Golden State Warriors: 3 players who have disappointed to start the season

The Golden State Warriors are off to a rough start to the season with a 3-7 record and 12th in the Western Conference. This has been due to a combination of factors, but individual players falling short of expectations is clearly a part of the slow start.

There have been some fantastic performances from a few Golden State Warriors players to open the season, but they haven’t been enough to carry the team to wins.

Let’s look at some players who’ve started a little slow this season and need to turn it around to help the Warriors from continuing their slide.

Klay Thompson hasn’t had his shooting touch at all.

For a player that is accustomed to shooting upwards of 40% from three-point range, and talks like he shoots 60%, it’s inexcusable for Thompson to be hitting just 32.9% of his attempts thus far. He will likely get better as the year goes on, but his shot selection has been horrible in the first ten games.

His defense has been inconsistent as well, which has been an area the Warriors have struggled with in nearly every game. This is an area he needs to improve on if he wants to keep his starting job.

Thompson has also struggled to score inside the three-point arc, attempting less than six per game and converting on 42.2%. Whether it’s inside, outside, or defensively, there’s little going right in Thompson’s game right now.

James Wiseman is taking his time after a long layoff.

Wiseman is a player many fans expected to be contributing to the Warriors in a major way this season. To start off the year, he’s been nearly unplayable against some teams.

His defensive awareness is not there yet, he isn’t getting back on defense quick enough, and he isn’t strong enough to handle some physicality in the post or on the boards. This isn’t to say he hasn’t had his bright spots — Wiseman’s mid-range game has been flowing beautifully this season as he scores a large chunk of his points from the free throw line or with an eight-foot floater.

Wiseman has all the potential in the world to heavily contribute to the Warriors as soon as this season, he just needs to put all the pieces together.

Many fans have expected more from Kevon Looney.

A major issue for the Warriors has been their complete and utter lack of rebounding, even if Stephen Curry and Andrew Wiggins are setting career-highs individually, and Draymond Green is also averaging nearly six per game.

This leaves Looney as a major factor in their lack of rebounding, with the three-time champion averaging nearly a rebound and a half less than last season — this despite averaging more minutes per game. Looney’s also been foul happy to start the season, indicative of the Warriors foul troubles as a team.

If these three players can get back to the level of basketball they are used to playing, this Warriors team will turn it around in quick fashion.