Five burning questions for Warriors ahead of NBA season
After a long, long wait, the Warriors finally are set to return to the NBA spotlight.Steph Curry, Draymond Green and the Warriors will open training camp this week as they prepare for the 2020-21 NBA season to begin on Dec. 22. Of course, they will do so without Klay Thompson, who tore his Achilles and will miss the entire season.After a year spent at the bottom of the NBA, the Warriors plan to vault back into title contention. Curry and Green are healthy and motivated to silence all the talk of the dynasty's demise. While Thompson is out, the Warriors will surround Curry and Green with a talented supporting cast that includes Andrew Wiggins, new arrival Kelly Oubre Jr. and No. 2 pick James Wiseman.The Western Conference is much more treacherous than when the Warriors left the spotlight, and the road back to the top will be tough to navigate.This Warriors team as a collective is an unknown, which makes it the most intriguing team of the upcoming season.As Curry and the Warriors prepare to re-introduce themselves to the NBA, let's look at the five burning questions we have about the once -- and perhaps future -- kings.
During the offseason/COVID-19 hiatus, Steve Kerr had said he was planning on trying to rest Curry more as the star guard enters his age 32 season.
That was going to be a lot easier when Klay Thompson was healthy and could provide a scoring punch with the second unit. Kerr said Tuesday that he plans to play Curry 34 minutes a night and that he wasn't planning to stagger Curry and Green, opting for maximum minutes with their two-man game.
If that is indeed the case, the Warriors will have to find some scoring off the bench -- most likely in the form of Eric Paschall and Kent Bazemore -- and see if Andrew Wiggins can excel in Thompson's place as the top offensive threat with the bench unit.
Should the Warriors be unable to hold their own with Curry on the bench, Kerr will have to push the two-time MVP's minutes up, which could have a negative effect later in the season.
It seems like we've been waiting for Andrew Wiggins to become a star for a decade. There's no doubt it felt like that for the 2014 No. 1 overall pick while he was toiling away in the Timberwolves' dysfunctional junction.
But Wiggins only is 25 years old and now finds himself with a winning franchise that believes in his abilities, has the culture to foster his growth and a superstar teammate to carry the burden of expectations.
Make no mistake, a lot will be expected of Wiggins this season, especially with Thompson out. But it will pale in comparison to the amount of pressure he felt as one of the guys expected to bring the Timberwolves back from the dead.
In 12 games last season with the Warriors, Wiggins showed how great he could be now that he was free from the burden the Timberwolves placed on him. He averaged 19.4 points per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and playing great defense.
Wiggins' massive contract has made many sour on him. But strip that away (I know, it's hard) and he's an ultra-athletic 25-year-old wing who can defend multiple positions, shoot it from 3 and still has a high ceiling.
The Warriors need him to finally take off if they are to be a true player in the NBA title hunt.
To put it lightly, Draymond Green didn't have a good season last year. He saw his numbers dip across the board as the Warriors sank to the bottom of the NBA.
He shot 38.9 percent from the field and just 27.9 percent from 3-point range, both being his lowest since his rookie season. He also wasn't as good defensively as he has been in the past, continuing a trend from the past few seasons.
It's easy to tie Green's issues to the Warriors' "gap year." After five straight runs to the Finals, it's hard to expect him to be locked in while the Warriors were getting pummeled with Curry and Thompson on the bench.
Put plain and simple: The Warriors need Green to find his past form in order for them to reach their ceiling.
Green is the Warriors' heartbeat and they won't be able to survive if last year was anything other than a blip on the radar.
Klay Thompson's injury rocked the Warriors and forced them to alter everything a month before tip-off.
Acquiring Oubre was the Warriors' best chance at filling Thompson's void.
The 24-year-old is a blossoming wing who has been improving each year since he entered the NBA. Last season with the Phoenix Suns, Oubre averaged 18.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 35.2 percent from 3-point range.
All of those numbers were career highs for the Kansas product who now finds himself on a team with title aspirations for the first time in his career.
Oubre has shown he's a versatile wing who can score the ball at all three levels and crash the glass. To this point in his career, he has been a good role player.
The Warriors will need Oubre to raise his game to another level in order for them to survive the loss of Thompson.
The Warriors believe they landed a generational talent in Wiseman. The 19-year-old is a long, rangy, athletic center who can impact the game on both ends of the floor. He has a soft touch around the rim and can be a shot eraser on the defensive end.
But his game isn't without warts, and the Warriors undoubtedly had planned to ease him into NBA life on a title contender before Thompson's injury.
With Thompson out, more will be needed from Wiseman than the Warriors planned.
Will he start? Almost certainly not initially as Steve Kerr and the Warriors look to get his feet wet before chucking him into the deep end.
How many minutes will he play? Will he be a member of the closing lineup?
Wiseman is one of the Warriors' most talented players. That's not debatable. But he's also 19 and hasn't played a competitive game in over a calendar year.
The Warriors will be tough on him early, hoping to foster good habits to help Wiseman reach his ceiling.
He'll play an important role right out of the gate, but how that role expands throughout the season and how Wiseman performs during his rookie season will help determine how good the Warriors will be.
