of golden state warriors As the defending champions, they will enter the 2022-23 season that the other 29 teams have been hoping for. The confetti may have been swept away and the champagne dried years ago, but Dove still holds the title of champion.
They keep that label for another 10 months. They hold up banners. they perform rituals. They wear more expensive rings than most of us make in his year.
And they try to do it again.
Like all teams, the Warriors have question marks. They lost two of his three best bench players and replaced them with worse players. They still don’t know exactly what Klay Thompson has. The rest of the league sees Kawhi Leonard and Jamal Murray returning from injury, Kris Middleton and Devin Booker likely healthy and James Harden having a full year adjusting to Joel Embiid. boston celtics Added Malcolm Brogdon to the team who finished two wins out of the championship.
and Stephen Curry.
Curry isn’t the Warriors’ biggest question mark. If anything, he is the smallest. But he has always been and will always be their X-Factor. means to be a factor of
There aren’t many reasons to think the chef will take a step back this year, but there are a few. He was an All-Star shortly after his break as he turned 35 and eventually every player gets his time further. He has come for many great players long before his 35th birthday.
But perhaps Curry’s greatest concern is the burden he shouldered during the 2021-22 season. The Warriors’ championship run meant he played his 22 postseason games, playing more than one of his quarters of the season in addition to the regular season. His season lasted him two months after his 82-game schedule ended. So not only did he have two more months of game wear and tear, but he had two less months of the offseason to rest and recuperate.
This is especially notable due to the season preceding the title run. In the 2020-21 season, the Warriors had two play-ins in which he played a game and did not play a game in the postseason. Curry had a long offseason heading into last year. In the 2019-20 season, Curry only played five games due to injuries. He’s been resting pretty well for his recent championship push.
Those concerns are valid, but thankfully nothing compared to the evidence in Curry’s favor. In every way, he was one of the top five best players in the NBA last year — according to history. He will at least get close to it again. He improved as the season progressed, displaying an almost unfathomable level of efficiency in each of the final two months of the regular season.
Much of this is due to the reduced burden of attacks. The return of Thompson and the emergence of Jordan Poole allowed Curry to carry lighter loads. The usage rate dropped from 34.0% in October, 31.0% in November, and 34.4% in December to 29.9% in January, 28.3% in February, and 28.1% in March.
Clay’s full season — perhaps playing better — should be the best version of himself again in on-court chemistry. That knowledge should provide the necessary motivation.
Curry also found ways to reduce wear and tear during games. This is part of the reason why Steve has allowed him to average the most hours per game since Kerr took over as head coach. His 16.5 three attempts per 100 possessions he had was close to his career high and well ahead of his early career standings. He’s gotten better at pulling fouls without undue punishment, and serves as perhaps the greatest off-ball scorer in NBA history, but it’s increasing the efficiency of his movement in that division.
and Reports swirl that Warriors don’t want payment In all of free agency going forward, Curry will likely find extra motivation to prove to management that if a dynasty is coming to an end, it’s not because of a lack of player talent. .
At some point, Curry’s status as an MVP candidate will start to fade… sometime soon.
But when I say I won’t bet on that day being today, I’m not breaking the news.
