Are you still riding with these Golden State Warriors, or do they have to earn your trust again?

Dramatic questions for a fanbase that isn't quite ready to go back down to the bottom of the heap as long as Stephen Curry's in uniform.

Welcome to Late Night Bloggin’ with me, the Gold Blooded King. As I cruised home from work today I had some thoughts rolling around in my head on what the vibe is for Dub Nation this season. To find some context, I explored my own reality as a Warriors supporter, a lesson I learned from the Draymond Green school of self reflection.

Immediately I flashed back to that forgotten 2019-2020 season.

That year was truly was a disquieting stretch of losing for a franchise that had just made NBA history by running roughshod over the league for three championships in five years. Their rapacious fury for titles was authentically and unforgivingly borne from an agonizing struggle to get something out of the mud in East Oakland. Once the Dubs cracked the vault code to basketball glory, they had been entranced in a mad dash to quickly collect as many rangz as possible.

That’s why that 2020 season was a major halt in that plan as the dynasty was ripped to the bone, marked by injuries to their stars and a shaky rehaul of their rotational players. That was the year a rookie Jordan Poole stumbled nightly into learning lessons while we wondered whether Marquese Chriss was as good as prime JaVale McGee. It was also the year of the lockdowns from the Covid pandemic, which meant apparently we weren’t supposed to be even able to go outside to really vent to fellow fanatics about how trash the team was.

Here’s a flashback to that vibe, only real ones can relate:

All that to say, as wack as that season was (and I went to hella pre-pandemic home games during that inaugural Chase Center season as a leader of the Splash Zone), I never recall Dub Nation BOOING THE HOME TEAM FOR BEING SO UNWATCHABLE.

Perhaps I don’t recall any nights where the team was booed by the fans en masse because I had far too many Coronas and had zoned out on my phone looking at Eric Paschall’s numbers, working my way into believing he was the second coming of Brandon Bass.

But at any rate, I don’t think Dub Nation was that upset with that team because there was a clear understanding of the daunting roster circumstances and a heavy dollop of appreciation for five straight NBA Finals trips. There was the promise of youth, a fancy lottery pick, the intrigue of newly acquired forward Andrew Wiggins, and just enough rugged Draymond Green moments to entertain us in a down year.

This year? The promise of youth is shaking under the reality of fighting for playing time behind proud, aging, future Hall-of-Famers who literally just won their fourth title of their dynasty less than two years ago.

Even if the Dubs did get another lottery pick, after three straight Lottery Draft picks netted James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody, is Dub Nation confident in Golden State’s ability to keep their developing youngsters growing in a championship-or-bust environment? The rallying cry I hear from Warriors fans is “don’t waste Stephen Curry’s prime years”. There’s a sense of urgency that only heightened after the Warriors were felled by LeBron’s Lakers in the second round of last year’s playoffs.

And Mr. Wiggins is having a tough go after becoming arguably the second best player on the Warriors in that 2022 NBA Finals win.

And I don’t even know if Draymond is allowed to be rugged anymore in his return to the team after being cast away from the team by the NBA for his ejections.

Still, I've got a lotta hope for these guys. We aren’t even at the All-Star break and there’s plenty of opportunities for this championship organization to get a handle on why they keep getting humiliated in front of their home crowds.

I still got the Warriors winning the championship. They just gotta remember how to do it, amirite?