Draymond's 'spirit' won't win the Warriors a single game without Curry

Draymond Green looked at a roster without Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III or Moses Moody and decided the thing that's changed is the team's spirit. I don't buy it. The Warriors are about to play a month of basketball without the guy who made their 8-4 start, and "more certain of who we are" won't score a point.

Start with the number Green has to beat. Last season Golden State went 13-26 in the 39 games Curry missed, per ESPN. That's not a couple of bad bounces. Thirty-nine games is a big enough sample to tell you what this franchise is without him.

Now the calendar. The team says Curry has an oblique abdominal tear and gets re-evaluated in two weeks. Shams Charania reported the Warriors are bracing for closer to a month. Even the short version costs him at least seven games: the Spurs, Pelicans, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Celtics, Kings and Trail Blazers.

Here's what Green is asking the rest of the roster to replace. Curry is averaging 27.8 points in 26.3 minutes and shooting a career-high 45.7% from three. ESPN described the eight-game winning streak that ended in Houston as one spurred by a surging Curry. I'll go further. Streaks are mostly marketing, and this one was a Curry streak in a team jersey.

I'll give Green his best fact, because it's a good one. After Curry left Wednesday with 6:25 to go in the first quarter and the Warriors down 19-10, they clawed back and tied it. Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg put up 25 and 10. Brandin Podziemski scored 22. Green named both when he made his case, and he's right that last year's team didn't have a Lendeborg to hand the ball to.

Then look at how that night ended. Georges Niang and De'Anthony Melton cut Houston's lead to 88-85 with about 10 minutes left, and the Rockets scored the next eight. Golden State lost by seven. Fighting back is nice. Closing is the job, and the guy who closes is the one in street clothes.

And this roster is thinner than last year's, not deeper. Butler and Moody are rehabbing long-term knee injuries. Kristaps Porzingis stepped away from the team and the sport entirely. Backup guard Brandon Williams has a hamstring strain and is out at least a week. The Warriors are 1-1 without Curry this season, which proves nothing either way. Green is selling a feeling with no record behind it.

I like Green's confidence. You want your vets saying that stuff in the locker room. I just don't want anybody outside of it confusing a quote with a plan.

So here's my offer. If Golden State wins four of those seven games, I'll write the column saying Draymond was right, and Tank can frame it. I'm not drafting it yet.

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