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The blow bounced off the back ledge. The crowd fell silent. Seconds later, the Toronto Raptors celebrated their first NBA Championship. At the time, we knew it was his last game at Oracle Arena, but neither of us could predict that Stephen Curry’s failed 3-point final would be his last significant shooting attempt in 18 months.
Even the most pessimistic of minds expected the Golden State Warriors, at the very least, to compete for a playoff berth last season without Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, both of whom had suffered injuries that changed their career in the final. Instead, in Game 4 of the season alone, Aron Baynes’ 260 pounds proved too much for Curry’s left hand, sending the two-time MVP sidelined for four months. Curry made his triumphant return in March, with the Warriors well off the playoff hunt, only to have his season stifled again – this time by a menacing and relentless virus infinitely more dangerous than the injury bug that seemed so set on Golden The State Locker Room.
Eventually, however, frustration turned to hope. Futility and luck in the Warriors’ lottery earned them the second pick in the draft. The pick, which turned out to be the big man James Wiseman, coupled with the healthy return of Curry and Thompson, a refreshed Draymond Green and a refocused Andrew Wiggins meant the Warriors would be in the picture again. of the championship.
But, as the old saying made famous by John Lennon recalls, “Life is what happens to you while you are busy with other plans.” This feeling should be ingrained in our psyches after enduring the horrors of 2020, but it is a testament to the human resilience that we continually allow optimism to triumph over despair.
And just like that, with an awkward step from Thompson during an off-season pickup game in Southern California, the Warriors’ potential resurgence turned into a rescue mission. The news of Thompson’s torn right Achilles tendon – after a season lost to an ACL tear – is a punch that induces more sympathy for Thompson than concern for the future of the basketball of the franchise. At a press conference that was supposed to be a celebratory presentation of future Warriors stars on Thursday, general manager Bob Myers spent the first 15 minutes searching for words to sum up the devastation of Thompson’s latest injury.
“In my job, it’s those phone calls where the color drains from your face,” Myers said.
“It’s not that we can’t handle these things. We are doing, and we will, and we have been doing it. … But what hurts the most is the time we spend on our work, the sacrifices we make to do what we do, and to do what [Klay] Is. And for him not to be able to play basketball anymore, it’s pain. It’s the pain we’ve been feeling for him being here since day one, since Klay arrived nine years ago, or whatever the number of years. “
In the most unfair of ways, the Warriors are here, in a place almost identical to where they were before last season. No Thompson. No Durant. No wise veteran leader like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. Just a desire for what could have been and confusion over what will follow.
“We ended up with a hole in one position that we can’t find a lot of better guys to fill than a Klay Thompson,” Myers said. “So now we are writing our table, and under the position of the two guards we have a blank space.”
So once again, the fate of the season, and perhaps the Warriors’ championship window, rests squarely on Stephen Curry’s shoulders.
Ahead of Curry’s injury last year, we wondered if head coach Steve Kerr would modify the ball-based attack to provide more pick-and-roll for his superstar in Thompson’s absence and During. This proved difficult in the limited time Curry was on the pitch due to the presence of D’Angelo Russell, a ball-dominating guard whose off-ball skills never progressed to the Warriors’ liking. With Russell gone, Curry is now flanked by Wiggins and the recently acquired Kelly Oubre, two athletic wings capable of wearing down opponents with cuts back, and who will thrill the organization if they can consistently sink 3 points to a good clip.
As currently built, the Warriors do not have a secondary ball handler in the backcourt. Those honors go to Green, which has led the team in assists per game in each of the past five seasons. So it’s not hard to envision an attack where Curry performs more pick-and-rolls and dribbles, although Kerr has been hesitant to revamp his attack in the past.
No matter how it turns out, Curry is going to have to turn into a monstrous season for the Warriors to participate in the Western Conference. Along with the stars of the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers at the top, there are at least nine other legitimate playoff contenders, maybe 10 depending on how the Houston Rockets play out.
But if there’s one player capable – and ready for – such a blast, it’s Curry.
The last time Curry was unleashed, in the 2015-16 season, when he was free from the sacrifices of welcoming Durant into the fold, Curry attacked the league with one of the biggest seasons in the world. NBA history – 30.1 points, 6.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game in the 50/45/90 divisions with an absurd 5.1 to 3 points per game. This earned him the first unanimous MVP selection in NBA history, and he might need to get closer to that production this season for the Warriors to have a shot at the playoffs and beyond.
Everyone in the NBA is adjusting to this strange offseason, and no one knows how it will play out. Some teams are coming out of a quick playoff turnaround while others, like the Warriors, will have been nine months since playing an NBA game. Curry will have played exactly five games – 139 minutes – in 18 months. You can tell he will be rested – Curry is still maintaining himself in phenomenal form – but it would be foolish to think that there won’t be a significant period of derailment to start the season. With the Warriors’ situation what it is, a rough start could mean missing the playoffs.
While it’s premature to close the Warrior Dynasty book, there’s a growing chance they won’t return to the Finals during Curry’s tenure. Thompson will return with a torn ACL and a torn Achilles after missing two years. he could be the only major player in the history of sport besides the former warrior DeMarcus Cousins to suffer these two injuries. It has long been feared that Green’s performance could deteriorate rapidly as he ages. There is no guarantee that Wiggins and / or Oubre will ever realize the potential their natural talent suggests. Wiseman could end up being what some draft evaluators have warned us about – an outmatched Hassan Whiteside. The Timberwolves could be surprisingly good next season, crushing the value of their protected top-three pick in 2021 – by far the Warriors’ best asset. And if Curry gets hurt, well … let’s not even go there.
This is obviously the worst case scenario, but after a year and a half it is only natural for the Warriors to expect disaster. And that’s where the challenge comes in. This is where having a leader like Curry, both on and off the pitch, can make all the difference. If Curry can keep the Warriors in the running, Golden State may remain a potential destination for the next disgruntled star, at which point Myers and the front office can deploy whatever assets are needed to bolster the roster for Thompson’s return. Then we’ll get right back to talking about the Warriors as title contenders next summer.
It’s a tough job, but Curry has proven over his 11-year career that his contagious work ethic and enthusiasm can inspire and galvanize his teammates.
“The challenge in these times is to stay together, when your fabric is tested,” Myers said Thursday. “Our fabric was tested last year. People don’t know, our record was 15-50, but we didn’t beat as an organization. We haven’t wavered. We didn’t start to blame people. And it’s hard to do nowadays. “
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