Forget the stats…the vibes at the Golden State Warriors are simply off

There’s plenty of ways you can quantify the Golden State Warriors’ disappointing 4-7 start to the 2022-23 season — the worst bench net rating in the league, the fourth-worst defensive rating overall.

However, there’s an element that’s hard to quantify — ‘the vibes’. Having come off a championship just months ago, this should be a team still riding the waves of jubilation. To be fair, that looked like the case in their preseason games against the Washington Wizards in Japan.

Intersected by Draymond Green’s punch on Jordan Poole, the Golden State Warriors’ vibes have gone from league-best to among league-worst so far this season.

It’s hard to evaluate the level of impact Green’s brain fade has had, but you’d be oblivious to think it hasn’t had some. This was a team that played the game in an infectiously joyous manner and yet, everything seems laborious and challenging so far through 11 games.

The team’s official twitter account released footage of the bench’s reaction to a massive Stephen Curry play in the fourth-quarter of Monday’s win over the Kings, along with the caption ‘Play the game with JOY’.

The comments were filled with criticism on the lack of reaction, particularly that of recent lottery picks James Wiseman and Jonathan Kuminga — one person responded by saying “they look miserable”. Another user compared the vibes to that of a funeral, while another tagged Damion Lee and Juan Toscano-Anderson asking them to “come back”.

The lack of bench vibes is so evident that it even got brought up in Moses Moody’s press conference on Wednesday. The second-year wing acknowledged it as an important facet to the team.

"“It just adds to the atmosphere. We had some really good role models with that last year — how to keep that going and how it can effect the team”, Moody said."

The conversation gained so much traction that it led to a response from Kent Bazemore, the currently unrestricted free agent who’s had two stints at the franchise including the 2020-21 season.

While it needs to certainly improve, there’s understandable reasons for what’s taking place. The bench is filled with a plethora of highly-talented young players who are disappointed with their own performances, their lack of opportunity, and the teams overall struggles in general.

That’s a lot different to the likes of Lee and Toscano-Anderson who had to scrap their way into the league at an older age, and while not fully content, were genuinely happy just to be on an NBA roster.

Whether this current bench unit can find their voice on and off the court remains to be seen, but either way, the Warriors desperately need to discover their mojo and find a place towards the top of the competitive Western Conference standings.