Have A Good Summer: Warriors, Celtics, Nuggets

We had three more teams eliminated from the playoffs in recent days as the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, and Denver Nuggets were dispatched by the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and Oklahoma City Thunder, respectively. Here, we bid the Warriors, Celtics, and Nuggets adieu and take a look at some of the things that will define their offseasons.

Golden State Warriors

• It's obviously a major bummer that Golden State's season ended with Steph Curry on the bench. Not much more to say about that.
• The Warriors got the full Playoff Jimmy experience, for good and for ill. He was dealing with the tailbone injury, sure, but if it didn't stop him from playing 43 minutes and taking 26 shots in Game 3, I'm not sure why he was SO passive in Games 4 and 5. It was, at times, like he wasn't out there. And in a situation where the Dubs desperately needed him to be as assertive and forceful as ever. But that's just what you get with Jimmy. Sometimes he is the best player on the floor by a mile and looks like he is intent on carrying his team to the title by himself; and sometimes he just kind of blends into the proceedings like he's the fifth option in his own lineup. The trade was very clearly still worth it for what he brought to the team defensively (and offensively in the non-Steph minutes during the regular season) and how he saved their season from the brink — and he'll help them so much as they try to retool next year. (More on next year in a minute.) But these last two games of the series were a disappointment.
• Jimmy doesn't think it's a problem that the Warriors are building around a trio of old guys (him, Steph, and Draymond Green, obviously). It may or may not be, but it does seem increasingly unlikely that either he or Steph makes it through a full season and playoff run fully healthy.
• While it ended badly, I do think this was a pretty successful season for the Warriors, all things considered. They got to the second round after missing the playoffs last season. (One of a few things I got right this year was that the Warriors would be better than they were a year ago after the way they handled the offseason.) They turned some of the stuff they got in the Klay Thompson six-team sign-and-trade (plus Andrew Wiggins) into Butler, who should, again, help more than any of those guys did.
• I was about to write that having De'Anthony Melton back next season would provide a boost but then I remembered that Melton was in the Butler trade.
• Both Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney are not under contract for next season. That's the kind of thing that seems relatively unimportant, but those guys are really useful — especially on defense. I'd assume they're both back on minimum deals, but if not, I'll be very interested to see how they're replaced.
• So about the young guys. Brandin Podziemski is clearly inside Steve Kerr's circle of trust. And after starting the season slowly due to whatever illness he had, Podz really rounded into shape. He shot 42.9% from the field and 32.0% from deep prior to the All-Star break, and 46.5% from the field and 43.8% from three after it. He didn't shoot it well at all in the playoffs, but there were a few games where you could really see the theory of what he can be for this team moving forward. Moses Moody took a somewhat similar path, starting slowly before becoming essential after the Butler trade; but he totally fell apart in the playoffs, beginning with a disastrous Game 7 against the Rockets. If the Warriors make a trade, he feels like a prime candidate to be included, given his mid-range salary. I'm not totally sure what to make of either Trayce Jackson-Davis or Quinten Post, a pair of late-second-round big men who were useful at times and unplayable at others.
• And then ... [deep sigh] ... there's Jonathan Kuminga. The guy is super talented, and at times I have been extremely in on him. There are also times where it looks like he doesn't know how to play basketball. I'm not sure how much of that is on him and how much of that is on the Warriors not consistently giving him a chance to play through mistakes despite his obvious talent. He's never seemed like a priority for them, and his development has accordingly been haphazard. This is going to be one of the most fascinating restricted free agencies in recent memory. Golden State probably can't afford to let him leave for nothing, but he also probably (and understandably) doesn't want to be there anymore and it seems like the Warriors don't necessarily want him to be there, either. It feels like a sign-and-trade is the most likely result.