Mike Dunleavy, Warriors entering 2025 NBA offseason with clear priority in mind originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – If Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy and his lieutenants in the front office have their way, their roster will look significantly different by mid-July.
The rescue mission begins this week with the 2025 NBA Draft, followed next week by free agency, which Dunleavy indicates will be crucial. After evaluating the Warriors and observing the NBA playoffs, Dunleavy on Monday offered a glimpse of the team’s offseason goals.
“It just is [borne] out that defense is still really important,” he said at Chase Center. “And then, the offensive end, to be able to have space on the floor to combat these defenses.”
Defense first. And then offense.
The postseason provided the Warriors with a different reply to a question they had answered with resounding confidence after completing the regular season with the best defense in the NBA:
When is the No. 1 defense in the league not good enough?
When it gets demolished in the playoffs.
After posting a league-best 109 defensive rating over the final nine weeks of the regular season, the Warriors expressed belief that their defense would position them for a deep playoff run. Maybe even carry them to the NBA Finals.
But after a seven-game series victory over the Houston Rockets in the first round, the Warriors beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of Western Conference semifinals and then lost four in a row, looking profoundly overmatched without Stephen Curry.
The Timberwolves averaged 114.8 points per game in their four wins. Their offensive rating was 116.9, with an effective-field-goal percentage of 60.4 and an absurd 63.1 true-shooting percentage. Minnesota’s offense was so clinically effective that it nullified its propensity for turnovers.
That same offense ran aground in the conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Timberwolves posted an offensive rating of 111.7 and took an appreciable dip in effective-field-goal (54.3) and true-shooting (57.5) percentages. The Thunder feasted on Minnesota turnovers.
So how do the Warriors, painfully aware of the data, retool their roster this summer and became a contender in one of the most competitive conferences in NBA history? Do they address the inconsistent point-of-attack defense? Do they chase a big man with rim-protection credentials?
The top of Dunleavy’s priority list is written in blood.
“I feel like that’s a big debate throughout the league right now,” Dunleavy said. “Generally, the rim protection is more valuable. At least that’s the way guys are paid, and guys are sought-after in trades.
“But if you ask any coach, point of attack is pretty important. Being able to control the ball handling and these pick-and-rolls.”
Golden State’s best point-of-attack defender, Gary Payton II, was not as effective as he has been in the past. Brandin Podziemski is overmatched in that role. Moses Moody is solid but doesn’t have the quicks. Buddy Hield and Curry, by design, prioritize offense.
OKC has Lu Dort and Alex Caruso, Minnesota has Jaden McDaniels and Houston has Amen Thompson. These players are factors in these teams lining up as the top three in the West. Which is why every other team in the West is chasing perimeter defense, either in the draft or from a free-agent market that offers little beyond Amir Coffey, Keon Ellis or Davion Mitchell.
Another factor is that the top-tier teams in the West also have rim protection behind their POA defense. Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein clog the middle for the Thunder, Rudy Gobert for the Timberwolves and Alperen Şengun (he’s improving and he’s only 22) and Steven Adams for the Rockets.
The Warriors have in Trayce Jackson-Davis a solid but not elite rim protector. Draymond Green, still 6-foot-6 but now 35 years old, is overtaxed in that role. Quinten Post stands 7 feet but does not offer that dimension.
The list of free-agent big men includes Brook Lopez and Al Horford, who might be too expensive, along with Clint Capela and the wild card that is Ben Simmons. Any of them would provide a boost.
The Rockets, behind Şengun and Adams, had success in the paint against Golden State. The Timberwolves prevailed behind Julius Randle’s post-ups and the three-level scoring of Anthony Edwards. The Warriors are not alone in having no answer for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Hartenstein-Holmgren combo.
So, they search for POA defenders and rim protectors. They search this week, next week and perhaps beyond because it’s essential to be a threat in the West.
“Both are really important,” Dunleavy said. “With having a guy on our team like Draymond, we’re elite with a guy like that, and I think we can be better on the ball. I don’t want to say that means it’s more important on the ball for us. I would say both are extremely important, and we’ll look to handle both those in free agency.”
The Warriors are early in an important week, knowing that next week shapes up as being vastly more significant. They know the task, and the hard part is days away.
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