Warriors Legend Issues Reality Check on Team’s Rough Start

Getty Golden State Warriors legend Chris Mullin attends The TJ Martell Foundation 44th Annual New York Honors Gala in 2019.

The Golden State Warriors got back on the winning track on Friday night, besting a New York Knicks team that had won four of its previous six games and moving back to within two games of the .500 mark in the process. And while there’s no doubt that it was a positive development for the Dubs’ season, it’s striking that such a win feels like a big accomplishment for the defending champions.

But that’s where the Dub Nation denizens are, and Warriors coach Steve Kerr — who recently declared that his squad was playing a “Drew League game” — probably feels the same way.

As wild as the Warriors’ first 16 games have been, though, there remains a level of confidence within the organization that the ship can still be righted (and in a big, bad way, too).

For his part, Golden State legend turned broadcaster Chris Mullin strongly believes that the club’s current struggles are being overblown in the greater context of the 82-game season.

Mullin Advises Critics to Pump the Brakes

Mullin made an appearance on KNBR‘s Tolbert & Copes on Friday to talk Warriors basketball. And just as Dubs big man Draymond Green did ahead of Wednesday’s loss to the Suns, the Hall of Famer seemed to indicate that the team isn’t really that far from being the team we all thought they’d be.

“It’s the first 15 games of the season. Sometimes we make it a little more complicated than it really is,” Mullin said.

“I think what you said, Klay [Thompson] starts making some shots, all of a sudden it’s not as much talk about him recovering. Because, I, quite frankly, thought what he did last year was way more challenging than what he’s going through now. And he handled that pretty well. So I’m really not overly concerned about that.

“And then it’s just, acclimating the young guys. On paper, they’re the perfect fit to mesh with the older players. [James] Wiseman, [Moses] Moody and [Jonathan] Kuminga, long, athletic, explosive athletes. It just hasn’t happened yet. But I do believe it will.”

Finding the Mix

Mullin is clearly a believer in the Warriors’ talent, from their dynastic core to the trio of lottery picks that Kerr and Co. are trying to develop behind it. The respective groups may make for strange bedfellows, but Mullin much prefers dealing with the headaches of meshing the two timelines and getting everyone to buy into the process — and each other — to searching for missing pieces.

“A lot of this stuff is less basketball-oriented and more kind of geared towards chemistry, communication and trust, which is an important part,” Mullin said. “But I’d much rather be trying to figure that out than actually trying to find the talent and the experience and all the skill that they have…”

As the former baller sees it, patience should be the highest virtue for fans and pundits alike in assessing the Warriors’ potential this season.

“This is just a different journey, and a different timeline,” Mullin said. “But I think they’ll be fine, I do. I just think it’s a natural progression when you try and integrate really young players… If you think about it, it makes total sense. But when you go through the season, and you’re under the microscope that the Warriors are, it becomes, to me, somewhat overanalyzed.”