Should the Warriors be concerned about recent stretch?
By Paul Matli
The Golden State Warriors are struggling? What is the source of those struggles and can the team work through them?
Is the recent stretch for the Golden State Warriors a slump, an adjustment to Kevin Durant being out or something more?
The Warriors are not used to adversity. They’ve cruised without much trouble the last two seasons, with exceptions being the 2015 playoff series against Memphis and NBA Finals against Cleveland where they trailed 2-1.
More from Warriors News
- 3x champion may come to regret forgoing Golden State Warriors reunion
- Golden State Warriors: History shows USA may need Stephen Curry for more than the Olympics
- Golden State Warriors villain pours on more pain to end USA’s World Cup
- Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry continues philanthropic efforts off the court
- The Dream starting 5 for the Warriors 5 years from now
Outside of those two series the Warriors haven’t faced adversity.
So it’s logical to wonder how the Warriors are taking their current stretch, losing 5 out of 8 games, which includes sneaking by the lottery bound Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night.
It’s obvious the Warriors miss Durant. Durant is their best all-around player. He’s their second best defensive player behind Draymond Green and his scoring ability opens up more space for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Without him the Warriors look lost on both ends.
It’s hard to make a big deal about the Warriors last road trip considering they had 8 games in 13 days with hard back to backs.
However, there’s recent developments with the team which lead to some possible questions. A story posted on Realgm.com touched on problems within the team which don’t include basketball.
“We got problems and it ain’t basketball,” is what one anonymous Warrior player was quoted as saying.
Warriors writer Ethan Strauss talked about Luke Walton’s impact on the Warrior players last season.
“They played the best basketball they ever had when Kerr was not coaching the team,” Strauss said. “When Luke was letting them do a lot of what they really wanted and Green was a player coach.”
Strauss went on to say this has ratcheted up the tension between Green and Kerr.
Whether or not this is true, it is interesting because we’ve seen Green and Kerr get into shouting matches quite frequently. Also, we’ve seen Kerr’s rotations and offensive system questioned quite a few times.
Kerr restricts Green to a point forward, whereas Walton gave Green license to score more which helped vault Green to All-Star status. Kerr is a huge believer in his system, which is why Curry doesn’t run more pick and rolls.
Curry is at his best when he’s running pick and roll with either Durant or Green. When the Warriors run heavy doses of pick and roll like they did against Philadelphia their offense is virtually unstoppable. However, Kerr’s system is about pace, space and ball movement, so pick and roll is an after thought.
Next: Top 20 Draft Picks in Warriors History
Finally, hearing Andre Iguodala use the “master” comment when referring to missing the Spurs game begs the question, is this his way of saying the Warriors don’t respect Kerr like they did Walton?
Of course, this is all hypothetical; but since the Warriors don’t look like themselves it’s safe to question whether- there’s some friction internally in the locker room that’s effecting their play.
Strauss’s True Hoop Podcast might be forecasting a bit. If the Warriors don’t win the Championship Kerr will be the most likely scapegoat, not just because Joe Lacob will need someone to blame for the Warriors not winning, but also because of the apparent friction.