Last season, Stephen Curry was the Warriors’ offense. Golden State was +5.8 points per 100 possessions when Curry was on the court, but -2.2 when he was not, and the reason was the offense was -6.9 per 100 worse without Curry. There wasn’t a consistent secondary shot creator.
The Lakers loaded up on Curry, exploited that weakness and exposed the Warriors in the playoffs, Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“We were not a very well-rounded team last year. Thinking about that series, watching it, they bottled us up defensively. And we didn’t have a counter. So, we’ve got to make sure we have counters this year.”
Enter Chris Paul. The belief in the Bay Area is that CP3’s pick-and-roll game — combined with the shooting of new addition Dario Saric and the athleticism of the emerging Jonathan Kuminga — can give the Warriors another shot creation option outside Curry. Especially in the minutes Curry sits.
There’s pressure on this plan to work — the aging Warriors are only getting so many more chances. While Curry was still a top-10 player in the league last season and one capable of being the best player on a championship team, this will be his age-36 season and Father Time will start to win the race eventually. Chris Paul was brought in partially for financial reasons — his $30 million for next season is non -guaranteed and the Warriors are not bringing him back at that price — and could be gone after this season. The Warriors’ core is not getting younger. This season could be the Warriors last big swing at a ring in the Curry era.
Which is why the Warriors off-season moves were critical — with the two-timeline nonsense gone, they had to pivot hard to winning now. They did. Which is going to make this an interesting season in the Bay Area.
