Golden State Warriors: 3 Make or break x-factors next season

Growing pains will make or break the Golden State Warriors

Now that we’ve discussed expectations for James Wiseman next year — we need to address the elephant in the room. It is rare for a team with title aspirations to also have an incoming lottery pick on the roster. It is even more unusual to have two highly-coveted rookies at the same time (including Wiseman, who is essentially still a rookie himself).

There’s no universe in which Moses Moody or Jonathan Kuminga will be relied upon heavily when the team already has three stars leading the way. Nevertheless, these two rookies will play important roles throughout a long season. Although they both had strong Summer League performances, there is no way to avoid the growing pains that will soon follow.

For Kuminga, his restricted offensive game is going to cause some head-scratching moments from him. He’s got plenty of work to do before being a consistent 3-point shooter and his ball-handling is still unpolished (albeit impressive for a lanky forward).

Meanwhile, Moody will have an easier time slotting himself into the lineup as a streaky shooter and smart decision-maker. Even so, there is no preparing yourself for the speed of an NBA game and these two rookies are sure to get smacked in the face at various points.

The determining factor here is how quickly will Moody and Kuminga grow comfortable in the big league? Can they fast-track their developments to fill in a niche role before the end of their rookie seasons? Or will they enter the final stretch of the year still uncertain of where they stand?

The Warriors were wise to add veteran free agents this summer to provide a cushion between their stars and the rookies. Regardless, a season plagued by growing pains will make it more difficult to accomplish the ultimate goal. Let’s hope these young guys are motivated to push through early adversity as quickly as possible.