What we learned from the Warriors’ league-worst season

Many in the Warriors’ organization were more relieved than worried when Stephen Curry was diagnosed with a broken left hand in late October. After playing deep into June for five consecutive years, Curry would get some much-needed rest while his team focused on player development.

This glass-half-full approach, however, hardly made it easy for a franchise fresh off a dynasty to stomach a league-worst record of 15-50. Given that they weren’t included among the 22 teams invited to Walt Disney World to resume the season next month, the Warriors are taking stock of a year filled with the unexpected — on both ends of the spectrum.

“I probably learned more this season than I have in the past five, as far as how to approach things, what I think we need to do better,” general manager Bob Myers said on a conference call with reporters Monday. “I think losing helps that ironically. The more adversity or failure you face, the more you learn about your process.”

Here is a look at the biggest takeaways from a season most Warriors fans would like to forget:

The Warriors had a fruitful 2019 draft.

Of the four players — Patrick McCaw, Damian Jones, Jordan Bell and Jacob Evans — Golden State acquired in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 NBA drafts, none is still with the Warriors. Those picks prompted some fans to question whether Myers, the architect behind the franchise’s recent dynasty, was a shrewd talent-evaluator.

If the early returns on the 2019 draft class were any indicator, Myers and his staff still can identify players whose value exceeds their draft slot. With the No. 41 pick last June, the Warriors took Villanova forward Eric Paschall, who already has emerged as an important rotation piece.

As a rookie, Paschall often filled in as the go-to scorer on an injury-thinned team, finishing the season averaging 14 points on 49.7% shooting, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 27.6 minutes per game. His basketball IQ, strength and overall maturity made it easy for head coach Steve Kerr to forget that Paschall was just months removed from college.

Though the Warriors don’t necessarily view Paschall as a future All-Star, they see him as a reliable sixth, seventh or eighth man on a championship contender who can slide into the starting lineup from time to time. His relatively bargain contract — he is guaranteed $3.3 million over the next two years — will be a key asset for a team poised to be in the luxury tax.

Guard Jordan Poole, who was widely considered a reach at No. 28 last June, made enough progress as a rookie to convince most pundits that he will have a productive NBA career. After being used primarily in catch-and-shoot situations at Michigan, he began to show with the Warriors that he can be a capable secondary ball-handler.

Though Alen Smailagic — the Serbian big man Golden State took with the No. 39 pick after a season with the team’s G League affiliate — looked overwhelmed on an NBA court at times as a rookie, he delivered enough highlights to confirm why the Warriors’ front office is so high on him. This is a 19-year-old who can make plays more befitting a point guard than a 6-foot-10 power forward.

If he can continue to tap into his potential, Smailagic could be a valued rotation player in a couple of years. It’s not difficult to believe that, should the Warriors be contending for a title in 2023, Paschall, Poole and Smailagic all will be contributing.

Kevon Looney’s career has reached a crossroads.

One of the most confounding developments of this past Warriors season was the nosedive in production from Looney, who was so reliable the previous two years that Kerr began to call him a “foundational piece” of the franchise. A neuropathic condition, left hip soreness and left abdominal soreness limited Looney to 20 of a possible 65 games. Unable to find much of a rhythm, he averaged 3.4 points on 36.7% shooting, 3.3 rebounds and 1 assist and 13.1 minutes.

His movements were so labored that some questioned whether Looney’s career soon could be over. At just 24, he already has dealt with more injury issues than many NBA players endure over a 10- or 15-year career.

The Warriors are optimistic that the surgery Looney underwent last month to correct the core-muscle injury that caused the abdominal soreness will help him return to his dependable ways. Long known for his rigorous offseason workouts, he’ll spend coming months doing whatever he needs to get right physically.

But until Looney plays in more NBA games, he won’t know if this past season was an aberration or the beginning of the end. The Warriors, who signed him last summer to a three-year, $15 million extension, hope that it’s the former — not just because they know how much Looney has put into becoming a contributor, but because their frontcourt rotation could struggle without him.

The only other center who has secured a spot in Golden State’s 2020-21 rotation is Marquese Chriss. Though the Warriors could add another big man or two in free agency or the draft, they believe that Looney, when at his best, is the stabilizing force of a group devoid of big names.

Chriss could be a franchise building block.

