So With the 2024 Season Coming Near, I Want to Analyze the Current Warriors Players and Their Roles Especially When The Roster Did Have Some Drastic Changes.
Warriors Players Study:
Starters
Stephen Curry - As We Know The Leader of This Team, I Believe He Can Still Put Up Some MVP Numbers For the Next 2-3 Years and He Did State That He is Still in His Prime. Which I Do Agree With, Last Season, He Averaged Close to 30 Pts With Almost 50/40/90. In the Postseason, He Averaged 30 Pts(Which is His Most PPG in the Playoffs) He Also Did That With Very Elite Efficiency. In his First Series Against the Kings, He Dropped 34 PPG With Insane Efficiency and was The First Player to Drop 50 Pts in a Game 7. In His Second Series Vs the Lakers, He Was Still Very Great, 25 Ppg and 8 APG with 45/35/82 Splits. No One Was Helping Him On That Series But Yeah. I Can See Him Making An All NBA First Team This Season(He Can Probably Make Some Case For His 3rd MVP). He is Still One of the Best Offensive Players In The Leauge Easily and The Best Shooter In the World.
Klay Thompson - He Was Very Good in the Regular Season Averaging 22 Ppg With 40% 3pt, Led the League in 3's Made(301) The 3rd Player to Ever Do It. Yes, He Was Pretty Meh on the Playoffs But He Was Just Fresh From His Devastating Achilles Torn. Might Not Be the Same Player Anymore But He is Still Pretty Solid. He Can Still Contribute A Ton.
Andrew Wiggins - Probably Our Second Player Right Now(Debatable With Klay), An Elite 2-way Player in the NBA. Yes, He Had So Many Issues Last Season but I See Him Fully Ready This Upcoming 2024. In the 2023 Playoffs, He Made Some Impact on the Team But He Was Not Like His 2022 Self Which is Pretty Acceptable Since He Missed Almost Half Of The Game in the Regular Season With Injuries and Personal Problems that killed His Rhythm. But Again, Can See Him Having A Bounce Back This Season.
Draymond Green - Yes Draymond Green, Our Mr. Triple Single. Even Though He is the Most Annoying Player in the NBA, He is Still the Heart and Soul Of This Team. The Anchor of Our Defense and Probably Also One of Our Leaders on the Offensive End With His Playmaking and Intelligence. That's Why the GM (MDJ) Was Not Really Interested "in" Affording to Lose Him and Would Rather Give Up Poole. Since Again, Draymond is the Heart and Soul of This Team. Haters Gonna Hate but the Real Warriors Fan Knows What He Brings on the Table. About His Performance Last Season, Was Still Pretty Elite Defensively. Made a Defensive Team for the 8th Time in His Career. Can Still See Him Being on That Level Defensively for Maybe 2-4 More Years. In the Offensive End, He Arguably Had His Most Consistent and Efficient Offensive Season Ever. Can See Draymond Regressing a Little Bit This Season But He Would Still Be One of Our Key Players.
Kevon Looney Rodman - Yes, Kevon Looney, He is Probably the Most Underrated Player in the League. Arguably a Top-10-20 Center Currently. He Was Super Helpful for Us This Season, Either Regular Season or in the Playoffs. His Availability Was Super Important as Well. Played 82 Games in the Regular Season and He is One of the Reasons Why We Beat the Kings in the Postseason. His Rebounding and Maybe His Defense is the Most Important Aspect in Our 2023 Playoffs. He Managed to Slow Down Sabonis, Sabonis Had a 67% Ts in the Regular Season but in the Postseason It Was Heavily Decreased, to Only 51% Ts Which is Below the League Average for Centers and One of the Inefficient Games in His Career. The Main Reason for That is Kevon Looney. Looney's Rebounding Abilities Were Very Important for Us Too. Keep Giving the Warriors Extra Scoring Possessions and Had Three 20+ Rebound Games in the Kings Series Alone. One of the Best Rebounders in the NBA, No Question. In the Lakers Series, He Was Pretty Quiet and Meh Because Of Some Minor Injuries but Still The X Factor on Our 2023 Postseason Run. He Had the Best Offensive Season of His Career as Well, Ranking 1st in Offensive Rating, Had His Highest PPG in the regular season, and His Highest Ts% Not Including His Rookie Season(Played Only 5 Games) I Believe, Looney Can Continue Showing His Excellence More Seasons to Come.
