Hot Takes on Warriors' Roster and 2024 Title Hopes Ahead of NBA Season
If all goes according to plan, the Golden State Warriors will spend the 2023-24 season collecting their fifth NBA title of the last decade.
That's how the Dubs see it, at least.
They have invested in their veteran core time and again and just spent the last calendar year unloading many of the young players who were supposed to factor into their two-timeline plan. They have one of the Association's most extreme win-right-now rosters, making this another championship-or-bust campaign in the Bay.
Can this roster return to the championship podium, or are this group's championship days already behind them? We'll tackle that topic and more with a trio of hot takes about the 203-24 Warriors.
Trayce Jackson-Davis Is Their Best Rookie Right Now—and Moving Forward
1 of 3
The Warriors wound up plucking two players from this year's draft. First, they snatched up Brandin Podziemski with the No. 19 pick, then they acquired the No. 57 pick and immediately invested it in Trayce Jackson-Davis.
Golden State will get more mileage from the latter than the former—this season and beyond.
Podziemski faces severe physical challenges that may never go away. All of his shooting and secondary playmaking potential won't amount to anything if he doesn't have the burst to separate from defenders or the quickness, length or strength to defend his position. Jackson-Davis, on the other hand, pairs plenty of bounce with polished skills that seem tailor-made for this system.
"What I like about Trayce is he plays the way we like to play—good passer, dribble handoff guy at the top of the key, good screener, gives us a lob threat that we don't otherwise have, which is a really nice addition," Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "And I think he's just the kind of guy who feels the game well.
Jackson-Davis' athleticism will help him stand apart in this frontcourt rotation. Podziemski doesn't have the same in, as Golden State can look elsewhere for scoring, distributing and shot-making. Young players on this team must give Kerr reasons to play them; Podziemski may always have trouble doing that.
Jonathan Kuminga and the Warriors Are Better off Apart
2 of 3
Buoyed by elite physical tools and flashes of high-level maneuvers, Jonathan Kuminga could be on the cusp of a spectacular career.
But he needs developmental minutes to tap into his potential, and Golden State simply isn't the place to find them. The Dubs are too busy attempting to squeeze everything they can out of Stephen Curry's prime to expose themselves to Kuminga's inevitable growing pains.
It was telling that Golden State appeared in dire need of explosiveness and energy last postseason and still hardly ever looked Kuminga's direction. He was passed over three times and totaled a meager 61 minutes in the 10 games he did play. And the Dubs had zero reasons to second-guess their approach, as he wound up with the team's worst net differential at minus-22.7 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com.
This just isn't tenable any more. Even if Golden State could find him a niche rotation role this season, he needs something a lot greater than that to chase his full potential. He needs the freedom to experiment and the confidence that mistakes won't bury him on the bench. The Warriors can't give him that, so they should ship him to someone that will, even knowing he could very well blossom as soon as this season.
The Championship Portion of the Dubs' Dynasty Is Done
3 of 3
Given all of the incredible things we've watched the Warriors do, it's hard to say anything is impossible for them. But it just doesn't seem like they can summon any more championship magic out of this core.
Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green are all well into their 30s. Each has lost significant time to injury in the recent past. Even if their advanced hoops smarts should help them navigate the aging process better than most, the process is still happening and will never be reversed.
They need a reliable supporting cast around them maybe now more than ever, but building one has never been more challenging. There isn't much money to flesh out the rest of the roster, and a lot of the young talent they had in recent years has since been relocated elsewhere.
They can still be a really good team, but greatness might be a level they can no longer hit. It's incredibly difficult to win a title—let alone four—and Golden State just doesn't have quite enough to capture the crown again.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
