Kurtenbach: What’s wrong with the Warriors? A little bit of everything

Steph Curry and the Dubs' inauspicious start has many causes, but all can be corrected.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr was spot-on in his assessment of his 3-4 team Sunday night.

“Right now, it’s just a pickup game.”

And for a team that’s trying to defend its championship — a squad that will always get their opponents’ best shot — casual basketball won’t get the job done. Not even in the early part of the regular season.

Now, it’s far too early to panic, but the Warriors are a hot mess right now. They look disorganized one night and deficient the next. It’s fair to be concerned — what ails the Dubs can’t be fixed in a one-step process.

This team has problems across the board. And while not one is uncorrectable or immediately disqualifying for another deep postseason run, the issues at hand make the Warriors’ crown feel exceptionally vulnerable.

So what are the issues?

It’s a little bit of everything:

Defense

» The Warriors’ biggest issue in their title defense? Actual defense.

The Warriors are specifically having issues stopping players on the perimeter.

Sunday’s game against the young and precocious Pistons was a perfect case in point of how the Warriors are struggling to defend in space: Detroit drove to the basket possession after possession — 52 times in total.

Not only are drives a fundamental part of a modern NBA offense, but it is also the path of least resistance against the Warriors.

It’s been that way all season.

The slow start for Klay Thompson and the absence of Gary Payton II are looming large. The former was once the Warriors’ top perimeter defender — a dramatically underrated player in that area of the game.

The latter was the Warriors’ stopgap last year.

When the Warriors needed to play better defense as a team, Kerr put Payton in the game. There are only a handful of better perimeter defenders than the Young Glove — he could stop easy dribble penetration to start a defensive possession and then cut into a passing lane to end one. He was brilliant. And pairing him with Draymond Green, and you had a 1-2 punch that could elevate the defensive play of even the most porous lineups.

A player like Payton coming off the bench set a floor for a second unit.

I think the Warriors were expecting Andrew Wiggins — who was marvelous in the postseason — to take on that role as the defensive ace.

But Wiggins is being asked to be both the team’s impact perimeter defender and a key rebounder.

Even after signing his new, less-than-market value contract, he might be thinking: “I don’t get paid enough for this.”

Compounding the Warriors’ defensive issue is the lack of an interior presence.

This isn’t surprising, but it must be noted. There are teams around the NBA that embrace their poor perimeter defense, because it allows them to funnel players to an elite rim protector. Think the Lakers that one year Anthony Davis was healthy, or the Utah Jazz before they traded Rudy Gobert.

The Warriors’ big men aren’t rim protectors, though. Kevon Looney is better as a switch-everything big, Draymond Green’s days as a rim protector have been over for a few years now, and James Wiseman — built for the role — looks lost on the court and is soft when he does find himself in position.

Perhaps Wiseman can grow into the role, but that’s a massive ask that could take multiple seasons — if it ever happens.

In the meantime, the Dubs will keep picking up fouls at the hoop, slowing down the game and challenging the team’s already fragile rotations.

I still think the Warriors can be a top defensive team, even without their top stopper from last season on the roster. But it’s tough, dirty, collective work, and that’s difficult to embrace this early in the season — especially when you expect to play until mid-June.

Offense

» For the Warriors, great defense becomes great offense. We’ve heard that preached a million times.

But the same is true in reverse. Great offense can lead to great defense.

Right now, both pathways are broken for the Warriors.

Over the last three games, the Warriors have played slow — averaging fewer than 100 possessions per game. This team isn’t built for that kind of play — especially when the bench is playing.

No, the system of passing and moving, back cuts and screens, has to rule, and the system demands the Warriors play fast. Otherwise, too much is on the team’s three shot creators: Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, and Steph Curry.

And yet far too often, the Warriors fall into a lull unless Green is on the court, demanding that the Dubs move.

If the Warriors play slow, they take long, contested shots.

The Warriors should know as well as anyone that long, contested shots create rebounds that allow teams to push the pace going the other way.

That’s how the Warriors won titles.

The Warriors have been tasting their own medicine for the last week. It’s a bitter flavor.

The Lack of Preseason

» A key reason I think the Warriors can turn around their season?

They’re just starting to play together.

The Warriors look like a team that went to Japan in the preseason and then came back stateside and had a week of practice upended by a national scandal.

It’s hard to get meaningful work done when you have punches, leaks, and contact drama hanging around.

The result of the chaotic preseason is that the Warriors are still — overtly — feeling out each other on the floor. At times, it seems as if only two or three people know what’s supposed to happen on any given possession. On both the offensive and defensive sides, this leads to big breakdowns.

The Dubs need more focus and more run to alleviate those stranger-danger problems.

But Kerr is not off the hook here. He’s playing a lot of dudes, and that’s creating strange combinations. I’m all for experimenting, but you don’t need to see multiple games of Jonathan Kuminga — modern power forward and small ball center — on the wing. That’s a great way to torpedo stretches of play.

Add in Wiseman’s minutes, a lot of run for players on two-way contracts, and the two new guys — JaMychal Green and the injured Donte DiVincenzo — and it’s no surprise the Warriors’ only strong lineup is the established starting five.

The next week or so should bring more continuity and better play, but if not, then the rotations will need to be tightened to better represent who gets it and who doesn’t.

Bad luck

» Don’t be naive. It is absolutely a factor.

The Warriors are shooting more 3-pointers than anyone else in the NBA this season. Above the break, they’re shooting at a nice clip.

But the Dubs are the second-worst team in the NBA at shooting corner 3-pointers. They’re 10-for-39. Only the Lakers are worse, and it’s a slim margin.

Missing corner 3-pointers is brutal, because it leaves at least two and oftentimes three defenders behind the ball on a miss. Like a long, contested 2-point jumper, missed corner 3s are a recipe for fast break points going the other way.

And you can only attribute all those misses to bad luck. The Warriors are a good 3-point shooting team. They just haven’t made the easiest 3s in the game to this point in the season.

Also in the bad luck department: Warriors opponents are shooting lights out when they play them. Detroit was just the latest team to outperform. Even when the Warriors are forcing bad shots, those shots are falling for their opponents.

Call it whatever you want — luck, karma, cosmic balance — but I’d expect regression in both areas to come soon, and it should provide a big boost for the Dubs.