The Warriors turned their season around last February by acquiring Jimmy Butler from Miami, but general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. doesn’t expect to make another deal of that magnitude, relays Vince Lontz of NBC Sports Bay Area. During an appearance on “Warriors Pregame Live” before Monday’s game, Dunleavy admitted it would be difficult to pull off another blockbuster trade.
“We’ll look to do stuff that makes our team better,” he said. “But I wouldn’t bank on that type of move. To get a guy like Jimmy Butler, to have the improvement that we did … that’d be pretty unrealistic.”
Golden State was in position to pounce on Butler after the Heat weren’t able to work out a deal to send him to Phoenix, which was reported to be his preferred destination. Butler had an immediate impact on the Warriors, sparking them to a 23-8 finish and a first-round playoff victory.
While Dunleavy doesn’t expect to repeat that success, he hopes to find a way to solve the team’s issue with turnovers. Golden State is one of the league’s worst teams in that category with 16.2 per game, and it has contributed to the disappointing 15-15 record.
“We’ve got to start taking care of the ball,” Dunleavy said. “We’re doing some really good stuff defensively. People talk a lot about our size, between Quinten (Post) and Draymond (Green), when those two are in the game our rim protection is fantastic. When (Stephen Curry)’s off the court, and Jimmy’s on with the group, our offense is pretty good.”
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Apart from small-ball lineups, Butler and Green have been more effective this season when they’re not on the court at the same time, according to Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required). Gordon notes that since their last small-ball start on December 2, Butler and Green have a minus-24.2 net rating in 51 combined minutes. Gordon finds that the most effective lineups have Butler surrounded by shooters and ball-handlers. “I think (coach Steve Kerr) will continue to try to figure out the right combinations,” Curry said, “but the style of — me, Jimmy and Draymond can play together all the time because we know each other so well. Those other two guys, he’s trying to figure out the right combinations there. I know you want me and Jimmy on the floor at all times, and Jimmy with shooting is kind of reflective of when he was at his greatest in Miami. We just have to understand what we’re trying to do with whoever is on the floor and not think the same play calls work for 48 minutes.”
- Constant matchups against bigger players may be wearing on Green, ESPN’s Marc J. Spears suggested in an appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link). “I’m hearing to that Draymond’s a little frustrated with having to guard centers and having the guys that are 40, 50 pounds heavier than him on a nightly basis,” Spears said. The Warriors added Al Horford in free agency to give Green more time at power forward, but injuries have limited Horford to just 13 games so far.
- Saturday’s ejection and Monday’s shouting match with Kerr have made headlines, but the biggest problem with Green is his diminished skill set, writes Nick Friedell of The Athletic. To be successful, the Warriors need to recognize Green is no longer the star he used to be and find ways to take advantage of the things he still does well, Friedell states.
- Horford is expected to return for the Christmas Day game against Dallas after missing the past three weeks due to sciatica, Friedell tweets.
Only way the Dubs will be able to add is if they’re willing to part with their FRP. They’re so pot committed that they should be ready to use that as a chip.
Why would they trade any of their 1sts? Their biggest problem has been turnovers. They have easily lost 4-5 games because of them.
Because the nba is loaded with size and they can’t match up with anyone.
Warriors fans have been denying that for yrs lol. They don’t understand what a big does. Only Davey J gets it.
The Warriors have had plenty of flavor of the minute 7-footers. Why do we need another one of those? They have been kind of disastrous.
Somebody will offer something for Kuminga. They will not be getting some big all star so no need to add draft picks unless its for a player well worth getting. Sending Green and payton to the lakers For Rui and LaRavia. Lakers get their defense.
If they’re talking to the Nets about Claxton as it’s been reported, they won’t get him without adding their FRP.
What is coming out of the warriors GM is that they are looking at only making minor moves and no big trades. Kuminga is gone and maybe Hield or payton but other than that MDJ knows there is not much he can do. MDJ also said he wants to hold onto draft picks.
Then they won’t get anything that will move the needle. Given that they are pot committed with this group, they should be willing to deal a pick.
No doubt they will get anything more than a bench player. Not much you can do when you are at the cap with so many over paid players.
Dra isn’t as valuable to other teams as he is to Warriors. You post on other threads Dra is done. Then you think you can trade him for value. smh
What value did I claim he could be traded for? Did I not say bench players. Gee bandwagon Al you sure like to make up things.
Right, Giannis for 3 or 4 FRP pretty much is all they would need anyway, then you add Kuminga and Green’s salary to the mix, and flip Dray to the Pistons or Lakers, and then GSW are going places. Their secondary players are way better this year than in recent years past, they all complement a Steph+Jimmy+Giannis trio.
They need to trade Draymond.
Exactly, when Dray is turning it over 4-8 times a game, that’s a guy who no longer fits the system, likely due to his skills diminishing and him not adjusting for that.
Yep. And it’s a whole lot easier for a player to adjust to his new role on a different team than it is with the team he’s been a part of.
Example: Ray Allen in Boston then Miami.
Lol….play in team. Nobody could see this coming. Still whispering in the ears of those fools easily parted with money.
