. What an embarrassment if the Lakers blow this. The Lakers came to life to beat the Celtics on Thursday night with James and Anthony Davis sidelined, but if their scattershot ways continue, James could depart by exercising a player option this summer — something for a lot of title-minded teams to consider.