From 2015 to 2019 the Golden State Warriors appeared in the NBA Finals winning 3 of those match-ups.
They were called dynastic. It all seemed to come crashing down as they lost the NBA finals to the Toronto Raptors after being inflicted by injuries to two of their stars: Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson.
They then lost Durant to free agency and Thompson is missing his second season in a row due to injury. They’ll likely have two first round draft picks in this years coming draft including their own and the Minnesota Timberwolves (acquired after a trade between the teams bringing Andrew Wiggins and the Minnie Pick for D’Angelo Russel with a few other players in the mix).
The Warriors right now sit at the edge of being a team bound for the playoffs and next year with more draft picks and Klay coming back they will most certainly be a contender.
But what about after that?
We are seeing the future right now. Their Coach Steve Kerr has been tinkering with different rotations all season long. In a recent game against the Chicago Bulls he had two specific players running a lot of pick and roll with great success. Check out just one example below.
Andrew Wiggins and James Wiseman were given plenty of opportunities. They missed a few but for the most part they were able to produce some relatively easy baskets.
This tandem will be a nightmare to defend.
Opposing defenses will be caught continually flat-footed by Wiggins quick first step or he’ll drop in a bucket with a high-release post move. He can also back off a little and throw an easy lob to Wiseman for thunderous dunks. Either way the opposition is trapped.
It’s entertaining to see this aspect right now as part of the Warriors lineup. No doubt it’ll be featured as a bigger part of their offense in the future. Teams are just getting a small glimpse of what is becoming an unstoppable force on the Warriors Offensive end.
