The Golden State Warriors are experiencing a championship hangover of epic proportions. After winning their fourth title in eight years in June, they have gotten off to one of the worst starts in NBA history for a defending champion.
Golden State has just wrapped up an abysmal road trip, which they went 0-5 on. That makes them 0-6 on the season away from the Chase Center, making them the first NBA champion to start the next season with that many losses on the road without a victory.
The 3-7 record that they currently have is the fifth time a defending champion has started with a record that poor or worse. There were a lot of distractions heading into the season for the Warriors, with contract extensions and the Draymond Green/Jordan Poole incident during training camp and it may be taking a toll on the team.
Despite the slow start, there is no panic within that locker room. Head coach Steve Kerr is maintaining a positive attitude, knowing that he has a group more than capable of working through a slump.
“There are times in the NBA season when things can go off the rails a little bit,” Kerr said after practice Sunday. “A big part of being a great team, being a solid organization, is just understanding how to work through that.”
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There is a chance that the next time we see the Warriors take the court that their rotation is adjusted. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Green all sat out the final game of the road trip against the New Orleans Pelicans. That gave Kerr a chance to evaluate some players and will make adjustments accordingly.
“Every single season for me, there are difficult decisions. You have to have hard conversations, but you just have to be honest,” Kerr said. “Guys go in and out of the rotation. … The key here is we have a group full of guys who are committed to each other and the team. Even though it’s frustrating individually at times, for a lot of them, their time will come. They are committed to each other, and when that happens, things tend to play out well.”
One player that could find his way into the mix is Jonathan Kuminga. Kerr revealed that Kuminga was frustrated by his lack of playing time and Kuminga admitted that it was challenging. He received a chance to showcase his talent against the Pelicans and responded with a big game, scoring 19 points with four rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block in a career-high 38 minutes.
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Along with Kuminga, Moses Moody, two-way player Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome were other players that Kerr mentioned that impressed him against the Pelicans. Moody was a star during the Las Vegas Summer League with some eye-popping scoring numbers.
While numerous things need to be worked on, the Warriors have pinpointed specific areas to improve that they believe will help keep them from losing games. Improving on the glass and not fouling would go a long way to helping turn things around.
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Teams will go through lulls throughout the marathon regular season. Unfortunately for Golden State, theirs has come right at the start, so there is going to be a lot of attention on them when people see the Warriors near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
Don’t expect them to remain there long as this veteran-laden team will figure things out eventually and start climbing up the standings in no time.
