The Warriors’ two-timeline plan is back in action, and….
With Draymond Green out for the season, the Golden State Warriors are counting on their young players to step up and make a big impact. The Warriors are counting on Jonathan Kuminga (2nd pick in the draft), Trayce Jackson (2nd round pick), and Brandin Podzemski (3rd round pick).
This past offseason, the Warriors went all in on their veteran players. The team’s two-year “plan” for success came to an end. But no one officially “confirmed” the death of the “two-year plan.”
Yes, both timelines are back for reasons other than fanfare.
In the wake of Draymond Green’s suspension until “who knows when” and several veteran players’ inconsistent play, the Warriors have turned to the kids in recent games. And let’s face it:
The Warriors have won three in a row, including Tuesday night’s 113-113 victory over the Boston Celtics at the Chase Center. The Warriors have been led by Klay Thompson and Steph Curry, who continues to be the best player in the NBA.
But the younger players are playing significant minutes and making a significant positive difference. And while they may not be the type of players who can fill the void left by Curry, Thompson and Green — the two-time MVPs — they are showing that they can assist the veterans in winning games while the stars are still on the court.
For example, Brandin Podzemski, a young guard whom Golden State coach Steve Kerr praised so much in a pregame meeting that it seemed like he was yelling at the TNT announcers, is a starter now. He brings speed, basketball intelligence and constant movement into a lineup that had been doing too much standing around before Podzemski was inserted.
Off the bench, Moses Moody continues to be a dependable player. He provides floor spacing and speed, and Jonathan Kuminga has figured out how to play best on the floor.
Kuminga is also a great rim-attacker, and he did it again Wednesday.
But the real surprise has come from Trayce Jackson – Davis, who has played so well in his last two games it’s hard to believe he wasn’t already in the rotation.
The Warriors are smallball players. They can’t play “big” ball even if they wanted to. The tallest players on the team are Dario izzarić (3-point shooter) and Kevin Looney (who has a vertical leap that might not even make it over five feet).
That’s the type of basketball that Jackson-Davis has been capable of playing since the Warriors took him with the second pick in the draft back in the summer of 2023.
And he’s been putting it together in the last couple of weeks.
In the Warriors’ last game against Portland, on Sunday, he showed a great deal of understanding of what it means to be the Warriors’ center. He was able to set simple screens and roll to the rim with great timing, and win in the post whenever the switching defense shifted to a smaller player.
All in all, he finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block while being the primary defender on the Trailblazers’ seven-footer, De-Andre Ayton. It was a good game against a bad team.
On Tuesday, however, Jackson-Davis was even better, posting a season-high-tying 10 points in just 29 minutes, along with 13 rebounds and three blocks (the last of which was a game-winner over Jaylen Brown).
In the last two games, the Warriors have played like the team we remember. Maybe that’s a pipe dream. Maybe it’s prophetic.
He’s a pace-and-space player, but he’s the Warriors’ pace and space player. His skill set isn’t flashy, but it is undeniable.
This reminds me of Looney when he first burst onto the scene in 2017.
We’re still in the early stages of the season, but Jackson Davis is going to keep playing. How can he not?
I don’t know if Andrew Wiggins, like Thompson, will find his stroke. The Warriors’ wing is in a different league right now. Good for Kerr for playing him 30 minutes. He doesn’t deserve to be playing 30 these days.
Chris Paul is going to have his ups and downs. That’s just the nature of 38-year-olds in this league. He’s not a cyborg, like LeBron James. His brilliance can mask some bad nights, but the Warriors can’t count on him to score 30 points every night. He’ll be a solid, dependable, turnover-reducing backup point guard most nights, but you could do a lot worse.
Can the Warriors win with this closing lineup of Thompson, Curry and Looney? Not a chance. There’s a reason why Kerr hasn’t used this lineup once in December.
