{"id":98416,"date":"2024-09-29T19:14:17","date_gmt":"2024-09-29T23:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=98416"},"modified":"2024-09-29T19:14:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-29T23:14:17","slug":"golden-state-warriors-looking-for-further-upgrades-as-training-camp-opens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/29\/golden-state-warriors-looking-for-further-upgrades-as-training-camp-opens\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Warriors Looking For Further Upgrades As Training Camp Opens"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors<\/a> have made some interesting moves this offseason<\/a>. But they may not be done, according to Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Golden State<\/a> opened training camp on the BYU-Hawaii campus in Ouha, Hawaii, from October 1 to 4, with several questions and 11 new faces. The good news for the Warriors, for chemistry issues, is that only four of the newcomers are on standard contracts: De’Anthony Melton<\/a>, Buddy Hield,<\/a> Kyle Anderson<\/a>, and Lindy Waters III<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Melton, Hield, and Anderson will be heavily relied on to help replace the production of Chris Paul,<\/a> Klay Thompson<\/a>, and Dario Saric<\/a>. The Warriors have been linked to numerous trades this offseason<\/a>, including Jimmy Butler,<\/a>\u00a0 Zach LaVine<\/a>, Paul George<\/a>, Brandon Ingram<\/a>, and Lauri Markkanen<\/a>. However, the Dubs only made one trade, which brought them Hield and Anderson in the six-team Thompson sign-and-trade deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re probably as impatient a franchise as you can be right now, given our time horizon and all that,\u201d Dunleavy told The Athletic’s Anthony Slater<\/a>. \u201c<\/u><\/u>But there\u2019s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined. I feel good about the discipline that we held this summer and, the roster we built, and the growth from within that we\u2019re going to have. I know everybody is always looking for big headline breaking news and all that, but I really like this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Golden State Warriors Looking For Further Upgrades As Training Camp Opens<\/h2>\n

Of course, Stephen Curry will lead the Warriors. Curry is coming off a great year, as he appeared in 74 games, the most since 2016-17, and was named the top clutch player in the league and the all-NBA third team. He totaled 26.4 points, drained 4.8 threes, and cut his turnovers to 2.8 a game while compiling 45\/40.8\/92.3% shooting splits.<\/p>\n

Draymond Green<\/a> is the only other player assured of a starting spot. While Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, Moses Moody<\/a>, and Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/a> need to continue to grow, the Warriors will count heavily on their big off-season acquisitions. The Warriors seem to like that trio of youngster, but Slater said that Dunleavy and owner Joe Lacob are willing to mortgage the future for a title run.<\/p>\n

\u201c We’ve got a lot of good basketball players, and then on top of it, we’ve got most of our assets. We’ve got ways to improve. Does that mean we\u2019re definitely going to do something? No,\u201d Dunleavy said. \u201cWe were super aggressive last year around the deadline. Didn\u2019t do a whole lot. You\u2019ve got to have a partner. Making deals in this league can be tough. But the effort and the urgency will always be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As has been the case for the last several years, Golden State’s biggest issues are the size and depth in the frontcourt. Interior scoring, turnovers, getting to the foul line, and keeping opponents off the foul line were also problems for the Warriors.\u00a0 Also, improvement in transition defense is essential for the Dubs, coach Steve Kerr <\/a>told the media recently<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our transition defense fell off the map last year. A huge emphasis in camp will be to shore that up. We do have, I think, better personnel this year to become a better defensive team, barring injury and that kind of stuff. … Traditionally we’ve been a top 10 defense. I just want to get back to being really good at that end knowing we can count on our ability to get stops, whatever the ranking is.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Warriors Training Camp Competition<\/h3>\n

Golden State is in a better financial position to make a trade if necessary. The Warriors will likely go into the season with 14 players, leaving them $533,659 clear of the first apron. The Dubs are hard-capped at the first apron, meaning they can’t have more than $178.1 million on record at any point this season.<\/p>\n

Waters and Gui Santos<\/a> have fully non-guaranteed deals. Therefore, the Warriors could bring another player on a non-guaranteed veteran minimum deal. If they choose not to do so, Kevin Knox<\/a> will likely be given an opportunity to earn a job over one of those two players. Knox is the only player currently on an Exhibit 10 deal with a legitimate chance of earning a roster spot.<\/p>\n

With several newcomers and some returning youngsters, Golden State expects training camp to be very competitive, with several battles taking place regarding rotational minutes. Steve Kerr<\/a> told ESPN’s Kendra Andrews<\/a> he feels that he has 12 to 13 players on his roster who could be in the rotation\u2014a problem he has said he’s had in the past.<\/p>\n

Curry (PG) and Green are the only players assured of a starting position. Andrew Wiggins<\/a> is believed to have a slight edge<\/a> on Kuminga as the starter at small forward. Therefore, there is expected to be open competition with the first unit at shooting guard and center.<\/p>\n

Protecting Warriors Rotation<\/h4>\n
Warriors Starting Five<\/h5>\n

PG Stephen Curry: 32 minutes<\/p>\n

SG\u00a0 Brandin Podziemski:<\/a> Started 28 games last season. 28 minutes<\/p>\n

SF Andrew Wiggins: 30 minutes<\/p>\n

PF Draymond Green: 27 minutes<\/p>\n

C Kevon Looney<\/a>:\u00a0 20 minutes<\/p>\n

Rotation<\/h5>\n

Jonathan Kuminga: Off the bench, will likely see most of his minutes at PF with limited time at SF and C.\u00a0 25 minutes<\/p>\n

De’Anthony Melton: Probably the main competition for Podziemski’s starting spot. Whoever loses the competition will also serve as Curry’s primary backup. 25 minutes<\/p>\n

Buddy Hield: Likely to see time at the 2 and 3. 20 minutes<\/p>\n

Kyle Anderson: Will see most of his minutes at power forward. 12 minutes<\/p>\n

Trayce Jackson-Davis: TJD is the biggest competition at center for Looney.Startedd 16 contests a season ago. 15 minutes<\/p>\n

Others<\/h5>\n

Moses Moody:<\/a> 6 minutes<\/p>\n

Gary Payton II<\/a>: Could steal a few minutes from Melton or Hield, though I wouldn’t expect him to play over 50 games.<\/p>\n

Lindy Waters III: Emergency situations<\/p>\n

Gui Santos: Very sparingly<\/p>\n

Warriors Draft Future Assets<\/h5>\n

First-round picks: Own 2025-2029, 2031. Top-20 protected in 2030 (if falls 21-30 it is Washington’s selection).<\/p>\n

Second-round picks: Atlanta’s (2026), Atlanta’s (2028). Own (2029), Own or Minnesota’s (2031)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Golden State Warriors have made some interesting moves this offseason. But they may not be done, according to Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. Golden State opened training camp on the BYU-Hawaii campus in Ouha, Hawaii, from October 1 to 4, with several questions and 11 new faces. The good news for the Warriors, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":98482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,25,62],"tags":[212,1593,4297,412,48,528],"class_list":["post-98416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-warriors","category-nba","tag-andrew-wiggins","tag-deanthony-melton","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-mike-dunleavy-jr","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-kerr"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}