Other than “Steph Curry.”
The 2023-24 NBA season was a disappointing one for the Golden State Warriors. I don’t need to remind you of that. You were there, you watched it, you lived it, you talked about it, you’re trying to forget it. We all are.
Despite winning two more games than in the prior year, it was about as much of a letdown season as could be imagined. At no point did the Warriors look like they’d figured things out and at no point did they look like they might make a run ... and indeed, their season came to an end with a blowout loss in the first game of the Play-In Tournament.
All of that was disappointing enough as is. But as the Warriors look to move past it, and contend again in the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season, they have to confront an awkward reality: they have no identity.
Sure, “Steph Curry” is an identity of sorts, but it’s not quite enough. At various times during their dynastic run, the Dubs were an elite defensive team, a historic offensive team, an all-time great shooting team, or some combination of the three.
Now that’s no longer the case. The Dubs were the definition of average on defense last year, finishing 15th among 30 teams in garbage time-adjusted defensive rating, per Cleaning The Glass. Their offense wasn’t much better, finishing 10th in the league ... and closer to 15th than to the top seven. They weren’t a particularly fast team, as they were 12th in the NBA in pace.
There were two areas where the Dubs still stood out. They were fourth in the league in assists per 100 possessions, showing the strength of their motion offense. And they finished second in the NBA in threes made, and seventh in three-point percentage. But the assist number requires the caveat that they were a bottom-10 team in turnovers and lost Chris Paul, arguably the greatest assist-to-turnover point guard in NBA history. And the three-point number requires the context that they lost Klay Thompson who, for all his faults last year, was still fourth in the NBA in threes made (the acquisition of Buddy Hield will help here, but he alone can’t make up for what Thompson brought to the table).
As such, Golden State enters this year in search of an identity. Are they an offensive team? A defensive team? A small ball team? A three-point hoisting team?
You don’t need a clear strength in the NBA, but it sure helps. Having a clear advantage every game — an area where you know you’ll give your opponent fits, and can win the game on the strength of it alone — goes a long way, especially in the dog days of the season.
For now, that strength, that advantage, that thing that the opposing team has to gameplan for, is simply named Steph (and hey, did you hear that he just signed an extension?).
It’s a damn good fallback plan. But when training camp arrives later this month, I think they’ll have to search for another one, too.
