Golden State Warriors

May 14, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Golden State Warriors forward David Lee (10) is defended by San Antonio Spurs forward Tiago Splitter (right) during the second half in game five of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the AT Since the Golden State Warriors’ playoff run has ended, many questions have been asked about the roster going forward. One of the biggest questions centers around David Lee. The lone All-Star injured himself in the Game 1 loss in the series against Denver, and many people were quick to write off Golden State. Lee’s absence, coupled with the return of Kenneth Faried, was expected to ensure Golden State’s demise. But that never happened. The Warriors went on to win four of their next five games against Denver with only a minute of game time from Lee in those five games. Even in the San Antonio Spurs series, Lee only played for an average of nine minutes over four games. Even a healthy Lee wouldn’t have necessarily improved the Warriors’ chances against the Spurs, as San Antonio’s victories came much more from our lack of defense rather than production, the former of which being something Lee has a famous, or should I say infamous, reputation for. The point of all this is simple; does Lee really deserve such a prominent role, and paycheck, on the Warriors? His injury allowed Harrison Barnes to prove his mettle at the four and also gave Draymond Green, Carl Landry and Festus Ezeli an opportunity to show their worth. The Warriors most used lineup during the postseason, the one that included Jarrett Jack, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Andrew Bogut, shot 49 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc and had a plus/minus rating of plus-18. May 16, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30, left) and power forward David Lee (10, right) react after game six of the second round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena. The Spurs defeated the Warriors 94-82. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports This four shooters and big man lineup allowed Curry to handle the ball more and ultimately, the Warriors were scoring more effectively on threes than Lee’s long twos. His volume shooting style also took shots away from Curry, Thompson and Barnes. Barnes specifically exploded in the playoffs, and averaged nearly double the amounts of points in the playoffs than in the regular season. Regardless of what you think about Lee’s influence or lack thereof in the Warriors’ lineup, we must clearly re-examine his role going forward. His help during the regular season obviously can’t be forgotten, as he helped support the team while Andrew Bogut was injured, but now that Bogut returned and played well on both ends of the floor, Lee is not as needed. While trading the All-Star wouldn’t be a likely option, as he is owner Joe Lacob’s hand-picked player and he has a $14 million salary next year, coach Mark Jackson should seriously consider playing him less. Even if the Warriors still lose both Jack and Landry next year, Lee’s role should still be re-evaluated. Though I would not go so far as to say that he should be a benchwarmer, he should not be in as prominent of a role until he defers more of his shots to Curry and Thompson, and he makes serious efforts to improve his defense. While David Lee was a large force during the year because of his double-doubles and pick and rolls, his defensive failures, Stephen Curry’s evolution into a guard who can slash to the hoop by himself, and the return of Andrew Bogut should force coach Jackson to question how much he will utilize Lee in this upcoming season.

Apr 20, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Richard Jefferson (44) before game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports The Golden State Warriors have an interesting offseason ahead of them. They have a promising starting five that, if healthy, will be one of the most talented in the league. Unfortunately, a talented starting lineup can only take a team so far. To make deep playoff runs, a team must have a bench with talented, consistent role players. Unfortunately for the Warriors, two disastrous contracts are keeping them from making moves this offseason to come back stronger next year. Andris Biedrins will be making $9 million and Richard Jefferson will be making $11 million next year. As two of the five highest paid players on the team, their contribution to the Warriors’ efforts are not just negligible, but completely detrimental. Both Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, who were the anchors of the bench in 2012-13, will likely seek bigger roles and more money elsewhere. Jack, who is a free agent, has expressed his desire to stay with Golden State. Even if the Warriors are able to keep either Jack or Landry, Golden State will undoubtedly struggle off the bench without the both of them to provide an offensive punch. Biedrins has not been relevant in the NBA since the 2010-11 season, and even that is a bit generous. He averaged half a point and less than three rebounds per game this season. Quite possibly the only thing most Warriors fans will remember about Biedrins will come from this highlight from November 10 against Denver. Biedrins, who was 4-of-13 from the stripe all season, made two in a row, prompting a standing ovation. As the fourth highest paid Warrior, Biedrins is one of the most overpaid players in the league and will hurt the Warriors’ offseason aspirations. Jefferson, who will be the third highest Warrior next season, averaged three points and one assist this past season.To put that into perspective, he was made nearly $58,000 per point, while Stephen Curry made a little over $2,000 per point. It looks like it’s not even just the Warriors that have a problem with Jefferson’s contract. I could be looking too deep into this shove, but Tim Duncan looks like he has some real hatred towards Jefferson. The San Antonio Spurs, who paid Jefferson way too much money, suffered the same fate the Warriors are now. Unfortunately, it cost the Spurs’ title aspirations. The Warriors will be a very good team next season. A healthy Bogut, David Lee and Curry are a scary trio to deal with. The maturation of budding stars like Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes give the Warriors years of success to look forward to. Still, the $20 million on the payroll essentially being paid for warming the bench will prevent the Warriors from peaking. Look forward to the 2014-15 season when the Warriors can make big acquisitions. Once the Warriors have the money to pay for solid role players to support their talented starting five, they will be a force to be reckoned with for many seasons to come.

Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes were invited to Team USA practices in late July, David Lee made third-team All-NBA, Andris Biedrins' Decision and Jarrett Jack got some free-agent interest from the Dallas Mavericks, but something else stole the show on an NBA offday. Dwight Howard happened. Marcus Thompson posted some of his thoughts here, and there are several interesting things to chew over, including the possibility of a sign-and-trade. I really wanted to write this yesterday but school got in the way. A little late to the party here but it helped with reflecting over all the options and avenues to go about this. Obviously, this would be the biggest offseason move in current Warriors' history, but something that might not have the same "franchise-defining" moniker it would have had if this happened in the past few seasons. At least that's what I've been reading from Warriors fans on Twitter. I may not win popularity and "rah-rah" points with this one but if presented with the possibility of pairing up Dwight Howard with Stephen Curry in a somewhat watered-down Western Conference—Warriors with everyone healthy is a solid contender at the three spot behind the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder—I do that deal. Since the Warriors can't just sign Dwight Howard, and that would not be ideal with Bogut already manning the middle, they would have to send some salary back to the Los Angeles Lakers. Unless you think LeBron James, Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony is coming to the Bay Area in 2014, signing Dwight to an extension would essentially cement his place as the Warriors center for years. Keep in mind Bogut is a free agent after next season. Don't give me any Richard Jefferson-David Lee for Dwight BS either, Mitch Kupchak isn't David Kahn. The talks will likely center around the contracts of either Lee (three years and $13.7+ million in 2013-2014) or Bogut ($14.2 million in 2013-2014) and then one of either Thompson or Barnes. Giving Lee or Bogut shouldn't slow down this trade but the additions of the other member of the Splash Brothers or rising 20-year old star Barnes would cause some immediate reservations. Choosing one depends on your preference on judging talent versus fit. Barnes is the better talent and should become the more impactful overall player on offense and defense. He's also three years younger than Thompson and his extension numbers won't come up for a while. However, Thompson would probably fit in with Dwight a little better, without demanding the ball much on offense and spreading the floor for a potentially unstoppable Curry-Howard pick-and-roll. In Orlando's 2009 Finals appearance, they spread the floor with shooters like Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, J.J. Redick, Courtney Lee and even Mickael Pietrus, and ran the offense through Turkoglu and Howard, to surprisingly effective results. Why doesn't Stan Van Gundy have a job again? Imagine a lineup with Curry, Brandon Rush, Thompson/Barnes and Draymond Green spreading the floor around Howard. The only thing stopping this trade from happening is an obstacle that wouldn't be noted without this season's playoff success: chemistry and necessity. Dwight Howard is now infamously immature in the way we all thought LeBron James would be. His fart jokes and goofy grins during a terrible Lakers season didn't help endear him to any fans in Hollywood. Does this matter for a locker room as apparently tight-knit as the Warriors have been under Mark Jackson? Sure, but I'd argue that he was in two specifically terrible situations—the first being his last season in Orlando and the shitshow that is the Los Angeles media. With his every move scrutinized, it's easy to see how things escalated a little too quickly for anyone's liking. Last time I checked, none of us are in actual locker rooms and know what's going on behind the scenes, but this hasn't stopped people from assuming that Howard is a bad teammate and even a bad person because he got bad

Apr 20, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Jarrett Jack (2) before game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports The rumor mill is beginning to heat up, and the Golden State Warriors seem at the nucleus of it all. On Thursday, they were reportedly on Dwight Howard’s list of preferred destinations, and later, the Dallas Mavericks emerged as a potential landing spot for Jarrett Jack, an unrestricted free agent, according to Dylan Price of the Star-Telegram.  The Mavericks desperately need a proven point guard. They finished the season using a combination of Mike James and Darren Collison, which wasn’t awful, but it’s not a duo that will produce favorable results in the long-term. So, with only $42 or so million committed going into the 2013-14 campaign, Dallas clearly have enough coin to ink Jack to a deal. After all, this is an organization that is also expected to pursue Chris Paul, who will obviously demand a much heftier contact than Jack, his former teammate in New Orleans. There is one other factor to consider, and it’s on the business side of the spectrum: Given that Dallas would likely bring Jack on as a starter, the Warriors’ bid to retain him could become less-appealing. Jack has expressed his interest in returning to Golden State on multiple occasions, but money and a larger role generally takes precedent regardless of previous comments. That’s the norm. There is a chance that Jack takes a unique route by sacrificing a starting spot and more money elsewhere to remain with a budding franchise. It’s a possibility. Money is a powerful thing, though.

