5 Disturbing trends Golden State Warriors must fix

The Golden State Warriors started 6-2, but losing eight of their last ten has them two games under .500 and barely clinging to the final Play-In Tournament berth after 18 contests. Stephen Curry missed two games, and Draymond Green was suspended for five. The Dubs have struggled without their best players and now have a Chris Paul injury to navigate.

Golden State has a hole in their roster, but reinforcements are not coming until closer to the trade deadline, if at all. 84 players become eligible to be traded on Dec. 15 and another 18 join the list on Jan. 15. That is more than 20 percent of the league that cannot be dealt right now. Teams are examining their rosters and waiting for the restrictions to pass.

The Warriors must make some internal changes, including limiting mistakes. They are near the bottom in several categories as November winds down, and here are five trends the Dubs must reverse if they want to become title contenders this season.

5. Too many jumpers

Charles Barkley did not think a jump-shooting team could win a championship, but the Warriors proved him and many others wrong. Four rings later it is clear the formula works. This year’s team feels a bit different, though.

The Dubs are last in the league in points in the paint, 27th in percentage of field goals attempted from 2-point range, and 29th in 2-point range points. They are just not getting easy baskets. To make matters worse, Golden State ranks 29th in fast break points.

Their lack of size makes it difficult to get to the rim and the makeup of their roster leaves them reliant on jumpers. The Warriors are sixth in 3-pointers made per game, but they will struggle every time the shots are not falling. They need to get to inside the arc a bit more and get some easy buckets in transition to keep their offense on track for all 48 minutes.