Golden State Warriors: Grading The Offseason

As the defending NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors didn’t have many changes to make to the roster this summer. With one of the most versatile lineups the league has ever seen, Steve Kerr‘s Dubs steamrolled their way to a 67-win season and a 16-5 record in the playoffs. To keep the machine rolling, Golden State’s main goal for the offseason was keeping a good thing together.

Bearing that in mind, the Warriors were never going to make any flashy moves this summer. The team is already heading for the luxury tax, so the biggest names of the summer like LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Monroe were never realistic options.

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The Dubs reportedly offered David West more money than he wound up taking from the San Antonio Spurs, but even missing out on West isn’t a major blow to a team that was going to be among the title favorites no matter what next season.

Well, technically speaking, the Dubs still had business to take care of this summer in order to remain in that upper tier. It was a relatively quiet offseason, but the luxury of being defending champs is not having to scramble around too much to keep a contender intact. Here’s a look at how Golden State accomplished that task with individual offseason grades.

Next: The Draft

Drafting Looney

With the 30th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, it seemed highly unlikely the Warriors were going to land the potential steal of the draft. However, when Kevon Looney fell to Golden State as the last first round selection, the rich may have gotten even richer.

Originally projected as a lottery pick at one point, Looney’s draft stock took a nosedive due to a hip injury that had many questioning just how much he’d be able to contribute as a rookie. An ESPN report the morning of the draft even went as far as saying, “he probably misses the season.”

The report was refuted by Looney’s camp, but according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, Looney’s health issues could run even deeper:

However, what better place is there for this potential boom-or-bust prospect to develop into a quality NBA player than the winning culture in Oakland right now? At 19 years old, this 6’9″ power forward is bursting with potential, raw though it may be.

At 222 pounds, Looney has a pretty wiry frame and he’ll need to bulk up to hold his own at the next level. But he’s the exact kind of versatile, multi-positional player the Warriors featured during their championship run this past season, and despite being so skinny, Looney is extremely active on the offensive glass — averaging 3.4 offensive boards per game at UCLA.

As a freshman, Looney averaged 11.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game while leading the Bruins in three-point percentage at 41.5 percent. That came on a very limited number of attempts (1.5 per game), but there’s no question he has the potential to spread the floor as a stretch-4.

At NBA Summer League, Looney flashed his potential and averaged a respectable 9.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game while shooting 41 percent from the floor and converting three of his six three-point attempts.

Playing for a lesser team, there might have been pressure on Looney to fill an important or immediate role. Instead, he’ll be able to learn the NBA game within a championship culture from some of the most innovative minds basketball has to offer right now. That will set him and the Warriors up for future success in the long run.

More importantly, the Warriors don’t need Looney to come in and make an impact right away. If he needs time for surgery or to rehab that hip, Golden State can absolutely afford it with almost everyone back for next season. But provided he can stay healthy, Kevon Looney could wind up being a home run for the defending champs.

Grade: A

Next: Staying Green

Staying Green

Stephen Curry may be Golden State’s MVP, but after a career season, Draymond Green could very well be the most beloved Warrior in the Bay Area. It wasn’t just the fact that he emerged as a Defensive Player of the Year candidate and spread the floor as a stretch-4, to become one of the league’s most versatile players, however. The guy is a Warrior icon.

He stares down players for bumping him during postgame interviews. He throws grapes at Seattle Seahawks fans. He tunes out questions about his arrogance with Eminem and Beats headphones, he casually drops triple-doubles in title-clinching games and he gives terrific, sauce-enhanced interviews at the ensuing championship parade.

So was keeping this special restricted free agent around the Warriors’ top priority this summer? I’ll let Draymond take this one:

A year after everyone in the Bay Area decided to go Green, the Dubs’ five-year, $82 million extension for their starting power forward will make sure everyone stays Green for the long-term. And to be honest, he took quite a hometown discount considering Reggie Jackson got five years and $80 million with the Detroit Pistons.