Outside of perhaps Paschall, Chriss was the Warriors’ biggest revelation. In September, after bouncing between three teams in one year, he signed with Golden State as a training-camp invitee in hopes of resuscitating his career. It didn’t take long for the Warriors to discover that his lack of success in the NBA was more a product of being in dysfunctional situations than his talent level.

With Golden State, Chriss stopped perching along the perimeter to hoist 3-pointers and instead focused on his strengths: running the floor, throwing down alley-oop dunks, finding open shooters, blocking shots. His basketball IQ and mastery of dribble handoffs made him an ideal fit in the Warriors’ up-tempo system.

In Golden State’s final 15 games before the NBA shutdown, Chriss averaged 13.7 points on 59% shooting, 8.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 blocks in 26.7 minutes. That was enough for the Warriors’ front office to be open to the notion of entering next season with him as the team’s starting center.

At 22, he is younger than Paschall and guard Ky Bowman. Some within Golden State’s organization believe Chriss has a chance to be a core piece of the group that’s going to help usher the franchise into a new era once Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green decline in production or retire.

The Warriors accomplished a lot at the trade deadline.

In February, when Golden State made a blockbuster trade at the deadline that sent D’Angelo Russell, Evans and Omari Spellman to the Timberwolves for Andrew Wiggins, a top-three-protected first round pick in 2021 and a 2021 second-round pick, many analysts criticized the Warriors. After 4½ underwhelming years in Minnesota, Wiggins was widely considered an offensive black hole who doesn’t care for defense.

But much like they did with Chriss, the Warriors trusted that Wiggins — an elite athlete who once drew Michael Jordan comparisons — needed merely a change of scenery to turn around his career. Wiggins’ 12-game sample size with Golden State before the shutdown only reinforced the team’s belief that he can be an integral part of a championship contender.

In 33.6 minutes, he averaged 19.4 points on 45.7% shooting, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks. Wiggins’ ability to move off the ball and play within a system should help make him a valued starter once he can benefit from the spacing Curry and Thompson provide.

Though Wiggins might not be selected to any All-Defensive teams, he showed with the Warriors that he can make life difficult on some of the league’s high-scoring wings when he is focused. This leaves no doubt that, even if the trade were Wiggins for Russell straight up, Golden State would have gotten better.

Russell — statistically one of the worst defenders in the league — infringed too much on what Curry does best, which is why they tended to be better off playing staggered minutes during their limited games together. Wiggins, meanwhile, should plug the void Kevin Durant left at small forward while complementing the likes of Curry, Thompson and Green.

But in the long-term, the top-three-protected pick in 2021 might be a bigger coup for the Warriors than Wiggins. That draft class is expected to be one of the deepest in more than a decade. Given that the Timberwolves likely won’t play enough defense next season to make the playoffs, the Warriors could have a lottery pick — and with it, a shot at a franchise-changing prospect.

If Golden State decides to make a run at a perennial All-Star such as Giannis Antetokounmpo in coming months, it can dangle that 2021 pick from Minnesota as trade bait. This type of future asset sometimes can have more value in a deal than someone who has been an All-Star.

Kerr can do far more than manage egos.

During Kerr’s first five seasons as the Warriors’ head coach, critics often dismissed him as the beneficiary of lucky circumstances. Almost anyone can make five straight Finals, they argued, when blessed with a roster as loaded as Golden State’s.

But those who followed this past season recognized that Kerr is about more than managing the locker room, getting All-Stars to complement one another and relying on his players’ greatness. With Thompson sidelined all season and Curry limited to five games, Kerr had to change his approach, focusing more on player development than wins or losses.

The record might not have been pretty, but Kerr thrived under difficult circumstances. Players on bad teams are often desperate to leave. But Kerr maintained such a positive locker room that, when players were dealt at the deadline, many were sad to go — even if they were headed to playoff contenders.

For the most part, the Warriors gave quality effort despite facing overwhelming talent deficits on a near-nightly basis. Golden State’s young players made significant strides over the course of the season. In addition to Paschall and Chriss, guard Damion Lee showed he deserves a spot in the Warriors’ long-term plans. Midseason additions Mychal Mulder and Juan Toscano-Anderson went from unknowns to helpful players.

On several occasions, Kerr said that he was enjoying the season more than might be expected. This is someone who appreciates teaching and watching young players find their NBA niche. By getting a chance to focus more on the hands-on elements of the job this past season, Kerr ensured that he’ll be prepared for whatever the coming years offer.

Connor Letourneau covers the Warriors for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron