The issue wasn’t them not trading the picks. The issue was picking high upside athletic guys who couldn’t process and play the game the way Kerr, Steph, and Draymond need to succeed.

Yes, every team that missed on their lottery picks should have traded them away. Agreed.

You get better value from lottery picks than from trading them because the rookie wage scale makes it possible to drastically underpay these guys. See: VJ, Castle, Harper, and previously Chet, J-Dub. A good player on a rookie deal is a cheat code for your cap math.

In a league where the salary cap is king, trading picks to pay veterans huge salaries is generally not the play. Keeping the picks was the right decision. They just didn’t draft players who could help.

That Wiseman pick is/was brutal.

Something something hindsight.

Owner’s obsession with 2 timeline bs

They’d be doing totally fine if they didn’t just draft horribly. Wiseman one of the biggest busts of the 2000s

Is James Wiseman still playing? I haven’t heard about him in a while.

The bigger mistake is using all these picks and not land on any

We’re getting a lot of “discussion” posts about the Warriors today we really do need to sign someone to give people something to talk about

If they had landed one starter and 1 All Star out of those picks - not an unreasonable goal - they would look much different right now.

None at all they just drafted the wrong guys

OP - how about if we redo the 2009 draft
- does Steph still drop to the Warriors ?

Yes - this is how hindsight works

It’s not even hindsight, iirc most expected them to trade the picks not actually use them

A huge mistake only known by future people. The only missing piece with this team was center. Wiseman seemed like the thing that would catapult them for a decade

Warriors had a great chance to use the assets they got in 2018-2020 to reload the team. The 2 timelines nonsense wasted everything. It’s amazing they won in 2022. 

Eh, the bigger mistake was not reeling in Draymond’s shitty behavior. Drove away KD, broke Poole’s confidence

How is the 28th pick a lottery pick? 🤨

They missed hard 20-21 but doing pretty well if I recall and cap was a concern. Who did you want them to trade for when they signed KD?

“Two timelines” isn’t a bad concept - they just whiffed horribly on the Wiseman and Kuminga picks and to a lesser extent, Moody considering the number of very good players that went right after him.

Wiseman played three games in college - didn’t look all that special - and then was ineligible. If I remember right, he wasn’t the best dude on his AAU team (Duren maybe?) and was just viewed as a huge project.

Kuminga wasted a year playing for that farce of a GLeague program that clearly didn’t help him round out his game.

I mean think if GS would’ve even drafted someone like Okongwu or Vassell instead of Wiseman (forget Haliburton or Ball and just imagine even a good role player) and Franz instead of Kuminga and all of a sudden the “two timelines” thing that has become fashionable to hate on looks a lot better.

If they had just taken one of the next two players drafted for each of those 4 they’d have:

LaMelo Ball
Franz Wagner
Alperen Sengun

Peyton Watson

Having picks wasn’t the problem

Gotta imagine they had enough to get Siakam or OG Anunoby from the raptors at some point.  

Maybe they didn’t have a chance at a superstar.  But that next tier type talent was certainly available.  

As a long time warriors fan it kills me that we didn’t go all-in to get Steph a potential 5th ring.  Feels like we’ve been wasting his twighlight years even while he’s still a high performer.  

Most teams that trade away lottery picks end up worse off than before with no meaningful amount of playoff success post trade.

I have thought about this question and it is hard to answer your question because they did in fact win the 21-22 championship when Wiseman was a sophmore and Kuminga/Moody were rookies. 

The background of the question is that the Warriors would have had to trade their picks before the 21-22 championship or directly after if they thought they could maintain being a contender. It would be too late to trade Wiseman in his Junior year when the league figured him out and Kuminga’s flaws were known by his sophmore year as well. 

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nba/recapping-the-2022-nba-offseason-with-signings-trades-and-more/255055/?amp=1

So if the Warriors did try to abandon their two timeline approach right after winning a championship they could have sent their picks, young guys, and Klay for Donavan Mitchell, but that would be an even further look ahead step for the Warriors by trading Klay.

• Jalen Brunson was also traded this off season and is clearly the best move but would not have been seen as going “all in”. 

• Dejounte Murray and Jeremai Grant would have helped but neither would be the 2nd star people were pushing for the Warriors to trade for. 

The only other “win now” move that the Warriors could have made at the time that would be seen as “Win Now” would have been trading for Porzingis on the Wizards who was traded a year later but that would not have required a ton of picks nor would it have worked when you consider that the Celtics couldn’t keep him upright for even the Finals. The only correct moves would have been trading for Mitchell or Brunson but that would have required a crazy tolerance for push back to trade Klay right after winning a championship (Mitchell) or trading young guys to clear space for Brunson for a larger contract than the Knicks when he was still seen as a 6 man. 

