The Golden State Warriors are gearing up to travel to Hawaii for training camp. The Warriors believe they are a better team with specific improvements than last season. We feel great about the team in the sense that we improved the team. At its core, we’ve got a good team, but we’re probably as impatient with a franchise as you can be right now given our timeline and all that, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said at a news conference on Thursday.
There’s a fine line between impatience and undiscipline. I think I feel good about the discipline that we held this summer and the roster we built and the growth from within that we’re going to have, he added. The Warriors’ Coach Steve Kerr claims to have 12 to 13 guys on his roster who might play in the rotation; this is an issue he has acknowledged in the past. That has produced more uncertainty and inconsistency than deadly depth during the last two years. However, Kerr noted that this year is distinct due to the guys they added.
And, most importantly, he anticipates witnessing internal development in the locker room. I’m expecting a big year from Andrew Wiggins. The Canadian power forward missed two months during the 2022–23 season and another week last season to tend to his father, who died in July. But before that, Wiggins was a crucial element to the Warriors’ title in 2022, Kerr insisted.
He looks physically fit. Just speaking with him, he sounds very motivated. He’s very much at peace. I think he’s in a place where he knows the last couple of years have been tough for a lot of reasons, and I think he’s primed to get back to where he was a couple of years ago, the 58-year-old American added.
In addition to mentioning Wiggins as a potential player to help fill the scoring void created by Klay Thompson’s exit, Kerr stressed the need for him to play defense at the same caliber as he did two seasons ago. Kerr is particularly interested in seeing his squad get better defensively, particularly when playing in transition.
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 good at that end, knowing we can count on our ability to get stops, whatever the ranking is, Kerr asserted.
It opens up an opportunity to maybe play a little bit differently. I think where I can do better is simplifying some of the actions that we run so that the players know exactly what they’re doing and do not have too many options for them. So, finding that balance where we can maintain our identity but simplify things and make them a little cleaner, and that’s the challenge, he further added.
Kerr and Dunleavy have no intention of adding wins to their season total to commemorate a good campaign because they won 46 games last season but were not able to qualify for the playoffs. With the group they have, they are also not yet ready to define what the floor or ceiling is. They do, however, know that they must act quickly to maximize Curry. You’re always looking to get better and improve your team. 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. We’ll be aggressive, Kerr concluded.
