When Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was still mulling whether he wanted to return to the team as head coach several months ago, there was an interesting report that came out about how the franchise wanted Kerr to hold Stephen Curry and Draymond Green accountable if he decided to return.
Well, it seems that the organization got its wish based on recent comments Green made on his podcast:
“Steve used to always tell us like, 'Steph and Draymond are gonna turn the ball over more than everybody else and I'm gonna give them room to turn the ball over...' and he (recently) said to us, 'Just an FYI, I'm no longer giving you guys a pass to turn the ball over more than everyone else.'”
Warriors cannot afford to play the way they did in the past anymore
So, it seems that principal owner Joe Lacob and general manager Mike Dunleavy got what they wanted. It’s not an entirely unreasonable request, but given the state of the franchise right now, it’s interesting that they felt so strongly about this issue and that it was a precondition of Kerr’s return.
The Warriors have historically allowed Curry and Green to be pretty loose with the basketball. The thinking was that while there were would be a lot of turnovers, allowing them to be free and loose with the ball could make for some real magic and scoring opportunities that wouldn’t exist if they weren’t willing to take some risks.
Of course, in the past when the Warriors were a more prolific offense, they could overcome whatever turnovers they committed because they had so many weapons and could get so hot that it really didn’t matter if they were playing fast and loose with the rock.
Now, that simply isn’t the case anymore. The Warriors are no longer a high-powered offense and outside of Curry, they don’t have the scorers who could make up for the team turning the ball over a lot.
They do have to be more careful with the ball, but turnovers are not the main reason why this Warriors team is unlikely to be all that competitive next season. The real reason is that the front office didn’t make any substantial moves. Lacob and Dunleavy can tell themselves that if only Curry and Green weren’t so careless with the ball, the Warriors would be a playoff team. However, that’s just not true.
There isn’t enough talent on the roster. It’s as simple as that. It’s all well and good to try to limit turnovers and it’s smart to do so, but there are simply bigger issues at play for the Warriors right now.
Add us as a preferred source on Google