3 reasons the Golden State Warriors will not win the title

3 reasons Golden State Warriors will not win the title: Leaning on Rookies

Last season, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA title with a trimmed-down rotation of seven, sometimes eight players. That included players throughout their late 20s and 30s, and exactly “0” players on rookie contracts.

Other recent champions may have had a couple of younger pieces, but none had a rookie in a key rotation role. One has to go back to the 2016-17 Warriors to find a rookie in the rotation of a champion – Patrick McCaw with 12.1 minutes per game.

This time around Jonathan Kuminga is in a key role, perhaps starting at the four and at the least playing significant minutes off of the bench. Fellow rookie Moses Moody is having an excellent season developing into a role player on the wing; whether that is a stepping stone to a higher ceiling, he is ready to contribute right now.

Few title contenders have a rookie lottery pick on their team, let alone two. They don’t have to try to integrate highly-talented rookies for a postseason run unlike anything they have ever experienced. It’s a lot to handle – the grind, the physicality, the speed, the relentlessness – and neither of these players has been battle-tested. Nor has Jordan Poole, who hasn’t been to the playoffs in his short career.

The ship has sailed on moving the rookies for another player, and owner Joe Lacob is adamant that the Warriors are going to play both sides – winning now and setting themselves up to win later. Will it work? History tells us… probably not.