Even with two-time MVP Stephen Curry in the lineup, the Warriors were off to a worrisome start this season. Now that Curry is set to miss time due to a broken left hand, the club’s short-term outlook looks even less promising. However, team owner Joe Lacob “scoffed” at the notion that it might be time for Golden State to consider tanking the season, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne writes.
“It is against every single thing I and we stand for,” Lacob said. “We will fight like hell. Develop our young guys. Learn to win. You don’t get better by trying to lose. Our entire organization is about winning. And we will win. Some bumps in the road, perhaps. But we will never accept losing.”
Klay Thompson has already been ruled out until at least the All-Star break due to his torn ACL. Curry’s recovery timeline hasn’t been set, but Shelburne says team officials are preparing for him to miss a month or two. Anthony Slater of The Athletic notes that an injury like Curry’s often sidelines an NBA player for about six to eight weeks. Even Draymond Green is banged up, though he may not miss any time as he nurses a back injury.
Given the Warriors’ lack of quality depth, the team probably won’t have to deliberately “tank” in order to land in the lottery, as those injuries to their stars could be enough to derail their season. While Lacob isn’t willing to concede that it’s time to start looking ahead to 2020/21, he admitted in comments to Tim Kawakami and Ethan Strauss of The Athletic that the club will certainly keep its long-term outlook in mind.
“I’m just telling you that the bottom line is I’m not negative and I’m not going to get negative,” Lacob said in the wake of Curry’s injury. “I’m an optimist and we’re building something. You’re always looking short term and you’re looking intermediate term and you’re looking long term.
“And I think we’ve got a lot of good young players in place,” he continued. “Potentially, there’s a silver lining in all of this, who knows? And I’m very optimistic about our future. Very optimistic about our future. I think we’re going to be there at some point. Can’t say when. We’ve obviously got a lot of injuries now, but we’re going to be there.”
As we wait for an update on Curry’s diagnosis and the Warriors’ next moves, one “silver lining” worth considering if that the club will only send its 2020 first-round pick to Brooklyn if it falls outside of the top 20. That scenario looks increasingly unlikely, so the Dubs can probably count on keeping that first-round pick. And unlike most traded first-rounders, its protections won’t just carry over to the next draft — if the Nets don’t get that first-round selection in 2020, they’ll instead receive Golden State’s 2025 second-rounder.
I like how he says the org is against deliberate tanking when the team was clearly losing games on purpose during the Harrison Barnes draft year. Just like Mark Cuban another holier than thou lying owner.
What do you expect him to say “oh ya we aren’t trying to win this year, enjoy your $12 bud light, btw the deadline to renew season tickets is in march”
The Sixers did that and had a devout fan base while doing it and the Nets did it just fine. The new arena will sell out anyway admitting to tanking won’t affect that.
The sixers were a middle of the pack struggling playoff team. The Warriors have been one of the most dominant teams we have ever seen for the last 5 years. The Nets struggled to fill the arena for the first 2 years they were rebuilding. You’re comparing completely different circumstances
Tanking NEVER works. I’ve seen plenty of top 3 picks flop, and 6-12 picks (and later) become stars.
Why lose in purpose? That creates a very poor environment and people are wrong who think they can put out little effort and then turn it on later for successful outcome.
Habits form and its not easy to turn it on and off. Just like practice time.. must be 100%, not just game time 100%.
It’s not an argument whether it works or not that is a separate discussion. The point is THEY HAVE actively tanked in the past. Now they are hoping everyone forgets that.
That was to keep rather than lose their own draft pic. Not an effort to lose games for a better draft position, ie, 18 down to 6, or 11 down to 3.
But it could be the same thing essentially. I’ll give you that.
Look at the story just posted. Draymon being there played a role in KD bouncing. Draymond is replaceable. KD is not. They said the same glue stuff about Iggy and how he does things beyond the box score. In the end they gave away 1st round pick just to give him away.
KD was walking in any case, I believe.
With KD walking they had to replace him with an outside free agent thus the hard cap.., so Iggy had to go to fit Russell in. You’d rather keep Iggy than obtain D’Angelo Russell?
Dlo for 117 million is an albatross. He is on the border between tier 3 and 2 of guards. He has to hit his ceiling now.
You could be right..
Warriors owner knows tanking never works.
Hey GS fans….we’re gonna lose on purpose! Come spend money on our terrible product!
Yeah….not too many owners are gonna say that.
Just as long as the management doesn’t throw Kerr under the bus for not winning. Even he can’t navigate through this dung heap
Luke Walton had no trouble winning there, it’s not all that difficult when you’re coaching a super team. At least now Kerr gets to prove he is for real.
Kerr is who made them a champion team. Before they were 4-5 seed with the exact same team. And then he came and they started winning championships. He proved himself plenty.
Great manager – not a great coach. There’s a difference.
They had a path to a good team post championship era if they did not give DLo that ridiculous deal or extend Draymond. No cap room and no depth for years.
You are out of your mind.., again. You have no idea how the salary cap works nor how to assemble a team.
Your choice would be to lose KD for nothing and let Draymond walk? I don’t agree with those decisions at all.
You dont know how the cap works if you think they wouldn’t have more cap room without those guys. And no, you could trade Draymond. He is not a 100 milliom dollar player and you dont know basketball if you think he is.
I believe Dray is a 25 per year player. Might not show up on the stat sheet, but he does stuff the team desperately needs.
I’m with you Gary, this dude’s just a troll
From a 2020 first to a 2025 2nd? What an asset to have
Or trade Russell to the TWolves for Andrew Wiggins and a 1st.
Thou protest too loudly. Nice straw man, but tanking isn’t about a team (players and coaches) trying to lose (they almost never do). It’s about a FO (and ownership) prioritizing the long term over the short term. Does Curry rush or take his time coming back? Do they put draft pick(s) and younger less developed players in play for trades? I think no, in both cases, and I don’t blame them. But, yes, that’s tanking.
They already talked load management for Curry so no rush.