Even with Klay Thompson out for the year, the Golden State Warriors made moves with hopes of contending this season. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to.
The Golden State Warriors started the season with two huge losses to the Nets and Bucks and a last-second win in Chicago. While it’s only been three games into the 2020-21 season, they have a lot of problems they may not be able to solve.
Three-point shooting
Yes, it’s weird to say, but the Warriors are a bad three-point shooting team. Without Klay Thompson, Steph is the only reliable three-point shooter who can play big minutes. The reason Mulder and Lee can’t play bigger roles is due to their defense and their lack of contribution in other aspects.
Most Warriors who are playing big minutes are not good shooters. That makes it much easier for opposing defenses who can dare Oubre, Wiggins, and Draymond to shoot while focusing more on Steph and putting more pressure on him.
That’s probably why Steph has been struggling with his shot a bit to start the season. It is not necessarily his fault.
Lack of experience and chemistry
One thing that made the Warriors dynasty special was their unique system and the experienced veterans (Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala) who ran it. The two vets knew Steph (and Klay) so well that they knew where he was going to be on the court before he even got there.
Everything was clicking.
On this Warriors team, there are a lot of young or new faces who don’t know the system or Steph very well. They can’t be blamed, as learning and mastering such a unique system can take more than one season.
But at the end of the day, except for Draymond and a little bit of Looney, Steph doesn’t have teammates who know his tendencies.
For example, Steph likes to cut after passing the ball and come out to one of the corners where the defender loses him most of the time to get an open three. And, on Christmas against the Bucks, we all saw his frustrated look when Oubre did not even look to his direction.