Bobby Marks can't help but remember the fall of the New Jersey Nets when he thinks about the Golden State Warriors. They didn't win a ring two decades ago, when Marks was rising through the Nets' front office. They made two straight NBA Finals (2002, '03), and they missed on six straight first-round picks. They tied up money in Jason Kidd and later Vince Carter, when both had hit 30. And they then fell to suffering one of the worst seasons in NBA history – 12-70 – in 2009-10.
"I lived through it, man," Marks, now ESPN's NBA front office insider and formerly the Nets' ****** istant GM, told the Chronicle. "When it doesn't work, when you don't draft great, or maybe players just don't work out for whatever reason – there is a loud thud, from a roster-building standpoint."
The thud may hit in Golden State, whenever Stephen Curry walks off the floor at Chase Center for the last time. On Saturday, the 38-year-old Curry becomes eligible for the fifth contract extension of his career, likely his last. There's not a dominant young cadre waiting to step in: all but one (Moses Moody) of the Warriors' six first-round picks from 2018-22 are on other NBA rosters or out of the league entirely.
Golden State's ability to sustain any kind of championship foundation, now, will trace in large part directly back to any deal their franchise icon signs at some point between Saturday and June 2027.
"The Curry part," Marks said, "dictates what the Warriors' flexibility is."
#Nets
"I lived through it, man," Marks, now ESPN's NBA front office insider and formerly the Nets' ****** istant GM, told the Chronicle. "When it doesn't work, when you don't draft great, or maybe players just don't work out for whatever reason – there is a loud thud, from a roster-building standpoint."
The thud may hit in Golden State, whenever Stephen Curry walks off the floor at Chase Center for the last time. On Saturday, the 38-year-old Curry becomes eligible for the fifth contract extension of his career, likely his last. There's not a dominant young cadre waiting to step in: all but one (Moses Moody) of the Warriors' six first-round picks from 2018-22 are on other NBA rosters or out of the league entirely.
Golden State's ability to sustain any kind of championship foundation, now, will trace in large part directly back to any deal their franchise icon signs at some point between Saturday and June 2027.
"The Curry part," Marks said, "dictates what the Warriors' flexibility is."
#Nets
23 days ago
