Golden State is probably permanently entrenched as the middle-of-the-pack team. There is no renovation of the crumbling support beams around their Big 3 pillars because they are a source of deterioration. All they can do now is continue their reign as the most well-adjusted teammates ever assembled in a modern NBA dynasty and slip into their twilight with grace.
Aside from their diminishing effectiveness, Klay Thompson was less productive, more obnoxious than usual, got into a shoving match with Jaden McDaniels that led to Draymond Green putting Rudy Gobert in a headlock, and n was quick to defend his resume. Behind the scenes, he is asking for a maximum contract extension which is unlikely to happen. The franchise already trusted Thompson to recover from serious injuries five years ago. Expecting this to happen again at age 33 with his production declining and four years after an Achilles tear is a pipe dream. Thompson appears to have faced reality during an early 2024 conversation with Steve Kerr.
“Steve (Kerr) and I had a great conversation yesterday, and it helped me relax a lot,” Thompson said. said during his press briefing on January 3. “Sometimes I forget how successful I have been and how lucky I have been to be a part of championship teams, all-star games and gold medals. You want to get back to that level so much that you can kind of get in your own way. And rather than force things, we had a conversation about enjoying this final chapter of my career, how lucky I am to continue to play this game, to do it at a high level and to ‘be a better mentor to these young people and lead by example and have my good energy in every match.
Thompson added: “We had a great conversation, and it just helped me completely change my mindset and forget about split shooting, points per game or all-star games. Just enjoying this Warriors uniform and appreciating what we’ve built because it’s such a rare opportunity for any professional athlete to be a part of such success.
That kind of enlightenment had eluded Draymond Green until he became so grumpy that Commissioner Adam Silver had to intervene a second time after he inexplicably punched Jusuf Nurkic in the face shortly after returning for Gobert suffocating. Green said all the right things since his suspension was liftedbut his actions over the coming weeks will have a stronger resonance.
As a unit, the Warriors’ place in history is set in stone. Michael Jordan’s Bulls have won more titles in the post-merger ABA than any other dynasty, but the Triangle offense is no longer in circulation. Kobe and Shaq gave the Triangle a sequel, but these Lakers will always be defined by the soap opera that unfolded before our eyes. The longevity of Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan is unprecedented. No core group has ever gone 15 years between their first and last title.
On the court, Golden State is the NBA’s Roger Bannister. It took centuries of training and increasingly advanced training techniques for runners to break the 240-second barrier. After Bannister hit that brick wall, Australian John Landy followed it up 46 days later with a world record. He only kept it for three years. Before that, Landy’s best mile was 4:02 in six races between late 1952 and March 1954.
“So the four-minute mile was a huge goal for a lot of people, but in my mind it was unlikely I would run it or anyone would.” Landy said World Athletics
Likewise, Golden State’s groundbreaking title transformed the NBA from an inside-out game to a perimeter sport. After Golden State proved it was possible, everyone set about perfecting the framework they designed. In doing so, they turned an entire generation of hoop heads into the mirror image of their parents wondering “where did all the jump shots go?”
The Boston Celtics are the presumptive favorites to return to the Finals and make more triples than any team in the league. The Warriors’ record of 73 made 3-pointers broke the previous record of 250 made threes. Their all-time mark of 13.1 treys made per game that season would rank 13th in the league that season. Golden State is always one of the two teams to make over 1,000 triples in a season at a rate of 40% or better, but if you put the 2023-24 Knicks in a time machine, plugged them in and dropped them ago eight years, a team coached by Tom Thibodeau would be the best. Most prolific 3-point shooting team in league history. If there’s any consolation, it’s that Golden State regained its record last season.
Sam Presti took what Golden State showed the league and added a Voltron of long and lanky playmakers with the formula instead of the ISO machines he initially targeted in his first iteration with Oklahoma City.
Steph Curry is obviously the King of the Arc, and eight years later, remains the only player to drain 400 long-distance buckets in a single season. Thompson is a similarly caliber sniper, but provided the defensive coverage allowing Curry to hide defensively. Heading into Wednesday night, Thompson is 647 triples behind Ray Allen in career threes, and along with James Harden, is still on pace to surpass Jesus Shuttlesworth. It’s a milestone he would have already reached if he hadn’t lost two and a half years to injury during his prime.
Green was the prototype for modern free defensive safeties who could defend slashers in the lane, reject weak edge attempts, or corral ball handlers from the perimeter. Green has been the inverse of the Splash Brothers, rejecting more triples than any player since 2013. Green clones have become ubiquitous enough that the pick-and-roll has lost much of its effectivenessbut Green is still the standard-bearer, playing with the intensity of a second-round pick on a two-way deal.
Over the past decade, no franchise has been more allergic using screen-and-roll for Curry, or isos, than Golden State. Kerr won five titles and the war for the soul of basketball.
If Nike and Tiger Woods can part ways without acrimony, so can Golden State. The New England Patriots have been preparing to part ways with Bill Belichick all season. Nick Saban has retired. Time waits for no one. Manny’s club hits Fresh and Juvenile are old enough to be turned on vinyl and played on oldies stations.
Golden State must decide before the trade deadline whether it wants to scale back and enjoy its classics tour or go the extra mile with a new cast. Green’s absence for 17 games due to various incidents muddies the answer to that question, but the odds of them reaching a final crescendo in 2024 are diminishing by the day.
