30 Warriors in 30 Days: Kuminga creates internal friction. Curry finally has a cylinder?

To be fair, the Warriors' journey last season cannot be described as a failure.

Although at the beginning of the season, the Warriors lingered in the lottery zone for a long time; although after the regular season, they only won 48 games and barely grabbed a play-off ticket.

But this time, the Warriors successfully broke through the play-offs. Not only that, they also reached the Western Conference semifinals. If it weren't for Curry's sudden injury, they might even have created an even bigger surprise.

Also last season, the Warriors found some ways to deal with the aging core. For example, they further reduced the speed of offensive and defensive transitions. While reducing the number of rounds, the Warriors also re-emphasized the importance of defense. Their defensive efficiency returned to the top ten in the league (ranked 7th), and in the defensive battle with the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, they had the last laugh with their more experienced experience.

Of course, the most fundamental reason why the Warriors were able to "come back to life" in the middle of the season was because of Butler's addition to the front line.

At the beginning of this year, when Butler's name was first associated with the Warriors, a large proportion of people in the outside world were waiting to see the Warriors' jokes. A common view at the time was that Butler was 35 years old and had passed the peak of his career; Butler liked to hold the ball, and he was incompatible with the Warriors' system that emphasized moving without the ball; Butler's personality was too irritable, and he might conflict with some people on the Warriors, especially powder keg like Dream Green.

But what happened later was that after Butler joined the Warriors, he managed to seamlessly integrate with the new club's system. It is true that Butler is 35 years old, but he knows how to assess the situation and release the most elite combat power in the most critical games; Butler is not incapable of playing without the ball. After joining the Warriors, he has mastered the team's basic play style very freely, and can maximize compatibility between his own characteristics and the new environment.

In 30 regular season games on behalf of the Warriors, Butler averaged 17.9 points, 5.9 assists, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. The four basic statistics have rebounded to a certain extent compared to his later period with the Heat. Butler also gets along very well with his Warriors teammates, and even became good personal friends with Dream Green, and this good relationship has continued into this offseason.

Also after Butler joined the team, the Warriors' record continued to soar. As a temporary patch for the team and a firefighter, JB also fulfilled his role perfectly. He received overwhelming praise from public opinion, and at the same time received real money from the Warriors - a new two-year contract worth $111 million.

The Warriors' preferential treatment of veterans and their appreciation of players who can play and accept the Warriors' basketball culture have been completely confirmed by Butler's experience.

But for some young people in the original lineup, and for those young guys who have never been able to understand the essence of the Warriors' tactics, they have a completely different attitude.

For example, Moses Moody in the backcourt is still a rotation player with an awkward role in the fourth season of his career. Although last season, he already started 34 times, and his average playing time per game exceeded the 20 minutes mark for the first time in the season. His average contribution of 9.8 points per game is already a career high. But obviously, for four full years, Moody still cannot gain Cole's complete trust. He is still at risk of being abandoned by Cole at any time. Entering the playoffs, his role has also shrunk significantly. And this situation of distrust seems to be difficult to change in a short time.

Another example is TJD inside. He was clearly a regular rotation player in the post during his rookie season, but last season, especially in the second half of the season, he was gradually abandoned by Cole. By the playoffs, he could only play 8.9 minutes per game, completely becoming a marginal player in the system, and his limited playing time was absorbed by Post, who is better at shooting and creating space...

Of course, it is Kuminga who is in the most embarrassing situation.

In his four years with the Warriors, Kuminga has actually proven that he is a capable athlete. However, it must also be admitted that although the Warriors' 4-championship system in 8 years has benefited many players, it has also tortured him very painfully.

Last season, precisely due to differences in philosophy, Kuminga was completely hidden by Cole from the beginning of January to the beginning of March, and did not participate in an official game for two full months. But on the stage of the playoffs, when Curry was injured in the semifinals and the Warriors were forced to use Kuminga when they had no recruits to use, he averaged 24.3 points in the last four games of the semifinals, almost single-handedly keeping the team's final dignity.

By this summer, the conflict between Kuminga and the Warriors has become more and more prominent. In his heart, he wanted to leave Jinzhou and seek another career. However, his status as a restricted free agent prevents him from completely taking his destiny into his own hands.

So in the early stages of negotiations, Kuminga put forward many conditions for the Warriors, either giving himself a big contract with a total salary of 80 million, or letting him go, and the contract must also include player options. At the same time, teams like the Suns and Kings did offer an olive branch to Kuminga in the market.

However, the Warriors did not meet any of Kuminga's requirements. The management actually went into a stalemate with Xiaoku for three months. For this reason, they suspended all operations of the team, making the Warriors embarrassingly the only team without any player signings throughout the summer.

In the end, Yongguan's extreme pressure and gambling worked. Kuminga finally accepted a relatively compromise plan before the early renewal deadline. He signed a two-year contract extension worth $48.5 million, and the player option in the contract was also changed to a team option.

After Kuminga renewed his contract, the Warriors' other signings were also completed immediately. Horford and Curry Jr. have joined the Warriors' roster, and Melton and Payton II have also returned to the locker room.. The only regret is that the Warriors did not retain the championship hero and the best rebounder in the team Looney this summer.

But frankly speaking, since the Warriors started the money-saving mode, their ability to reinforce has been quite limited. In the new season, when the contracts of Curry, Dream Chaser and Butler are not fixed, the Warriors' salary has been used up 130 million yuan. In this case, the total cost left for them to strengthen the other 12-man roster is only more than 40 million.

Therefore, even if there is no dispute with Kuminga, there is not much room for reinforcement of the Warriors' current lineup. Next season, they will still be one of the oldest teams in the league, and they can even field a starting lineup with an average age of 35+. They still have to count on the personal heroism of Curry and Butler, and they still cannot set their goals too high.

The only good thing is that during the offseason, the league adjusted the penalty rules for outside shooting. In the new season, Curry will be one of the most direct beneficiaries. This change may bring a certain increase in data to Curry and also inject some new positive factors into the Warriors' tactical execution.