The Golden State Warriors are not anywhere near being able to compete for a championship. The team entered Monday with a 21-20 record, then played host to the Boston Celtics and got steamrolled, trailing by as many as 45 points in a game they lost at home, 125-85. Even with Draymond Green missing the game due to injury, well, I do not think Draymond would make up a 40-point deficit against the defending champions.
There have been plenty of conversations about what is wrong with the Warriors, and what their path to getting back to the top of the Western Conference looks like. Steph Curry has heard all of that and is preaching patience, and while there were some disagreements on the Inside the NBA set about how the team should proceed, Kenny Smith was adamant that the team needs to do one thing: go young.
Smith drew similarities between the situation the Warriors are in to the one the Lakers find themselves in, with a big difference: For L.A., the team is built around LeBron James, someone who plays with the ball in his hands. As a result, the front office needs to build around that, particularly by bringing in older players who know how to play off of someone like that.
“I think with Steph Curry, he actually plays without the ball a lot, and he’s running off picks,” Smith said. “So now, you can bring in and say we’re gonna do a young rebuild, with young energy, to get him shots easier because he’s catching, shooting more, instead of beating people off the dribble. So, the rebuild is different. They should go young, through the draft, through trade, keep guys like Kuminga — not think about trading — guys like Kuminga and his age, that group is where they need to be.”
Charles Barkley, meanwhile, took a more nihilistic approach, saying that it doesn’t matter what the Warriors do unless they can get a superstar. “That’s their only chance,” Barkley said. “Because Steph is old.”
And when Shaq asked if he thought the Warriors should try to pursue someone like Jimmy Butler, Barkley said yes, saying that the only team anyone is sure of in the Western Conference are the Oklahoma City Thunder, and expressing his belief that Golden State can become a contender by bringing in a big name.