2017-18 Finish: 28-54

Season Highlight: It wasn’t a great season for the Warriors. After making the playoffs the season before you would think at least a challenge or return would be in the table, but it just didn’t happen. The Warriors did finally address their glaring weakness at PG, with acquiring a good player in Jeff Teague. Jeff won’t draw big highlights, but he will control and offence and keep things smooth. Franchise player Harrison Barnes making his first all-star appearance was a highlight also.

Season Lowlight: Never really being in it this season. An early 12 loss streak set the tone for a long and disappointing season for the Warriors. It’s a pity they couldn’t take that next step on the back of last season, but the NLL is a tough league and loss streaks as big as that will doom you. 

Best Trade: The Golden State Warriors send DeMarre Carroll, Frank Kaminsky and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Minnesota Timberwolves send Jeff Teague and Justise Winslow to the Golden State Warriors.

The Minnesota Timberwolves send a 2nd-Rounder (Min) to the Golden State Warriors.

The Golden State Warriors receive 5 GM points. The Minnesota Timberwolves trade -5 GM points.

As mentioned in the highlights, it was great to see the Warriors land a true PG. Taking a chance on Winslow when his value was low wasn’t a bad option either. There were other trades I liked from the Warriors, but they were into the new offseason, as far as last seasons trades go, this was the best for me. Teague had a solid season for the Warriors averaging 14/7/2/1 on 46/40/88 shooting.

Worst Trade: The Boston Celtics send Andre Iguodala and Daniel Theis to the Golden State Warriors. The Golden State Warriors send Al-Farouq Aminu, Lucas Nogueira and Paul Zipser to the Boston Celtics. 

The Boston Celtics trade -15 GM points. The Golden State Warriors receive 15 GM points.

Hindsight remains undefeated. While just looking at the trade on the front it looks ok, when you delve deeper and realize the Warriors sent their 2019 first over as well? Ouch. Warriors have made some good moves, but will they be a big-time team in 2019 to ensure this pick is low? I don’t know. Iggy is great, albeit old, but worth a first on top? Probably not.

Other Notable Trades:

 The Golden State Warriors send Marcus Smart to the San Antonio Spurs. The San Antonio Spurs send Ramon Sessions and Jordan Bell to the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors also landed a 2019 1^st rounder in this one too and you could say with that they could eventually come out on top. Smart is a great defensive player, but his offense just hasn’t developed where most would hope. He is starting to enter that Tony Allen type territory regarding his offence. Bell was a much-needed inclusion to a weak front court for the Warriors. Good deal here.

The Denver Nuggets send Josh Hart to the Golden State Warriors. 
The Golden State Warriors send a 1st-Rounder (GS) to the Denver Nuggets. 

The Denver Nuggets receive 9 GM points. The Golden State Warriors trade -9 GM points.

While most hated this trade, I myself did not mind it at all. Josh Hart is a winner, was an integral part to one of the better Villanova sides put on the floor. Josh also has a high work ethic and reports from Lakers camp are he will be pushing KCP hard for that starting SG position. He has added to his game over the offseason and will be an improver over the season I believe.

Free Agency:

Pat Connaughton, Bruno Caboclo, Chris McCullough and Alfonzo McKinnie. I would’ve liked to write a blurb about each of the Warriors free agents, but tbh you could release all 4 of these guys and no one would bat an eyelid. Maybe Pat has a future ahead of him as a role player, but he hasn’t shown any sort of consistency yet.

Star:

Harrison Barnes: Harrison continued to carry the Warriors. Dubbed as the franchise player, on paper he didn’t disappoint. 23.9ppg 6.0rpg 3.5apg 1.1spg on his way to a debut all-star appearance on a bad team is a good effort. The big question is though, is he only shining because he’s one of the only go to options on a bad team? I don’t think Harrison is someone you can build around, but hey, numbers don’t lie right?

 Goat:

TJ McConnell:  It just wasn’t a good season for TJ. Super inefficient and on a team that could’ve really used impact at the PG season before Teague came over and he failed. 35/21 is paltry shooting numbers and at times he was a liability on defense too. It’s a shame because he’s a much-loved player in the NBA, but in the NLL, he just didn’t match.

Draft Grades (from Insider):

#53 C Thomas Welsh, UCLA senior

Welsh is big…there’s not much else known about him. The Warriors need big though. Grade: C+

Hard to argue with the insider evaluation here. He’s big, he’s white and that meant a heck of a player last season. In this new engine, likely not.

The Future-

The Warriors filled some needs and bolstered a very uninspiring looking front court with the addition of Jordan Bell and an early offseason pickup of Bam Adebayo. I myself really like the trade for Bam, He just has that something about him and his ability to switch on the perimeter and guard smaller players is a real plus in the modern game. Josh Hart impresses every time I see him play and you add this young talent with the solidified Harrison Barnes and Jeff Teague and you’ve got yourself a solid lineup to work with. Jordan Clarkson, Denzel Valentine and Alec Burks would good additions as well and will provide a much-needed scoring punch from the bench or starting. The real question is though, is Barnes the leader that can take this team to the next level? I don’t think so, but I hope he proves me wrong. The fact also that the Warriors may find it hard to get into the playoffs this year and not having their pick from the Iguodala trade could really hurt if it ends up high lotto where there’s a guy by the name of RJ Barrett who has franchise potential written all over him. While it’s hard to pick this type of thing at the time, it does show the risk of trading future picks away when your team is probably middle ground on being a playoff contender or lotto contender. GM Mailo has some work to do, but I believe it can be done.