Speaking on Thursday to reporters, including Anthony Slater of The Athletic and Kendra Andrews of ESPN, Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. said the front office believes it “improved the team” this offseason, though he suggested the club will remain on the lookout for further upgrades.
“We’re probably as impatient a franchise as you can be right now given our time horizon and all that,” Dunleavy said, per Slater. “But there’s 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’re going to have. I know everybody is always looking for big headline breaking news and all that, but I really like this team.”
As Slater writes, Dunleavy stressed that there’s “no point in going all in to be slightly above average,” but he and Warriors owner Joe Lacob have both expressed that they’re willing to surrender some future assets in order to upgrade the current roster.
“Does that mean we’re definitely going to do something? No,” the Warriors’ GM said. “We were super aggressive last year around the deadline. Didn’t do a whole lot. You’ve got to have a partner. Making deals in this league can be tough. But the effort and the urgency will always be there.”
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Head coach Steve Kerr feels good about the depth the Warriors have on their roster, suggesting that as many as 12 to 13 players have a case for rotation minutes and that multiple starting lineup spots could be up for grabs this fall, according to Andrews and Slater. “What I love about this camp is that we do have (starting) spots available,” Kerr said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who have started a lot of games. Last year Wiggs (Andrew Wiggins), (Jonathan Kuminga), Draymond (Green), Trayce (Jackson-Davis) started some games. (Brandin Podziemski), De’Anthony (Melton), Buddy (Hield) has been a starter most of his career. It’s the easiest thing for me to do is just to tell the guys we’ve got starting spots available. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say how many to you or to them.” As Slater writes, Stephen Curry and Green are locks to start, and Wiggins is a relatively safe bet to join them unless he plays himself out of the job, but there could be a competition for the other two spots in the starting five.
- While it’s unclear what sort of role he’ll have for the Warriors in 2024/25, veteran big man Kevon Looney is in “phenomenal shape,” a source told Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area. Speaking to NBC Sports Bay Area, Looney agreed with that assessment. “I feel lighter on my feet, I feel like I can move better,” he said. “I can move the way I want to for longer and I feel like I got a little more stamina.”
- Dunleavy said on Thursday that the team has had “positive conversations” with the representatives for Kuminga and Moses Moody about possible rookie scale extensions, tweets Andrews. “Regardless whether we get something done (by October 21), we want those guys here,” Dunleavy said. “Just because you don’t get an extension done doesn’t mean they’re not going to be here for a long time. We’ll still have their rights in free agency if we can’t come to an agreement by the 21st. I think for them, the most important thing is we’ll get through these next few weeks with a deal or not a deal, but all that matters is they have great seasons.”
- The Warriors officially announced today (via Twitter) that they’ve hired Terry Stotts and Jerry Stackhouse as assistant coaches, which was first reported early in the offseason. Khalid Robinson, Jacob Rubin, and Anthony Vereen have also been promoted to assistant coaching roles, the club confirmed.
- Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard has passed along some of the highlights from his conversation with Kerr on a recent episode of his TK Show podcast. We relayed some of Kerr’s comments about Klay Thompson‘s departure on Wednesday.
Disciplined? Close….delusional.
Who is delusional and why do you say that?
He is a warrior hater
Lol. Yeah, anybody who thinks the warriors aren’t legit and wasted their summer are haters.
Extending Moody and trading Podz should be their #1 priority. They have underplayed Moody on purpose to back him into a smaller deal, then they will play 35+ MPG and he be an underpaid All-Star, like his profile and his many NBA highlight reels on youtube all point to. Moody being an underpaid starter is how GSW will afford that extra superstar they need.
Podz has a big push among people who don’t care about GSW winning games, because if he was as good as all these people say, GSW would have been a top 4 team last year. Reality was Podz was mid after getting every opportunity to succeed. Moody got little to no opportunity due to Podz’ presence. However his counting stats were decent enough to get a rep in the media and his contract is small, plus his style clashes with Curry and Dray – he’s a perfect trade bait.
I routinely click on these Warriors articles just to see what delusional nonsense you have posted in the comments. I’m pleased to see that you’ve done it again.
It’s pretty entertaining watching him roll this propaganda out. It’s clear he doesn’t post this stuff to convince other people – it’s purely to try and convince himself.
Frustrated off-season.
What was frustrating about it?
> They have underplayed Moody on purpose
> to back him into a smaller deal, then they
> will play 35+ MPG and he be an underpaid > All-Star.
They’re eating the cats.
