Jeremy T. Ringfield's Blog, page 240

High School football: Realignment in the PCAL

Pacific Coast Athletic League Football Realignment for 2025

Gabilan Division

(4 automatic playoff qualifiers)

Alisal

Aptos

xy-Carmel

Hollister

Monterey

North Salinas

Palma

Salinas

xx-Soquel

 xx-defending Gabilan Division champion

 xy- defending Mission Division South champion

Mission Division North

(2 automatic playoff qualifiers)

Monte Vista

xx-North County

San Lorenzo Valley

Scotts Valley

St. Francis

Watsonville

 xx-defending Mission Division North champion

Mission Division South

(2 automatic playoff qualifiers)

Alvarez

Soledad

Pacific Grove

King City

Greenfield

xy-Stevenson

 xy-Defending Santa Lucia Division champion

Santa Lucia Division

(1 automatic playoff qualifier)

Gonzales

Harbor

Marina

Pajaro Valley

Rancho San Juan

Santa Cruz

Seaside

Pajaro Valley

SF Giants agree with Justin Verlander on one-year contract: report

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants already have history with one another. Now, they’ll be joining forces.

Verlander and the Giants have agreed on a one-year contract pending a physical, according to multiple reports. Per ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Verlander’s deal is worth $15 million.

Verlander, who will turn 42 by Opening Day, is the active leader in games started (526), wins (262), innings (3415 2/3) and strikeouts (3416). Along with the 2011 American League MVP with the Tigers and Cy Young Awards with the Tigers and the Astros (twice), the right-hander’s resumé features nine All-Star selections, two World Series titles and Rookie of the Year. Verlander is the sixth former Cy Young Award winner who the Giants have signed since 2007, joining Barry Zito, Jake Peavy, Randy Johnson, Blake Snell and Robbie Ray.

Despite his credentials, the right-hander is coming off the worst season of his career. In 17 starts with the Houston Astros, Verlander posted a 5.48 ERA with 74 strikeouts over 90 1/3 innings. Verlander missed most of last season due to right shoulder inflammation and neck discomfort. Regarding his neck injury, Verlander admitted to reporters that he may have returned too soon.

The agreement with Verlander comes roughly a week after the Giants missed out on Corbin Burnes, another former Cy Young winner who shocked the baseball industry by signing a six-year, $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It is currently unclear how the Giants’ rotation will shake out with the addition of Verlander.

As constructed, San Francisco’s rotation features Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong. The Giants could move Hicks, a converted reliever, to the bullpen if they want to maintain a traditional five-man rotation. Alternatively, given that Verlander likely won’t throw a ton of innings, San Francisco could roll with a six-man rotation.

Regardless of what the Giants do with their rotation, Verlander stands to serve in a mentorship role to Birdsong and Harrison, who will both be 23-years-old on Opening Day. Landen Roupp (26), Mason Black (25), Keaton Winn (26) and prospect Carson Whisenhunt (24) could benefit from Verlander’s tutelage as well.

Verlander’s role in Giants lore is already well-established.. In Game 1 of the 2012 World Series at Oracle Park (then AT&T Park), Pablo Sandoval hit two of his three home runs off Verlander, who allowed five runs across four innings. San Francisco, led by current president of baseball operations Buster Posey, went on to sweep the Detroit Tigers, winning their second championship in three years. Verlander won two World Series titles with the Astros, in 2017 and 2022.

The move is reminiscent of the Giants signing another future Hall of Famer in the twilight of his career.

In 2009, a 45-year-old Randy Johnson pitched in 22 games (17 starts) for the Giants in what proved to be the final season of his career. The Big Unit didn’t pitch well by his Hall of Fame standards (4.88 ERA, 96 innings) but won the 300th game of his career with the Giants, the last pitcher to achieve the feat.

Verlander is currently 38 wins away from joining the 300-win club, and given the trajectory of starters, he might be the only pitcher to have even a remote shot of the achievement for quite some time.

McDonald: Brock Purdy is the 49ers’ leader now. They can’t afford to ‘wait and see’ on his extension

SANTA CLARA — Brock Purdy was subtle in the way he handled it, but the 49ers quarterback planted a flag on getaway day after the conclusion of a gut-punch 6-11 season.

Purdy didn’t sound like someone who was interested in being part of an offseason program without a contract extension. Any thoughts of him playing out the last year of his rookie deal to “prove himself” is social media and talk radio fodder rather than a logical way for the 49ers to do business.

