Coming off their fourth NBA championship in eight years, the Golden State Warriors went into last season looking to get one for the thumb.
Instead, their 2022-23 season devolved into an enigmatic, inconsistent mess.
They played very well at home, but outside of San Francisco, they went just 11-30 while giving up a whopping 122.5 points a game.
It all culminated in them losing in the second round of the playoffs to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Something was clearly not right with Golden State last season, and Draymond Green, their emotional and spiritual leader, said they weren’t fully together.
“You may break one guy, you may break two, but you can’t break this team and that’s what made us unbeatable. I think our culture, the fabric was a little off last year.”
Draymond Green on how the Warriors can get back to being NBA title contenders pic.twitter.com/UIgX6luPGX
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 12, 2023
For almost the past decade, the Warriors had seemingly been the envy of the rest of the NBA from top to bottom.
They possessed star talent and a head coach in Steve Kerr who helped change the way NBA basketball is played by employing a fast-breaking, fast-moving offense while making them into an elite defensive squad as well.
Organizationally, their front office was also seemingly ahead of the curve.
But the feeling after their loss to L.A. was that they were getting too old and needed an infusion of youth and energy.
They had brought along young players such as Jordan Poole, James Wiseman, and Jonathan Kuminga, but they have traded both Poole and Wiseman in the past year while bringing in 38-year-old Chris Paul.
Paul is clearly in decline, and the team needs to start to reduce the workload of Green, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson, especially during the regular season.
In addition, Thompson isn’t quite the same player he was before the ACL and Achilles injuries he suffered a few years ago, especially on defense.
After years of being ahead of the posse, perhaps teams such as the Lakers, Phoenix Suns, and the defending world champion Denver Nuggets have left the Warriors in the dust.
NEXT:
Draymond Green Has Big Message For Chris Paul Ahead Of The Season
