The Warriors have known for months that their summer goal of developing stronger prospects could be complicated and even painful, especially in the Western Conference.
Now, 11 days into the NBA playoffs, they're realizing just how incredible this is.
The Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves aren't stuck in the scenario that most teams that have joined the playoffs relatively recently have been for a long time. The big stage will not engulf both teams. They're coming to the league with their hearts on their sleeves, and of course to the West.
They're not deer in the headlights, they're precocious elk charging into the tents of the experienced Warriors, Clippers, Lakers and Suns.
As of two weeks ago, the Warriors didn't know who those final three were, and they didn't even know where they lived.
“Even though we finished 10th in the standings, we're closer to the top than the bottom,” general manager Mike Dunleavy said two days before the start of the playoffs. “That’s how I look at it.
“But that could change. It's going to be tough next year. The teams that didn't make the playoffs this year are getting attention outside of Houston, Memphis, San Antonio, and the way those teams get worse. I don't see any, they only get better.”
Dunleavy's expressions of confidence clash with subsequent expressions of appropriate caution, but there is no reason to doubt the sincerity of his beliefs. If you squint, reality will appear blurry.
The haze became clearer after the Thunder and Timberwolves swept the first round of the playoffs and advanced to the conference semifinals. OKC earned the No. 1 seed in the West, with No. 3 seed Minnesota just one game behind.
These relative upstarts are a testament to the trends that emerged during the regular season. The Warriors watching from afar may utter a few profanities, but the logical conclusion is that 0-4 against Minnesota and 1-3 against OKC are just warning shots. That means it wasn't too much.
“In this modern NBA, the game is played so fast, so we had to be able to play it that way,” Dunleavy said. “This year, we struggled in transition on both fronts. Defensively, we weren't able to recover, but it's a matter of speed/athleticism/effort. After that, we didn't create many turnovers and struggled in transition. We couldn't get out of it. We've got to figure it out and be better on both sides in transition.”
Golden State's proposed roster reshuffle to better compete with these two teams, as well as the defending champion Denver Nuggets, is the latest in a series of changes about 14 years ago when Joe Lacob and Peter Guber & Friends joined the team. This has been the most difficult task since we acquired the company.
The Warriors have a lot of needs, and Dunleavy understood that even before the playoffs.
“This is an organization, a team, and when we did really well and won championships, it was mainly on defense,” he said. “And there were some great, exciting offensive moments that everyone thought would happen. But what's really at the core is the defense. So, improving the interior defense and getting better defensive players. And then from there.
“Steph, Draymond, Klay, as they get older, shooting becomes important. It's important to have guys around them that can shoot. It's always important to address that. And… Honestly, it's the size. It's not necessarily the center position, it's the size across the board. That's always been the strength of this team, shooting guard, wing, small forward, whatever. It had the right size and length.”
The Warriors want to pull off an incredibly difficult project: improve his shooting, make him scrappier, bigger and more athletic while cutting his salary. Lacob and Dunleavy like to have options and will never accept the harsh restrictions that come with crossing the second apron.
The Warriors are firmly committed to pushing Stephen Curry out of his prime, and all indications and whispers around the league are that the Warriors are making a major effort to build a roster that addresses immediate needs rather than long-term prospects. It shows that it is.
In this scenario, Kevin Durant or LeBron James would be more valuable than, say, Chet Holmgren or Jaden Ivey.
“If you have a team that can compete for a championship, you're going to do whatever it takes financially,” Dunleavy said. “So we're going to look at everything and balance it out. It's hard to say right now as to what that's going to look like and so on, because this year he's in April, this situation is he's in June, July. Because it follows the moon.
“But you know how much Joe is willing to spend and compete. I don't think there's a limit, but we'll tread carefully as well.”
The mission is Titanic. Even before the first round is over, these playoffs are too big to ignore, setting off alarms strong enough to shake the nerves inside Chase Center.
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