The Golden State Warriors were already in the best position for the summer anyway, but still they came out as one of the winners of the offseason – again. However, their biggest upgrade may not have been made from a sporting point of view.
Summer began relatively quietly for Golden State. In contrast to the previous years, the champion did not acquire a second round pick this time, but had his own first round pick, with which he drove Swingman Jacob Evans to position 28. Meanwhile, Kevon Looney was signed on for a year and 1.57 million dollars after his good play-off performances.
The Dubs managed the coup par excellence on July 3 when it became known that DeMarcus Cousins had decided to change – Boogie signed for the Mini-MLE of one year and 5.34 million in Golden State.
After some speculation, Kevin Durant again extended the 1+1 contract, which will bring in 61.5 million to the final MVP over two years. However, he will probably waive his player option again next year. Golden State Jonas Jerebko was able to iron loose from Utah for 1 year (2.2 million).
However, the Warriors also had to cope with some departures. Zaza Pachulia went to the Pistons, Omri Casspi to the Grizzlies and JaVale McGee to the Lakers. David West ended his career, Chris Boucher was fired and the situation of Nick Young is still unclear, but he probably has no future with the Dubs. Restricted Free Agent Patrick McCaw has not yet made a decision.
How do you keep the tension up after three titles in four years and almost unprecedented dominance? That was one of the key questions this summer. The Dubs have the most talent anyway, but already last season their knowledge of it almost became their fate, when the Rockets put them in much more trouble than they would have thought possible.
Head coach Steve Kerr and also Stephen Curry admitted over the summer that the dubs are now often finding it difficult to start the necessary fire. The hope in the last season before moving into the new hall in San Francisco is that Cousins will bring exactly this fire – in contrast to the rest of the squad he is by no means spoiled for success and it seems clear, given the financial situation, that he will only play this one season for the Warriors.
The summer of 2019 is already high on GM Bob Myers’ agenda. Next season, of course, the title will be defended, next year could be Durant and Klay Thompson as well as Boogie, and in summer 2020 Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston.
Thompson has repeatedly stressed that he absolutely wants to stay, but whether the entire core will last even longer in its current form seems anything but certain. Especially since the Warriors have of course already set their sights on other names – like many other teams, Golden State has long since marked Anthony Davis’ (2021) Free Agency in their calendar.
To say it with owner Joe Lacob: You want to stay light years ahead of the rest of the league.
With their oversupply of bigs and quasi-flops like Casspi and Young, who couldn’t really live up to their expectations, the Warriors lacked a bit of balance in the squad last season and, strange as it sounds, in the breadth of the shooting. Evans and especially Jerebko should provide some remedy in this regard.
Nevertheless, the piano could still be a little better occupied, especially considering that Iggy (34) and Livingston (33) are not getting younger and don’t want to leave too much energy in the regular season. A further commitment by McCaw would therefore probably be worth a lot, all signs also indicate that he will remain in the Bay Area for at least another year by qualifying offer.
All “weak points” of the dubs are, however, ones that the rest of the league would envy almost completely. Their biggest problem last year was a lack of concentration, not the relatively weak center position. Which, of course, has undergone a certain upgrade.
Nobody knows when Boogie will be available to the Warriors and how fit he will be after his Achilles tendon rupture. No NBA player has come back with full power, and certainly not a crusher like the 122-kilo man cousins. But the Warriors can give him all the time in the world, which makes the situation ideal for him. For the team, too.
When Cousins returns relatively fit, he gives the team an elite center and a zone presence they haven’t had before. And if he does have bigger problems, he should at least make sure that the dubs don’t get boring as a motivator. This would also help them a lot – and even if Boogie doesn’t fit in well in a playful way: The Death Lineup has worked quite well without him so far.
As long as KD continues to play with the Warriors, even if it’s only for a year, the Dubs will remain the team to beat and under normal circumstances it’s hard to beat. In this respect, there is little to criticise this summer, even if this decision was ultimately not taken by the dubs, but by him.
Meanwhile, the boogie commitment was a coup and sporty Jerebko could help at least as much as the much better known center, because it fits into the system quite ideally. Even if no one outside the Bay Area wants to hear this, the bottom line is that this team has improved. And probably a little hungrier again.
The grade: 1