Even better for the Warriors, Green doesn’t have a player option on his fifth season. With the NBA’s salary cap skyrocketing over the next few years, this was a huge W for the Dubs.

Green’s ability to defend multiple positions, rebound, block shots, knock down threes and work 4-on-3s as the roll guy out of the pick-and-roll makes him one of Golden State’s most important players. Losing him would have seriously damaged the Dubs’ odds of repeating, but keeping him on a long-term deal ensures this team will be a consistent contender for as long as the current core remains intact.

Grade: A+

Next: Return Of The Blur

Return Of The Blur

Once the Warriors locked up Draymond Green, they had basically made the one big offseason move they needed to make. (Trading David Lee was a maneuver the front office wanted to make in order to ease the luxury tax bill, but it wasn’t one they “needed” to make.) After re-signing Green, the priority became moving Lee, but locking in the Brazilian Blue certainly wasn’t a bad move either.

At age 32, Leandro Barbosa is probably getting close to his last legs. He’s not a great defender and he’s a bit inconsistent with his production on offense. But he remained fairly efficient despite his limited minutes, averaging 7.1 points in 14.9 minutes per game during the regular season and 5.0 points in 10.9 minutes per game during the playoffs.

In Game 2 of the first round, when it looked like the New Orleans Pelicans could possibly steal a game at Oracle Arena, Barbosa came through with 12 points in 15 minutes. In Game 5 of the NBA Finals, the Blur poured in 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting to help the Dubs take a 3-2 series lead. They just so happened to win that game by 13 points.

This wasn’t going to make-or-break the offseason, but bringing back Barbosa and his speed, his rapid-fire offense and his serviceable three-point touch on a one-year, $2.5 million deal is a nice touch to Golden State’s already successful summer.

Grade: B

Next: So Long, Lee

So Long, Lee

Keeping Green around made David Lee 100 percent expendable. In fact, it wasn’t long after the Dubs hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy that reports emerged about how the organization was going to do Lee a solid by trading him to a team where he’d actually get playing time again.

It was a mutually beneficial concept; the former All-Star would no longer be limited to garbage time minutes and the Dubs would avoid paying his $15 million salary and the massive luxury tax bill that’d come with it. Lee got his championship, now he wanted to play again. After opening Kerr’s eyes to the key to the Finals in Game 3, Lee and the Warriors knew this good thing needed to come to an end.

The Warriors were able to work out a deal with the Boston Celtics, shipping away Lee for Gerald Wallace and Chris Babb. Trading Lee for Wallace and waiving Wallace would shave about $25 million off the luxury tax bill, while stretching Wallace’s salary over the next three seasons will get the bill down to about $10 million.

This move damages Golden State’s depth a little bit. After all, Lee was playing rotation minutes in the NBA Finals, and if it wasn’t for his ability to capitalize on pick-and-roll sets late in that Game 3, the Warriors could’ve been in serious trouble against those Cleveland Cavaliers.

But luckily for the Dubs, rookie Kevon Looney could be a long-term replacement, and Kerr won’t need Lee around to provide a mid-series revelation again. Letting Lee go hurts the edge of the rotation, but the Warriors will be perfectly fine without him and springing him loose was best for both parties. The fact that they didn’t have to surrender a future pick in the deal doesn’t hurt either.

Grade: B+

Next: Overall

Overall

The Golden State Warriors didn’t need to aggressively pursue anyone but Draymond Green this offseason. They have the reigning MVP, they have some of the most versatile players in the league in Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes. They have depth, they have a set rotation and now they’ve got championship experience.

By re-signing Green, bringing back Barbosa and adding rookie Kevon Looney to theoretically replace David Lee down the road, the Warriors kept a good thing together and made sure they retained the right pieces to strengthen their title defense in 2015-16.

Missing out on David West was unfortunate, especially since he made a formidable Western Conference foe that much better. But the Warriors took care of business this summer and remain as good a bet as any to win the championship next year. That’s really all you can ask from an NBA offseason.

Grade: A

Next: San Antonio Spurs: Grading The Offseason

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