Warriors in December: 4-11, overall record: 16-16
Wizards in December: 3-9 (1 loss in OT), overall record: 5-25
I’ve been casually saying to folks willing to listen (no one is willing to listen but some people love me enough to pretend) that the Wizards are a better watch than the Warriors right now. In December they have a similar record. However, the Warriors are spiraling downwards, with press conferences where Steve Kerr talks of low morale and player-only meetings led by Steph Curry. The Wizards are putting the band together, cheering each other, good vibes all around as they gradually improve. There is a solution to the Wizards, even if it is a few years away. There is a method in the chaos.
The Warriors have no clear path out. No real way to improve the team - stuck in their own making. For the Warriors to win, they need Curry, Draymond and Wiggins to each be consistently at an A-/B+. When that can’t happen, they either need superhuman games from two of them, or A+ games from 3-4 other members of the team. And this month, they have been collectively unable to rise to that challenge. There are troubling signs. Two games in a row where Curry took very few shots and one game where he didn’t make a field goal. Three games in a row where Draymond was completely absent offensively. The team shot under 50% for every game in December, the lowest shooting percentage in the NBA. They are still digging themselves into offensive holes. The defensive intensity they had at the start of the season is now inconsistent. They don’t have a second shooter. Which is too bad because they had one (Klay Thompson), and they had another one (Jordan Poole) and they let both of them go for nothing in return.
There have always been games when Draymond looks like he doesn’t want to be there. Sometimes there are games where he actively looks like he is trying to get thrown out or other games where he is a nonfactor - it’s a day when he didn’t want to come to work. We’ve all had those, but unfortunately for the Warriors, they depend on Draymond always taking an active role. When he’s off they fall apart. He greases the wheels. He can help others find their rhythm. He can turn defense into offense. While it’s not fair and not realistic to say he can never have an off day, that is the position they are in. Steph also can’t have an off day. He can be average for him, but never subaverage - and that’s not really how averages work.
Most of December has been watching Steph struggle to get off a shot while being face guarded the entire time. But then there was this, in the game against the Suns
Here it is in slowmo:
Never write off Steph Curry, but without other players shooting well, he doesn’t even get the millisecond he needs to get a shot up.
Wiggins has been amazing this year, with numbers rivaling his All Star year in 21-22. Let no one ever say anything bad about Andrew Wiggins. Last week The Athletic writer Marcus Thompson II wrote a beautiful article about Wiggins - if this is behind a paywall for you, I encourage you to subscribe to The Athletic, if for Marcus Thompson pieces only. Wiggins has been slandered for the past two years by the fan base and faced constant trade rumors because his play was not strong. For the past two years his father was dying and his desire for extra effort on the court wasn’t there. As it shouldn’t be. While Wiggins took extended time off for personal reasons, the entire Warriors organization maintained his privacy, consistently saying we support Andrew and we don’t know when he will be back. While there are many things to fault the Warriors organization for, this is one of the things they do well. The team, the front office, and probably most of the beat reporters knew what was going on. They all kept his silence and voiced their unwavering support for him. That level of privacy seems impossible in this social media era. This year, Wiggins is in a different stage of his grief, one that at least for now, has him with a literal bounce in his step and focus on the court, as he guards the toughest players night after night and consistently scores when they need him to.
Are there other bright spots on the Warriors? Maybe. There are flashes of brilliance - Trayce Jackson Davis was rough the first part of December and now he’s more effective. Podz completely lost his shot and his confidence and now it’s slowly coming back. They acquired Dennis Schröder from Brooklyn, who should be a good addition, but hasn’t been yet. A bright spot is that their schedule gets easier for the rest of the season, but what does that matter if you still can’t beat the good teams. And they can’t. The week’s game against Cleveland is a case in point. The Dubs had no answers. The Warriors have always struggled against tall young teams like Cleveland (or Oklahoma City or Orlando when healthy).
