Superstar Steph Curry isn’t taking any chances on letting Golden State’s inconsistent season get more out of hand. The four-time NBA champion is letting his teammates know that losing could become a habit.
The Golden State Warriors have struggled out of the gate to start this NBA season. Following Wednesday night’s road loss to the Phoenix Suns, the defending NBA champions are a surprising 6-9, but — get this — 0-8 on the road. While it’s shocking to see the league’s best team since 2015 struggle, the expectancy is that they will weather the storm.
In his postgame interview with ESPN, the former two-time league MVP and reigning NBA Finals MVP spoke candidly about avoiding bad habits, mainly losing.
“It’s a struggle right now, keeping it real. We have to understand that it’s going to be really hard to dig yourself out of the situation that we’re in because there are a lot of issues … losing becomes a habit if you don’t fix it.“Forget the record, we can’t find a sustainable period of success where habits start to form and we’re in position where we’re coming off the court feeling good about ourselves.”
The 0-8 road start is the worst for the franchise since it began the 1989 season 0-9 away from their then-home Oracle Arena.
Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Stephen Curry has more games of at least 50 points (5) than any other NBA player. pic.twitter.com/rkrgw4b75R
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 18, 2022
Offseason Personnel Decisions Are Showing
The Warriors have created a culture of winning and accountability with their core unit of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala. They’ve also been fortunate to add key veterans in with this group during their four championship runs.
Last season, role players such as Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr., Damion Lee and Juan Toscanini-Anderson, provided grit, toughness and, in Porter’s case, clutch shot-making for the team’s second unit. The decision to unload those core reserves didn’t sit well with the fan base and for good reason. Losing GP II and Porter, in particular, is clearly affecting the Warriors’ usually stout defense.
The team instead opted for their young nucleus of James Wiseman, Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and Jordan Poole, who was a key cog on the offensive end in the 2022 Finals run. The chemistry has been a complete failure. Wiseman was shipped to the G-League, Moody and Kuminga are seeing sparse minutes, and Poole looks more comfortable starting than coming off the bench.
So much to unpack here. The you add the Draymond punch of Poole and Green’s contract situation, and it’s a bit of a mess in Golden State and no matter how much they downplay it the turmoil is manifesting itself in losses.
Jordan Poole Should Start Over Klay
In a game against the Spurs earlier in the week, Poole went for 36 points as a starter. He then reverted to the backup role and fell off on both ends. And while Thompson has earned the respect to start, he just isn’t giving the Warriors much on either end, and at least with Poole they could try to outscore opponents until they can fix their defensive woes.
Steph goes off with a season-high ⤵️
31 points in a half 🔥 pic.twitter.com/tXL8cIQNin
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) November 17, 2022
The Dubs definitely have the assets to swing a trade for another superstar — maybe even a return of Kevin Durant. They certainly don’t want to waste Curry’s final couple seasons. The sharpshooter is averaging 32.8 points per game on 53 percent shooting at age 34. At the same time, they have to give the young players they drafted a legitimate shot to contribute because Golden State’s “Big 3” is not the same.
