US media revealed that the Warriors will sign 4 people in a row! The 15-man roster is not very suspense: 8 defenders + 4 old men! How can I play this?

When the NBA offseason is about to come to an end, the Golden State Warriors are finally no longer "silent" - but this belated signing news not only does not bring expectations to fans, but instead makes the call for "rebuilding" stronger. According to NBA insider Mark Stein and Bay Area team reporters, with the close of Jonathan Cumingga's contract deadlock (October 1 is the deadline for accepting a $7.9 million qualified offer), the final reinforcement of the Warriors' 15-man roster has clearly emerged: Al Horford, D'Anthony Melton, Gary Payton II, Seth Curry and second-round pick Will Richard will fill the remaining quota. With Kumingga and its existing core, a "8 defenders + 4 old men" deformed lineup has officially taken shape. However, the outside world generally disgraces the Warriors' lineup, and some media even angrily criticize: Such concealed operations are not so much "strike to the championship", but rather a consumption of the team's future - the Warriors, perhaps they should have given up their obsession and faced reconstruction.

When talking about the Warriors' current situation, the core that cannot be avoided is Kumingga's contract dispute. Since the offseason, the 22-year-old young forward has been in a game with the team: the agent publicly criticized Steve Cole. "The sales of 20 million annual salary free agents are the worst", while the options given by the Warriors have always been limited to "one-year 7.9 million qualification quotation", "two-year 45 million team options", and "three-year 75 million team options". Anyone with discerning eyes knows that Kumingga insists on "player options" is nothing more than just retaining the right to choose independently in the future; while the Warriors are stuck in the negotiation window, calling it "waiting for a solution", but in fact, they are using his contract as a "fig leaf" - covering up the essence of unwilling to make big efforts during the offseason.

As the Bay Area media commented incisively: "The Warriors' management just took advantage of the banner of Kumingga and declared to the outside world that 'it's not that we don't want to strengthen, but that we are restrained by contract issues'." You should know that the Warriors currently have 6 vacancies in the list, but they didn't plan to sign the contract until the end of the offseason, and the targets are mostly veterans and basic-paying players. What's even more ironic is that the three core members of Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler have already made a clear statement that "I hope Kumingga will return", but the management is still unmoved. At the root of this, Kumingga's stay or not has never been the key. The Warriors' real calculation is "waiting for the three veterans to expire" - Butler has no transactions for 110 million contracts for two years. Green parasitizes the existing system. Curry is unable to move as a signboard, and his salary space of 140 million was locked. The management simply chose to "spoil the transition", even if he sacrificed Kumingga, the only young potential stock, was willing to do so.

When Kumingga signed the qualification quotation, the Warriors will inevitably sign Horford, Melton, Payton Jr., Seth Curry and second-round pick Will Richard. At that time, the 15-man roster will be completely finalized - but the "imbalance" of this list is enough to make other teams in the league look at each other. Let’s look at the back line first: Curry (1 m 88), Podgemsky (1 m 92), Payton II (1 m 88), Will Richard (1 m 93), Moody (1 m 95), Hilde (1 m 93), Melton (1 m 88), Seth Curry (1 m 85), and 8 people squeezed into the No. 1 and 2 positions, accounting for more than half. According to the Bay Area media's joke, "Players such as Hilde and Moody about 1.95 meters in the new season will probably be forced to play in the third or even the fourth position. Kerr is playing the five-small to the extreme."

Looking at the age structure, it is even more shocking. Curry will be 38 years old in March next year, Green will be 36 years old, Butler is 36 years old, and the newly signed Horford will be 40 years old next summer - these four "old men" not only occupy the core position, Horford has even been locked as the starting center. Among the remaining players, Payton II is 32 years old and Seth Curry is 34 years old. The average age of the entire lineup is straight to the top three in the league. Compared with other teams in the Western Conference: the Nuggets have a golden combination of Jokic and Murray, the Timberwolves have a youth team led by Edwards, the Rockets have a championship lineup of Durant, Shin Kyung and Amen Thompson, and the Warriors' "Aging + Short" lineup is like traveling from ten years ago.