Bench
Chris Paul - Probably Would Be Our 6th Man and Let's Say He Did Accept The Role, He Would Be My Vote for 6moty. Many are Saying That He Would Not Fit In The Warriors But I Easily Disagree With That Take. On Paper, There Are Some Questions About The Fit But At the End of the Day, We Already Know That He Can Elevate The Team Especially The Second Unit/Bench. Without Curry on the Floor. He Can Give the Team More Polished Offensive Schemes With His Playmaking and Scoring. He Can Upgrade Kuminga, Moody, and Our Newest Rookie TJD as Well. He Will Be One of Our Key Players This Season Obviously. For The People Who Still Doubt, I Recommend Watching This Video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBEYxeGUrb8)
Gary Payton II - Our Best Perimeter Defender, And One of the Best in the League. He is a Straight Lockdown Defender. His Main Role on This Team Is Defense Mostly. But In The Offensive End, He Can Give Us Some Buckets. Pretty Efficient and Explosive If You Ask Me. His 3-point Shooting Is Nice Especially In The Corner. He Would Be One Of Our Important Bench Pieces.
Moses Moody - For Me, One of the Most Consistent and Undervalued Young Players In The League. He Already Got a Well-Developed Game Either Offense or Defense. He is a Straight Sniper Downtown 36% 3pt in the Regular Season and Almost 60% 3pt in the Postseason. Defensively, He Is Awesome. An Excellent On-ball Defender, Very Versatile, and Very Tough. His Help Defense Is So Good Too. Has Nice Instincts And Coordination. Overall A Great 3&D Player And Possibly Can Be Recognized As A Quality Two-Way Wing With Bigger Opportunities This Season. He Can Bring So Much Energy On The Court Which Is Why He Would Be Very Useful For Us. I Can See Him Having a Breakout Year, He & Kuminga Would Be Our Serious X Factors.
Jonathan Kuminga - As I Said With Moody, I Also See Kuminga Having a Breakout Season & Be Our Serious X Factor. Warriors Already Made a Statement That They Will Give Kuminga a Bigger Role, He Will Probably Be Our Key Bench Player Alongside Cp3, Saric and Moody. Kuminga is a Quality Young 2-way Player, He is Super Explosive Rim Attacker, Can Shoot the Ball & Play Awesome Defense. He is Easily One of the Best Young Forwards in the NBA. He Is A Star In The Making. I Am Excited to See What Kuminga Can Do This Season With the New Role He is Given.
Dario Saric - He is an Awesome Offensive Big Man. Elite Stretch 5, Has a Good Postgame and is a really Smart Passer. Basically Our Bjelica Replacement but 3x better. I Honestly Think That He Can Thrive With Kerr's System and Be a really Valuable Piece for Us. About His Defense, It's Mehhh But It's Okay The Warriors Have Some Size Now and a Big to Cover Those Minutes Without Looney.
(2 Way) Lester Quinones - He Was Baling Out On The Summer League Lol. A Straight Bucket, Was Averaging 21.2 Ppg(#3rd). He Has A Deep Scoring Bag and Some Fans Were Even Comparing Him to Jordan Poole. I Am Not Sure About That, But He Is Still a Nice Bucket-Getter. However, He Needs Some Work on His Efficiency. Don't Really Think Kerr Would Use Him That Much This Season But Who Knows? He is Still An Interesting Player to See.
(2 way) Jerome Robinson - I Don't Really Think Robinson Would Get That Much Playing Time Especially When Our Guard Depth Is Very Stacked Right Now, I Would Have Love If We Used Our Last 2 Way Contract For A Larger Player Specifically Forward/Big, But It's Okay. I Still Do Think He Can Fit Well With Our System(I Hope). He Can Give You Buckets(Has A Decent Jumper & Finishing Touches) and Could Defend Guards/Wings At A Solid/Decent Level. However, He Still Got Some Major Holes In his Game. Again, Don't really See Him Getting Any Real Playing Time Unless It's Garbage Time Or Someone Is Injured.
