3 bold predictions for the Golden State Warriors’ 2022–23 season
Stephen Curry, Golden State (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Prediction #2: They win every major individual award
Surely not! How could the Warriors manage to nab every award that is up for grabs by the summer of 2023? If you start with the obvious choices and fill out the selections around them, then it suddenly doesn’t look as outrageous as it initially seems.
The easy ones to fill in are Curry for MVP and Kerr for Coach of the Year. Kerr will face stiff competition, and this award often goes to teams who overachieve or finally break through in some way. Yet somehow, Kerr has only won this award once, back in the 2015-16 season. Since 2010, Gregg Popovich, Mike Budenholzer, and Tom Thibodeau have all won it twice.
With those taken care of, there is no reason why Poole couldn’t win the Most Improved Player award. He almost did so last season, and if he is an All-Star next year and legitimately makes Curry’s life easier during the regular season, then he is in consideration. But what about the Sixth Man of the Year award?
That is tricky, and Poole would be the best fit here as well. So if we slide him across to this role, it opens up Kuminga, or even Moses Moody, to win the most improved trophy. If James Wiseman roars into life in this squad, he could also insert himself into consideration in both of these categories as well.
This leaves the Defensive Player of the Year award. Green watched Marcus Smart scoop the honor last year, and while there were few complaints, who would you rather have marshaling everything defensively in a seven-game series? The hope is that this has fired Green up enough to make one more run at an award he won in 2017.
What is being proposed here is unheard of. But if there’s a group that is better equipped in all of the areas where awards are given out to players than the Warriors, then we haven’t yet met them. They have the right balance of superstars in Curry, youth in Poole/Kuminga, longevity in Kerr, and a redemptive arc in Green to have a real go at this challenge.
