Here’s why the Golden State Warriors really are better than they were last

This season: Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and Trayce Jackson-Davis.

Last season: Anthony Lamb, Ty Jerome and JaMychal Green.

I’m trying not to be extra mean to those past players, but if you type out those two lines, you really don’t have to reach for the quantum formulas and dense statistical tables. The Golden State Warriors are better this season than they were last season, though they will end up with a worse seeding and will not be favored to go as deep into the playoffs as they advanced last spring.

The Warriors aren’t really title contenders, but they didn’t get any worse. In fact, they got better — just practically, measured against the most recent full result, which was last season’s team.

With three games left to play, the Warriors already have the same number of victories (44) as last season and have a shot to climb up from their current 10th slot in the West to nine (over the Los Angeles Lakers, if the Warriors go 3-0 to the finish line or the Lakers lose elsewhere) or even to eight (if the Lakers lose and also either the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans or Phoenix Suns stumble badly this week).

Last season, they were the sixth seed (in a weaker conference) and upset No. 3 Sacramento before losing to the No. 7 seed Lakers in the second round. This season, the Warriors are likeliest to be in the 9-10 Play-In Tournament game, which would mean they’d need to win twice to get into the first round and then would have to turn around and play the West’s top seed. It would be an exhausting experience. But this season’s Warriors actually are better built for the deeper rounds than they were a year ago — if they can get there.

This season: Chris Paul at the end of games.

Last season: Jordan Poole at the end of his Warriors’ tenure.

How will it turn out? How will success and failure be determined at the end of this season? Let’s wait on all those grand proclamations. The Warriors have won eight of their last nine games to get to this point. They’ve got momentum. They could also get knocked back down pretty swiftly. Let’s see what happens. This franchise has ultra-high standards and should be held to them, no question. It all might be mostly torn down at some near point. The dynasty might already be over. It also might hang on for a while longer, at least as a discussion point.

But I think that even before the 82nd game takes place on Sunday and the Play-In process unfolds, we can judge that the Warriors have moved forward, not backward. Their frontline stars are one year older, but overall, the team is younger, faster, deeper, more connected and smarter. This is what the Eye Test tells us, and what Steve Kerr is telling us, too.

“We’re definitely a better team,” Kerr said earlier this week. “Better two-way basketball, better connection, chemistry. A much better vibe with this team.”

This season: 24-16 road record, with a game in Portland on Thursday to finish up the away schedule.

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