As the season progressed, the league's teams were caught in the spell of security agreements. The Bulls and 76ers have already experienced a round of suspensions as forerunners, and now the Nets and Lakers are in deep trouble, and the situation this season is not optimistic. The Warriors, located in San Francisco, have no problems with their epidemic prevention situation, only Poole is suspended because of the triggering of the safety agreement, and the other players are in a normal state of play. As expected, Thompson would return around Christmas, coinciding with Poole's suspension, which should have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but today Thompson's situation has been updated again.
Fans did not wait for news of Thompson's return, but waited for the news of the postponed return. According to ESPN, the Warriors plan to postpone Thompson's comeback to January, which could make his season debut in mid-January. For Warriors fans, the 2 minutes that should have been waited for has become two seasons, and now it has been delayed again and again, and the Warriors should have accepted it with peace of mind, but the most feared thing is that Thompson's injury is not optimistic, and the return deadline is only a smoke bomb released by the Warriors, after all, there are very few players in history who have suffered cruciate ligament tears and Achilles tendon ruptures at the same time, and the specific recovery time is not certain.
As the season progressed and the Warriors recognized themselves from the early-season winning streak, Thompson's importance began to show in their game. Thompson's return is no longer a dispensable thing, but an essential season task for the Warriors this season. Thompson's importance can be clearly felt in today's game - the Warriors played a small 8-0 surge after the suspension in the second half of the fourth quarter, stretching the point difference to ten points. Then the Celtics opened the magic weapon against the Warriors - bag Curry to promote his ball, and then this method worked, the Warriors in the next few attacks were frustrated, the Celtics 1 minute before the final game to close the score to 2 points, and finally the Warriors relied on Curry's personal ability to win the game without any danger.
Not allowing Curry to complete the offense at key moments and allowing other Warriors players to seize their chances has become a reserved program for every Warriors game. The Celtics' grip was not so strong that Curry managed to escape the two men's grip and complete the final blow. If you encounter a team with high defensive discipline like the Suns, the chance of the last blow is most likely to be completed by other players, and the Warriors' other players do not have a high degree of offensive certainty at key moments, and the Warriors are undoubtedly caught in this dead cycle. If Thompson is standing outside the three-point line at this time, the situation is completely different, and the defender does not dare to assist in the defense of Dream Green, which can form the most classic inside two-on-one tactic - repeated trials at key moments. That's what Thompson means, so whether or not Thompson turns into a defensive black hole after his return, as long as his crosshairs are still there, his strategic significance is incomparable.
If the Warriors can successfully welcome the return of Thompson and Wiseman in January, then two players will fall out of the main rotation, which is a bit embarrassing for the Warriors who are all soldiers. The players at the bottom of the bench are undoubtedly the two rookies, Chiosa, Anderson and Payton, the two rookies cannot be abandoned by the Warriors, Chiosa is a two-way contract player, keeping it will not hinder things, so Anderson and Payton will become dangerous people. If they are DNP in a limited number of games, then the Warriors are indeed dying. If there is a big center for the right Warriors in the middle of the season to pick up leaks, then the Warriors can only endure the pain of love.
Looking back at the Warriors' operations in previous years, they used to make room through trades in the middle of the season and lower the luxury tax. Perhaps this approach will continue to be realized this year, and it will be a better choice to trade in exchange for draft picks and better-fighting players than to lay off employees. However, for this Warriors, their chemical reaction is the best since the 2016 season, and the immediate combat power of the players traded may be higher, but what is missing for this Warriors is a good thing. But if Wiseman's growth does not meet expectations, and the Warriors' internal shortcomings are still obvious, then strengthening the center will become one of the most important issues on the Warriors' reinforcement road.