LOS ANGELES — As the Golden State Warriors prepare to start the 2021-22 NBA season, they are doing so with renewed optimism from a team that hopes to return to the top of the Western Conference rankings after failing to qualify for the playoffs in each of the past two years.

veteran attacker of warriors, Draymond Green, hopes the young team can do well together, but gave an honest assessment ahead of Tuesday’s regular season opener against the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center.

“I think this team can be very good,” Green said of the Warriors. “But I think this team has to grow. We have to put it all together. Are there any aspirations to win the championship? Sure. But this team is nowhere near as good as the championship team. I think we have a lot of pieces that can grow, not I doubt it at all, but we also can’t be fooled by 5-0 in pre-season and say, ‘Oh man, we’re a championship team. We have a very long way to go.”

Green has taken a softer-than-usual stance compared to previous years as the organization heads into an uncertain season that will largely be determined by whether the former All-Star Klay Thompson And the #2 pick for 2020 in general. Choose James Wiseman (Men’s Cartilage Rehabilitation) It can return to the ground and contribute to raising the level of the meniscus.

Green believes in talent within the group, but also noted the “focus” and “dedication” required for any team to come together at the highest level.

“You don’t win a championship just because you think the pieces fit together,” Green said. “You don’t win the championship just because you think you have good talent. You have to succeed in this. So, do I think we have a good chance of being a good team? Sure. But to say we can win the championship, we’re very far from that, like any Almost another team is in this league, except maybe the Milwaukee Bucks, because they’re out of it. Everyone else has a long way to go and we in that group are going to try to create a break to be one of those teams that can compete in June.”

Green admitted that after two disappointing successive seasons, he’s hoping the organization will feel a little more pressure to turn things around.

“I think it’s best that we have some pressure,” Green said. “You can’t keep missing the playoffs. [Los hemos] He lost two years in a row. He could have done anything to make the playoffs. You go to the playoffs and try to compete for a championship. This is only the first layer; I hope that is not the goal of this organisation, but rather reaching the playoffs because it is definitely not my goal.”

The Warriors came close to qualifying for the post-season, but they stopped playing games against the Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies that ended their season earlier than expected. Green, who won his second gold for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics earlier this summer, said he’s not thinking about losses.