Where the Warriors At?

This is one of the reasons why maintaining contendership is so harp these days.  Being a contender likely means you're paying at least two players an excessive amount of money.  That means there's only so much left for everybody else and that you're going to have a bunch of lesser known players on the squad.  But once the team proves successful, those players are going to want some dough.  And once you can't pay them, they're going to be compelled to bounce.

The 2021-2022 Warriors were like the only team I ever saw, in decades of watching the NBA, where virtually every regular player on the roster, from 1 to 15, was serviceable.  The only other team I can think of who were like that were the Lakers during the Kobe/Shaq years.  And even as far as Quinndary Witherspoon, after everybody else bounced the Dubs should have kept him, if for no other reason than out of respect for continuity.

Last season's Warriors were so deep that when you come across these articles mentioning the players they've lost since, they don't even mention Nemanja Bjelica, who was perfect for the Dubs coming off the bench.  Juan Toscano-Anderson was mainly relegated to the bench-riding duties, but he held that role down as if he were a member of the Grizzlies.  Damion Lee did virtually nothing as far stats are concerned.  But every game I saw him play in, he had an impact.

The Warriors are still the Warriors, sometimes.  But one of the reasons they're worst this year is because now when the starters get hurt, they don't have that glut of players coming off the bench who were at least able to put up a respectable fight against any group of starters.  Now it's like 'oh, let's put the onus on Jonathan Kuminga' type shit.  But that's what they were supposed to do last year - put him in a position to at least compete for ROY - when he was hot he and when other teams were more distracted with the Steph and/or Klay than they are now.  So it's sorta like a 'too little, too late' kinda feeling.

CONCLUSION

If the Warriors flunk out this postseason, maybe people will start taking the power of good-fitting bench more seriously.  It's like the Lakers going on to lose Caldwell-Pope, Caruso, Kuzma, Rondo and others shortly after winning a championship a couple of years back.  It's like everybody is dickriding the superstars so hard that they forget that these days, Lebron can't carry a mediocre roster like he used to.

But sometimes it isn't about braintrusts dumbing out but rather players growing more expensive.  And basically every member of the Warriors (with the exception of Witherspoon, I guess) came out a hotter commodity after last season than they were going into it.  Oh well, it just sucks being a fan, watching that roster fall apart and the Dubs now feeling like they're lost.  So it's like now, I'm on the verge of declaring the Rockets my favorite team.

The Victor Wembanyama Sweepstake (Part 1)

Remember that I was the first analyst to say that no one should be surprised if, by the time all is said and done, the Lakers and Warriors prove so garbage that they're eligible to draft Victor Wembanyama -barring draft swaps and all that other kinda shit.

I'll be honest and say that, when this season actually began, I didn't expect Golden State to be as bad as they're currently playing, just six months after winning the championship.  But there are two realated factors that I did acknowledge along the way.  First is that, whereas they may have beat the Celtics legitimately, the Dubs making it to the 2022 Finals to begin with was kinda suspect.  And second is that the core of their team is dumb old.  Age can be a funny thing sometimes, folks.  Like you may experience a revival here and there, but expecting to keep up with the young bucks on a daily basis is unrealistic.

The reason the Warriors are such a tough out, even if the other team is young, is because they can hit three-pointers like no other squad in NBA history.  But that take (i.e. Steph) away from them and oh shit, dudes is looking like the worst team in the league.

It would've also helped, imo, if they had put a higher premium on continuity, i.e. retaining the services of Payton Jr. (whatever happened to that guy?), Damion Lee and even Juan Toscano-Anderson.  But I understand why, for monetary reasons, that too is unrealistic.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Cali, the pairing of Lebron James and Anthony Davis was supposed to be the most formidable ever.  But the history books will not reflect that ideology because their winning percentage together is more or less average.  That's the kinda shit that happens when your franchise player is one who's injury prone.  The media has been dickridin Darvin Ham lately for instituting a strategy I've been espousing for three years at least, which is making AD play the 5 (and in the post).  And the fact that at the beginning of the season Ham actually stated that the fate of the Lakes was in Davis's hands shows that he's not much of a guru, as he should've rather been developing a contingency plan for when Anthony inevitably got hurt, such as now forcing Lebron to play the 5.

But maybe winning isn't really their goal, as fresh after AD's injury now we see LBJ, Westbrook and even Austin Reaves being given time off.  Finally, the Lakers have come to appreciate the value that a quality, jump-shooting whiteboy brings to the court.  And the way they're acting now is almost like they're already preparing for next season.  And why not, because they do tend to suck when AD isn't playing.

