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If fans have played close attention to the Golden State Warriors start to the first quarter of the season, one thing is evident — these are not the Warriors they've been accustomed to.
The throat-stepping, high-tailing, unrelenting team that ended the year in a 30-2 run (including playoffs) is a sight far removed to what this enhanced version is today.
Today's Warriors turn the ball over, overpass, take lazy trips on defense and brush off losses in championship-hangover-like ways.
But to head coach Steve Kerr, this is just the beginning of an even better version of last year's team once they tap into their real potential.
“I still think we’re going to be better by the end of this year than we were last year,” Kerr said, according to Mark Medina of the San Jose Mercury News. “I believe that. But it’s a totally different route.”
The Warriors haven't managed to put out any impressive stretches of basketball together since their season-high seven-game win streak to start the month, losing to bar-measuring opponents like the Boston Celtics and the Oklahoma City Thunder — showing the flaws of their carelessness.
Kerr once again cautioned for patience and looked at the bigger picture.
“We’re in good shape record-wise without having played very well,” he said. “That maybe the source of comfort. But if we’re not careful, it will also be a source of deception.”
“We have to stay on our guys without grinding them to a pulp and keep reminding them that we have to play to a standard. We’re not playing to achieve a certain record. We’re playing to achieve a standard that we want to achieve for our selves and not anybody else.”
The Warriors have now won two straight to start their six-game road trip, taking on a struggling Miami Heat without star center Hassan Whiteside on Sunday to complete the first half of the tour.
