Why the Golden State Warriors Were Smart Not to Get Involved With Trade Deadline Madness

By Nathan Grubel | Feb 21, 2015

February 20, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) shoots the basketball against San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills (8) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

Madness was all over the NBA just a few days ago, as the league’s trade deadline passed on Thursday afternoon, leaving a lot of players and organizations in disarray after an NBA-record 39 players swapped teams.

Usually the trade deadline can be rather quiet in terms of the overall number of moves.

Maybe an interesting deal or two can happen here or there, but teams generally try to wait till the draft or some other time during the summer to inquire about dealing because a lot more things come into focus in terms of team direction, cap space, and who may or may not leave during the free agency process.

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Regardless, the league has all of a sudden become extremely competitive, leaving a lot of teams in both conferences with a chance to win the championship.

At least six teams on each side can make a case for advancing deep in the playoffs, something that usually isn’t the case at this point in the season, as there tends to be a select few teams that emerge as truly better than the rest of the field and worthy of postseason coronation.

Because of this uncertainty and open competition for a title, many teams made moves on Thursday trying to improve their chances of going deep in the playoffs, hoping that by deepening their rotation or making an upgrade at a certain position in the starting lineup that they can get an edge over the other teams in their respective conference.

With that being said, not every team made a move Thursday, and a lot of them were actually smart for doing so.

At the end of the day, familiarity and chemistry is the name of the playoff game in the NBA. The teams that have players that love playing with each other and know how to get the ball to the spots in which each player is most effective with it are going to be the groups that go farthest in the playoffs.

Yes, having great players is certainly a huge part of the equation, but quality chemistry seems to be forgotten more and more in the league today, something that I find to be rather sad.

Regardless, the teams that didn’t make moves at the deadline are the ones that feel the best about their current situations and believe that they can win right now with the players that are in their locker rooms at this very moment.

The Golden State Warriors proved to be one of those teams that was content with their current state, and for good reason, as they have been the most impressive squad in the Western Conference to this point in the season.

The Warriors are so balanced all across their lineup, from the guard spots all the way up to the rotation of big men. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson have been two of the best guards in the NBA so far this season, with Curry even leading in the MVP race according to a good number of fans and analysts around the league.

Forward Draymond Green has been a revelation in terms of being a valuable starter to a team that is bound for the playoffs.

Green’s defensive play may very well earn him high honors when all is said and done because he can do so many different things well on that end of the floor, from playing one-on-one down low or on the perimeter to making the hustle plays blocking shots and getting steals.

Andrew Bogut has been as important to the Warriors as any other player on the team because he has been the anchor down low in which Golden State can turn to when things get ugly.

He is the guy that holds everything together and allows the other players on the floor to take more chances on defenses in terms of going after turnover opportunities that if not executed correctly could leave their man penetrating and getting to the bucket for a lay-up or dunk opportunity.

As for the bench, Andre Iguodala, David Lee and Shaun Livingston have played very well for head coach Steve Kerr, who by the way could end up being the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award winner by season’s end. What Kerr has done to bring this team together and find new ways to utilize players to maximize efficiency has been remarkable.

I don’t think anyone expected both Iguodala and Lee to be coming off the bench for the Warriors heading down the stretch in the season, meaning that Kerr has been willing to take chances and bet on himself and his own knowledge of the game to be successful, and it’s payed huge dividends so far.

As one can see, the talent is here for this team to go far and really go on a run towards the championship. Knowing when to make a move and when to stand pat is important for an organization, and the Warriors made the right move not trying to shake things up and potentially ruin the chemistry and familiarity that’s been established to this point.

Now it’s time to see what the Warriors are made of as we head into the next part of the season.

Next: Looking At The Warriors' Remaining Schedule

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