Dub Hub: Steve Kerr says it would be ‘irresponsible’ to go all-in on a trade this season

Rounding up all Warriors and NBA related news for Wednesday, January 15th.

In today’s Dub Hub:

• In an interview on 95.7 The Game, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says it would be ‘irresponsible’ for the Warriors to go all-in on a trade this season.
• Gary Payton II ‘on track’ to return Wednesday night vs. Timberwolves, according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
• ESPN’s Shams Charania gives the latest update on disgruntled Heat star Jimmy Butler’s trade request.

The Golden State Warriors appear to be confronting the harsh truth about their season: they’re not title contenders with their current roster. Still, team leaders Stephen Curry and Draymond Green have advised against making a major move before the NBA Trade Deadline.

Head coach Steve Kerr echoed this sentiment during a recent interview with 95.7 The Game, calling it “irresponsible” for the team to go all-in on a trade.

This unified message from the team’s leadership comes on the heels of a disappointing 104-101 loss to the then 8-31 Toronto Raptors. The defeat dropped the Warriors below .500 for the first time this season, and with their championship hopes in question, calls for a roster shake-up have grown louder.

Despite the noise, the Warriors’ leadership is trusting in the core that’s delivered four titles. Whether patience will pay off remains to be seen, but for now, it seems that the franchise is sticking to its long-term approach.

For more on this and other news around the NBA, here is our latest news round-up for Wednesday, January 15th:

Warriors News:

Steve Kerr: ‘Would be so irresponsible’ for Warriors to go all-in this season | 95.7 The Game

“We’re on the decline,” Kerr said. “We know that. Steph and Draymond and I have talked about it together. It would be so irresponsible for this franchise to trade everything away for one final swing at a title. I think you have to know where you are organizationally. You have to know the position of the rest of the league, the landscape. And this does not feel like a time, in my estimation, and I think in Mike’s and Steph’s and Draymond’s, where you just push all the chips in the middle and take a wild swing. That would be so irresponsible. So we’re aware of that.

“But what does that mean? It means we are where we are. We’re in the middle of the pack with a bunch of teams that are either good enough or not good enough, and we have to find out if we are. And by good enough, that means, can you climb your way into the playoffs and give yourself a chance? And that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Should Stephen Curry move on from the Warriors? | Yahoo Sports

But when Curry is still a top-10 player and Draymond Green is still an all-world defender, their annual inaction pursuing stars suggests cost-cutting and long-term planning — not winning — are the organization’s prioritities.

The state of the franchise is dark. The team’s effort is uninspiring. The arena feels lifeless. This isn’t the joyful, chaotic Warriors team that revolutionized basketball. That energy is gone, replaced by a snooze of a team playing a style that the league figured out. And for a group so focused on the future, the two-timeline experiment failed spectacularly. James Wiseman over LaMelo Ball. Jonathan Kuminga over Franz Wagner. Moses Moody over Alperen Şengün. Three lottery picks, no clear successors.

Warriors still have Klay-sized hole to fill halfway through season | NBC Sports Bay Area

“He’s had some good looks and he’s a great, great shooter,” Kerr said of Hield. “We know that. I think he’s pressing a little bit. I think all our guys are pressing, because they know our margin for error is slim. He’s just pressing. But I trust him.

“I put him in for the last play because I always believe that he’s going to make the next shot. He gives us spacing, even when he’s not making shots. He gives us spacing. People respect him. They guard him and he opens up the floor. I’m going to keep playing him, I’m going to keep trusting him.”

Steph Curry’s 26-point performance vs. Raptors pushes him past Allen Iverson for 28th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list

Gary Payton II ‘on track’ to return Wednesday night vs. Timberwolves

NBA News:

Celtics starting lineup — in training camp form — searching for answers: ‘We’re not happy’ | The Athletic

It took 16 seconds for Boston to miss four shots, including three open 3-point looks. The Celtics tracked down one steal and two offensive rebounds during the stretch but still could not put the ball in the hoop. Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis and Derrick White all misfired on shot attempts. To add to the Celtics’ frustration, the Pelicans’ Trey Murphy then converted a difficult layup over Porziņģis’ outstretched arms at the other end of the court.

Empty possessions like that one have become too common lately for the Boston starters. The Celtics’ first unit, one of the NBA’s best high-usage lineups last season, has gone through baffling problems since Porziņģis made his season debut on Nov. 25.

Why the Phoenix Suns Should Trade Kevin Durant | The Ringer

Generally speaking, these Suns have easily the worst ROI in basketball history. Replenishment should be their word of the day, every day, until they have a future that isn’t shrouded in dread. Would the Thunder have any interest in virtually guaranteeing themselves at least one NBA title with a full-circle kumbaya? Could the Warriors be tempted to cap their dynastic run with one last hurrah? Could the Spurs have their cake and eat it, too? Do the Magic see themselves as a team that’s ready to win it all right now—in all seriousness, assuming Franz Wagner returns this season—and are they willing to part with several picks and someone like Anthony Black to do it?

The Suns should be proactive here. The alternative is where they currently are, encased in a pressure-packed work environment that sees every win as a relief and every loss as a step toward more disruption. That’s the world these players and coaches live in, beneath the thumb of an owner whose stubborn obsession with the present day has fostered a claustrophobic, avoidable sense of desperation.

ESPN’s Shams Charania gives an update on the Jimmy Butler trade saga with the Heat

In case you missed it at Golden State of Mind:

NBA L2M: Warriors vs. Raptors

While the game had drama, it did not have controversy. The Warriors went the old fashioned route and threw the game away fair and square, and the refs agree. Of the 14 incidents in the last two minutes that the NBA reviewed, the league office determined that all 14 were accurately called or non-called.

Follow @unstoppablebaby on Twitter for all the latest news on the Golden State Warriors.