I think people are misdiagnosing the struggles of the younger players.
The Warriors are a team with one real shot creator in Steph Curry, everyone else on the team is suited to take advantage of the openings he creates but are not guys who create the openings themselves.
Last season, Podz was in a role where Curry or CP3 would create something and then he would get the ball and quickly move it to where it needed to be to keep the advantage and do all the "little things". This season, he's leading the second unit and responsible for doing what those guys did last year and he is incapable of doing so.
Last season, Kuminga got a lot off of capitalizing on the spacing that Curry and Klay provided, most famously that inverted pick and roll. This season, especially since Kerr seems very reluctant to pair Curry and Hield together (which is a mistake imo), Kuminga is in a role where he has to create more and his previously above average efficiency has plummeted.
Moody's never really been in the Warrior plans to the point where he's put into lineups that make sense for him, but it should be noted that his best scoring half of the season was when they uncoupled him from Podziemski and let him play with Curry. He's an off ball player who thrives shooting and attacking closeouts, you get those situations when the defense is in rotation, not when the Warriors are just passing the ball around the perimeter incapable of penetration. A lot of teams could figure out how to use a player like Moody imo, I can see the writing on the wall with his minutes about to get cut again and it just doesn't make sense to me.
Poole's problem was never shot creation but he faced a similar dynamic with a different skillset. In 2021-2022 the Warriors surrounded him with smart players who kept the ball moving like OPJ, Bjelica, Iguodala, JTA, Lee, etc. In 2022-2023 they handed him the keys to the bench to be the leader of it and he plummeted. Did he become a worse player? Or was he in a bad position for his skillset due to the roster limitations?
Is the solution to play all these guys more with Curry? Unfortunately, Curry is 36 with tendinitis and a recent history of slumping in the middle of seasons as the load he carries becomes too much for him to bear. Managing his load while staying competitive is the key balancing act of the entire season. So you can't really overextend him, you need to get someone else that all these complementary players can play off of. We saw it go pretty well in the beginning when Hield was having his out of body experience imo, but he came back to Earth. Either way though, unless you were evaluating Kuminga or Podziemski as a future All-Star (which, unfortunately, the Warriors did last summer when they were perhaps at their peak trade values), I don't really see why you'd be writing any of them off now.
I think people are misdiagnosing the struggles of the younger players.
The Warriors are a team with one real shot creator in Steph Curry, everyone else on the team is suited to take advantage of the openings he creates but are not guys who create the openings themselves.
Last season, Podz was in a role where Curry or CP3 would create something and then he would get the ball and quickly move it to where it needed to be to keep the advantage and do all the "little things". This season, he's leading the second unit and responsible for doing what those guys did last year and he is incapable of doing so.
Last season, Kuminga got a lot off of capitalizing on the spacing that Curry and Klay provided, most famously that inverted pick and roll. This season, especially since Kerr seems very reluctant to pair Curry and Hield together (which is a mistake imo), Kuminga is in a role where he has to create more and his previously above average efficiency has plummeted.
Moody's never really been in the Warrior plans to the point where he's put into lineups that make sense for him, but it should be noted that his best scoring half of the season was when they uncoupled him from Podziemski and let him play with Curry. He's an off ball player who thrives shooting and attacking closeouts, you get those situations when the defense is in rotation, not when the Warriors are just passing the ball around the perimeter incapable of penetration. A lot of teams could figure out how to use a player like Moody imo, I can see the writing on the wall with his minutes about to get cut again and it just doesn't make sense to me.
Poole's problem was never shot creation but he faced a similar dynamic with a different skillset. In 2021-2022 the Warriors surrounded him with smart players who kept the ball moving like OPJ, Bjelica, Iguodala, JTA, Lee, etc. In 2022-2023 they handed him the keys to the bench to be the leader of it and he plummeted. Did he become a worse player? Or was he in a bad position for his skillset due to the roster limitations?
Is the solution to play all these guys more with Curry? Unfortunately, Curry is 36 with tendinitis and a recent history of slumping in the middle of seasons as the load he carries becomes too much for him to bear. Managing his load while staying competitive is the key balancing act of the entire season. So you can't really overextend him, you need to get someone else that all these complementary players can play off of. We saw it go pretty well in the beginning when Hield was having his out of body experience imo, but he came back to Earth. Either way though, unless you were evaluating Kuminga or Podziemski as a future All-Star (which, unfortunately, the Warriors did last summer when they were perhaps at their peak trade values), I don't really see why you'd be writing any of them off now.
>>>The Warriors have a NETRTG of +15.2 over their last 10 games with Steph on the floor. Good for BEST in the league.
The Warriors have a NETRTG of -15.6 over their last 10 games with Steph off the floor. Good for WORST in the league.<<<
https://x.com/WarriorsMuse/status/1863093455112778039