Warriors: the new Bay Bombers
They say three-pointers will carry the day but . . .
The original Bay Bombers (shout-out to Joanie Weston) were a lot of fun. Now the Warriors say they are bringing bombing back to the Bay.
It’s no fun being a freelance Warriors pundit these days. You get your hot take all cued up, only to find your potential audience is way ahead of you.
“They need another star,” said the woman at the coffee place.
Uh, yeah, that’s what I was going to say. And it turns out it isn’t just us interested observers who are saying so.
“You just don’t know who is that guy who is going to get you 20 points a night,” said former GS general manager Bob Myers during halftime of the first preseason game with the Kings.
Indeed, who?
Well . . . there’s Steph Curry.
And let’s take a moment to vow never to forget what a generational talent Curry has been. He’s won championships, awards and managed never to say the wrong thing. And, he’s used his fame and wealth for excellent causes, to do good.
(I will almost forgive him for luring me to watch his sitcom attempt this year, where someone made the ridiculous decision to focus on the unlikeable sidekick, not the star.)
Anyhow, all praise to Steph.
It’s just that when I read the phrase, “Curry, now starting his 16th season,” I cringe a little.
After him?
You’ve got the two enigmas, Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga.
Wiggins has been consistently absent for parts of the last year. To be clear, his reasons are almost certainly genuine. But he missed games last season, was mysteriously pulled from the Canadian Olympic team and, as of today, has not played in a pre-season game.
Also, as others have pointed out, in his five-year career with the Warriors, Wiggins has never averaged 20+ points a game. (19.4 in 2019-2020)
Again, nobody says he’s faking, but if the greatest ability is availability, there’s concern there.
Kuminga is beyond my simple comprehension of the game. The head-down, dribble into three defenders move is still part of his game, but he is hitting some threes.
But honestly, who would you trust more — Klay Thompson in his prime or Kuminga now? TBD.
After that? Well, to hear the Warriors (and their announcers) tell it, there’s a deep bench of reserves that Kerr says could go 12 deep. They’re going to overwhelm you with depth.
Maybe. But there’s a troubling sense of Groundhog-Day-ism here. Once again we’ve filled the roster with older guys with good reputations who have kicked around the league a bit.
Buddy Hield, on his fifth team, is 32. Kyle Anderson, 30, is in his 11th year and fourth team. Lindy Watters (who has to be the surprise of this preseason) is 27 and was three years in Oklahoma City.
Clearly the guy the Dubs think will make a difference is De’Anthony Melton, who is only 26 but has been with the Suns, Grizzlies and 76ers en route to Chase Center.
The Warriors paid him, making his the fourth highest salary on the roster after Curry, Draymond Green and Wiggins. That means more money than Hield, Anderson or Kuminga.
We will have to see how much he helps with scoring. A defensive point guard, his six-year career scoring average is 9.1 per game, with 2.8 assists.
OK, so if they don’t have another Steph to light up the scoreboard, what’s the next option?
Let it fly.
Kerr has been making it clear from the opening practice. This is a team that is going to shoot a ton of threes. Any doubts were erased when the new Bay Bombers hit a near NBA record 28 three pointers in the first exhibition game with the Kings. That’s 84 points.
“That is nuts,” said ESPN analyst Doris Burke at halftime.
And fine, with Curry, Hield and maybe Watters, you have some shooters from outside.
But as we know, the deep ball can be fickle.
Even Curry hits a dry patch from time to time. His two-game explosion (and “night-night” celebration) was the sensation of the Olympic Games. But in four previous games, including exhibitions, he was struggling — only 13-39 shooting and 7-29 on 3’s.
And if the threes aren’t falling, that’s when you’ll notice the Dubs’ lack of size. The second-chance rebounds by the opponents, the big man dominance.
The team didn’t get any bigger this year, despite evidence. In last year’s convincing 118-94 play-in game loss to the Kings, 6-11 Domantas Sabonis was critical. He went 7-12 from the floor, 12 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. He was +25 for the game.
There was a gesture to size in the draft, selecting Dutch seven-footer Quinten Post in the second round, but he’ll likely fill out the annual “promising Euro” role on the team.
Other than that, it is more of the usual suspects. There’s 6-9 Kevon Looney, 6-6 Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is listed at 6-9.
They’re not big enough.
In the first exhibition, the Clippers pounded the ball down to 7-0 Ivica Zubac, who went 5-6, 4-4 free throws with six rebounds in 18 minutes. In two games again the Kings, Sabonis was 10-16, with 23 rebounds in less than 30 minutes.
This is not exactly a secret. The team, and Kerr, just don’t seem to believe in a big man in the middle.
Or, for that matter, in rebuilding.
The team had a chance when they had three first round draft picks in the top 15 choices in 2020 and 2021. They picked James Wiseman with the second choice in the draft, and then the next year chose Kuminga and Moses Moody.
If those picks had hit and if — long shot here — they’d been able to stabilize the talent of Jordan Poole and keep him at his 2021 form, they could have re-tooled this whole franchise.
Instead, they gave up on Wiseman and shipped him out. (He’s now with Indiana and drawing encouraging reviews.) They traded Poole for a handful of beans and are still trying to figure out what to do with Kuminga and Moody.
Last year they finished 10th in the West. And it doesn’t seem like they’ve made many changes.
It seems to me that, after all the stats, graphs and unsung heroes, there’s one constant to winning games in the NBA.
You need players who can bend the game to their will.
The Warriors have Curry.
They need another one.
Contact C.W. Nevius at cwnevius@gmail.com. Twitter: @cwnevius