Players try to put collapse in perspective
Thompson, Curry express regret, but vow they will be back in Finals in future
OAKLAND — After Game 7, after all the interviews and all the humbling, Stephen Curry got into the car with his family to go home. His daughter, Riley, delivered some perspective.
Told the Warriors didn’t win, the 3-year-old replied according to her father, “I know. It’s OK.”
Still, for the Warriors, perspective was hard to come by Monday, the day after their stunning and historic collapse in the NBA Finals.
ment period. “Very, very aggressive.”
The Warriors are going to take a look at any interesting free agent or trade candidate who might help them get back to the parade route ASAP.
Anybody good. Anybody worth discussing. Anybody who fits their locker room and system.
They will have some money to spend, can create more space if they need to, and can offer a nice situation for a veteran aiming for one last title (and to be credited for returning the Warriors to the mountaintop).
And Nowitzki — who won a title with Dallas in 2011 but hasn’t won a playoff series since — is somebody Warriors management has circled.
Does he want to a multiyear deal to start at center? Come off the bench? Be featured in the second-quarter unit with Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston?
Yes, Nowitzki in that spot over Marreese Speights or Festus Ezeli is an upgrade for the 2017 playoffs, put it that way.
Let’s be clear: The Warriors first and foremost still want to clear the decks for a run at unrestricted free agent Kevin Durant.
The Oklahoma City star blots out all other pursuits and his situation this July will put everything else in the league on hold until he decides something.
Nowitzki, also a pending free agent, would be a next-tier discussion for the Warriors, and I’m told they have no idea if he’d be interested in leaving Dallas.
Nowitzki, 38, has said he intends to remain in Dallas, where has spent his entire career ... but he has left the door slightly ajar — he’s a little wary of staying in Dallas for a rebuilding process.
So if the Mavericks don’t make any quick big additions, and if they lose a key free-agent like Chandler Parsons ...
Would Nowitzki be interested in going for a championship in Steve Kerr’s open offense, open atmosphere, and with a staff that includes special consultant/old buddy Steve Nash?
And how much would he want to be paid?
It’s unknown. Might be impossible. But the Warriors are eager to find out — that’s if the Durant chase fizzles and maybe they’ll even try to figure out a way to land both.
This is not exactly a kneejerk reaction to Monday — the Warriors were planning to retool their roster this summer whether or not they won Game 7.
They’ve essentially kept the same group for three seasons, and that’s usually time for some pruning and adding.
The bench, in particular, is prime for a wholesale change — Speights, Leandro Barbosa, Brandon Rush, Anderson Varejao and Ian Clark are all free agents, and all questionable or unlikely to return.
The Warriors could also use a scoring big man to take some pressure off Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson — who couldn’t buy a basket in the consequential minutes of Game 7.
The Warriors also have big decisions to make on restricted free agents Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli, who both have a lot of value but flat-lined in the Finals.
They could move on from six or seven of these players, and probably have already made their decisions on least three or four.
This isn’t necessarily about Game 7, but it’s certainly amplified by the sense of what this franchise lost by failing to beat Cleveland in this series.
How do they make up for it? By winning again.
“I’m already on to next year,” Draymond Green said, half-believably, on Monday. “What can I do to make sure that I don’t experience this feeling again next year?”
This is why the Warriors want Durant.
It’s also why they want Nowitzki.
This is why the Warriors will almost certainly be linked with several other interesting players, possibly including centers Bismack Biyombo, Al Horford and Joakim Noah, and wings Chandler Parsons, Evan Turner and Allen Crabbe.
This all was already being planned before Game 7 happened. The Warriors were going to be aggressive in July no matter what.
But now, in the aftermath of the loss? These next few weeks will be something to watch and experience. Read Tim Kawakami’s Talking Points blog at blogs.mercurynews. com/kawakami. Contact him at tkawakami@ bayareanewsgroup.com or 408-920-5442. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ timkawakami.