(2 way) Usman Garuba - He Is A Solid Young Big. He Can Contribute At A Decent Level. His Versatility, Offensive Upside & Hustle Will Be Useful For This Team. He Can Play A Draymond Green Type Role.
Cory Joseph - Third String Point Guard For The Warriors. A Fine Second Ball and Overall A Mehh Offensive Player As A Whole. He Is A Reliable Shooter, Almost 40% Downtown. Has Great Passing Skills As Well. Can Give the This Team More Veteran Experience. Joseph Would Be A Solid Substitution if Either Cp3 or Curry is Out.
Brandin Podziemski - Same With Lester, I Don't Really Think Kerr Would Give Podz That Many Mins But He Can Be A Really Solid Piece. He Could Be A Offensive Weapon. Probably One of the Best Shooters in His Draft Class Or The Best. He Is An Outstanding Playmaker(Best Playmaker Among All The Rookies On My Opinion) and Outstanding Rebounder(For A Guard at least) When He Was In Santa Clara, He Was Averaging 20 Pts, 9 Reb & 4 Ast With 49/42/77 Shooting Splits. About His Defense, His Effort, Hustles & Team Defense What Makes Him Pretty Valuable. He Is An Excellent Help Defender & POA Defender. Podz Has a Great Ceiling Obviously & He Can Already Contribute At A Solid Level Either On The Offensive Or the Defensive Side Of The Floor. This Kid Is Nice, He Can Do Anything As A Guard and He Sometimes Reminds Me Of Donte But Arguably Better. Podz Was the 2023 WCC POY In College And His Work Ethic Is Pure Elite. But As I said, I Don't Think Kerr Would Give Him That Much PT, Maybe He Will Just Be A Quality Third-String Guard That Can Earn 9-13+ Mins. Still, Podz Would Be A Great Player That Can Help This Team.
Trayce Jackson-Davis - Finally, TJD. My Favorite Player in This 2023 Draft Class and the Most Slept-on. Still Can't Believe How We Got Him Using That #57 Pick. In His Time With Indiana in 2023, He Averaged 21 Ppg, 11 Rpg & 3 Bpg. Crazy Statline I Know. His Whole College Accolades Were Crazy As Well, Super Crazy For A Late Second Round Pick. He Was A Big Ten All-Freshman, 4x All-Big Ten, 2x All-Big Ten Tourney, 2x Big-10 All-Defensive, and Was a Consensus AA. One Of The Best PF In College, You Can Even Argue He Was The Best With Him Winning That Karl Malone Award. I Am So Sure That This Guy Will Immediately Make an Impact For the Warriors, Especially By Partnering Him Up With Cp3, He Will Be a Deadly Weapon for Us. His Defense & Versatility & Rebounding & Paint Dominance Would Be the Most Important Skills That the Warriors Would Want From TJD. Again, Cannot Believe How He Falls in PICK #57????
So With That Done, How Far Will This Team Go?
In the Regular Season, Can See This Team Winning at Least 49.5+ Wins and Clinching a Top 4 Seed at Best. We Just Need to Be Healthy and Same With Our Chemistry. It Need to Be Healthy as Well. Warriors Status This Season is Obviously Title Contenders But How Far Do I See This Team Going in the Postseason, You Might Ask?? It Really Depends if This Team is Lock-in and Hungry Since the West is Very Stacked Right Now Like the Booker-Beal-KD Big 3 Suns, the Jokic Led Nuggets, the luka-kyrie mavs, the New Look Lakers & Memphis, the Rising Kings and the Whatever Clippers Nickname is. But Yeah, The West Are Stacked Like Stacked But Do I See These Teams Beating the Warriors? Maybe 1 or 2 of Them, but I Can Really See Them Going to the Finals. Will Not Be Suprised Tho if We Got 2nd Rounded or Got Finished by the Nuggets or Suns in the Wcf. Well Still, At the End of the Day, Gotta Continue Believing On the Franchise When Curry is Still Him...