Golden State Warriors: Why the team must commit to tanking this season

The Golden State Warriors’ underdog victory in the wake of crippling injuries to their starters has given fans hope. But it shouldn’t lead the team astray from their organizational goal.

The Golden State Warriors came into this season knowing that they would be walking along the brink of disaster if something were to go wrong.

Fans didn’t have to wait too long to see the wheels fall off.

After a less than impressive beginning to the season, the Warriors hit an early rock bottom when Stephen Curry broke his left hand during a romping from the Phoenix Suns last Wednesday.

Aron Baynes, attempting to draw a charge during a 30-point blowout, was knocked off of his feet by the imposing 6-foot-2 Curry. All 260 pounds of Baynes fell backward on top of Curry’s cocked left wrist.

Curry might have been lucky that he only broke his hand.

The most optimistic fan clung to the idea that Curry might be back before the end of the year. But it’s worst-case scenario in terms of the short term; Curry will be out for at least three months.

It was the proverbial straw to break the camel’s back.

Except the loss of Curry in this situation is more like a grand piano and less like a straw. But the metaphor’s bleakness is still appropriate.

There have been glimmers of hope, no doubt. In the week since the Warriors had to accept that the face of their franchise would assuredly be missing more than half of the season, the limited personnel has stepped up.

A nine-man team of misfits hung with the San Antonio Spurs. They battled against the Charlotte Hornets. If it weren’t for some key miscues and lapses in rebounding down the stretch, they might have stolen one.

And finally — after what felt like a relative eternity of a “Chase Center is cursed” narrative — the Golden State Warriors won a game in front of their home crowd.

It’s easy to ride the high that comes with securing a victory as the underdog — the Warriors were double-digit dogs against the Portland Trail Blazers.

But the reality is that this is still a 2-5 team that is down two all-stars for the definitive future and down a total of four all-stars on and off for the next several weeks.

The reality is that the team that won on Monday night are still nine misfits making do.

And the reality that fans will have to accept is that a single victory in this climate of Warriors basketball isn’t going to be enough to lead them off course from their goal of this season.

The team still needs to tank.

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Don’t get me wrong — watching Eric Paschall put together an early-season case for Rookie of the Year is worth tuning in for. Seeing the team slowly establish more on-court camaraderie and improving on their defensive rotations is a welcomed sign.

The rookies should still be developed. The coaching staff should still be trying to find the best possible fits for all of these players.

But this isn’t a team that could legitimately hang around under Stephen Curry comes back.

The ideal outcome of this season — before the massive influx of injuries — was that the Warriors would quietly hang around. They would sneak into the last seed. They’d ride on an MVP-caliber season from the all-time greatest shooter. Klay Thompson would come back.

That ideal was formed around an important point regarding the Warriors’ ability to rebuild this coming offseason.

In the deal that landed the Warriors D’Angelo Russell, the team had to tack on a 2020 first-round draft pick. This is especially big news considering the team does not own the rights to their second-round pick.

The caveat to the tacked-on pick is that it’s top-20 protected. A top-eight finish in the West would likely keep them in that range so they’d get the best of both worlds — compete in the playoffs and still get a chance to rebuild.

That latter detail doesn’t have to change because the prior is off the table.

The Golden State Warriors need that first-round pick — and they frankly need it to be a high enough pick where they’re able to either select a dynamic big man or leverage an eventual, offseason trade.

It would benefit the Warriors to take their time on rehabbing their injured stars.

There’s been talk about load management and player longevity now more than ever. Years of regular season and playoff minutes have piled up on the Warriors, and rushing Thompson for a long shot at continuing the dynasty quicker isn’t a bet worth taking.

The ideal situation has changed. The hand injury gives Curry legitimate rest that will allow him to fully heal. There will be no pressure to have Thompson return months early.

Draymond Green is no exception to this philosophy either.

While his finger injury is legitimate, there’s no doubt that he’d feel pressure to play through it in any other circumstance. His body has been beaten up more over the years than any other Warrior. He needs this sporadic rest throughout the season.

And most ideally, while all this is happening, is that the Warriors will be able to plug Russell into an environment that is conducive to presenting his value.

He won’t have to take nights off while Curry shoots out of his mind. It’s his team for the foreseeable future. And he’s going to pop off the floor next to Damion Lee considerably more than he would Lee’s brother-in-law.

Again, the ideal, originally, was to see how Russell might fit into a future offense that ran three guards out on the floor at once. But the backup plan is to move Russell, and that only really happens if he still has perceived value.

Russell’s eventual trade is looming. He’s a dynamic player that will look great in a system that forces him to play aggressively and utilize several pick-and-roll options, but his time at Chase might feel like a fever dream.

Paired with an oncoming $17 million trade exception, the Warriors have the perfect storm of assets that could legitimately land them one of the big fish in free agency.

That big fish is Greek. You might have heard of him before — Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be as simple as D-Lo for Giannis. But it’d be worth using that first-round draft pick, which could easily become a lottery pick.

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The reality of this season is that it isn’t going to get easier. With such stringent cap regulations that the Warriors have to keep in mind, they’re handcuffed for the entirety of the season.

Even the exciting play of Ky Bowman may end up being limited, as his two-way contract must be converted an NBA minimum contract — which the Warriors can’t afford.

Tough decisions are just around the corner for the Warriors. The slim chance that there was for everything to work out perfectly and have the team sneak into the playoffs have grown slimmer.

Players will be dealt before the deadline. Fans will be frustrated having to say goodbye to some of the misfit toys that they’ve grown attached to.

But the Golden State Warriors are in a unique situation. They have certainly labeled this year as a rebuild, but this isn’t the kind of process that kept teams like Philadelphia in the cellar for a decade.

This process asks for one year of rebuilding — of letting the young guys show what they have, of letting the stars rest their playoff-worn bodies, of positioning for the solidification of a dynasty that the NBA is eagerly looking to close the book on.

What is coming may be even better than what has gone by. That’s what the Golden State Warriors are investing in.

That’s their reality.