A Dynasty Renewed.

The Golden State Warriors find themselves up 1-0 in their series with the Memphis Grizzlies. In a thrilling 1-point game which had a lot of action. We even saw Draymond Green get ejected after committing a flagrant 2 foul. At that point the Grizzlies had a 54-53 point lead with under 1:30 left in the 2nd quarter. Green who is the defensive anchor for the Warriors, means more to the team than what shows up in the box score. I do not believe he deserved to be given a flagrant 2, I thought it should have been a flagrant 1. The Warriors struggled in the regular season when Green was out for a long stretch with an injury. Not having a big man presence with Wiseman being out for the year and Kavon Looney being too much of a liability on the court, Warriors seemed to be doomed. Having to play their small ball lineup for the majority of the second half, I thought this should have been an easy win for the Grizzlies. Especially when you had Jaren Jackson Jr’s best game in this year’s playoffs. Finally finding himself out of foul trouble, the impact Triple J had was enormous on the offensive side of the ball. Shooting 6-9 from behind the 3-point arc, and 10-18 from the field. Then of course Ja Morant going off for 34 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds. He also had a hot start from behind the arc. Surely the impact of Draymond off the court was noticed with how well those 2 players played. The Warriors dug in deeper in clutch time during the end of the 4th quarter. A huge block from Steph Curry on Ja Morant. Then on the final play of the game, Klay Thompson made up for 2 missed free throws and made life difficult for Morant to finish the final driving shot. This Warriors team has been here many times before. Maybe not the whole squad but the core you can see has bled that championship DNA into the young up and comers.

I still think the Warriors might be 1 year away from getting another championship trophy. What shows me that this Dynasty is coming back is the fact that they have nailed their draft picks in the recent drafts and are developing their picks at a quick rate. The most obvious is Jordan Poole. Pick 28 in the 2019 NBA draft, most consider the true most improved player in the NBA for the 2021-2022 season. Poole is averaging 22.7 points per game in the playoffs. With 56/49/86 splits with his FG%, 3PT FG%, and FT%. Not to mention this is his first year getting playoff minutes. Poole reminds me of a young Steph Curry with how he moves so quickly without the ball. Handles need more work but he is also passing the ball at a high level. Second, we have rookie Jonathan Kuminga. Not getting the most minutes in the playoffs, but again he is a rookie. After Draymond Green was ejected, I saw a lot of bright spots from the young power forward. There were 2 beautiful passes Kuminga made to a cutting player under the basket. 1 was so good that his teammate wasn’t ready for it and ended up out of bounds. Kuminga to me can be the next Green for the Warriors. Thirdly there is James Wiseman. Yes, a shaky rookie year and already has some injury issues, I think Wiseman can be the big man the Warriors never truly had. The ceiling is high for Wiseman if he can stay on the court. That right there would be another big 3 in Golden State, that were all drafted by the Warriors. The Warriors ability to find guys to fit their system all over the draft is something that is underrated. I still believe that Steve Kerr is the best coach in the NBA right now. He has potential to challenge Greg Popovich when it is all said and done for current coaches. What Kerr has been able to achieve and keep this Warriors franchise afloat while their stars were out is impressive. I understand they took Wiseman at #2 because they had a terrible season the prior year, but he also had all 3 of his stars out that season. You can see the difference that having at least 1 of those guys back. Steph playing last season and this team making the play-in was a good feat.

Basically, what I am trying to say in all of this is that I believe the Golden State Warriors team that we grew to know a little less than a decade ago, is back! I expect to see at least 2 more championships from this squad within the next 2-3 years. I trust in Steve Kerr and the front office to find more talent that will fit their core to stay competing for the top of the NBA. In these playoffs, the lack of size will be the downfall. But I expect this team to be in the Finals next year hoisting up that trophy.