Golden State Warriors Team Review

2021-22 Finish: 47-35

2021-22 was a season of promise and excitement for the Golden State Warriors and their fans. With their young stars Zach Lavine and DeAndre Ayton maturing another year, there was a great deal hope and optimism amongst the Golden State faithful that a post season charge could be possible.

2021-22 was a successful one as the Warriors finished with a plus .500 record. However a stacked and talented Conference would mean what should�ve been a terrific season, would be looked upon as a struggle against heavy tides. Great leadership from franchise star Lavine ensured the Warriors would get a chance at post season basketball with ultimate success proving a step away.

 

Season Highlight/ Season Lowlight:

The Play-In

Concluding the regular season with a 47-35 record would usually almost guarantee a team post season action. In the Eastern Conference 47-35 would�ve landed a team in the 5^th seed, two spots clear of the play-in tournament and likely in discussion as a potential conference heavy hitter. But the West don�t work that way and 47-35 was amazingly not even good enough for a top 8 finish. After finishing 9^th, the Warriors would have to dance for their supper and eliminate their bitter rival GM Klemm and the Sacramento Kings before attempting to dethrone the loser of the 7^th/8^th seed play-in game.

There was absolutely no love lost between the two GMs in the lead up to the play-in with Mama jokes, double entendres and profanities lighting up discord threads. And that was just GM Klemm. GM Titlesorbust took no backwards steps as he near on guaranteed Klemm would eat his words following the final siren of their show down, setting the stage for a potential league stopping classic.

This one however was doomed from the beginning as the extra fire in the belly and big stage seemed to fuel the Klemmy machine. His Kings hammered the higher seeded Warriors who bowed out in a loss unworthy of the season they�d produced.

In the wake of the play-in exit, it�s rumoured verbal recommitments were made by the playing group to one another in the locker room and training regiments were quickly set in place. �We will be back better than ever!� Titles could be heard when addressing his team behind closed doors.

 

Trading:

GM Titles is an O.G and is always busy and willing to pull the trigger on the right deal. He�s approachable, professional and has an eye for the game (both 2k and NBA) that gives him an edge in most trade talks. 2021-22 was no different to all years before as he worked the lines to bring in some big names via trade. 

Best Trade:

Warriors send: Gary Harris, Duane Washington Jr, Aaron Wiggins, 2026 First Round Pick (GS)
Warriors receive: Spencer Dinwiddie

This trade was great for the Warriors for a couple of reasons. The first was they landed the best player in the deal by quite a large stretch, a player who has a versatile game and can play both guard positions. The second reason being they cleared up 2 roster spots, they offloaded Wiggins and Washington Jr who are NBA and 2k nobodies. The third reason and perhaps the biggest pro in the deal is Titles got off that Gary Harris contract and brought back a decent piece with it. At the time, this trade gave the Warriors a big 3 of Dinwiddie, Ayton, LaVine with good players surrounding them. The question would be about how well Spencer would fit around his two young stars.

 

Worst Trade:

Warriors send: Andrew Wiggins
Warriors receive: Tim Hardaway Jr, Josh Jackson, Tre Jones

If Titles could have seen the future, he wouldn�t have pulled the trigger on this one. In fact, the deal couldn�t have panned out worse post trade. Wiggins goes on to become an NBA All-Star while Tim Hardaway Jr sits on the sideline for the duration of the season. Josh Jackson played (I think), Tre Jones continued living an existence no one was aware of. A big L on this deal for the Warriors which wasted an important asset for their build.

 

Other Notable Trades:

Warriors send: Jakob Poeltl, Dillon Brooks, Troy Brown
Warriors receive: Kyle Lowry

After realising shooting/offensive minded point guards didn�t mesh too well with his franchise star Zach LaVine, Titles tried a new strategy in finding a defensive minded star who could do the dirty work without the ball, while also possessing the ability to bring franchise players into the game with passing IQ. Kyle Lowry came to town on a sizeable contract at 35 years of age. The cost was a slow but upcoming defensive minded big man, a decent wing scorer with some defensive ability and Troy Brown�s salary. It was worth the gamble as Titles explored how good his team could be, however as what comes with betting, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Lowry was eventually on traded after a frustrating season with injuries for a number of expiring contracts and cap relief.

 

Free Agency:

The Warriors will be busy playing the retain game this offseason. They will keep their prized big man Deandre Ayton as he will return as a RFA and the big question will be whether they can retain their franchise star, Zach LaVine, who is an UFA. Being that LaVine returned to Chicago in the NBA, he will be near on impossible to steal, UNLESS the Warriors don�t see a need to put a big bid on their best player.

Zach LaVine - UFA, should be an easy retain with a max bid.

Deandre Ayton � RFA, will retain on a max deal

Marvin Bagley� RFA, will retain on a 3 year $37,500,000 deal.

Delon Wright � UFA, will be a target to retain after all marquee signings

Taj Gibson � UFA- will be targeted for a 1 year deal if it fits in their MLE

Goran Dragic � UFA � retiring

DeAndre Bembry � UFA � likely retain on minimum

 

Star:

Zach LaVine

After writing player his name nearly 30 times in this article, this writer is starting to understand how it feels to be GM Titles. He is all-consuming, he is the entire offense of the Warriors and is the single thing they have going on in this crazy world. Zach should be retained, no doubt, and his reign of terror on the discord banter thread will continue for at least the next 15 weeks while he is trade blocked. Zach will continue to get as much of the ball as he can possibly want and will likely return incredible averages in the vicinity of what we saw last season, which was close to an MVP season:

30 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 52% FG, 91% FT and only 1.6 TOs!

The future will be fine in Golden State as long as they retain their guy. It�s a true romance story.

 

Flop:

Joe Harris

One of the worst contracts and player types in the game, Joey Buckets had as forgettable a year as any player with a contract exceeding $15 million. He�s ended up in Golden State via trade and really needs a bounce back season to pump up his rock bottom trade value. Harris has 2 years and nearly $40 million owed on his current contract which makes him a hard body to move. Like dead body, rolled in carpet with feet concreted type hard to move� Grim. There is literally no where to go but up for Harris, he should bounce back from an injury derailed season and should return to knock-down shooting in a terrific role in the NBA. How will slow-Joe fare in the latest 2k release?

 

Draft Grades:

#51- Vince Williams (landed via trade)- B

 

The Future:

This off-season is a pivotal crossroads for an OG GM who continues to try to build around the same two stars initially drafted way back in the inaugural draft. Ayton on a Max Contract will be a talking point in both the NSL and the NBA and fans will be watching closely to see if he steps up and takes responsibility or continues to be a good player on superstar money. LaVine will do everything he possibly can to propel this team to playoffs and there is absolutely no doubt that Titles knows how to maximise his star.

A trade or two might still be in the works as we enter deep territory this off-season and perhaps one or two are still needed to finalise this team as they set their sights on retaining stars. Currently there are so many Free Agents that predicting a line up is tricky, but I�d anticipate something looking like below:

C: DeAndre Ayton
PF: Marvin Bagley
SF: Joe Harris
SG: Zach LaVine
PG: Derrick Rose
Bench: Wagner, Allen, Wright and Gibson

Congratulations to one of my favourite OGs on another successful and competitive season. I�ll be watching the Warriors closely as they work their tale off through the free agency period to finalise what will surely be another competitive Zach Lavine... I mean team.