Zingis Tingis

Final desperate ploy hopes to keep the dream alive a bit longer - and I'm into it

This is not a preview. Though the Golden State Warriors resume action starting tomorrow, we’ve got more important things to talk about.

Ennui.

Back in late January, Jimmy Butler was asked how he would assess the team, where they’re at. His response was a dead panned “mediocre” going on to deliver the instant classic quote of his

It’s the worst place to be. Mediocre.

-Jimmy Butler

And while Jimmy is certainly correct that nobody wants to be average, the reality is that - by definition - it is a state that frequently occurs.¹ So while Warriors basketball is about to return with Stephen Curry still making great plays every night, the looming question is whether or not this team is still mediocre.

Or worse.

Incompetent. Uninteresting. Boring.

After the strikeout with their pursuit of Giannis, the Warriors are hoping that tertiary plan, Kistaps Porzingis, will be enough of a tail wind to help push this creaky old ship over the big playoff waves one more time. The front office has worked miracles to keep this dynasty chugging along so well. Rings prior to, with, and after Kevin Durant are all testaments to the greatness of this franchise. Yes, even as they drag along, they have managed to avoid becoming atrocious. Curry hasn’t demanded a trade. Salary saving moves are balanced against critical path issues.

So, yes, of course there’s hope. This team has always been decent - a mid-tier playoff team, perhaps. Even without Butler, there has been a grit that emerged over those last few games prior to the All-Star break. A grit that belies a crumbling dynasty. As the knees wear down and the internal battles get more petty, the players still refuse to quit.

And against all odds, the team looked okay without Curry and Butler in that final stretch. And yet, there’s a sense of ennui lingering across the fan base. Perhaps this is just the fickle nature of sports fandom, or maybe an inherent limitation of humanity, but however we’ve gotten here,

It’s hard to argue that the Warriors are less compelling. If anything, there’s a perverse attentiveness that the world at large still has for this Warriors team - as long as Curry is here, there’s something to watch. But for those who watched the bullet trains of peak dynasty zoom through all competition, there are just as many that noted the quick passing as something more ephemeral.

So how on Earth is it that this newest gamble is anything but enticing to fans and haters alike?

Porzingis joins the final push, a 27 game opportunity to draw out that last note a bit longer. A final drum fill to end the show is coming next season, when presumably Curry and a returned Butler (or whatever reload the team can summon) can make a run.

Maybe the health of this team finally aligns, and Porzingis is the stretch five that Golden State has always dreamed of. It’s a gamble that worked with Andrew Bogut: a reclaimed elite player that doesn’t need to perform at anywhere near their peak in order to help this team significantly.

Dynasties don’t end all at once. They fade, they resist, they flicker back to life when you least expect it.

This version of the Warriors may be slower, older, and undeniably flawed. But they are not irrelevant. Not yet. Not while Stephen Curry is still pulling entire arenas forward with him. Not while this group still believes it has something left to prove.

So maybe the question isn’t whether this team is mediocre. Maybe the question is whether we’re ready for the moment when they’re gone.

Twenty-seven games. Let’s see what’s still in there.

This team may live somewhere in the middle now - not dominant, not dreadful, suspended in the uneasy space between what was and what comes next. But the middle is where tension lives. Where Gold Blood flows, delusional or not. Where one last push can still rewrite the ending.

And if this really is the long exhale before the final act? Then it’s worth watching every second of it. Because as long as Stephen Curry is still rewriting basketball geometry, the story isn’t over.

1. Best John Madden quote of all time was about averages. Something along the lines of “a guy who is half on fire, but half frozen solid - on average he’s doing fine.”