The Golden State Warriors finished out the regular season limping their way to the playoffs, having had a massive lead over the Portland Trail Blazers and for once in the past four years — content to go into the postseason with something other than the top seed.
Draymond Green has received enough lectures of having “appropriate fear” from head coach Steve Kerr, but should this playoff run fall short of expectations, some decisions will have to be made by this team's aggressive front office, which has put the team well-over the tax bracket.
Green's performance this season hasn't been as inspiring as last season's, when he won the Defensive Player of the Year award with 1.4 blocks and a league-leading 2.06 steals per game — and given his ailing body parts (bruise in elbow and sore shoulder) which have plagued him throughout the season — he could be the first the Warriors set eye on when making tough decisions.
“I think there's more unknown anywhere when you don't win — whether you got the 30th highest payroll in the league or the highest,” Green told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “But I don't think about that. It's on them.”
Yet unlike the past three seasons, this air of invincibility has slowly worn off, as the Warriors limped to a 7-10 mark to finish the season, rear-ended with a 40-point blowout at the hands of the Utah Jazz.
Questions about this team growing bored of success and struggling to find the motivation have risen prominently, a variable that could make all the difference between a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals or a quick exit.
“To think you are going to win a championship every year is unrealistic,” Green said. “We all say the Spurs is the model franchise of the last 20, 25 years, right? Most people would say that.
“Well, they've never won back-to-back. Yet, the guys who won a championship, other than the guys who have retired, are still there. So you can fool yourself and think, ‘Oh, we didn't win it this year, time to break it up,' and you may never get that opportunity back again.”
As usual, winning is the answer to all questions, as winning forced this ownership group to shell out big money even for their bench until, doling out several millions to Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston.
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