Lightyears ahead

It’s not that they made bad picks. But most of the time when you draft guys, it takes time for them to be good enough to be contributors on championship teams.

The point is that Curry era was so good, they won’t need a major success for awhile. Capitalize on how good he is still. They should have tried harder to put together more competitive teams in the early 2020’s.

A bird in the hand is worth 2 in a bush. Or the way I see it…trade the future “what ifs” for a known “difference maker” now, because Curry deserves it. He deserved it 5+ years ago and he deserves it still. I don’t know what’s wrong with the FO. Hell, I don’t even know what the Giants FO is doing either. Nobody knows. Bay Area sports are a joke and a sham. I hate it here.

I think the problem is that those picks just missed. If they had hit on some young cheap talent, it would have really helped

Their biggest mistake was not doing more to entice KD to re-sign with them. I know a big part of him leaving was because he wanted to try and win somewhere else but that’s why you as a Front Office have to try as hard as you can to get that guy to stay. They won a championship in the years after he left so their strategy worked out but I think there’s a legitimate case to be made they still win a championship maybe even more if they kept Durant around. I know he was a question mark coming back from the achilles but that group had had so much success it was probably still worth the gamble to see if he could come back and look good, which has been the case.

I’ll add the cautionary tale of the Bucks, who made a ton of reckless win-now moves to keep a strong team around Giannis. Look how that turned out. Sure if a superstar was available for the Warriors at that price, do it. They drafted the wrong guys, and they should have traded Kuminga when it was clear he didn’t fit Kerr’s system

Who would they have traded the picks for?

Or in a perfect world have gotten LaMelo Ball, Franz Wagner, and Trey Murphy / Alperen Şengün and Peyton Watson all on rookie deals and won another 2-3 titles from 2022-2028

They did the right thing, just botched the picks. They need youth and talent, not ocerpaid mid role players, but they bombed every single pick. Poor internal youth development might have been an issue, too.

I mean they still won another title in 2022…

We are cooked for the next decade 

HUGEEEEE MISTAKE. Steph wins 6-7 rings if they do imo. And I hate the Warriors so I’m thrilled they made all the picks

Being a gm is very easy with the benefit of hindsight

Considering they sucked at drafting for awhile, pretty fucking big

Two timelines bro

The condition with Lebron was simple. Get AD, and they didn’t want to do that.

Wow who tf is Patrick Baldwin

Podz is a solid player in the same way that Taco Bell is Mexican food.

They wanted role players that complimented Steph and Klay. Guys picked in the lottery for the most part want to be allowed to do more than be boxed into a role. Kerr was rigid when it came to that. There should’ve been some level of a middle ground. 

As the Knicks would say: Fuck Dem Picks

The mindset of the “2 timelines” BS was baffling. Why were they trying to develop raw prospects while staying competitive, instead of swinging for Kerr and Curry approved players in supporting roles? Drafting is the best way to get cheap supporting casts while paying Curry a ton.

It was more the selection rather than “not trading away.” For the #2 slot, do they swing Wiseman, a huge potential but raw prospect, or Lamelo, when they were developing Jordan Poole?

Imo they should have traded down for actual plug and play role players here.

For #7, same issue: JK is a hyperathletic raw prospect. Could’ve swung for Franz or Sengun, but it is what it is. #14 on Moody is good, he’s turning out very nicely injuries aside.

Is #28 tradeable for anything other than second round picks?

Podz is fine. Pretty sure he’s been humbled out of his hubris. Should be decent this season.

As for the future? Sure they won’t get anyone as great as Curry for a long time, but at least they’ll get a ton more swings at lottery picks especially with the new system. Too late to “make a contender” when OKC and the Spurs run the West through their superior drafting and acquisitions. And not everyone lucks into Luka for a broken down AD lmao.

Lastly, teams now will FLEECE the Warriors. Everyone remembers the dynasty, no one will be trying to deal in good faith.

TL;DR: The mistake was mindset and selection over actually trading the picks. Combined with no one wanting to trade with the Warriors on equal terms, and they have a mediocre team with a top 5 talent carrying them at 38 years of age.

Just hope that they get younger tbh.

This is one of those retconned things where people will pretend it’s just hindsight and litigating the past when in reality most everyone besides Joe Lacob and ‘both sides’ media people said it was dumb at the time.

