Chris Paul and the Warriors were as close to a rivalry as we have seen in the Western Conference in a decade, and there were moments in their playoff showdowns where you thought there was zero chance they could ever be in the same room again, forget playing with each other.
Yet here we are — Chris Paul is joining the Warriors .
Even Klay Thompson admitted it’s a “little weird,” speaking to Anthony Slater of The Athletic in the run-up to The Match golf event this weekend.
Any time you get to play with a player who is one of the best of your generation, it’s an honor. It’s a little weird because we’ve had so many battles in the past with Chris, and he’s led so many teams that nearly knocked us off or did knock us off all the way back in 2014. I think he’s just going to add such a calming presence and leadership component that we need.
Curry — who has North Carolina ties to Paul — echoed that idea.
If you asked us six months ago if this was something that could happen, the answer probably would have been no just based on where we were. Then you get to the summer and are trying to find ways to get better and put yourself in a position to chase another championship. Every team that CP has been on gets better. That’s the most consistent thing about him, and who he is and what he brings to the team. Everybody’s going to talk about the age. It’s on us to put that all together and figure out how all the pieces work.
Everyone with the Warriors is saying all the right things. And maybe they can figure out how to make it all work, these are veteran high IQ players who want to win and are willing to make the sacrifices to do it.
However, there are some monumental challenges for Paul to mesh into the Warriors’ culture. Here are the two significant issues at the top of the list:
1) Chris Paul likes to play slow, the Warriors play uptempo and chaotic. CP3 is the NBA king of the walk-the-dog up the court, dribble out top to survey the defense, call up a player to set a pick and create a mismatch, and get the offense rolling. It’s calculated and works, but it’s deliberate and slow. The Warriors play with pace, space and controlled chaos that defenses scramble to adjust to. Paul talks about playing faster but it will be an adjustment for both sides. This ties into the next big question…
2) Who starts? Chris Paul has never come off the bench in his NBA career. Not one game. Ever. Well-connected Bay Area-based writer Marc Spears of ESPN’s Andscape said he doesn’t expect that to change with his move to the Warriors. Starting Paul means center Kevon Looney would have to go to the bench, creating a small-ball starting five of CP3, Curry, Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green. Is that enough defense? Does that unsettle the team’s rhythm, which historically has saved its small-ball lineups for clutch moments?
In a strictly basketball sense, one can argue Paul should accept the role as a sixth man and take charge of a second unit in need of direction — and he likely plays minutes with Curry and Thompson out — but that tends not to be how things work in the NBA. Asking a player of CP3’s stature around the league to come off the bench means getting his sign-off on the idea, and that seems highly unlikely. At least to start the season. This isn’t a Steve Kerr thing; when they traded for Chris Paul, the Warriors knew what this would mean for their rotations.
Adding Paul gives the Warriors another high-IQ star and someone with the competitive fire that can help them chase banner No. 5. Getting there will take some serious compromising.
At least Curry and Thompson seem up for the challenge.