Oh Trixie, you are still bitter. The Warriors were a play-in team in 22, and played like it. The owner declared to the world that they were in rebuild mode. So, how did they fair against the “legit contenders” Celtics. Oh, that’s right…
Warriors were 53-29 in the regular season in 2022. Stop misrepresenting the truth. Again.
That’s because they started out 18-1. So, most of the season, they were pretty mediocre.
Everyone but you and Warriors fans could see this coming bro. They have to depend on a bunch of old guys and guys that shouldn’t be in any rotation in the rotation. The reason they have so many players that shouldn’t be in a rotation though is because they were good to great for a decade.
You just described so many teams. Warriors are not the only old team trying to hang on. Celtics, Clippers, Bucks, heat, mavs, and ect… dynastys always get old and try to hang on. Ibeen saying for 2 years now the rebuild is so close.
Both of Bostons $50MM players are under 30 years old. Golden State has no one like Cooper Flagg. The Heat have reasonable contract extensions out to their internal draft picks who have been developed into valuable and tradable assets. The Clippers are old like the Warriors but their 2nd best player, either Harden or Kawhi depending on how you rate them, is so much better and more productive than the Warriors 2nd best player. Giannis has crappy vets around him like Steph, but he also has Rollins and Porter who are much better and more valuable prospects than anyone rostered on the Warriors.
Wait what? First you are praising them, now you are dogging them. Which is it?
maybe Silver will fix the next draft so warriors get the #1 pick like Dallas did.
Clippers, yes, their average age is older than the Warriors. But the other 4 you mention have starters and top 10 rotation players averaging around 28yo.
Dubs have a mix of old and young, trouble is 70% of their points and assists and 60% of their rebounds come from players 33 and older.
come on goat those teams best players are closer to 35 than 28. Those teams lean very heavy on tehir older players not their younger players.
Huh? I’m confused. I said they were mediocre 22. The owner said they were in a rebuild mode. Klay was past his prime. Durant was gone. I’ve been there for a few years. You are turning it into me saying they are great team. How do you get that?
Another opponent in Dallas Mavericks where Draymond’s diminished ability as a player will get exposed.
Cooper is about to eat Draymond for lunch….unless Draymond decides to wake up and play like vintage Dray again (unlikely). GSW has not won a Xmas day game in a while.
Post and Al vs AD will be a sight to see as well.
AD will go against Green and Post will go against Flagg. Curry needs to have a great game. Keep on Thompson at 3 pt line because he has revenge in his eyes
You know it’s over when every fan has a different reason of why it’s going so wrong and also what to do about it. Victor Conte (RIP) and BALCO was your only path to athletically competing in the NBA with a roster this old
“Roster this old” except 7 main rotation guys (including Kuminga) are under 25.
Does it get tiring knowing so little yet talking so much? Like, you don’t know a damn thing about this Warriors team, yet all you do is badmouth them and then cry and cope and seethe when they prove the window is still open. Grow up.
LOL, you’re counting Trace Jackson Davis, Gui & Will Richard?
Point is the other 7 avg age is 35. 😆
Dude your main guys are old. Its not a problem yet. That window is closer than you think. With Warriors you have to take it yr by yr.
The main guys are TJD, Post, Podz, Richard, Gui, Kuminga and Moody. Love how yall act like they are terrible, unplayable players, thats totally untrue.
I dont know whats dumber, acting like these guys who get 30+ mins a game dont exist, or that the #1 highest valued team in the NBA is going to ever to actually rebuild with Lacob as the owner. Just wrong in both cases.
None of those are getting 30 mpg.
The avg of the 7 players logging 20 or mpg for the Warriors is 31.
Dudes delusional…..Santos, Post, Spencer, TJD and podz will be avoiding a rebuild and taking the Warriors to the chip.
All teams go through a rebuild at some point Davey. At the best the warriors will need a huge amount of luck not to be b rebuilding in 2028.
Yeah arc, GSW went through a rebuild between 1994-2013. They do not have to rebuild anytime soon. Especially with the 8 man young core of TJD, Spencer, Post, Podz, Richard, Gui, Kuminga and Moody, who look like they are going to all stick in the NBA. It’s that part that is so frustrating to the people who are just misery-core, pure misers who love to lose and who -want- their team to be bad for some reason. That group is going to be very good in this league, the perfect accent to 2 or 3 highly paid superstars.
Lacob will never ever rebuild, it would dent the frnachises value. Makes no sense. I feel like that part isnt landing with you and others who think “well, they HAVE to rebuild” when no, they do not, there are plenty of routes to go that don’t involve selling and ends with another ring. You saw Curry last playoffs, he had the Rockets and Wolves completely shook. He was locked in. Dubs were going to the Finals.
Its honestly going to be so funny when GSW finally gets a softer schedule and wins 10 in a row. If they are 25-15 are they still “washed” and “non-contenders”? Nope. If they win in a couple hours they will beat an on-fire Dallas, it will show everyone in here they are still a beast. Curry is still in mega superelite mode. Anyone claiming Curry is washed simply is an idiot plain and simple. He has 5+ more years of MVP-level play in him, this is pure fact and come back to this post in 5 years and go “wow, he called this”.
