A lot has happened to the teams I follow in just a few weeks. The Pittsburgh Steelers were ignominiously defeated by the Houston Oilers in their wild card playoff game, and after 16 years at the helm, their Coach Mike Tomlin retired. The subsequent hiring of veteran Mike McCarthy as head coach was controversial, as is the prospect of Aaron Rodgers returning as quarterback. Not exactly a youth movement.
The San Francisco 49ers won their wild card game by defeating the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, but were blown out in the divisional round by this year's eventual Super Bowl winner, the Seattle Seahawks. Another season of injuries, for one thing, finally caught up to them.
In the NBA, the Golden State Warriors were winning again when a season-ending injury to key player Jimmy Butler threw the season into disarray. Steph Curry didn't play either for the last several games before the All-Star Game break due to lingering knee pain.
As the trade deadline loomed ahead, anticipation was high for a trade of unknown proportion to get Giannis from Milwaukee. But he stayed put, and instead the Warriors traded Jonathan Kuminga (currently injured) and Buddy Hield to Atlanta for big man Porzingas, who is also dealing with illness and injury but is expected to play after the break. It seems that these days the story of sports is the story of injuries.
The Dubs also sent Trayce Jackson-Davis to Toronto, where he immediately had the most productive game of his career. Two-way player Pat Spencer was hired for the full time Warriors roster, just after the most productive game he's had so far in his career.
With these changes the Warriors didn't exactly get younger, but they did free up rotation spots for their younger players, like Spencer and Santos. Even without Curry and Butler, this team played some spirited games, and even scored the biggest fourth quarter comeback for a victory this season.
All of this change for the Warriors was accompanied by a public reappraisal of this season's possibilities--just get in the playoffs and maybe make some noise. Nobody is saying it's a championship team, especially without Butler (he may miss the first half of next season as well.) More change may be in the offing after the season, but the rest of the season will likely have an effect on what those changes are, including whether Coach Kerr will come back. If Porzingas and Steph can stay healthy--a big if--how this new dynamic works or doesn't will probably say a lot about what happens.
I'm not likely to follow the Steelers and 9ers all that closely through the off-season or even when their season begins, but I like this Warriors team and how they play, so I'm going to savor the remaining games this spring. I'm especially looking forward to something nobody talks about--the Golden State Warriors debut of Seth Curry.