He’s the face of the 49ers now, something his teammates realized as they were leaving the premises and embarking on an early offseason. A few samples:

George Kittle: “One thing I’ve realized is that while I’m a team captain and I can talk to players and hype guys up, when the starting quarterback does it, it just carries more weight. It just does. He did a great job stepping up in that regard.”

Christian McCaffrey: “I’ve experienced a lot of good and a lot of bad in this league and I think he’s done a good job for his first time going through losses like this and maintaining composure, maintaining his work ethic and continuing to just to be himself. That’s a good sign for a young player, because it’s not always like that.”

Dominick Puni: “He’s a cool dude, great leader, commands the huddle and even after the first few weeks he was always making sure I was OK, checking on me. He checked every box from a players’ standpoint, from a leader’s standpoint, a toughness standpoint.”

Ricky Pearsall Jr.: “He’s just a guy people are going to gravitate towards. He’s a good dude, a well-rounded dude, well-spoken. You have no choice but to respect him, want to be friends with him, be teammates with him.”

Pearsall, who has known Purdy since both were Arizona high school players, said the two have already begun to make plans to throw together in the offseason.

Purdy, while avoiding the direct question of whether he would participate in the workout program and OTAs when the 49ers reconvene in April, left zero doubt about his confidence in being the 49ers’ leader into the future after the 49ers went from conference champs to also-rans.

“How you handle the tough times, the losses, the moments of mourning, that makes you who you are,” Purdy said. “You learn from it and grow from it. You can also go in the other direction. Knowing me and my history and who I am and how I’m wired, I’m going to look back at those moments and attack it and be hungry to be in that moment again to capitalize.”

If the 49ers are to climb off the deck, one of the first orders of business should be locking up Purdy as the centerpiece and then building outward. The Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams holdouts became a distraction, and neither of them was a quarterback. The onus will fall on general manager John Lynch, negotiator Paraag Marathe and CEO Jed York as well as a not-so-gentle nudge from coach Kyle Shanahan.

A.P. PhotoBrock Purdy (13) of the 49ers is scheduled to make millions less than Tua Tagovailoa in 2025.

The 49ers haven’t pinched pennies while bringing back their own homegrown talent, whether it be Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner, wide receiver Deebo Samuel or Aiyuk. But some of those negotiations were drawn out and contentious, which would be a detrimental distraction with Purdy.

Purdy is due $5.2 million in 2025 because of a provision that escalates his salary for the fourth year of his rookie deal based on his Pro Bowl selection in 2023. Tim Ryan, the 49ers’ radio analyst, floated the idea of playing wait-and-see with Purdy to address other needs rather than locking him up as soon as possible.

But it’s hard to believe this isn’t the guy Shanahan wants as his quarterback going forward. If Purdy hadn’t come out of nowhere as the last pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, there are no guarantees Shanahan would still be the coach. Shanahan and Lynch went all-in on Trey Lance in 2021, a trade that cost the 49ers dearly in terms of draft capital.

Purdy provided an escape hatch for the Lance mistake. He also enabled Shanahan to move on from an uncomfortable co-existence with Jimmy Garoppolo and re-introduce bootlegs and rollouts to the offense.

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No quarterback has won Shanahan’s trust as much as Purdy, and you could include Matt Ryan, who won an MVP in Atlanta with Shanahan as the offensive coordinator.

Take a hard look at the NFL’s top quarterbacks and the only transcendent players are Buffalo’s Josh Allen, Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes, Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, with Justin Herbert of the Chargers threatening to break through.

Among the leaders in APY (average per year) are Dallas’ Dak Prescott ($60 million), Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence ($55 million), Green Bay’s Jordan Love ($55 million) and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1 million). Purdy has more value to the 49ers than all of those players.

So the 49ers will have to swallow hard and pay Purdy something upwards of $50 million, and the sooner they go ahead and make that commitment, the sooner they can start building around him and manipulating the salary cap.

The 49ers thrived with Purdy at the end of 2022 and in 2023 because he made his supporting cast better and they made him better. Being shorn of Williams, Aiyuk and McCaffrey took its toll on production. Yet Purdy, who prides himself on being the same guy every day, only enhanced his standing among his teammates for the way he handled the tough times even as his numbers were taking a predictable dip.