You got to be realistic that Curry will retire in a few years. You can see he is slowing down a little. Green is at the end of his career. Butler will be moving on again after his contract is over. Of those players you mentioned TJD, Spencer, and Kuminga will be gone soon. None of the others are looking like all stars. Warriors will need a few top 5 lotto picks to rebuild. Nothing wrong with a rebuild to build another dynasty liek what the Spurs are doing.
Curry has not slowed down one bit, that’s all made up nonsense.
Draymond is the one who obviously has to go, along with
Buddy (bad fit, too old, also washed up like Dray)
GP2 (made of glass, bad for 7 games good for 3)
Seth (Pat Spencer makes Seth irrelevant)
Podz (doesnt fit on a Curry/Kerr team)
With the breakouts of Pat Spencer and Will Richard, why do the Warriors even need more guards than Steph, Spencer, Moody, Richard and Melton? Those 5 players should get all 96 guard minutes per game for the rest of the season. Put Pat on the main roster and get 2way guards to play out the blowouts. Then go get some wings and bigs to replace the rest of the guards. MDJ and Kerr put together a bad roster this year, they cant afford to stack THIS many offense-minded guards on the team and expect to win. But that’s easily fixed after Jan 15. MDJ needs to shorten the lineup and stop Kerr from playing so many confusing rotations, if they keep it simple, GSW will win.
If they trade Kuminga for another under 6’6″ guard and keep committing to Kerr and his outdated smallball, Dub Nation will riot.
Watch a little closer on Spencer he can play offense but he is terrible on defense. Watch Curry on offense he is resting a lot more on offense than he used to rest. There are a lot of little things that are not talked about by the warriors play by play announcers who are just homers. Keep an eye open on who gets beat in the key or standing in teh corner when they are on defense. Green for example Kerr needs him to play closer to the basket on offense for rebounds instead at top of key so his man can cheat off and double team Curry. Buddy has always been poor at defense but if you listen to warriors homer announcers you would think he is a all defense team player.
Spencer is a classic PG, he is the perfect Steph backup, he should see all the non-Steph minutes there, so just play Moody or Richard out there with him and the defense is covered. I love the IQ of both Pat and Will, that alone proves GSW will never be a rebuilding team in the next 5 years. Too many high IQ guys will end up winning more games.
I am with you, Kelena and Bob are absolute garbage, the worst, least charismatic duo with zero chemistry. I mean look at them. Dub Nation always deserved a better quality commentary duo. “From way downtown BANG” is not from a Warriors commentator. Yet they had millions of options to call Steph’s huge plays better, instead we get Bob saying “off iron” in a grating voice like 100 times a game as they miss crucial plays by talking about nothing to do with the game. If anyone wants to argue otherwise, AwfulAnnouncing placed them 30th, so I have plenty of backup here.
Post defense is what making the warriors better. They also have a rim protector rebounder right now unlike the first 20 game Kerr didn’t play him and they were getting killed on the boards. Now only if the warriors can get a back up for Post they could become a top 6 team in the west.
That TJD, Jimmy, Moody, Podz, Melton lineup cooked on offense and defense, really liked how they kept going downhill on the hurry up offense, Dallas had no match for this. A non-Curry offense roation? Wow!! First one of the year!
warriors went back to their 3 shooting too much again instead of driving to the basket. 3 easy lay ups and instead kick it out for a 3.
They shot 11-27 41% from 3 in the first half…
…and then 3-23 13% from 3 in the 2nd half…
…and STILL…Dubs by 10.
…and Kerr STILL finding ways to turn blowouts into close games…
they stop driving into the paint and started hacking up 3s. Kerr needs to sit them when they get lazy and not driving.
They put up less 3’s in the second half though lol, if they go 8-23 then this is a 25+ point blowout.
Huh? What does BALCO have to do with the Warriors? They were shutdown over 20 years ago. Completely unrelated.
“Butler and Green have been more effective this season when they’re not on the court at the same time”
Hmmm who else has been saying this on here? Me.
The Dubs comment sections are getting sadder every day
but never as said as the kings comment section. Sorry that was too easy of a comeback.
Those comments have never been happy and you know it arc lol
i do feel for you king’s fans because if it wasn’t for the Refs that 1 year you guys would ahve been in the finals instead of lakers
Like guys losing their HS sweetheart and still trying to hang on lol …… 🥺😢
Better to have a sweetheart at one time then never loving again.
You keep hanging on to the past. While life (the game) passes you by. Yes great memories lol.
You keep dreaming of someday being at the prom as the king.
Dray is part of the heart of team, but the team is mediocre and old. If they are smart they will trade him along with others for someone who handles ball better and younger
He has little trade value at this point, so if you’re moving him it’s purely for salary matching and using other assets (1sts, etc) to get something done.
Not enough has been reported about Al’s back. I consider that potentially serious. I hope he’s good. Going to really chk him out today.
Lakers with a good start to season. Imo they aren’t a top 6 team in the West. Warriors have a chance to show something today.
With Bron leaving. Kuminga is a guy who can step right in at SF in LA. Unfortunately we won’t get to see him play.