As the saying goes, the wind started at the end of Qingping, and many great dynasties were established when the world was in turmoil, such as Liu Bang's Han Dynasty and Zhu Yuanzhang's Ming Dynasty.
In the 2021 offseason, many fans must not have imagined that a year later, in June 2022, the Warriors dynasty would once again lift the O'Brien Cup. After all, the team's five-man lineup of death has aged, Durant has thrown himself to the Nets, and the Warriors and Curry still have MVP-level power. Moreover, the league's powerhouses have risen, with the Bucks and Celtics in the East eyeing each other, and the Suns, Clippers, and Grizzlies in the West all having the strength to win the championship. The Warriors are no longer dominant, and the top four in the West have a chance to have the last laugh.
That year, led by Paul and Booker, the Suns had a 64-18 record of first place in the West, while the Grizzlies were second in the West with 56 wins and 26 losses, the Warriors were third, and the Mavericks were fourth. Not only that, but during the regular season, the Warriors were mostly at the bottom when they faced off against the Suns, who were clearly the more favored side. Helplessly, in the Western Conference semifinals tie-break with the Mavericks, he was hit by the opponent's three-point attack, and soon after, Paul, Ayton, Bridges and other players were forced to leave the team one by one.
Later, the Warriors defeated the Grizzlies 4-2 in the semifinals and defeated the Mavericks in the Western Conference finals, and Curry taught Doncic a good lesson. But when it came to the Finals against the Celtics, whose core lineup was younger, the Warriors were once again not favored, after all, the opponent's space lineup was better, and the core star was as strong as a bull. At the end of the first game, because of head coach Kerr's carelessness, the opponent was already on the core lineup, but the Warriors still used role players lightly; Then it was also under the critical attack of the Celtics' three-point rain that the victory that the Warriors should have won flew away.
But after all, the opponent is young, and the arena is still far from reaching the dominant level of performance, Curry single-handedly turned the tide in the fourth matchup. Then, the Warriors had the last laugh, and Curry also completed the redemption of the 2016 Finals.
Curry, who was 34 years old at the time, played the pinnacle of his career, and the offensive and defensive strength of that Warriors team was far from the level of the Universe Warriors, but it could become the final winner; In addition to the fact that there is no stronger team in the league, it is more about the rationality of the lineup configuration.
Curry, a top ball-handling superstar, Wiggins, a second-in-command player with excellent offense and defense, Poole, a sixth man with stable scoring, and a group of outstanding role players Porter, Payton Jr., and Bjelica, the core of interior and outside defense, Payton Jr., Wiggins, and Green, and John Looney, a rebounding maniac. That Warriors team also suffered a little bit in height, and everything else was available, three-pointers, rebounds, defense, lead defenders, and attackers.
Similarly, this year's Celtics can be the final winner, but also ahead of other teams in terms of configuration, and the core star has also experienced defeats and has Finals experience. On the other hand, its opponent Mavericks, although they have superstars Doncic and Irving, the standard of role players is obviously not as good as that of the Celtics, and the lineup has a lack of three-point standards.
So, it failed.
Looking at this new Warriors team, the role players include Kyle Lee, Hield, and Melton, all of whom are the best players the Warriors can get. Curry is still in the top 10 in the league, and as long as he can match a group of excellent teammates, he can play a more efficient offensive output than in the 23-24 season. No matter how bad Green and Hield are, they will not be worse than Green and Klay in 2022, and their three-point shooting is even better at the moment.
Benchmarking the lineup for the 21-22 season, it looks like this:
Hield – Klay, who has a higher three-point output;
Melton - Poole with weakened offense with the ball + Payton Jr. with weakened defense;
Lee Kyle – Bjelica with stronger organization and defense, weaker projection;
Green - Green with better three-point level;
Wiggins - a fully weakened version of Wiggins;
？ – Otto Porter;
So, the question is, with such a configuration at the moment, what the Warriors lack is Porter's three-pointers, size, and second-in-command who provides a stable offense, can Kuminga be up to the task? It's unrealistic to expect him to evolve so quickly in an offseason, and the answer is pretty obvious, right? That better solution is the Jazz's Markkanen, who is simply Porter's Promax version - size, projection, with and without the ball, and the offensive output of the second-in-command average 22+ points per game.
Even if you want to send Kuminga and Moody, you can consider it, after all, it could make the team's configuration much like the 21-22 season, or even stronger.
These two rookies who can be sent away, fed with plenty of ball possession by the Jazz, will play better than they did with the Warriors, the best of both worlds, right?
Many fans may feel that giving away draft picks and young players will hollow out the future of the Warriors, and the Jazz's Angie is a general manager who is used to the lion's mouth. But what I want to say is that Curry only has the last two to three years left in the peak of his career, and even if he is not strong and the Warriors lose the chance to win the championship, Markkanen will only be close to the age of 30. As long as they stay fit, the Warriors can still trade it away and get back more chips they want.
In addition, the current pattern of the entire Western region is a mess, and there is no team whose strength can be unique; As long as you can keep your core team healthy through the regular season, you still have a chance to break out of the West in the playoffs. In addition, the Warriors have a lot of experience playing the Celtics (let's assume that Kaizi can continue to be the winner in the East), Wiggins has always been good at defensive doubles, and there is still a chance to be a winner in another meeting.