SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors’ 2023 NBA offseason, like some of the other teams, was defined by a blockbuster move that gave Golden State another star.
Damian Lillard being traded from the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday to the Milwaukee Bucks to join Giannis Antetokounmpo a few days before training camp is the latest example of a summer. It all started when Bradley Beal was traded from the Washington Wizards to the Phoenix Suns before the NBA draft, opening the door for Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s surprising decision. to trade Jordan Poole to DC for Chris Paul.
The “Point God” recurring part of a famous rivalry has grabbed all the headlines, created days and days of debate and the questions aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Paul in the role should make the Warriors better in helping them correct their mistakes from a disappointing follow-up from a championship season. Perhaps equally important, the Warriors should receive automatic in-house boosts to their aspirations from the availability of two key players. Full seasons from Andrew Wiggins and Gary Payton II were as important as any trade or free-agency signing Dunleavy could have made.
“We’re confident,” Dunleavy said Monday of getting a perfect campaign from Wiggins and Payton, barring injuries. “Those guys put in good time this summer. Their bodies, their health is in good shape.”
Steve Kerr didn’t mince words when asked about the importance of having both at his disposal.
“Yeah, it’s a big deal,” Kerr said.
So was the pain of Payton’s loss last season. While he was rehabbing an injury as a member of the Trail Blazers, the Warriors started very slowly. The 2021-22 championship team started the season on a four-game winning streak. During the first 20 games, the Warriors also had two separate seven-game winning streaks. Their fortunes were not the same at the start of their title defense.
Last season began with a resounding victory over the Los Angeles Lakers when the Warriors received their rings at the Chase Center. But they never had more than two wins in a row during the first 20 games of the season and their 0-5 road trip through Charlotte, Detroit, Miami, Orlando and Miami might have told us how things will go the rest of the way. of the year. go away
That five-game losing streak featured losses to three of the NBA’s worst teams, and the Warriors allowed an average of 126 points to the Hornets, Pistons and Magic over that span.
“Ultimately, last year, we weren’t good enough defensively to start the season and that’s why we went 0-5 early on the road,” Kerr said. at a high level to start the season so we can win at home and on the road.
A healthy Payton and Wiggins should be a big factor in the Warriors creating the kind of defensive identity they want from the jump. The duo had a 100.0 defensive rating during the 2021-22 championship regular season and a 95.6 defensive rating together in the playoffs.
Payton is not a guard, not a wing and he is not big. He is the basketball player who helped open up a lot for Kerr on both sides of the ball, and the Warriors were the only franchise that let him free instead of trying to put him in a box. Even after missing the first two and a half months with the injury and then spending another month and a half rehabbing his return at the NBA trade deadline, Payton averaged a 2.1 plus/minus in seven regular-season games he averaged. played as a Warrior last season. James Wiseman in the 26 games he played after being dealt as part of the Payton package averaged minus-7.8 plus/minus in the Pistons jersey.
Wiggins, coming off the best defensive and two-way season of his career, took a slight step back defensively in the games he played last season, but he averaged a career-best 1.2 steals per game. and his 5.0 rebounds per game do him justice. in keeping with what Kerr wanted from the extremely athletic forward. Wiggins accounted for 7.4 shares of the winning defense over the last three regular seasons as a Warrior. He was their second best player in the playoffs during their most recent title run and had the most efficient offensive season of his career last year, shooting 47.3 percent from the field and 39.6 percent from the field. on 3-pointers – good for a 55.7 effective field goal percentage.
But Wiggins was limited to just 37 games in the regular season between injuries and a personal matter. Wiggins has played in all 82 games three times in his career, 81 once and never missed more than 11 games due to injury before last season.
“We know what we’re capable of defensively given the guys that have done it,” Kerr said. “Two years ago, we were I think a top-five defensive team if I’m not mistaken, second to Boston, I believe. So to have Gary back, to start the season with him is a big boost .Knock on-wood, hopefully we can stay healthy. But I think the defensive end is where it should start.
“I mean, on the road last year, I think we were, you know, almost dead last. If not dead last, then right there and on the road … it’s been an amazing season of in terms of numbers. A lot of people say it’s fluke-ish. But I believe that if a team isn’t well connected, then the road where the lack of connection is going to show that, and I think that what happened last year. So I will definitely continue to talk about this connection and the fact that we need to bond and come together quickly to get off to a good start.”
The Warriors are among the few teams to pull off blockbuster deals this summer, but their two internal additions could hold a big key to their success.
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