The blend of roster continuity and lineup uncertainty facing the Golden State Warriors is one that excites Steve Kerr. No team in basketball boasts a more cohesive, dynamic group of top players than the reigning champions' “foundational six,” yet rotational questions abound as their title defense dawns.
Here are three hottest burning questions Golden State must answer entering training camp for the 2022-23 season.
The top-six and who?
The Warriors' rotation was largely set as they embarked on quests for back-to-back titles in 2015-16, 2017-18 and 2018-19. That's not the case this time around, with three prized young players and a pair of veteran offseason additions vying for available minutes behind Golden State's top-six in training camp and the preseason.
Make no mistake, either. The Warriors won't be gifting playing time to Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman ahead of Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green just to continue fostering Joe Lacob's dream of parallel roster timelines. Golden State's lottery picks will have to earn significant minutes this season.
“The first three times we came back from winning championships, the rotations were really set. We had deep rosters, we had veteran players. We kinda knew exactly who was going to play, what combinations would form,” Kerr said on The TK Show earlier this week. “This is very different. It’s rare I think for a championship team to come back with a lot of young talent that has a chance to compete for playing time. So I like that dynamic, I think competition is good, it brings the best out of everybody.”
Odds are that DiVincenzo, Moody and Kuminga begin the regular season with legitimate rotation roles. But their specific allotment of minutes off the bench could go any number of ways, just like the competition between Green and Wiseman for burn behind Draymond Green and Kevon Looney.
The Warriors will win another title on the back of Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond and Looney. Margins always matter against top-tier playoff competition, though, and at least two of the reserves named above—Moody and Kuminga, ideally—separating themselves from the pack could go a long way toward Golden State repeating as champions.
Can Draymond Green's back hold up?
Green missed 29 games from January to March of last season, initially sidelined by a calf injury that team doctors ultimately learned was related to herniated discs in his back. He was absent for just two games of the regular season's remainder and no playoff games, but the lingering effects of Green's injury were sometimes clear nonetheless.
“I wasn't on the bench or I didn't travel with the team or anything for two months because I couldn't sit down,” he recently of his time away from the team last season on The Checc'n In podcast. “Like I was either standing or laying down.”
Green is adamant that a summer spent focusing on developing his core muscles and strengthening his calf has him in the best shape of his career. Remember, Green was a shoo-in for Defensive Player of the Year in 2021-22 before being sidelined, only truly reaching that peak intermittently during the Warriors' subsequent championship run.
Maybe a better understanding of his body and preventative training really does have Green fully healthy and in excellent condition as his 11th season rapidly approaches. But Green is also 32, and degenerative back trouble doesn't just go away entirely without surgery.
What if the toll of playing so much time at small-ball five leaves Green at less than 100 percent when Golden State's title defense begins in earnest come playoff time? More minutes for Looney, Wiseman and JaMychal Green over the 82-game grind at least mitigates those concerns, but there's no telling whether they prop back up when the Warriors need Draymond most.
Will Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green find their strokes?
Golden State couldn't have done better with most of the taxpayer's mid-level exception and a post-buyout minimum than DiVincenzo and Green. Both are active, rugged defenders with playoff experience, plus enough stylistic and positional flexibility needed to help make the Warriors' whole greater than the sum of their individual parts on both sides of the ball.
Well, at least if they find their shooting strokes.
DiVincenzo shot 33.9% from deep with the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings last season, while Green dipped to ghastly 26.6% three-point shooting with the Denver Nuggets. There's ample reason to believe both will be better in 2022-23, and not just because the imminent threat Curry—plus Thompson and Poole—poses to defenses routinely creates open looks for his teammates.
DiVincenzo hit 36.8% of his triples after being traded to the Kings at February 10th deadline, and was clearly still re-acclimating from the foot injury last season that left him sidelined for the Bucks' 2021 title run. Green, meanwhile, approached 40% long-range shooting on higher volume with Denver and the LA Clippers in 2020-21 and 2019-20, also hitting a career-best 87.1% of his free throws last season.
DiVincenzo and Green didn't just forget how to shoot, but struggles to knock down open threes indeed contributed to their lacking league-wide interest on the open market this summer. Don't be surprised if both are significantly more accurate in the Bay—and for the Warriors' sake, they better be.
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