The Golden State Warriors’ current run this season has been frustrating due to injuries and suspensions to key players. For head coach Steve Kerr, though, the team’s current iteration is still a better one compared to last year.
Last season, the Warriors finished sixth in the Western Conference with a record of 44 wins and 38 losses. With All-Star point guard Stephen Curry driving the offense, the Dubs boasted an eighth-place offense while their defense was ranked 17th among 30 teams.
Apart from having their core trio of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, last year’s Warriors team had Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo, James Wiseman, and Andre Iguodala. Even with these names in the lineup, the Dubs failed to make it back to the NBA Finals after falling to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
This year, though, Golden State is in a more precarious situation. At this point in time, the Dubs are holding the tenth spot in the Western Conference with a record of 43 wins and 35 losses. With only a couple of games remaining in the regular season, Curry and company are considered a lock-in for the Play-In Tournament.
After the Dubs’ recent 118-110 win over the Utah Jazz, Steve Kerr spoke to reporters and answered which version of the team is better – the current one or the previous season. In a video posted by Warriors on NBCS on X:
Kerr shares why he believes this Warriors team is better than last season’s pic.twitter.com/1JsfaBeErQ
— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) April 8, 2024
This season’s Warriors boast Chris Paul in the lineup and a couple of up-and-coming rookies in Brandon Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis. Even if that’s the case, the team’s defense worsened from 17th to 21st place out of 30 teams.
Kerr’s claim that the current Warriors team is much better than last year’s will be put to the test in the playoffs. With the Play-In Tournament scheduled to start soon, the Dubs will have their work cut out for them in the coming weeks.
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