OAKLAND — Frantic text messages in front offices across the NBA are being fired off like cannons balls from a ship deck.
As you read this, other teams around the league are jockeying for position in hopes — in hopes — of getting a chance to tango with the Golden State Warriors.
The Houston Rockets mortgaged a first-round pick and traded for sharpshooter Lou Williams from the Lakers. The Cleveland Cavaliers are talking about moving on from defensive specialist Iman Shumpert, likely in search of a backup point guard for a June trilogy. Paul George and Jimmy Butler have both been made available, and who knows, there could be a surprise suitor like the Clippers or Spurs at the last minute.
Really, only one team in the league has escaped the gossipy rumor mill news cycle: The Warriors.
With 2/3 of the grueling season complete, there’s no team in the NBA feeling better about themselves than Golden State. At the team’s first practice back from the All-Star break, Steve Kerr admitted Wednesday the coaching staff’s experimentation phase is pretty much over. Barring injury, this is pretty much the exact Warriors team the Western Conference will have to dethrone.
“I don’t feel like we’re going to change or experiment anymore in any way,” Kerr said. “Like changing a rotation or anything like that. We’re still trying to get better, but I don’t anticipate moving pieces around much. I kind of like our rotation as is.”
When president of basketball operations Bob Myers originally pieced the back end of this roster together in the Summer, there was a consensus that this team was not a finished product. On paper, the center by committee approach had holes in it and Kerr would have to bank on Ian Clark taking the next step.
At the time in a radio interview, Myers speculated he would have to make a trade or two to sort out any kinks. Kerr himself was non committal on how the first portion of the season was going to play out. The Miami Heat super team started out 10-9 in 2010. The Spurs blew the Warriors out on Night 1, further adding to some internal anxiety.
And then games kept happening and there weren’t any major kinks. At all. There was no panic button for Myers to push. Fears of cohesion problems with Kevin Durant now in the fold were completely over exaggerated. The Warriors look and felt like the same high-flying trapeze artists but were setting records for assists and efficiency.
What the Warriors have missed in Andrew Bogut, they’ve made up in versatility at big man. Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee have crafted important roles — and different ones — all worthy enough of meaningful postseason minutes should the matchup dictate it. These players never struggled to the point where anything within the nucleus was impacted. McGee’s career resurgence is a defining footnote in 2017 of the impenetrable culture Kerr has created.
While other NBA buildings redraw new plans on how to take down the Warriors, the mood in Golden State is significantly more relaxed. Shaun Livingston, bright-eyed after the birth of his daughter, readily admitted not having to chase 73 wins does make the latter part of the season less exasperating.
“I think so,” Livingston said. “It’s a different process. Last year we were still trying to get better, but obviously we were doing something historic in the sense of trying to chase the record. We might not have said it publicly, but as competitors we wanted it.
“Now this year, that’s not really the main focus. The focus is the championship. It was like that last year, it was just different. It was staggered. So now, we can really lock in on what we need to do to accomplish our ultimate goal.”
The new battle Kerr will find himself in late in the season — and you can tell he’s foreseeing it by the way his voice changed when questioned — is having to rest certain guys and how they’ll respond. We all know Draymond Green won’t be happy about not playing. Neither will Steph Curry. Kerr has plucked strategies from Gregg Popovich before and it seems like he’s content sitting his star players some in the dog days of March and April, especially after he called out the brutal travel schedule the NBA laid upon his team during the upcoming stretch.
The resting and recharging has already begun. Understanding of the hectic demands at All-Star weekend in New Orleans, Kerr gave all four Warriors players the day off from practice. The coach told all four to get out of town and the players are flying back in town Wednesday night before Thursday night’s tilt against the Clippers at Oracle Arena. Kerr himself flew down to San Diego for some time away Monday and Tuesday.
“Being in New Orleans, there was no rest whatsoever,” Kerr said. “The All-Star break is such a great time to recharge. I remember even as a role player to get away for two or three days, go sit on the beach, I felt so much stronger, faster, more excited when I would come back.”
Kerr later joked he went from slow, to slightly less slow after some time off as an NBA player.
That’s the mood right now in Oakland. Carefree but focused. Wanting to get better but also mix in rest. Keeping it light and fun and less intense than last year’s chase for 73.
While the Warriors hibernate in their cocoons, the rest of the NBA wild life is just hopeful for a chance at a swing.