For Warriors fans, this summer's trade is sure to be satisfying! First of all, they sent away the instability factor Poole in the team, in exchange for the experienced veteran Paul! Although Paul's scoring explosiveness is not as explosive as Poole's today, in terms of experience and organizational ability, Paul is simply a few streets away from Poole.
In fact, it is to renew the contract of Dream Green, so as to retain the iron triangle of Curry, Thompson, and Green, these three are the cornerstone of the Warriors' ability to impact the championship for so many years.
But there is a hidden crisis under the luxury lineup: who is the Warriors on the bench?
The team's regular starters last season were center Looney, power forward Green, small forward Wiggins, shooting guard Thompson, point guard Curry, which is also the Warriors' most reassuring roster. Now that Paul is here, who is playing the bench? Of the 5, Looney is the most willing to sacrifice for the team, but if it is really Green who plays center and starts with five deaths, it is too abstract, right? As for Green, he also has strong organizational skills and a lot of interior defensive intensity, which Paul cannot replace.
So Paul will only top Thompson, Wiggins, Curry.
Although Paul overlaps with Curry's position, does Curry play as a substitute? It sounds like a joke! In the end, it can only be Wiggins, who is a little junior, or Thompson, who has been in poor form recently, who is squeezed into the bench. But in that case, Curry and Paul, two point guards, started at the same time, and the lineup was a little strange.
The best way is to let Paul start off the bench, lead the second team to grind, and then slowly adjust. But in an interview today, Paul expressed his extreme disgust for the bench.
Warriors reporter Anthony Slater asked Paul at a press conference: "Are you ready to lead the second team to help the team this season?" Paul looked displeased and asked the reporter: "Are you a coach?" Although there was no positive response, judging by the way Paul looked at the time, he hated the question. Paul has played in 1,363 regular-season games so far in his career, starting all of them, never coming off the bench, and setting the NBA record for the longest consecutive starters since 1970. Although he is older now, it is almost impossible to get him to play as a substitute.
Paul is certainly insistent on his starting spot, but what would Wiggins or Thompson think? Are they willing to play substitutes?
Speaking of which, it can't help but remind people of a similar interview with Anthony with the Thunder. When the reporter asked Anthony if he was ready to help the team on the bench, Melon smiled on the spot and asked George next to him: "Substitute? Did you hear that? They asked me to play as a substitute. As a result, this laugh almost made Gua Gexiao retire! Thunder's luxurious three heads were also completely dismantled and plunged into years of reconstruction.
Clearly, Kerr needs to come up with an effective starting lineup for the next two months and can only sacrifice Wiggins or Thompson. But this drastic change in the lineup may bring very bad results. If the Warriors can't do well in the first few games of Paul's start, and Paul insists on not playing as a backup, will it cause team conflict?
Dear Warriors fans, who do you think will start with this luxurious lineup now? Who is the substitute?