35-point performance to beat the LA Clippers<\/a> in the Warriors\u2019 first play-in tournament game created even more memories that will last a lifetime for a game that technically doesn\u2019t count towards his stats.\u00a0<\/p>\nAsking him to replicate that kind of game two days later was unrealistic and another example of the reality the Warriors are in when Curry only mustered 17 points on 4-of-16 shooting in a 15-point loss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Steph\u2019s still got it,\u201d Kerr said in Phoenix. \u201cYou watched the other night, he can still do it. But it just gets more difficult as you get older, obviously. He plays a different game than a lot of older players, more experienced players around the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 3-point boom that Curry created years ago isn\u2019t what makes his play style so unique. He still runs all over the floor, this way and that way, like a child escaping a parent trying to take something dangerous away from them. He still flies off screens and sets them too. And defenses continue to grab and pull at him with a more physical strategy than anybody else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the Warriors lost in the second round of the playoffs after Curry went down from a strained hamstring a year ago, Kerr scoffed at a question on his offensive system. There didn\u2019t appear to be any wiggle room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAny talk of do we need to change our offensive system, to me is kind of laughable,\u201d Kerr said after exit interviews last season. \u201cWhat does that mean? So let’s not run Steph off screens? Let’s not put Steph in pick-and-roll? I’m not even sure how to respond to that honestly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Strategic talks between Kerr, Dunleavy and Lacob on the offense, roster\u00a0construction\u00a0and coaching staff were a must. Almost everybody on the coaching staff had their contracts tied to Kerr\u2019s, leaving their futures in question as well.<\/p>\n
Who will be Curry\u2019s second star to start the season is the next question. Can anybody jump into Jimmy Butler\u2019s Robin costume for the first few months of the season if the Warriors keep him and his $56.8 million contract on the roster?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Butler is the second-oldest player in NBA history to have a torn ACL. The moment he grabbed his knee, the Warriors\u2019 season was over. They knew it. They also saw the league continue to pass them in the months that followed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at the West, when you look at the rest of the league, teams are loaded,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cThere\u2019s so much talent and so much skill.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no set prediction of when Butler will return and what kind of player he\u2019ll be. Nobody can say for sure if Moses Moody will play at all next season after his horrible torn patellar tendon in late March. The Warriors have just four players under contract next season who aren\u2019t hurt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At 36 years old, Draymond Green rounds out the Warriors\u2019 Big Three. He played the most between himself, Curry and Butler this season. He also didn\u2019t fit at all with Butler offensively, has a $27.6 million player option for next season and can\u2019t help but talk in a microphone and put himself in hot water while he watches the playoffs instead of being part of them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injuries and inconsistencies put Kerr in a tough spot during a season where he trotted out 43 different starting lineups. Healthy or not, balance wasn\u2019t part of the Warriors\u2019 equation. Over 41 percent of their total points came from 3-pointers in a season where they ranked 20th in 3-point percentage and dead last in dunks. <\/p>\n
Nothing came easy.<\/p>\n
The consensus within the Warriors and outside of Chase Center is that Kerr remains the right coach to lead this team. Plus, the most important voice in the room, Curry, wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.<\/p>\n
\u201cSteve still has his fastball,\u201d one league source said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember that game in Phoenix after the trade deadline? That shows it,\u201d another league source said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Players continued to compete at a championship level as a No. 10 seed for Kerr this season. Do all nine teams ahead of the Warriors in the West have a brighter present and future? It\u2019s hard to argue against that, just like it\u2019s always hard to argue against the power of Curry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bringing back Kerr was the biggest and most important box for the Warriors to check and not look back at. Now that they can turn their attention to focusing forward, it\u2019s time to get to work.<\/p>\n
Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that the most important part of the Warriors\u2019 offseason has been taken care of, the real work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,4500,26971,479,164,4025,4024,6,863,255,1079],"class_list":["post-730375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golden-state-warriors","tag-basketball","tag-breaking-news","tag-dalton-johnson","tag-golden-state","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-goldenstate","tag-goldenstatewarriors","tag-nba","tag-steve-kerr","tag-warriors","tag-warriors-analysis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116548605321382857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=730375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}