Myers tinkers with ‘fragile’ Warriors chemistry

OAKLAND — The offseason has been relatively uneventful for the Warriors, outside of the coaching changes. No big moves, no extravagant deals, no fan favorites waived.

With training camp just a week away, and preseason coming soon after, the goals are clear.  Players need to build an on-court rapport with newly appointed head coach Steve Kerr and his staff. The new guys need to start building chemistry. And everyone needs to stay healthy.

Quiet acquisitions of Leandro Barbosa and Shaun Livingston and the return of Brandon Rush this summer were small moves made in the hope of fixing one key problem from last season — depth.

The Warriors have a solid core and are confident in their starting five. But the bench is another subject. General manager Bob Myers said having consistent production from the reserve unit is a must:

“I think our bench last year wasn’t what we had hoped. So addressing some needs in the back court is important for us so we targeted a guy like Shaun Livingston and were able to get him.”

Myers also noted that Livingston — recovering from surgery on his right big toe — will miss most if not all of training camp.  This doesn’t come as much of a surprise, since the original prognosis was for recovery six to eight weeks after his Aug. 13 procedure.

With Livingston missing training camp and possibly the preseason, Kerr’s decisions on rotation early in the regular season could possibly put a little more pressure on Stephen Curry right out of the gate.

That pressure also applies to the training camp invitees and new young additions: Justin Holiday, Aaron Craft, James Michael McAdoo and Mitchell Watt.  Myers told SFBay that with the experience of the current team, the young guys will need to show some wisdom early on:

“I’d like to see some maturity. We are a young team in some respects, but we have had some playoff experience now. So some leadership as well, holding each other accountable.”

As it was last season, expectations are high for the Warriors this season.  Golden State has become a team that is expected to make the playoffs but how things will pan out is, at this point, speculation.

For Myers, the only thing to do is get the ball rolling, see how things work during training camp and the preseason, then start the season off on a good note:

“Chemistry in the NBA is so fragile. Talent is important but chemistry is huge.  Just trying to get off on the right foot is important.”

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