Oct 19, 2012; Portland, OR, USA;Golden State Warriors shooting guard Brandon Rush (4) dunks the ball on Portland Trail Blazers power forward Joel Freeland (19) in the first quarter of the game at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-US Prior to the 2012-2013 season, Golden State Warriors small forward Brandon Rush looked poised to take a major step forward in his career. After a strong finish to his 2011-12 season, it appeared as though he would be a contender for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award moving forward. He provided a strong spark off the bench offensively, while also doubling as the Warriors’ best wing defender. Brandon Rush then suffered an unfortunate, and completely avoidable ACL tear when Memphis Grizzlies power forward Zach Randolph undercut Rush on his way to a backdoor dunk. While Randolph and Rush have buried the hatchet, they types of dangerous mid-air collisions remain commonplace around the NBA as Warriors fans can attest to the many times Harrison Barnes has narrowly avoided major injury this past season. In 2011-12, Rush averaged 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He had improved his stats every season thus far in the NBA, and looked to continue that trend in 2012-13, but a 12-month hiatus was put on his playing career. While ACL tears seem like no big deal now after Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings came back to more than full strength in less than one offseason, we can’t have expectations that he will be back in only 12 months, and that he will be the exact same player he was before. Both Iman Shumpert and Derrick Rose tore their ACLs in last years playoffs and while Rose remains out, Shumpert came back late in the year and was playing through some pain in the postseason. While Shumpert and Rush are no Derrick Rose, and definitely don’t mean as much to their respective teams as Rose does, their impact is felt on both ends and their presence is hugely imprtant, especially come playoff time. May 2, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob (left) talks with shooting guard Brandon Rush (4, right) before game six of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs against the Denver Nuggets at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports Could the Warriors have used Rush on Kawhi Leonard to nullify him as the X-factor? These types of hypotheticals will drive one insane, but Rush being in the lineup, even in a heavy reserve role off the bench, is very important for the Warriors to repeat what they did this season. The Warriors will likely lose Jarrett Jack this offseason, as his postseason play will bump him out of the Warriors’ budget, so Rush will have to fill the role of ‘energy guy’ off the bench. Rush and Jack are not comparable players in style, but what they mean to their team is. One is a back up point guard expected to run the offense while Curry is out (or playing off ball), while the other is expected to lock down the other team’s best wing player and knock down key three pointers. Vastly different but equally important, unfortunately the Warriors could never have both in the same year, but perhaps Jack wouldn’t have had half the season he did if not for being able to jump into more minutes due to Rush going down. With the Warriors looking to take steps forward and building off of this past season’s success, the next logical move would be make it past the second round of the playoffs. The best teams usually have an elite wing, especially in the West. The Oklahoma City Thunder have Kevin Durant, the Spurs have Leonard, the Los Angeles Lakers still have Kobe Bryant and the Denver Nuggets have Andre Iguodala and Danilo Galinari. These are the teams the Warriors will be facing in next year’s playoffs, and they will need a defensive stopper. Mark Jackson isn’t going to want Barnes expending all his energy on the defensive side of the ball, in steps Rush. It is also important to r

There's no denying the special relationship that exists between the Warriors and their fans, and that love affair was displayed to the highest degree on Wednesday evening at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority's Fan Rally at Oracle Arena.

It only makes sense the Warriors get mentioned in the third annual Dwight Howard saga. They had cameos in the first two and they were awful. Now, Golden State is a successful, attractive destination in the NBA. And even though he doesn’t need to these days, co-owner Joe Lacob still loves the pursuit of the [...]

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry posted the best season of his four-year NBA career in 2012-13. In fact, his stellar performance night in and night out is a big reason why the Warriors were able to go deep in the playoffs. With that being said, Curry certainly has work to do if he wants to take Golden State one step further next season. The 25-year-old averaged 22.9 points, 6.9 assists, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 3.1 turnovers and 38.2 minutes per game. He also shot 45.1 percent from the field and 45.3 percent from beyond the arc in 78 games. All of his statistics look great with the exception of the 3.1 turnovers. This is a problem area that must be fixed if Curry wants to be taken seriously as an elite point guard in the NBA. His 3.1 turnovers ranked 39th among the 43 players that suited up at point guard during the regular season, which ironically tied him with former Golden State guard Monta Ellis.  There were only four point guards that posted more turnovers than Curry, which is not a statistic Warriors fans want to see. To take it a step further, Curry posted 2.25 assists per turnovers, which ranked 35th out of a possible 40. Chris Paul, who is widely regarded as the most talented point guard in the NBA, posted a league-best 4.26 AST/TO ratio, while Jrue Holiday finished last with an AST/TO ratio of 2.14. Since point guards handle the ball more than any other player on the court, the assists per turnover ratio is a good way to show how good Curry truly is at playing his position. Obviously, Curry is the best player on the Warriors. He led the team in points, assists, steals and field goals made and attempted. When someone says Golden State, he is the first person that comes to mind. That is why he must do everything in his power to improve his ball handling skills in the offseason. There is no question the Warriors will be a better team next season, but they are only going to go as far as Curry will take them.

While the Warriors enjoyed success in the 2012-13 season, it won't count for anything other than fond memories unless the team can sustain the momentum and continue its mission of building a winning culture.

All-Star forward David Lee was named third-team All-NBA, the league announced Thursday. Lee is the first Warrior to make All-NBA since Latrell Sprewell was first-team in 1993-94. Back in February, Lee became the first Warriors’ All-Star since Sprewell in 1997. Lee was the only player in the NBA to average at least 18 points, 11 [...]