The Golden State Warriors season preview

How will the Golden State Warriors do this season?

The Golden State Warriors had a great season last year, and they are looking to continue this pattern throughout next year. However, it might not be as easy as it seems. We will be looking at their offseason, checking gains and losses and briefly touching on player progression. We will also look at their starting five, sixth man, chemistry and trade rumors.

The Golden State Warriors – the best shooting team in the league. With the shooting combo of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and rising star Jordan Poole, the Warriors are looking to repeat their championship from the 2021-2022 season. They are hoping to repeat not only with their shooting, but the veteran experience of positionless player Andre Igoudala, the defense of Draymond Green, the explosiveness of Andrew Wiggins and more. After forming a dynasty with the age-old combination of Curry, Green and Thompson (four championships and counting together), the Warriors are looking to shape up their young core of Kuminga, Wiseman, Poole and Moody to be ready to take over. Can they repeat their championship? Let’s break down their offseason and figure it out.

The offseason

The first part of the Warriors offseason I want to talk about is player progression. This is specifically targeted toward Jonathan Kuminga, Jordan Poole, Moses Moody and James Wiseman. Jordan Poole had a breakout season last year, highlighted by his 18.5 points per game, coming off the bench as a sixth man. Expect this next season to be full of deep threes, crazy crossovers and steady line of around 21 points per game. Next, we have to talk about James Wiseman. Over his two-season NBA career, he averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds and only played 39 games. Considered a bust, Wiseman has a lot to prove still. He was taken at the number two pick. The Warriors could have taken LaMelo Ball, Patrick Williams, Tyrese Haliburton or more! Due to the fact that they needed a center, and that Wiseman had a good college career, we can hope for some more development for him. Kuminga and Moody were both taken high in the first round, and they both had decent rookie seasons. Almost too decent. Again, we have to hope that they put in some work during the offseason, and got a lot better. That would be the best-case scenario. Maybe some trades will be taking place—we’ll talk about that in trade rumors.

Over the offseason, the Warriors made some changes in terms of players. The Warriors lost three main helpers from their 2022 title run. These players are Juan-Toscano Anderson, Otto Porter Jr and Gary Payton II. Anderson has averaged a decent stat line of 4.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists on 17.1 minutes per game during his three-year run with the Warriors. The more important part of his time with the Warriors is the fact that he was a cultural icon for them. He helped keep them together during tough times, and thus, that is a hard loss for the Warriors. Otto Porter Jr. was another key helper in the Warriors title run. In only one season with them, he averaged a good split of 8.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists on 22.2 minutes per game. He wasn’t much more than a role-player stat padder for them, and that loss shouldn’t be too heavy for the Warriors. Finally, the biggest off-season loss for the Warriors was Gary Payton II. While he averaged stats that weren’t nearly impressive, his defensive ability in the playoffs was insane. He racked up blocks, steals and was key for the Warriors’ ‘22 title run.

Trading, signings and the draft

The Warriors also gained players from trades, free agent signings and through the draft. Let’s look at the draft.  

With the number 28 pick in this year’s draft, the Warriors took Patrick Baldwin Jr., “PBJ” as he is called, out of Milwaukee UWM. He averaged a very moderate 12.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists while donning the yellow jersey at the guard position. These numbers are almost too moderate to be taken in the first round of the draft. However, in high school, he averaged star stats of 24 points, 11 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 5 assists and more as a GUARD. 11 rebounds and around 2 blocks as a GUARD. That’s crazy! Furthermore, Baldwin was named Gatorade Player of the Year, and made first-team McDonald’s All-American. Over summer league, Baldwin was decent, but not showing even a sliver of his high school self. We’ll just have to wait and see. The two other players drafted by the Warriors were Ryan Rollins and Gui Santos. However, respectfully, they need a lot more time to develop and Santos was waived to the G-League. Rollins is on a two-way contract.

 

As I mentioned earlier, the Warriors also gained players from free agents and trades. Let’s check them out. The Warriors trading offseason was pretty weak. The only trade they made was for the 44th pick, which was Ryan Rollins. They got him from the Atlanta Hawks. The free agents that the Warriors signed were Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green. DiVencenzo was a solid rotation player for the Kings last year, chucking up 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and a large number of 1.5 steals. Donte should help cover some of the ground lost when Gary Payton II moved on. JaMychal Green didn’t really have an exciting year last year. However, like Donte DiVincenzo, he was a solid rotation player a few years ago, at one point averaging 10.3 points, and 8.4 rebounds per game. JaMychal is kind of old, as he is 32 years old, so he is here not to develop with the Warriors, but to contend. 

