SALES CENTER in San Francisco is empty, even when the Golden State Warriors occupy the court. It is a cavernous structure, an ark whose features capture the novelties and aesthetics of the age of technology. Not long ago, Golden State was one of those firsts, a team that changed the way you play basketball. Stephen Curry provoked what for decades was considered a good blow. Draymond Green challenged what tactics for decades believed should be an NBA center. Klay Thompson played a modern escort. The team found the right balance between data-driven efficiency and the visual arts of basketball.
Five consecutive appearances in the NBA finals, three championships.
Two and a half years after the most recent title and seven games of the season, the Warriors today look more like a team of NBA workers than an exceptional one, facing the same problems that teams in the middle of the table go through on Monday at the beginning. trying to solve – team identity, individual roles, collective acceptance. They still have Curry, a star who proves to be able to pull a medium list in the post-season. But without too much depth, Warriors must empower potential young people and marginalized players to play roles once played by sages like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston.
With Thompson out of season, they will spend time acclimatizing to newcomers like Andrew Wiggins and Kelly Oubre Jr. and preparing their promising debutant, James Wiseman. These are exciting projects for Warriors. If you tighten up a lot and imagine that Thompson revolves around multi-level screens, the sum of these parts may tempt you in 2021-22.
But the Warriors also have an existential uncertainty: will this core ever win another title?
This question reports all items in the to-do list. Wiseman is ready to have the skills and knowledge to be fifth on a championship team. Curry and Green are tasked with maintaining their basic level and skill, which has allowed the Warriors to outdo their opponents. There is the greatest imperative to bring strangers in the box and feed them with the special Golden State sauce.
The Warriors don’t seem to be competing this season, not without Thompson. The early results say the same thing, as they enter their two-game series with the LA Clippers (22:00 ET on Wednesday on ESPN) at 4-3, ranking 18th in offensive efficiency and 24th in defense.
But the Warriors have as much at stake as any other playoff contender, much of them have invested in Curry, Green and Wiseman, even if they are waiting to place their bet. They are in a state of discovery, learning how to be mortal in a league in which they have been transcendent throughout their lives in the NBA.