Kurtenbach: A new era of Warriors basketball begins with the team in no-man’s land

SAN FRANCISCO — What do the 2024-25 Warriors want to be?

I’ve heard all the buzzwords this preseason — scrappy, gritty, fast-paced — and I’ve seen those concepts manifest well in exhibition games.

But surely these Warriors, led by NBA champions and Olympic gold medal winners Steph Curry, Draymond Green and coach Steve Kerr, don’t really see the Warriors that way.

That kind of team sure sounds like an underdog.

And the Golden State Warriors — even in this late-stage dynastic iteration — still see themselves as second to no one. They earned that right.

This conflict between pride and circumstance will define this upcoming Warriors season.

After an offseason of core upheaval — with the exit of Klay Thompson in free agency and the failure to land either of the team’s top two trade targets — the Warriors have, improbably, built a team poised to win regular-season games. They could even be quite good between now and mid-April.

But is that good enough for men with rings on their fingers?

Curry and Green have both spoken openly about the end of their playing careers in recent months. Both would prefer that to happen in the Bay.

But as healthy as that dialogue might be, it’s hardly the Warrior mindset.

Is this just stage one of the slow, graceful fade-out both players desire — a farewell tour that lasts multiple years like Elton John?

Or can this team play well enough to fully shift the duo’s mindset to the opportunity at hand this season?

Is there an opportunity at hand this season?

As Green has been keen to tell us over the years, it’s the games from mid-April onward that truly matter. I doubt he’ll change his tune on that anytime soon.

Yet there’s no guarantee that these Warriors will be playing postseason basketball.

After all, this squad was the last team to qualify for the not-quite-playoffs last season—making the play-in tournament as the No. 10 seed—only to be blown out by the Sacramento Kings in a game so lopsided that the Warriors used their entire bench, finishing the season with G League players on the court.

The Warriors will have to use the entire bench quite often this season. Not because of blowouts, but rather because the front office has taken “Strength In Numbers” — the team’s slogan from the salad days — to new heights.

This team has, so far, failed to solve its biggest problem from last season: Curry lacks a bonafide sidekick, the kind of No. 2 that can carry a team if Curry has a bad game (those are more frequent these days) or, heaven forbid, is sidelined.

Meanwhile, Thompson exited stage right, signing with Dallas. Chris Paul has rolled on down to San Antonio. Yes, a few more folks are leaving the Bay for Texas. Like so many, they’ll be back soon enough. (Well, Thompson will for his jersey retirement, anyway.)

But the real issue for the Warriors was that a trade for Paul George fell through and then trade talks for Lauri Markkanen were never serious.

And the Warriors, faced with a crossroads moment, decided to rebuild on the fly by going full Billy Beane and replacing the exiting players in the aggregate. Buddy Hield, now on his third team in 2024, was brought in to replace Thompson’s fading shooting. The Warriors signed DeAnthony Melton to replace Paul. He’ll work in conjunction with Brandin Podziemski, whom the front office believes is a rising star. They also added Kyle “Slo-Mo” Anderson to provide depth and extended Moses Moody to an extension that should ensure he receives more regular playing time this season. They’re banking on a Year Three leap from Jonathan Kuminga, but not literally — they justly passed on extending him this week.

Yes, these Warriors are deep. Figuring out who is in and out of the rotation will make Kerr’s job tough this year.

But are the Warriors tall?

Literally, they are not. This team’s active roster lacks a 7-footer and will face the same rim-protection issues that plagued them last season.

And metaphorically, it’s hard to imagine the Warriors reaching heights anywhere near where this squad was merely two seasons ago. Remember, this team finished last in the Pacific Division last year.

In baseball, depth is vital. In basketball, it’s a trump card among the best teams — the squads with multiple top-end stars leading the way.

The Warriors are still in a position to make a move for that No. 2. But that requires solid play on their end (good enough to justify going all-in), disaster elsewhere in the league (they need a superstar to want out midseason) and a whole lot of luck (other teams want stars, too).

“It’s just hard to do deals,” Dunleavy said in June.

Perhaps.

But it’s unquestionably hard to compete for titles, too.

And right now, it will be hard to convince anyone — perhaps most of all the champions on this roster — that the Warriors can do that this season. Even if both Curry and Green play 70-plus games and the new pieces fit in, this team feels limited.

Perhaps that changes in the months to come.

Perhaps it doesn’t, but the Warriors handle their new ordinariness with class and good humor.

Both options seem equally plausible.

But, of course, there is the third option: an increasing uneasiness that builds up for months, only to burst at the worst possible moment.

Yes, that’s on the table, too.

It might even be the reason to watch. Call it the NASCAR effect: We’re only in it for the crashes.

We’re certainly not watching to see who finishes top-10.

What do the Warriors want out of this months-long race?

If it’s a title, something big and bold will need to happen in the weeks to come.

Then again, if it doesn’t happen, something big and bold might come anyway.