Everyone had that teacher, coach, father, or other formative figure who screamed. If you do something wrong, you will receive screams until your voice is hoarse. The problem with screamers is that, eventually, you become insensitive to it. If you arouse the same anger at forgetting the pencil and failing to do your homework, you will lose the ability to discern the gravity of your transgression.
As a leader, it can be much more effective to take a measured approach. When a normally subdued and quiet coach suddenly loses his temper, you know you really did something to deserve it. This is exactly what we saw from Stephen Curry during the embarrassing loss of the Golden State Warriors by 130-104 to the Los Angeles Clippers nationwide on Thursday.
With his team losing by more than 20 points at the start of the third quarter, Curry shouted at his teammates, begging them to play with more passion and energy to get back on top. It was quite shocking considering Curry’s normally discreet nature.
TNT and Hall of Fame commentator Reggie Miller noted that he was the most excited he had ever seen Curry during a game, and even Curry’s sister, Sydell, commented on the lasting effects of his brother’s rare outbursts.
Curry was clearly frustrated with the way his team was playing, but you must ask yourself if that was the boiling point during an inconsistent season when the Warriors are barely clinging to their playoff lives. Thursday’s loss was the fourth in a row for the Warriors, who are now 10th in the Western Conference in 19-19, and Anthony Slater of The Athletic asked Curry if his behavior on the sideline was the result of this game in particular or indicative of a larger problem. Always the diplomat, Curry gave the expected answer.
“It’s always about what’s going on at the moment. This is just basketball – trying to bring competitive spirit and leadership in all the different ways,” said Curry of his outburst. “We had the opportunity to set the tone for the second half of the season tonight, and we obviously didn’t. I think we have to do something to go to the next game.”
The timing is particularly curious, with the March 25 negotiation deadline two weeks from now. The Warriors hovered around 0.500 throughout the season and suffered some terrible losses to good teams along the way. The defense, which coach Steve Kerr has prioritized since day one, is sixth in the NBA, but his attack fell off a cliff when Curry was not on the ground. The Warriors’ offensive score 112.5 with Curry would be pushing the top 10 in the league in terms of efficiency. But when Curry sits down, the Golden State’s offense drops to a paltry 98.4 points for 100 possessions.
So it makes sense that the Warriors, according to basketball operations president Bob Myers, are “aggressive” in the negotiation deadline. They have a tricky balance to find, however, knowing that – except getting a superstar like Bradley Beal – any deal they make between now and March 25 is unlikely to make them a title contender this season. Everything they do should be on the lookout for next season, when Klay Thompson is due to return from two consecutive seasons, lost through injury.
The Warriors may present one of the best trading packages in the NBA centered around general choice # 2 James Wiseman and the choice of the first three protected options from Minnesota’s first 2021 round, which becomes unprotected in 2022, but they would just give up on those assets by a game level change superstar.
“I don’t think we want to think too much in the short term and give up something in the future to make a little better effort now,” said Myers on the NBC Sports Bay Area podcast “Dubs Talk”. “As difficult as it may be to maintain discipline, I think we hope that whatever we decide to do will have legs beyond this year, or have advantages beyond the rest of this season. … We want to win every game, we want to be good now. And these are the most difficult things to do is if something comes up and it’s like, well, it helps us now, but not later. You really have to say, you know, this is not the right thing for us. “
This leaves the Warriors with little leeway in terms of assets they are willing to trade and would be attractive to other teams. Kelly Oubre Jr., who played much better after a bad start to the season, is perhaps the most mobile player on the team. If the Warriors don’t want to pay the salary that Oubre is likely to command as a free agent in this off-season, they should try to get him something before the deadline. Oubre’s $ 14.4 million salary could yield a useful piece of rotation in return, but any team that trades for Oubre is likely to want some assurance that he will sign again with them this off-season, which can make it difficult for stuff.
Despite a strong season with the Warriors so far, Andrew Wiggins’ contract is probably still seen as a negative asset for most of the league. Outside of him and Oubre, you’re looking at young players like Eric Paschall, Jordan Poole, Nico Mannion, Damion Lee and Kevon Looney, who probably wouldn’t be enough to make the difference the Warriors are looking for. So even if the Golden State wants to make a move, it can have trouble finding teams to please.
But the board should be made aware of Curry’s heated discussion with his teammates on Thursday. He’s not the type that would turn an incident like that into a demand for trade, but you know, if Steph Curry is getting carried away with that kind of emotion, something needs to change.
“Nobody likes the feeling of being slapped – in a game like tonight. We had some good times too … We did a great job of adjusting, we just didn’t find consistency, and that’s a frustrating thing, for sure. We’re going to have to find out if we want to be a threat in the playoffs, and that depends on us finding out. “