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Front office people around the NBA are keeping an eye on Golden State. But in stark contrast to the days when the Warriors were basketball behemoths — or even just one of the major title contenders — they are viewed now more as a curiosity.
“I was thinking about this the other day,” one coach told Heavy Sports. “They’re like one of those rock and roll bands that’s still touring. They’ve still got their lead singer, and he can still crank it out at a high level. But it’s not the same band as before — and they haven’t had a hit record in a few years.
“That championship they won against Boston … that’s looking like a lifetime achievement award now. They had the experience and professionalism, and Boston wasn’t ready to deal with that yet.”
The question now is how Golden State will deal its slide to Middle Earth. From champions to second-round elimination to No. 10 seed in the West getting waxed by Sacramento in the play-in game, the Dubs are a fadeaway jumper coming up increasingly short.
Warriors Still Trying to Land Big Fish
The general feeling among their foes is that the Klay Thompson sign-and-trade didn’t net them enough to re-enter the chat. There is still much roster work to be done, but GMs wonder if they have the tools for the job.
“From the talks they’ve had — or tried to have — it sounds like they want to do something big,” said one league source. “But they also don’t want to break things up too much. Moving Klay was big for them, but it wasn’t as big a trade as they probably wanted it to be. They want to add around Steph (Curry) and Draymond (Green), but they’re finding that’s hard to do.
“Steph is obviously still very good, but I don’t know. It is interesting. They’ve been trying to do stuff for quite a while — like last year at the trade deadline they were trying to get something going. I mean, they keep acting like they’re trying to make some major changes, but I just don’t know if they will.”
As for what the Warriors were trying to do, the source said, “They were trying to add a piece or two, just be relevant. After checking on where things were going with their talks, I don’t think they could really get any transformative player, but they’ve definitely been trying to upgrade their talent to maximize this run with Steph.
“They were trying to flip some trades around and get involved in things that maybe could have become a multiple team deal. It was complicated stuff they were never able to pull off. I don’t think the Klay trade was totally what they had in mind.”
Mike Dunleavy Jr. Facing Daunting Task
Mike Dunleavy Jr. is in his second season as general manager, but he’s been with the club in post-playing roles for six years now, the first as a pro scout, then assistant GM and vice president of basketball operations before taking over the main position when Bob Myers abdicated. His resuscitation task is certainly daunting.
Myers, meanwhile, has looked quite relaxed on the ESPN studio shows.
“He got out at the right time,” said a former peer from the East. “I think in the role he had here it just gets old. You know, you’ve got an owner (Joe Lacob) that has that strong of a personality, that much involvement, two of his kids working there, I can see how that would be tiring. But they all did great work together, and they’ve had a long run at the top.
“It’s hard to sustain greatness in this league, and they did it for longer than most. It’s hard to see how they can get it together again and compete, when you’ve got Denver and Minnesota and OKC and Dallas to get through, but it’s going to be interesting to watch.”
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