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Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
The Golden State Warriors are hoping to use the 2021-22 NBA season as their springboard back to championship contention.
Whether that’s possible will hinge on a number of factors. Klay Thompson’s recovery from back-to-back seasons erased by injuries and James Wiseman’s bounce-back from a rocky, injury-riddled rookie year rank chief among them.
Further down the list are the following three roster battles to track at training camp.
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Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
The center rotation feels both relatively straightforward and completely up in the air. Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
On one hand, no matter what happens at training camp, Kevon Looney will almost certainly occupy the starting center spot on opening night. Unless the Warriors went super-small-ball from the start, which they’ve never done before, Looney’s only real competitor is Wiseman, who isn’t a full participant at camp after meniscus surgery in April.
On the other, Wiseman can really make this a position to watch by blowing the doors off of his teammates and coaches with his individual workouts. His physical tools are unmatched on this roster, and there have been flashes of some wildly intriguing offensive skills. He can raise the ceiling in a way Looney can’t, and if Golden State finds reasons to believe Wiseman won’t lower the floor, this gets interesting.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on Nemanja Bjelica. His combination of size, shooting and ball-moving could fit what the Warriors want to do, but a quiet training camp could leave him outside of the rotation.
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Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
At some point this season, the Warriors will have the Splash Brothers back in action. But it could be a minute before Stephen Curry has Thompson alongside him, as December or January loom as the likeliest dates for his return.
So, what will the Dubs do in the meantime? That probably depends on what coach Steve Kerr wants to (and thinks he can) accomplish with the position.
If offense is the focus, that could green-light Jordan Poole for the role. The 2019 first-round pick took a while to get going but finally popped last season with 22.3 points and 3.5 threes per 36 minutes, per Basketball-Reference. If it’s about defense, that could give Avery Bradley an inside track. If it’s shooting over everything, maybe Damion Lee gets the nod.
Finally, what about the freshman? Moses Moody, this summer’s No. 14 pick, shows three-and-D potential, but the Warriors might be worried about throwing too much at him too quickly. The 6’5″ swingman won’t turn 20 years old until the end of May.
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Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images
The Warriors have a potentially crowded competition for the 15th spot on the roster, but that’s only if the organization chooses to actually make this a competition. That would mean someone gets rewarded with a guaranteed contract, and it’s unclear if the Warriors actually want to give another one out.
“We have to decide, do we fill that spot or not?” Warrios general manager Bob Myers told reporters. “The financial part matters to us. … If we’re going to add a 15th, we’d have to have a pretty good reason to do it.”
The Warriors, who have the highest payroll in the league, might need someone to really sway them to take the financial hit. Bradley, Mychal Mulder, Gary Payton II, Langston Galloway and Jordan Bell are all hoping to do just that.
Bradley and Payton are dogged defenders. Mulder is a sharpshooter. Galloway is a scoring guard with range. Bell offers plenty of bounce for a big. Each offers theoretical value to the roster, but only Golden State’s decision-makers know if any can bring enough to warrant the luxury-tax hit.
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