It seems that the Lakers don't even own their first-round pick for the coming draft(s).  Quite ironically, they gave it up to the Pelicans when they traded for AD.  So who knows?  Maybe they'll end up with Wembanyama instead, and LAL's future strategy is more along the lines of getting rid of Westbrook and moving on from there.

However by the looks of things, the Warriors do own their 2023 first-round pick.  And let's just say that they're one of the luckier teams in the NBA.  For instance after sucking in the NBA in 2020, the Dubs did get the number 2 draft pick (which ended up James Wiseman), even though they had won a championship as recently as 2018.  The same pundits who were like applauding Golden State's defense a couple of weeks ago are now saying that they can't play D for shit.  History has proven that once the Dubs start hitting their threes, they're unbeatable.  So they can get hot at any time and turn things around, kinda like last season.  But Steve Kerr is overrated as a coach imo, and the core was already worn down even as far back as 2020, so don't think that lightning can't strike twice.

CONCLUSION

I don't believe that scoring the first pick in the NBA Draft is as random as ping-pong balls or an arbitrary computer program.  And I would also say that the one team who deserves Wembanyama the most, all things considered, is the Spurs.  The funny thing though is that some of the teams who were earlier believed to be firmly in the sweepstakes, like the Jazz and Thunder, have been overachieving.  Meanwhile the Lakers, with three indisputable future Hall of Famers on their squad, have one of the worst records in the league, and the Warriors ain't too far ahead of them.

So maybe by the time the season is over, as I alluded to earlier, the Dubs will start to take their youth movement more seriously than just starting dudes when the old guys get hurt.  And if so, of course getting Victor Wembanyama would be a major accomplishment.  Then maybe they'll finally feel confident enough to like bring the Splash Bros. off the bench and stuff like that.

Juan Toscano-Anderson vs. Damion Lee Post-Warriors' Debut

No disrespect to to Juan Toscano-Anderson, who up until yesterday seemed like a really nice guy, but the fact that the Lakers played him 14 minutes against the Warriors speaks volumes of their depth.  Well actually, Juan did average 14 minutes playing for the Dubs last season, you know, while Klay and/or Steph and/or Draymond was unavailable.  So that instead speaks volumes to the healthy state of the Lakers, since none of their stars are injured.

Last season's Warriors was a magical team, because coming into 2021-22 no one believed they were going to win the championship.  Part of me still doesn't believe it.  But more importantly, they believed in themselves.  And they had luck on their side, i.e. Andrew Wiggins suddenly reminding everyone that he's a no.1 pick, and Steph doing that shit that isn't supposed to be possible/legal.  You seen what he did against the Lakers last night?  How can a single player have both the best dribble and the best jumpshot in the NBA?

Last night, Juan scored a whopping 0 points though did get four rebounds, for whatever they were worth.  But the thing that defined his night on the court was this:

Now last season's Warriors isn't one of those that you can really point at anyone on the roster and be like 'that player didn't do shit'.  Virtually everybody on that team contributed because again, the core players were hurt, and everyone else on the roster, going into the season, were more or less unproven.  The only person on the squad who got playing time but was unable to take advantage of it, unfortunately, was Quinndary Weatherspoon, which is kinda understandable when you see that he only played in 11 games.  But all other 14 players on the roster ended last season with their reputations better than they had been before.  And what that means is that if any of the previously-unknown/unrespected players end up on different roster, they have to show the other players on the team - and indeed the world - that they are of championship pedigree.

That's what Damion Lee did last night.  I always liked Damion because he's an energy player and has affected the game every time I've seen him play, even if sometimes in an unhelpful way.  But his jumpshot is suspect, and that showed recently when the Suns got their asses bust by that Australian team the 36ers (who then turned around and got demolished by OKC).  But it's like 'hey, dude played for the Dubs last season and averaged a respectable 7 points.  So why not give him a contract?', like even on a contender.

So by the end of Juan's debut, you're saying to yourself that it doesn't forebode the Lakers well if they're going to have to depend on him.  It's totally not a good look when you score 0 points and then almost knee your former teammate - who just signed a gazillion $ contract - in the nuts.  But in Anderson's defense, Poole did drive his thigh into Juan's nuts first, which once again makes you requestion why Draymond spazzed on him.

Meanwhile, the Suns got 'vengeance' against the Mavs - during the season opener which would be one of the most-watched games of the season - and no one is talking CP3 or Booker or any of the stars, nor were any of the Suns' players who actually lost to Dallas able to exact revenge.  Instead, it's Damion Lee's name highlighted in the articles, and even Steph is showing him love.  And trust me - there's no player in the NBA who you'd rather have how you love than Steph.

And of course one night doesn't mean shit in the grand scheme of things, but I just find it interesting how these players, both of whom I'm a fan of, have now already been dealt like completely different paths.  Next up is how my boy the Gauntlet will perform.