What's more ridiculous is that the Warriors' starting prediction is: Curry + Melton + Butler + Green + Horford. In this lineup, except for Butler (2.01 meters) who can barely take care of the forward line, the other four players are only Green (2.01 meters) the highest. Horford is 2.06 meters tall as the center, but the confrontation declines due to his age. You should know that when the Warriors played against the Rockets and Timberwolves last season, their rebounding rate in 100 rounds was 4.4% lower than their opponents; while the team won the most points, the "veteran + star" combination (Curry, Green, Butler + Hilder, Pojemsky), although they won 14.9 points in 65 minutes, their rebounding rate lost 14.6%, relying entirely on three-pointers (the shooting percentage is 11.5% higher than that of their opponents). But the problem is that the Warriors' three-point shooting percentage (35.3%) in the playoffs has declined compared to the regular season (36.4%), and the instability of three-pointers is destined to be unable to support the lower limit of a lineup. The problems with the Warriors' lineup are far more than "there are many defenders and many veterans". It is as simple as "there are too many defenders and many veterans" - insufficient height and aging have long formed an "double fatal hole" that is difficult to solve. Let’s talk about height first. Among the 15 people, only Horford (2m 06), Butler (2m 01), Kumingga (2m 01), and Meng Zhui Meng Green (2m 01), and the remaining 11 people are below 2m.. This means that in the new season, facing the "tall inside" of the West, such as Jokic of the Nuggets (2.13 meters), Gobert of the Timberwolves (2.16 meters), Zubac of the Clippers (2.13 meters), and even Shin Kyung and Capela of the Rockets, the Warriors will be completely suppressed in rebound protection and inside defense. The rebounding dilemma in the playoffs last season was just the beginning. As Horford grows older and Green's condition declines in the new season, this problem will only be more serious.

Looking at age, the physical fitness of the four core veterans is the biggest hidden danger. Curry is 38 years old, and whether he can maintain his regular season attendance rate in 82 games next season is unknown; Green is 36 years old, and has long lost his ability to score on the offensive end and can only rely on defense and organization to connect; Butler is 36 years old, although he has the ability to hold the ball, his physical decline has greatly reduced his offensive strength at critical moments in the playoffs; Horford is 40 years old, even though his three-point shooting percentage is 40.9% in the past three seasons, his movement speed and inside confrontation ability are no longer as good as before, and it is difficult to support his defensive system when facing a young center.

What's more fatal is that Warriors coach Cole is still sticking to the old idea of ​​"Extreme Five Smalls". Three years ago, he had a short lineup of "Curry + Clay + Poole + Divencenzo + Green", and now it has become even more powerful - the existence of 8 defenders means that the team must rely on speed and physical fitness to pull the space, but the veterans' bodies do not allow it at all. The final result will only be: all the pressure is on Curry, and he may be able to rely on his personal ability to cover the situation in the regular season, but in the high-intensity playoffs, Curry, who has overdrawn physically, will lose his competitiveness instantly once his condition declines.

Melton's return is even more hidden risks. The 27-year-old 3D guard signed a one-year, 12.8 million contract with the Warriors in 2024, but tore the ACL in just 6 games and was then traded to the Nets. Now that the Warriors have signed him with a basic salary, they bet that he can return to his peak form, but the impact of the ACL injury on the player's explosive power is well known. Whether Melton can support the defense of the No. 2 position is still unknown. Although Payton II has defensive ability, he has limited contributions to the offensive end at the age of 32; although Seth Curry hit 45.6% of his three-point shooting percentage, his height of 1.85 meters makes him a "cash machine" on the defensive end - these signings seem to fill the gap, but in fact they are just helpless moves by the management to "make up the numbers". The "visiting" of the Warriors management has long been seen through by fans. While they asked Green to shout the slogan of "win the championship in 2026", they signed a bunch of veterans and defenders; while claiming "attention to Kumingga's potential", they were unwilling to give a sincere contract; while trying to retain Curry's final peak, they were unwilling to invest resources to strengthen the lineup. This mentality of "wanting to win but afraid of spending money" will eventually end up being "empty at both ends" - which not only wastes Curry's end of his career, but also delays the growth of young players such as Kumingga.

In fact, the Warriors should have long faced the necessity of reconstruction. Today's Western Conference pattern is no longer "the dominant one". Young teams are emerging one after another, old-fashioned teams continue to strengthen, while the Warriors' core framework has become aging, and their salary space has been locked, so they do not have the ability to win the championship at all. Instead of consuming it with the "champion fantasy" and consuming it, it is better to start reconstruction as soon as possible: let go of veterans with high salaries and low ability, and build a new system around young players such as Kumingga and Moody. Even if the record declines in the short term, it can retain hope for the team for the future.

You should know that Kumingga is not without potential. At the age of 22, he has excellent physical fitness and averaged 12.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game last season, making him one of the few young vitality sources for the Warriors. But the management regarded him as a "negotiation chip" and even let him sign a qualification quote and leave tomorrow summer - this kind of operation is undoubtedly irresponsible for the team's future. When the contracts of veterans such as Curry, Green, Butler expire, if the Warriors no longer have the support of their young core, they will only fall into the embarrassing situation of "reconstruction without foundation".

There is only one month left to open the regular season of the new season. The Warriors' 15-man roster is basically not suspense. The deformed lineup of "8 guards + 4 old men" is destined to become the laughing stock of the West. Instead of facing the ending of the "one round" after the season, it is better to let go of your obsession now and tell the fans frankly: "We need to rebuild." After all, the concealed consumption is far more hurtful than the calm reconstruction - this is true for Curry, and the legendary team of the Warriors.