Good news for golden state warriors: He is back

What made the Warriors wise to ride with a dominant core during the trade deadline

For weeks, Mike Dunleavy has been hearing nothing but positive things from Steve Kerr. The general manager has expressed his belief in the Warriors, but he too longs for tangible outcomes.

As the NBA trade deadline for this season drew nearer, both acknowledged that making a big Regaining the playoff picture required defensive improvement.
“I think it has to come from within,” stated Dunleavy, who made an appearance on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “Warriors Pregame Live” on January 25. And everyone contributes to that. That’s the coaches’ and players’ problem: we need to tighten things up and figure out how to improve defensively because, to be honest, we’ve been playing excellent offense.”

“Draymond [Green] really changed things with his return because he connects [Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga] at both ends of the floor just with his basket,” said Kerr, six days after the team defeated the Philadelphia 76ers.

defensively in communication, and then offensively in how he organizes us.
Following Thursday’s trade deadline, which ended at noon, Golden State only completed one move: they traded cash and fourth-string point guard Cory Joseph to Indiana in return for a second-round draft pick. In addition to saving almost $11 million toward the luxury tax, this trade cleared a roster slot.

The Warriors decided to be cautious yet sensible given the options available to them.
Dunleavy stated, “We feel like we’re getting better,” on Thursday at a Zoom news conference. Furthermore, we believed that doing anything would be rash or an overreaction to anything would be inappropriate.
The urgency to make a more substantial move, so transparent a month ago, began diminishing in mid-January and was all but gone by early February. Why? Because, as Kerr believed and Dunleavy hoped, the current roster has significantly improved, mostly in areas that were in dire need of it.

Regarding defense.

In Indianapolis on Thursday, Kerr told reporters, “Our defense has picked up.” You can see that we have a little more bounce to us and that we can move quickly after misses to generate some offense. The point is that a number of guys are currently performing at a high level. Several people are moving forward and developing rhythm simultaneously. When you do that action, your chances of winning are high.In the three weeks prior to Jan. 18, the Warriors’ defensive rating was 127.0 (last in the NBA). In the three weeks since, it is at 112.3, ranking seventh in the league and third in the Western Conference.

Golden State’s offense during that span ranks fourth overall and third in the West, with a 121.5 rating. It’s 9.3 net rating is No. 1 in the West and third overall.

Even though they are still outside of the Western Conference’s top 10, the Warriors have outperformed most of the teams that are ranked higher recently. The fact that Green returned in the middle of January and that Kuminga played a full month of largely productive play both contributed significantly to their upsurge.

But Wiggins is the one who has advanced the most recently. He is performing at a caliber that is akin to that of a recent addition. He has emerged from a morass of subpar play to become an impact player again on both ends.
The reply from Dunleavy was, “I don’t know about any specific point.” However, considering Andrew’s degree of gaming proficiency, you have to assume that eventually he will reach the standard at which he and we both expect him to play. It’s wonderful to see that he is beginning to make progress.

After being mentioned in multiple trade scenarios, Wiggins is providing the Warriors with the kind of reinforcement they would have desired in a new addition. His efficiency and scoring output have increased, and he is effectively stopping the opponent’s top perimeter threat.

The cold truth for the Warriors is that the players who would have made the greatest impact – Toronto forwards OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam – landed elsewhere. Anunoby was sent to the New York Knicks on Dec. 30, and they flourished the moment he arrived. The Indiana Pacers, by contrast, have been ordinary due to several injuries, including leader Tyrese Haliburton.

The Warriors will ride with what they have, as they should. They’ll need to fill a roster spot, with a big man or another wing. They also need to break the tendency of losing so many close games, as it’s necessary for them to recover from their underachievement in the first half.

“At this time, we don’t have a championship record,” Dunleavy stated. Therefore, the task is to enter the competition and advance to the play-in or tournament.

Our championship experience is by far the most valuable asset we possess. We have folks that are capable and have experience.

In the 2022 NBA Finals, Golden State’s advantage was their “championship experience.” In the 2023 playoffs’ opening round, it has the advantage. Although they won’t go very far in the ’24 playoffs, Kuminga and the younger players have changed the atmosphere in general.

If the Warriors make it to the playoffs, they should have enough to have a good run. Over the next nine weeks, considerably more consistent winning will be needed to achieve that.