They shouldve traded every pick since they had no intention in giving these guys a chance. They clearly didnt run the two timeline thing by Kerr and the vets and just assumed they’d play ball

Who knows because then it would have changed their books too.  myers couldn’t draft for shit and rode Jerry west and Lewis coat tails.  Honestly it probably doesn’t change much with the injuries they’ve had 

Without knowing what trades were on the table, I don’t fault them for not trading, but they drafted horrendously. I think talent evaluation was the bigger miss.

It would have been hard to come up with trades to extract value from those picks at their level of payroll and luxury tax.

In 2022 they won, so they ran it back with mostly the same roster. By 2023, the second apron was on the horizon.

It’s cheaper to cross your fingers and hope a lottery guy plays out then trade the picks for competitive talent.

20 and 21 are the only picks worth talking about in this conversation and yes, it was a massive blunder 

They could’ve picked Haliburton and a dude like Wagner and they would be so much better

Trade for who?

I give them a pass on the Wiseman flub in 2020 tbh. Here’s why:

1. It was the COVID draft, so teams had lesser information than there has ever been in the last few decades about players. It’s just crappy luck that their highest pick in a while ended being when the world basically stopped.
   
2. That 2020 draft was a great draft… for guards. Anthony Edwards, LaMelo, Tyrese Haliburton, Tyrese Maxey, Desmond Bane, and you can even throw in late bloomer Peyton Pritchard. It was NOT a good draft for bigs. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they needed a big, not another guard. They literally had the splash brothers - the best backcourt in the league of the prior decade.

Limited draft research + need for a big guy in a draft that to this day hasn’t had a front court all-star yet, and that’s just bad luck.

the two timelines was always stupid.

But the biggest problem is that it showed the Warriors are bad at drafting + developing high-ceiling players:

• highest pick: Wiseman, total bust
• next highest pick: Kuminga. Doubtful drafting choice since it should have been clear it was not an obvious fit with the roster. Very bad job at developing him, terrible job at getting rid of him
• mid-first-round picks: Moody and Podz -> serviceable role players
• late first round picks: Baldwin (out of the league) and Poole (soon following him, after getting a 100M contract for a half good season)

The Warriors also got kinda unlucky that the other top lottery choices in the 2020 draft, Ant and LaMelo, were both guards were they clearly were covered with Klay and Steph. Drafting a center was the thing that made the most sense, they just got a bad one.

The team would have been SO DIFFERENT if they had drafted Okongu, or even a forward like Vassell or Nesmith.

The real crime was holding all their future picks and barely trading any of their FRPs.

Even after 2019, Joe Lacob didn’t believe Steph was good enough to lead the team and all his decisions have shown exactly that.

Lacob is an arrogant loser is all. And MDJ is his impotent lackey

To be fair we have won as many titles as any other team in the 2020s. In 2020 We had 2 max contracts, Steph and a broke ass Klay, a near max in Wiggins (who was seen as a negative asset), and dray making like 25 mil. we needed cheap players at the time, or we would have had to attach our picks to either one of our core pieces, or attach picks to every bench player we had. Since we won in 2022 I think we navigated that period pretty fucking well. Could we be better, sure, but draft hindsight is ²⁰⁄₂₀. Like we fucked up in the draft on 2 picks, I can’t believe people won’t let it go, shit happens. The draft is a crapshoot IMO.

The 2020 2021 covid drafts are goldmines of what-ifs and alternate timelines. Landing Haliburton would have prolonged their contention status.

Hindsight ²⁰⁄₂₀ of course.

What can they get for Steph? If there’s a trade that gives them a realistic pathway to a second round team for a couple years sure but I don’t think there is. I’d talk with Steph and tell him we’d love to have him as a 1 team guy but would honor his trade wishes if requested 

I still remember back in 2020, what to do with the pick was a big problem. It was a Covid draft class so there was limited film on everyone (particularly wiseman who played so few college games). No one seemed particularly interested in trading up or giving much of value for the 2nd pick. Personally I thought it was obvious that they should’ve taken LaMelo (I wrongly thought he’d be better than Ant) and maybe reach for Haliburton (it was a big talking point that they loved his game but it didn’t make sense for them to take him at 2).

Can only make the trades that are available. And don’t forget, they eventually made a heist of a trade in getting Wiggins and that 7th pick that became Kuminga for D’Lo (who’s basically out of the league now). And you know, they won the championship 2 years later (with their 28th pick from 2019 heavily contributing). Not exactly a terrible track record!

Man fuck those picks

Let’s forgive the Wiseman pick because of COVID. But in 2021, they had Kuminga (7) and Moody (14).