And then there’s Jonathan Kuminga, who should be a big bright shining star, who IS a big bright shining star, but instead is viewed as a complicated problem to be solved. This is the classic situation of I Don’t Want to Marry You But I Don’t Want Anyone Else to Date You. Kuminga’s skills do not easily fit in with Steph and Dray’s. Kuminga’s potential is sky high. On another team (really on any other team in the NBA) Kuminga is highly likely to be a star. If the Warriors let him go, it will look like a bad trade immediately. But on the Warriors, he gets extremely inconsistent minutes and rarely enough time on the floor to be comfortable making mistakes. In contrast, Podz makes all kinds of mistakes and plays big minutes. This month things seemed to change. Draymond Green and Steve Kerr made post-game statements on December 7th. Draymond was going to come off the bench so Kuminga could start. Kuminga is the future and the future starts now. Articles were written calling the change “seismic”; emergency podcasts came out because the Warriors were finally making the change. Kuminga gets a secure role to show what he can do! It lasted 4 games. Then Dennis Schröder arrived and Kuminga went to the bench. In the last 3 games, Kuminga has played over 30 minutes and Kerr has said he is going to come off the bench but play starter minutes. That sounds fine but Kerr has said so many things about Kuminga and it hasn’t stayed true. The last three games totally depended on Kuminga’s play, with two games over 30 points and increased defensive effort. Kuminga is 22 years old, in his 4th year in the NBA with an expiring rookie contract. A team should not be toying with him like this. I love watching him play - he needs to be on a team who also loves watching him play.
December is not usually the time for great basketball. Neither is January. It’s the slog. Basketball is a game of runs, teams go in slumps, the Warriors are in theirs, it’s not where you are now it’s where you are in March. But the thing with the Warriors is that it’s hard to see a future that is that much different. It’s possible that everything might break their way - that’s essentially what happened in 2022. It’s possible. But it’s more likely that losing in the first round of the playoffs is their ceiling. Which is a tremendous waste of the talent and joy of Steph Curry first and foremost and also of the talent and joy of this entire team. The Dubs have chemistry but they are missing a catalyst. There is a foundation but there’s not that much to grow. I’m hoping, as usual, to be wrong.
The Wizards, in complete contrast, are growing, have all kinds of chemistry that grows by the day, are totally there for each other and have been really fun to watch. And Jordan Poole is having a tremendous year across every dimension. He is having career highs in points, assists, steals and blocks. His step back 3s?? Virtually unstoppable and the current best in the NBA.
Here’s his game winner against Charlotte:
Or this logo 3 against OKC:
With the extended injury of Kyle Kuzma, it’s clearly Jordan’s team and his leadership is showing. The joy and playfulness and silliness of JP is on this team. They are having fun even though they are still mostly losing. They are competing for longer stretches of the game. At the start of the year, games were competitive through the first quarter. Now, against bottom half teams they are competitive the whole way through. Against excellent teams, they are competitive into the 4th quarter. This week they took the Knicks to overtime, without Jordan Poole or Kyle Kuzma on the floor. This is tremendous growth. I know you don’t believe me. Why would you? Unless you live in the DC area, there is no way to see a Wizards game on tv.
All of this could change with Kuzma’s return - he’s a good player but he and Poole have yet to fit well together - much like Poole and Tyus Jones last year - good players, wrong fit. I think it’s likely Kuzma gets traded by February.
As you know, I’m a Jordan Poole fan beyond reason. Loyal to a fault. He does no wrong. And while I have set aside my revenge dream of him coming back to the Warriors, for a long time I hoped he would end up on the Orlando Magic - playing alongside the Wagners, shooting the lights out on a young improving team - the Eastern Conference version of OKC. But lately, I see the future, and it’s JP leading the Wizards.
When basketball times get hard and the winning doesn’t come easy, I watch the UConn women who are reliably excellent basketball. They go after every possession. Their hands are always up on defense. They play hard even in a blowout. Paige and Azzi and Sarah Strong are obviously future WNBA stars. They restore my faith and as always, I wish the Warriors played with the same intensity and drive.
As we face 2025, here’s to more wins! More double doubles! Fewer injuries! Fewer male podcasters sexualizing women athletes! To the start of the Unrivaled league! To the possibility that I might run into an All Star this February in San Francisco (but only if they like to come stare at the ocean in silence or if they literally ring my doorbell)!
If you’re a New Year’s resolution person - best of luck to you with yours. A Game At A Time has been my resolution - to watch every Wizards and Warriors game and write about what happens as a result. Accountability check: I am one Wizards game behind.
Happy New Year from me, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole.
The Timeout Books: (books I read during the timeouts, halftimes and commercials):
A Game At A Time Spotify Playlist (the songs that run through my head while writing this)
Bonus New Year’s Eve Content:
Have you ever fallen into a Brandon Victor Dixon rabbit hole? This is what I was doing as the clock struck 12 last night.
This can only mean good things for me, for all of us.