Why new-look Warriors are built to win 50 games this season

Why new-look Warriors are built to win 50 games this season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO – Five Western Conference teams won 50 or more games in the 2023-24 NBA season. The Warriors weren’t one of them. They tallied 46 wins, two more than the previous season, yet dropped all the way down to the No. 10 seed while failing to make the playoffs for the first time under coach Steve Kerr with a healthy Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Thompson departed for the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason. The Warriors fell short of adding a second star next to Curry, unable to make a deal for Paul George or Lauri Markkanen. Instead, general manager Mike Dunleavy’s patient approach formulated a historic six-team trade, adding veteran players the Warriors believe should make them a better team that can form a clear identity.

“First thing that comes to mind, just a deep, deep team,” Steve Kerr responded Tuesday in describing the Warriors ahead of Wednesday’s regular-season opener in Portland against the Trail Blazers.

Kerr already has told Lindy Waters III and Gui Santos they won’t be in the rotation for the season opener. Both are players Kerr has said can, and will, help the Warriors win games. Waters shot 44 percent from 3-point range in the preseason and was one of the Warriors’ best players in plus/minus. Santos, 22, is a young player the Warriors remain high on, and his cutting ability makes him suited for almost any combination.

That’s how this iteration of the Warriors was created, though. They have 12 players vying for about 10 spots to get real playing time, and the team believes in the two who immediately are on the outside looking in. The Warriors added proven veterans in Kyle Anderson, Buddy Hield and De’Anthony Melton, who fit Kerr’s goal of being a defense-first team that launches 3-pointers and is much better in transition on both sides of the ball.

Curry is 36 years old, and will turn 37 in March. Green is 34, and will be 35 just 10 days before Curry blows out two more candles than his longtime teammate. While the search for a second established star…

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Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-10-23 14:04:00

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