The Warriors' vibes appear to be good again.
A year after Golden State labored through a stressful and turbulent 2022-23 NBA season, the current Warriors are a much tighter group and have started the 2023-24 campaign with a 4-1 record.
After the Warriors' thrilling 102-101 win over the Kings on Wednesday night at Chase Center, Draymond Green was asked about the chemistry of this year's team compared to last season.
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"Last year, we had an awful team as far as chemistry goes. It was pathetic," Green told reporters. "But chemistry has been a strong suit here. That's why Steph [Curry] has been here for 15 years. Klay [Thompson] has been here for 13. I've been here for 12 and [Kevon Looney] has been here for nine, because chemistry is a strong suit and Andre Iguodala, the list goes on and on. That's why so many guys have been around here for so long because of the chemistry is what we've hung our hat on.
"Well, you look at last year, you say, oh man, this team hasn't lost a Western conference series under Steve Kerr. And then it happens. A big reason why is our chemistry sucked. I don't look at that as, oh man, like this is a team that we struggle with chemistry. I mean, yeah, we struggle with our chemistry for years. It was a one year thing, things, you know, stuff happens and it was an anomaly, but we're right back where we need to be in that department. And most importantly, I think there's still room and will be growth in that department."
The Warriors' chemistry last year was off from the beginning after Green punched Jordan Poole during a training camp practice. They never were able to recover.
Golden State Warriors
A notoriously good team at home, last year's Warriors only won 11 games on the road, a setting where teams need chemistry in order to have sustained success.
The end result was a second-round NBA playoff exit at the hands of LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
"Last year was horses--t; it's hard to come to work," Green continued. "It was hard, it was hard to come to work. Not fun. This year you see the joy on guys face when they come in the building. You got guys like staying over two or three hours after just sitting around talking, getting here two or three hours early just to be here. It's like you start to see that and you're like, 'OK, this is a group that likes being together.' "
It's a small sample size, but Green clearly feels something different with this year's squad.
Asked about Green's comments, Thompson -- who hit the game-winning jumper Wednesday night -- had a completely different take on the matter.
"I think every year is great," Thompson told reporters. "We're in the NBA and we get to go put shots up and play defense for a living. I don't even pay too much mind to that. I think obviously the chemistry is great this year, but every time I put a Warriors uniform on, I'm gloating because it's a dream come true no matter how many years you play. The NBA is a place where dreams are met.
"I think this year is great chemistry-wise but last year was good as well. And just every time you step into an NBA facility, getting to go to work, I feel great. So I don't think too much about chemistry. I think winning solves all."
The Warriors swapped out Poole and several other young players for veterans like Chris Paul, Dario Šarić and Cory Joseph.
Those new veterans, along with Green, Thompson and Curry, among others, spent time working out together over the summer, building that chemistry even before training camp opened.
Everyone, including Curry, is trying to move on from last season, even if Green brought it back up.
"Understand the vibe of how last year went," Curry told reporters. "You could waste a lot of breath talking about everything that happened last year. But the way that the season ended and what happened over the summer, I think that the times that we got to spend together as a group, the two or three times we all got together, we were huge so that you could kind of get the elephants out of the room of [Chris Paul] joining our team.
"And like you said, some of the other vets that we had, coming in, Cory, I didn't get to go to much because he was playing overseas. But [Gary Payton II] back in the fall, starting the year and we just played and hung out on and off the court and it helped to have some familiarity, understand everybody's personalities and presence and motivation going into the year. And I think it's translated to some early success for sure because even though we're not playing perfect basketball, there's nice cohesion and chemistry and trust amongst each other that whoever's out there is going to take advantage of that time they're on the court knowing that there's so many options that coach can go to, so many different lineups and without that trust, there can be some bitterness that could creep up based on who's the finishing five and all that type of stuff.
"We know it's going to change from game to game and everybody's going get an opportunity and we have to believe in that throughout the course of the year. So us getting together over the summer to build that trust was huge."
The Warriors' rebuilt chemistry was put to the test with three early road games -- all wins -- and now Golden State heads back out for a four-game trip to Oklahoma City, Cleveland, Detroit and Denver.
The good vibes are permeating from Chase Center and if they manage to find a seat on the Warriors' charter plane, Golden State could come home in a week feeling even better about what this team is capable of this season.