The Golden State Warriors roster this season will prove to Steve Kerr who is ready to compete with a championship-caliber team next year.
There’s no denying that within the next 20 or so games the Golden State Warriors may already be completely out of playoff contention. However, that doesn’t mean that the team has nothing left to play for.
After being one of the oldest rosters in the league, the team, which lost traded or waived veterans like Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, completely transformed their roster.
They were still planning on being competitive even with Klay Thompson out until at least March. Now, Thompson will likely sit the entire season as the loss of both Russell and Curry has caused chaos in Golden State.
Obviously, injuries to D’Angelo Russell Russell (out with a sprained thumb) and Stephen Curry (broken left hand) have derailed their playoff aspirations. The original plan was to make the playoffs, get Thompson back and be competitive for their sixth NBA Finals.
With a top-five pick, that’ll be the plan next year.
Before that, we have the rest of this season, which will act as a training ground for Kerr. There will be two aspects of the training that should stand out to the head coach. One is the veterans that will be trusted and the second is the rookies that will consistently and efficiently produce.
Eric Paschall has proven that he can be that young gun. The 6-foot-6 second-round pick is averaging 17.1 points per game on 50.5% shooting. The exact opposite can be said of first-round pick Jordan Poole. The former Wolverine is shooting under 27% from the field.
It’s early, obviously, but these performances will either help or hurt their stock in the coming years. Their play will also build the trust of their coach, a person that’ll expect results next season as both will have a year of play under their belt.
Omari Spellman and Jacob Evans III will also be in must-produce scenarios throughout the remainder of the season. However, it’s not just the young players that must show they can play.
Players like Glenn Robinson III, Alec Burks, and Willie Cauley-Stein all came to Golden State on extremely team-friendly contracts. Both Robinson and Burks signed veteran’s minimum contracts in order to help build something special in Golden State. Sadly that won’t happen this season.
Unless they get dealt prior to the trade deadline, they’ll potentially either earn a new contract or be let loose from a team that should be in title contention next season. For now, all three have shown high potential this season and should be on track to make a return.
At 3-14, the rest of this season will be focused on proving to Kerr and the staff that with a healthy Curry, Thompson, Russell and Green, they can win another NBA championship.