Warriors at a crossroad

Needless to say, the franchise is at a crossroad and the Warriors may not know where they stand until the 2021-22 season when they expect to have their full team back.

But will it be too late? Whatever is or is not accomplished this year, there won’t be a true assessment of the team with Thompson out rehabbing for a second season in a row. Meanwhile, Curry is 32 years old and will be 33 in March with a contract extension coming due — if the Warriors want to honor Curry’s wish of keeping him a Warrior for life. Questions still abound about Andrew Wiggins, who appeared in about a dozen games for Golden State last season, as well as second-year shooting guard Jordan Poole, who struggled as a rookie. Can Eric Paschall continue the ascent he showed last year? What will this year’s No. 2 overall pick, James Wiseman, bring to the team? Will Draymond Green ever return to his consistent triple-double self or will we see that only occasionally now?

The answer to those questions will go a long way to answering the biggest questions facing the franchise: Is this team still a title contender, and if not, can they still be counted on to make the playoffs?

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At least the Golden State Warriors have some maneuverability right now when it comes to assessing the 2020-21 squad. The 2020 San Francisco 49ers do not have that luxury because they’re going to have to make a decision on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo before the start of next season. Does the team bring him back next year and pay him $24 million? Or does the franchise move off of him, with only a hit of $1.8 million in dead cap space if the 49ers cut him loose and then start fresh?

When he’s healthy, Garoppolo is a winner, going 24-8 as a starter. In his first full, healthy season, he helped lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Sure, there were the occasional bad passes and he can be inconsistent at times, but when he’s right, he’s proven he can be as good as anyone.

But he’s also been out more than a season’s worth of games as a 49er — missing 11 in 2018 and has been out of six this year, and counting.

Despite the talent on the team — and the 49ers do have a lot of (injured) talent right now — the biggest question mark is at the position where a team needs the most answers. A position in which no team wants to be.

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Golf fans should be tuning in to the US Women’s Open tournament this weekend and, if you play the game, you might want to pay close attention to how the women play because no matter how big a hitter you think are, chances are your game is more closely resembles Jin Young Ko, the No. 1 ranked women’s player, than that played by Bryson DeChambeau.

The fact of the matter is, the game played by a vast majority of recreational players are, according to almost all metrics, more in line with the women’s pro game than the men’s PGA Tour. According to Golf.com, in 2019 the average drive on the men’s tour was 275 yards. The ladies averaged 218.

Now of course, there are outliers. This year, the average drive on the PGA Tour is 290 yards, but on the LPGA Tour, there are only a handful of women over the 280-yard mark and Bianca Pagdanganan is closing in on a 300-yard average. But for the most part, shorter distances mean longer clubs needed on approach shots. Most recreational golfers simply are not going to hit driver-wedge on most holes, which is what you’re starting to see more and more on the men’s tour. There is more thought and course management that goes on in the women’s game and many recreational golfers, myself included, can learn a lot more about your own game by watching the women.

Marvel at the men’s game, take tips from the ladies.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117.