Lowe: The 7 most underdiscussed NBA teams this offseason
Lowe: The 7 most underdiscussed NBA teams this offseason
Here are seven teams that have gone underdiscussed this offseason — each with critical storylines and moves yet to play out.OK, I’m cheating; no one ignores the Warriors. But the offseason focus has been on the legend who left and their new All-Star target. Let’s assume the Warriors don’t acquire Lauri Markkanen or any equivalent player. What is this team — with Klay Thompson and Chris Paul gone, and a slew of new role players in De’Anthony Melton, Kyle Anderson and Buddy Hield?If he’s healthy, Melton has a chance to start — though I’d guess the most likely starting five is Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, and Draymond Green. The Wiggins-Kuminga combination found its rhythm in smaller lineups with Green at center; the Curry/Wiggins/Kuminga/Green quartet finished plus-115 in 403 minutes. Starting this way forces Green to open at center and leaves two traditional bigs — Kevon Looney and Trayce Jackson-Davis — fighting for backup minutes.That’s the price of starting Kuminga. Any combination of Kuminga, Green and a paint-bound center cramps Golden State’s spacing beyond the point where even Curry can save it. The roving gravity of the Splash Brothers could make almost any lineup work. Thompson is gone, and Hield is the only elite shooter Golden State added. Curry and Hield make for a potent combination, but the cost would come on defense. Podziemski and Melton offer better two-way balance.It’s time for the Warriors to start Kuminga and see if the youth movement can explode in time to salvage the back end of Curry’s career. His extension negotiations could get spicy if Kuminga’s team gets the feeling his role might fluctuate again.Regardless of who starts, the Warriors’ rotation could feature six (mostly) non-shooters in Kuminga, Green, Anderson, Gary Payton II and the two centers. Any three-man combination of those six is a no-go. Some two-man combinations won’t work. Anderson is a snug fit for the Warriors’ read-and-react beautiful game; the Anderson-Green duo is intriguing — the two serving as mirror-image screener/playmakers on opposite sides of the floor.It’s a good team, probably a hair better than last year’s 46-win outfit — though similar in that there is a jumble of solid players, but too big a chasm between Curry and whoever is No. 2.The Warriors feel like an afterthought now — the embers of a dynasty — but winning 46 games in the West is nothing to scoff at. There is no shame in Curry riding out his career as a Warriors lifer on good, interesting teams. Few one-team stars chase championships in their twilight. That’s not how it works. If you crave the fairy-tale ending, know it already happened — two years ago, in the Warriors’ improbable fourth title run and Curry’s first Finals MVP.The team as presently constituted could make the playoffs, perhaps even win a round. Anything beyond that feels unlikely.The question the Warriors must ask themselves is whether acquiring Markkanen makes them true contenders now, which would justify sacrificing a significant chunk of their future. The specific price is paramount. The combination of Kuminga, Podziemski and major draft capital — unprotected picks and swaps — is too much. Even that same package with Moses Moody in Podziemski’s place could edge past the Warriors’ breaking point. Moody is ready to assume a larger role.More importantly, the starting rotation was the best in the league for two months with rookie Luis Gil, Cole’s replacement, on an All-Star path leading the charge. In late May, the Yankees set the major league record for consecutive games with starts of at least five innings and two or fewer runs allowed. Yankees starters logged at least four innings for the season’s first 76 games, another record. The consistency lightened the load on the bullpen — and abruptly ended a month ago, as the rotation had an ERA of 5.37 in June and 4.80 so far in July.
