Did the Warriors' undefeated preseason show anything meaningful about this team?
SAN FRANCISCO — Go ahead and crown the Warriors now. For the preseason, that is.
A perfect preseason may not count for much, if anything, but it has left Stephen Curry and Co. brimming with swagger after sweeping their five exhibition contests. When the regular season begins Tuesday night in Los Angeles, the same group will also be starting its quest to end a two-year playoff drought.
That's not much of a dry spell in the grand scheme of things, but a third straight miss for a regime that has notched three championships this decade, well, that would be unprecedented. Listen to their words, and it would also come as a surprise.
"With all these pieces we have, I definitely think we're a championship-caliber team," the typically soft-spoken Andrew Wiggins said this week. "We got all the right tools. We've got some talented young guys, some talented old guys, a good mix of guys that I think can be really good defensively. We've got a bunch of guys who can put the ball in the hoop. I think it'll be a special year for us."
These guys can play without Klay
The group that starts the season won't be the same as the one that finishes it.
The Warriors will get two notable reinforcements at different points midway through the season. How do an athletic 7-footer and an all-time great shooter sound for midseason roster upgrades?
Until Klay Thompson and James Wiseman return, the Warriors are left to fantasize about what can be. If the preseason is any indication, though, they'll be anything but treading water until then.
"I look at it like, 'Damn, we still ain't got Klay and James,'" Jordan Poole said. "I think it gives us more confidence how well we've been playing without (them)."
Golden State didn't drop a dud in the preseason. The Warriors scored at least 111 points in all five games and averaged 118, among the tops in the NBA. Even when Curry sat, they beat the LeBron James-led Lakers.
Kerr said the Warriors will rely on their depth early in the season, especially as Wiggins and Draymond Green get their legs under them. Green missed the first couple days of training camp with a personal issue and Wiggins a few days last week with a sore left knee.
The Warriors could rotate through 10 or 11 players on a given night.
Curry, Poole, Wiggins, Green and Kevon Looney comprise the starting five.
Newcomers Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica should both play key roles off the bench as sizable 3-point shooters, alongside the familiar faces of Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Lee, as well as Andre Iguodala, who's back after a two-year stint in Miami. Rookie Moses Moody, the 14th pick out of Arkansas in the past draft, is also poised to see the floor after showing a capable 3-point shot and high basketball IQ in his first professional action.
As for the return of their two sidelined stars? Wiseman (meniscus) was recently cleared to increase his activity level and has been running full speed on the sidelines. He'll likely be back before Thompson (Achilles), who is reported to be targeting a December return. However, the former No. 2 overall pick won't be thrust back into the same role he had as a rookie, when he started 27 of the 39 games he appeared in.
"James will give us a rim-runner in transition and a lob threat in the pick and roll, and obviously the size and length defensively," Kerr said. "He's obviously very young still. We're teaching him every day. So when he comes back, he'll still be in a learning process."
Jordan Poole's emergence
Already the Warriors are showing key differences from last year, led by the emergence of Poole, the third-year former first-round pick out of Michigan. Poole averaged 21.8 points in 22.7 minutes per game this preseason while displaying fearless, newfound playmaking ability.
The 22-year-old combo guard will launch shots from well beyond the 3-point line on one possession and take his defender off the dribble to the hoop on the next. Spliced in between, still, are some of the miscues that have held him back his first two years.
"What we're trying to help Jordan with right now is we want him to maintain his aggressiveness, but we want him to hit singles instead of swing for home runs," said Kerr, who also stressed the importance of improving on defense. "That's the key to Jordan's development. He has the ability to go by people constantly, which is great. Now it's a matter of fine-tuning the decision-making. ... We're thrilled with how coachable he is and how much he's absorbing."
Nobody on the Warriors attempted more shots this preseason than Poole.
"If I'm open, I'll shoot it," Poole said.
The 3s are coming
That, right there, is the philosophy behind the new-and-improved Warriors offense.