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SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors began their new era on Monday.
But in so many ways, this new era resembled an old one.
Yes, the Warriors might call a new city home. They have a new arena, a new practice facility, and dramatically overhauled roster, too. But one thing has remained true through the drastic summer changes: This is still Stephen Curry’s team.
That fact was obfuscated and sometimes debated over the past three years, but there’s no one is questioning the truth now.
The fate of the Warriors once again rests solely on the shoulders of the two-time NBA MVP.
Kevin Durant is out of the picture — he exited to Brooklyn; Klay Thompson is out of commission for the majority of the season after tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals; and he’s surrounded by a roster that has experienced nearly 75 percent year-over-year turnover.
The NBA is a league driven by superstars — true alphas — and with Durant out of the picture, Curry stands alone as the Warriors’ unquestioned No. 1.
It’s just like old times. It’s 2014 all over again.
And these Warriors will go as far as Curry will take them.
“Forty-eight minutes a game for 82. Pretty much confirmed by coach Kerr a minute ago. Very excited about that,” Curry said when asked about how much he’s expecting to play this year.
It was a joke, of course. A good one, too. But there’s a level of truth to all good jokes.
It’s not literally a one-man job — the Warriors’ star guard will have two other All-Star-level players in Draymond Green and his new backcourt partner, combo guard D’Angelo Russell, by his side this season. But with the roster turnover, the Warriors have fallen back into the realm of mortals. Gone are the days where their collective talent was so supreme that their effort could ebb and flow (mostly ebb) throughout an 82-game schedule.
And gone are the days when Curry could miss significant portions of time or string together poor games and it simply wouldn’t matter.
These Warriors certainly have a chance to be good, but greatness is anything but guaranteed heading into this campaign. And the most direct path to reaching that elite level in which they once had full-time residence is for Curry to elevate his game to another level this season.
“I always say that I have the same mentality… It doesn’t mean I’m taking every shot,” Curry said.
“I don’t know what it’s going to look like. It’s just another opportunity to take another step and evolve. I’ll put the work in and will continue to do that for as long as I can.”
Curry has shown that he has that other gear — no one has ever questioned if he could do it without Durant, because he won two MVP awards without him.
But last season, no one on the Warriors had a starker contrast between his on and off-court splits. The Warriors outscored opponents by 13.7 points per 100 possessions when Curry was on the court last year, a team-high. When he was off the court, they were outscored by 4.3 points per 100 possessions, another top number.
Those numbers are likely to be even starker this season.
“This is such a dramatic change from where we’ve been the last four years,” Steve Kerr said. “I think it allows for more change. More internal evaluation — what can we do better. The new building is almost a metaphor for how we approach the season… It’s a great opportunity to start fresh.”
Curry’s impact off the court will be even more important.
With Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala out of the picture, Curry is the oldest player on the Warriors’ roster now — the elder statesman.
“Stop reminding me,” Curry he said Monday at Warriors media day. “Just hearing it is weird, but I’m still young…I know I have a lot of years left at this level.”
“It’s really funny to me,” Draymond Green said.
Curry said that his responsibility — with so many young players on the team now — is to “set the tone.” To teach them what “our DNA is. How we do things. Our championship-level mentality.”
“Every guy in our locker room is going to help us succeed. I know it sounds corny, but it’s literally truer than in any other year,” Curry said.
“I do miss Shaun and Andre for that reason, though.”
