The Golden State Warriors were the feel good story of the NBA Playoffs this year. The Warriors, who were led by a core of young players and a second-year head coach, upset the third-seeded Denver Nuggets before losing in the Conference Semifinals to the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs.Even if David Lee had been healthy for the entire playoffs, I’m not sure the Warriors would have been able to beat the Spurs. San Antonio’s veterans exposed Golden State’s inexperience on multiple occasions, and in the end, the Spurs were just an overall better team. However, the future is bright for the Warriors franchise.
Golden State has one of the best young cores in the league, led by the 25-year-old Stephen Curry. Sharpshooter Klay Thompson is only 23 years old, and rookie forward Harrison Barnes really came into his own during the playoffs and looks like he has a bright future ahead of him.
Barnes’ fellow rookies, Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli, also showed a lot of promise this season too. Meanwhile, David Lee is the grandpa of the team and he’s only 30 while Richard Jefferson is the great-grandpa at only 32. This core will be in northern Cali for a long time.
Jarrett Jack is the only player on the Warriors roster that got significant playing time this season, and he is set to be a free agent this off-season. As good as Jack was this year (averaged about 13 points, six assists and three rebounds per game), the Warriors should let him go.
His numbers were good this year, and at times during the postseason he carried the Warriors offensively, but he was a detriment to the team. When Jack is in the game, he often dribbles the ball up court, uses two ball screens and ends up taking a contested mid-range jump shot without any other player touching the ball.
What makes the Warriors so dangerous is that they have so many different weapons. When Jack was running the point for Golden State, these weapons didn’t get the touches that they needed. The offense became stagnant.
One of the knocks on Golden State this season was that they relied too much on the jump shot and didn’t run enough set plays. This became extremely evident in the Spurs series, especially in the fourth quarter. The Warriors struggled to get good shots late in the game.
Another knock on this team is that Stephen Curry is too small to the play the off-guard position, so whoever is in the backcourt with him has to be able to guard opposing shooting guards. Jarrett Jack was a sub-par defender, especially when it came to defending the pick-and-roll.
On the subject of pick-and-rolls, the Warriors had no answer for the Tony Parker-Tim Duncan combination with that play. Their bigs just weren’t quick enough to even bother Parker on the perimeter.
For the Warriors, these are some players that they could that could realistically fit financially:
Chauncey Billups: The Warriors lacked veteran leadership this year, and Billups is one of the best leaders in the NBA. He’s practically an on-the-court coach. He doesn’t need many shots to be happy, and he’d be fine with organizing the Warriors offense and getting them into the right sets. He’s also an above-average defender and could guard both backcourt positions.
Chris “Birdman” Andersen: Say what you want about the Birdman, but he’s been unbelievably productive this year for the Miami Heat. He’s averaging seven points, four rebounds and a block per game for the Heat in only 13 minutes of action. He’s a hustle player and is an above-average defender on the block, and when guarding the pick-and-roll.
