The Golden State Warriors are widely seen as a prohibitive favorite to claim back-to-back NBA titles and very little could happen in October to take away from that belief. Golden State isn’t exactly off to a lights-out start, though, as the team dropped a memorable season opener to the Houston Rockets before falling to the Memphis Grizzlies on the road later in the week. Toss a close win against the New Orleans Pelicans in the middle of those two games and the defending champions are at 1-2 on the season.
Moments before his team took the floor in the fourth game of the season, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr took the heat for his squad’s scuffling start, saying that the reigning champs have been “unprepared” at the outset.
Kerr: "We've been unprepared, frankly, which is my fault. A lack of poise has been a problem for three games."
— Connor Letourneau (@Con_Chron) October 23, 2017
In some ways, this is not a surprising statement from Kerr. The head coach often takes the blame when a team underachieves when compared to its talent level and, quite obviously, two losses in three games is an example of the Warriors doing just that. Still, it is a bit jarring to see a team scoring 113.3 points per 100 possessions being described as “unprepared” and that speaks to the ridiculous talent level in Oakland.
In fairness, the Warriors have no business being a bottom-five defensive team and, through one week of action, that is exactly what they are. Steve Kerr probably isn’t at fault for much of that but, at the end of the day, he is charged with motivating an unprecedented collection of talent for games in October and that is a very tough task.