They could had Alperen Sengun (16) and Trey Murphy (17). Or Jalen Johnson (20) and Quentin Grimes (25). Or Santi Aldama (30) and Herb Jones (35). Or Miles McBride (36) and Neemas Queta (39). Or Ayo Dosunmu (38) and Sandro Mamukelasnvili (54).

They fumbled so many possible pairings that would have been better fits for the team long term. No shade against Moody, but so many dudes drafted after him were so much better.

This Moody disrespect will not stand.

Warriors looking like the post jordan bulls after curry. Back to the garbage bin.

Fuck them picks

The biggest issue is that they missed on pretty much every single pick they made

Just horrendous talent evaluators all around I already expect Yaxel to be a certified bum

bay area really got 2 generational busts with Wiseman and Lance both drafted out of COVID in the top 3

The problem is they don’t draft well. They passed on Lamelo to draft Wiseman. In 2021 they could have had Franz Wagner and Trey Murphy III. Kuminga was a huge miss for them

Trade picks and or fire gm.

They could have had Siakam for not much at all.

Bungled

2022 wasn’t a shock, the warriors were the 3rd favorites in the preseason. They had the highest luxury tax in the league. It’s not like they knew wiseman would be a bust and also they were lucky to have that pick anyways. How often does a dynasty that just won multiple times have their stars sit out hurt for a season, go into tank mode and get a 2nd overall pick.

Using the hindsight lens but arguably clear at the time. Even if they made 1 or 2 better choices totally different story.

With the 2nd pick they should have found a top 10 team that was interested in trading up for either Ball or Wiseman. The Bulls and Knicks were good candidates. Their pick plus Wendell Carter or Mitchell Robinson respectively. Pick Haliburton.

With 7th pick Franz. Not crazy he went next.
With the 14th pick Trey Murphy. Again not crazy. They brought back Moody and Murphy for one final workout right before the draft and made the wrong choice.

Giving up too soon on Rollins didn’t help.

So even reasonably executed drafting and the Dubs would still be threatening each year.

If we didn’t blow the 2020 and 2021 drafts we would’ve been fine and had a good chance at continued success.

Missing completely on the #2 pick in 2020 and getting zero out of it was the clincher IMO. Just like the Sixers missing completely on the #1 pick in 2017 and getting nothing after putting all that effort into having that pick. If Fultz turns out to be even an 18 to 20 ppg guy they have a championship-level talent base.

From what I remember, they want to trade their 2020 first round pick but no one wants to get it. Hence, they draft it instead.

They could’ve traded for a superstar. It was a huge blunder, and I said as much at the time. The two timeline thing was dumb because there’s no guarantees about future titles. They could’ve definitely won another 1-2 more titles but blew it.

Lots of people saying they should have traded the picks without exploring what the trades would have looked like or even if they would have improved the team.

Hindsight is easy. What we do know is that the league very quickly moved away from an aging superstar model to one that emphasized youth, flexibility and friendly contracts, in which case you need those picks.

Jerry West had that magic. Others do not

In hindsight. A huge mistake. At the time…. Also a huge mistake.

It was the worst mistake they ever made. It could literally effect generations of Warriors fans. In a millennia we will still be talking about it.

The mistake was drafting terrible, Myers could have taken stars instead of bums. Lamelo,Trey Murphy,Sengun, Franz Wagner they passed on them all for garbage.

Warriors get ridiculed a lot for the two timelines thing, but it was the best shot at extending our teams window. Not a mistake to keep the picks, just wished they turned out better.

I’m hopeful for the young core of Gui, Yaxel, Moody and Will Richards

Trade them for what? They were already paying for historically the highest payroll in basketball. There was no way to add a better player to their lineup

The problem wasn’t not trading the picks it was making bad picks.

They had the best defensive rating in the league despite having key players miss a lot of time during the season. They were fortunate that everyone was back for the playoffs (although Curry did not start in round 1)

Not taking LaMelo was the huge mistake. They always needed another ball handler and his deep shooting and passing could have made such a huge difference

I think they should have flipped Draymond in 2020 tbh. Teams had cottoned onto stuff like small ball, switch everything and helping off non shooters while even implementing these ideas themselves.

His offence was never good but it got even worse and his limitations meant the team was either small or poorly spaced.

If they had taken hali and franz instead of wiseman and kuminga they would be set for the future. The problem hasn’t been not trading the picks. The problem has been absolutely blowing the picks.

i still don’t understand how wiseman didn’t pan out. he is so talented but just doesn’t do anything in the court