> because if (Podz) was as good as all these
> people say, GSW would have been a top 4
> team last year.
They’re eating the dogs.
Davey , I honestly believe that your post was tongue-in-cheek. Were you being serious?
I really do believe in Moody! You and Gary have not swayed my opinion.
That said I am happy if Moody is in a trade for a superstar, so I don’t like him -that- much. But I do think he has an all-star ceiling, as do many members of Dub Nation do on instagram and twitter. This is the only place on the web that supports Podziemski and hates Moody. Warriors Instagram has very similar sentiments to mine all over every thread.
I hear you Davey and my opinion is no better than yours. I don’t want to tell you how many dudes I’ve been wrong on, the number one being Luka Doncic.
I wish the man well, seemed like a good dude in college and he’s a good kid at heart.
But wow I saw hints of his lack of Mamba at Fayetteville in person and it’s continued in the pros. But we shall see. So much potential.
@Gary
Can we pivot this convo to how Julius Randle for Andrew Wiggins being a trade we all agree on? They kind of match salaries?
Randle-Kuminga-Green-Hield-Curry is nasty!!
To be honest I want no part of Julius Randle.
@aristotle
That’s some nasty work, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Davey ,
If you really believe that the Warriors have conspired to not play Moody, who they (secretly) know to be an All-Star, so that they can sign him to far below All-Star level contract, then I’ll apologize.
I’ve always assumed that you’re trying to bait people.
Many people do not know Looney was a legend in his high school days. A top recruit but got injured and UCLA. I am wondering if he can play power forward. He has great handles on the ball and if he has a n midrange shot could be a factor this season.
@arc89 yes, before injury Looney had a Lebron ceiling that several scouts noted, believe it or not. But post-injury Looney is who he is. Hopefully he gets more spry this season, because the last 2 years he looked very lumbering out there.
arc89 , Looney has remade his game because his hip injuries reduced his athleticism. He transitioned from a 3/4 to a 5, where he could still exploit his natural rebounding and shot-blocking.
I’ve heard the story about how the hip surgeries changed his body. His lateral movement was not affected, but his explosiveness was significantly reduced. Looney is no longer able to do what he could with ball in his hands at UCLA, which was to take people off the dribble and attack the basket. Near the basket, back then Looney was a reasonably quick jumper and second jumper. As he jokes, he’s adapted to being ground-bound.
If you want to see Looney do more with the ball including shoot 3’s, check out YouTube for the Rico Hines runs that Looney does every summer. His form is good enough that he should shoot when left open. But his release is much too slow and he’s too heavy on his feet to become a stretch big at this phase of his career.
I’m surprised that Looney has decided to lose 10-15 pounds because he has said in the past that he wants to gradually add more lean body mass so that he can defend bigger 5’s. Evidently, he’s seeing a different career path.
Move him to a power forward with TJD when Green rest. His defense is still gets it done.
Davey J must be 12 years old. The web isn’t used for what is was intended for. Eisenhower is probably wondering where he went wrong. Just because people post things on websites doesn’t mean they know what they are taking. Obviously, NBA GMs and Scouts see more value in Podziemski than you do. More than likely, they are not posting on websites. They don’t need to.
Giants74 and Aristotle, please stop feeding into what Davey posts. PLEASE!!!
ClaudeRaymond , thanks for the advice.
Excellent chatter with my morning coffee. Thanks :)
I am a warriors fan and don’t particularly like the moves they have made, and still have Kuminga and Wiggins and looney on the roster.
Steph must be secretly looking for a way out of this mess, as this club is making so many dumb decisions..
Careful buddy. The sharks smell blood in the water
Guskinn , if Steph is looking for a way out, how do you explain him signing an extension last month?
Funny, but if Gushkin has paid attention, Dunleavy has the Warriors in a way better position than anyone expected. There is way more optimism now than at this time last year.
ps, does Guskinn think Curry would be happier with Poole, a mopey Thompson, and the team being taxed up the wazoo.
I believe that gsw wants to give Kuminga and Moody the opportunity to showcase themselves without getting extensions. They’ll be restricted free agents and will be able to test free agency. And then they can match suitors’ offer sheets OR decide to move on. If they have great showcase seasons then GSW will pay them. If they don’t show well then GSW will have avoided extension overpay.
Just my 2 cents but part of me thinks they’re not extending the 2
ps. Especially if Kuminga wants $45 mil/yr for 5 years.
I think the Warriors best bet would be to go ahead and extend Moody, but I think they should probably wait on Kuminga and just match whichever winning team offers him the best deal.