In the Shadow of Superstars, Golden State’s Young Players Try to Bloom

Their early mornings at LA Fitness soon became routine. Moses also had the keys to the gym at Absolute Athlete, a nearby training facility. He was always looking for the next workout, the next pickup game, the next challenge.

“You want to have challenges, and you have to have obstacles,” Moody said. “Because if you’re bad at something, that just means you have more room to grow.”

As a second-year guard with Golden State, Moody, 20, has a new challenge: cracking the rotation and playing consistent minutes. He can commiserate with two other former first-round draft picks — James Wiseman, 21, and Jonathan Kuminga, 20 — who are trying to become contributors on a team without much time to waste.

For Golden State, in Boston on Thursday for a rematch of last season’s N.B.A. finals against the Celtics, there is tension between defending its championship and developing its young players. Ideally, it would be able to do both. But it is a complicated puzzle, especially for a team with outsize expectations.

Kuminga, a second-year forward, has spoken of upholding the “legacy” established by his teammates Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson. Wiseman, a third-year center whose career has been slowed by injuries, has cited his sporadic minutes as chances for him to “grow and learn.” And Moody has straddled a fine line between patience and impatience.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/sports/basketball/golden-state-moses-moody.html