Championship contention

Speaking about contending, what are the Warriors chances? That depends on a variety of factors that I am going to talk about next, including their starting five, sixth man, chemistry and trade rumors for the year. Well, it’s around that time when we talk about the chemistry of the team. We have a slight (very large) issue looming over the Warriors roster. On Oct. 5, 2022, at a Warriors practice, Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole in the face. Yeah. Issues. That can definitely impact the starting lineup, and Draymond Green has taken a short break from the Warriors. He was fined an unknown amount and the video of the punch was released by TMZ sports. Jordan Poole has sustained no injuries, except for a crushed ego. The biggest issue of this altercation is that the video was released. If the public hadn’t seen the roundhouse slam that Draymond hit Jordan with, they wouldn’t have believed it. They wouldn’t have realized the ferocity of the punch. However, the video was leaked, which ignited Poole and Draymond even more.

 

Another something that can affect the chemistry of the squad is contract extensions. Jordan was given a 4-year rookie-scale contract for $143 million. Andrew Wiggins was given a veteran extension of 4 years for $109 million. Draymond Green, a heart and staple of this team for a decade, hasn’t been extended yet. 

Player breakdown

OK, let’s set these issues aside. Fact-based and skill-based is what we are going to target when deciding what the most likely run-six of the Warriors team is. The Warriors have a tendency to run small ball, but this season, they will have to compete against bigs in the Western Conference. Thus, they are probably going to run an average rotation. Here are my predictions. For reference, a table of the roster’s stats from the 2021-2022 season is shown.

The Warriors should literally just make Kevon the sixth man. Steph at the point, Jordan at the two-guard, Klay at the mid, Andrew at the power forward and Draymond at center. That’s the literal definition of small-ball. Let’s talk about individual players.

Steph Curry

If you don’t know who Curry is, you have been living under a ROCK! Curry is one of the most versatile point guards to ever touch a basketball – known for shooting threes. When he was drafted in 2009, nobody expected him to become the crazy three-shooting phenom that he is. Curry has set a record for the most threes ever made. Two-time MVP, four NBA championships, member of the NBA 75 team and do I even have to continue? Yea. Steph Curry.

Klay Thompson

Part two of the splash brothers. Along with Stephen Curry, this man loves shooting threes. Five-time All-Star, two-time Gold Medalist. Another draft steal, Klay emerged a bit lowly out of college. Soon, he proved doubters wrong by overcoming injuries and fighting through many, many people. Klay is and was a great shooter, and will hopefully continue to be.

Draymond Green

The third part of the above trio that won four championships together is Draymond Green. This man used to be a defensive genius. Notice how I said “used to be.” Now he’s kind of a washed-up old man who has no more spark but a lot of trash talk. I still like him though. Nobody can’t like Draymond Green, except for pretty much everybody who saw him punch Jordan Poole’s face. Yea. That was pretty painful to see.

Andrew Wiggins

One of the BEST college prospects of all time. Won Rookie Of the Year after a convincing career beginning and started for the Timberwolves with Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach Lavine. Sadly, they were unsuccessful, and Andrew Wiggins was always just a good starter. This past year, he got his first All-Star appearance! Boom! This could be the start of something great!

Kevon Looney

Don’t get me wrong. I love Kevon’s bubbly personality and his calm demeanor. Yet, he just sort of is kind of BAD. He played okay during the playoffs, but he shouldn’t be a starting center.

Jordan Poole

This electric third-year guard is primed for an All-Star appearance in the next season. He is almost a “Splash-Nephew,” of sorts. He loves shooting deep threes! Jordan has not made any significant accolades, but his contribution in the postseason was great.

Trade rumors

That was the starting six! Now, trade rumors. All you need to know is that Draymond Green might be traded. Maybe to Detroit – who knows? Maybe I’ll tell you guys about that when or if that happens. (Not gonna lie, hopefully not.) It is kind of funny to think about trade rumors though.

Into the regular season

The Golden State Warriors. A great team! While I am writing this, the Warriors just broke a five-game losing streak. Maybe things won’t go as well as planned… who knows? They have a lot of great pieces and maybe, just maybe, another ring will come their way. Peace! Mamba Out.

Much of the information in this article is from NBA.com