As McCaffrey suggested, that’s a big deal. The 49ers are prepared to play follow the leader in 2025, and there is no dispute as to who that leader is. There’s no time like the present for the 49ers to make that investment in their future.

‘American Nightmare:’ How Seaside police chief helped kickstart new investigation in Santa Clara County

Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges is credited with bringing light to two 2009 assault cases against a man, now imprisoned, who was featured in Netflix’s most recent season of “American Nightmare”

Matthew Muller, 47, was charged with two felonies of sexual assault during a home invasion in Santa Clara County thanks to, in part, information Borges acquired in correspondence with Muller. Muller is currently serving a 40-year prison term for a different incident, the kidnapping in Vallejo in 2015 featured in “American Nightmare.”

Muller eventually sent a confession to Borges for the two sexual assaults and police say they believe there are other incidents involving Muller.

Borges said he worked with Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Misty Carausu and asked permission from Denise and Aaron Quinn, victims in the 2015 Vallejo kidnapping case, before initially writing to Muller in prison in March.

The chief didn’t specify the content of the letters due to the new charges, but said he told Muller who he was and told him he wasn’t being investigated.

“It was really a group effort,” Borges said in a press conference Tuesday in Seaside. “I haven’t heard back from him yet, hopefully I will. Misty and I originally tossed the idea around of going to visit Muller in prison, but we felt it might be more reasonable to reach out to him first to see if he’s willing to communicate.”

Seaside Police Chief Nick Borges speaks about his role in assisting with the case, crediting (left to right) Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Misty Carausu, Denise Quinn and Aaron Quinn for their hard work. (Kyarra Harris — Monterey Herald)

Denise Quinn said she was nervous when law enforcement reached out to her because of her previous experiences with police. But when she learned Borges’ and Carausu’s reasoning, she and her husband Aaron Quinn agreed it was a good way to potentially find other cases.

When the Quinns originally reported the kidnapping to Vallejo police in 2015, authorities accused the two of making up the abduction, which would eventually lead to police issuing a public apology and the city paying the couple a $2.5 million settlement.

Borges “sent us a message on Instagram from their police department and said ‘I want you to know that there’s people in law enforcement who believe in you, who are standing with you and we don’t think it’s acceptable how this was handled,’” Denise Quinn said at the press conference. “He told us it could be a good learning opportunity for law enforcement and asked us to host and come speak to a group of officers. We jumped on that opportunity, because that’s something we’ve always wanted to do, work with law enforcement. We’ve always felt kind of ostracized and treated as something difficult to deal with and so words can’t describe what it means to feel supported in that way.”

Quinn said she and her husband had thought about speaking to Muller directly. “… we knew that there were things that just weren’t followed up on, and we felt like perhaps in his own way, he felt connected or bonded to us.

“…so when Chief Borges presented that, it was an opportunity to see what Muller had to say with some barrier of protection.”

In April and May, Borges reportedly received letters from Muller in which he volunteered information implicating himself in 2009 home invasion assaults in Mountain View and Palo Alto. In those exchanges, Muller allegedly offered details that closely aligned with police reports and the victims’ accounts, which were not readily available to the public, authorities said.

In one letter, he reportedly described his coming forward as part “of a common goal of (protecting) victims and strengthening laws for future potential victims.”

The Bay Area News Group contributed to this report. 

Sen. Warren presses Hegseth to answer questions about his past actions and statements

By TARA COPP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is pressing Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, to answer additional questions about his past actions and statements before next Tuesday’s confirmation hearing.

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Hegseth has the support of some veterans groups that believe the military has overemphasized diversity at the cost of troop readiness. A group of former Navy SEALs is planning a rally in support of Hegseth in Washington next week.

“One of the biggest flaws in current leadership in the military and in the Pentagon is when you become more focused on things that don’t matter,” said Bill Brown, a former SEAL who is organizing Tuesday’s rally. “The military is not a social justice project.”

Hegseth’s supporters have stressed that many of the questions about his past behavior arose from reports based on anonymous sources. But some relate to things he’s said in interviews or written in his books.

In “War on Warriors,” Hegseth wrote that Gen. CQ Brown’s promotion to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff meant that “with the Pentagon now run by, and fully staffed by, so-called ‘leaders’ like CQ Brown, we can assume that 17 percent of all black officers in the Air Force are simply promoted because of how they look — and not how they lead.”

Hegseth also has openly criticized the role of women in combat, although in meetings with senators he seemed to walk back some of those views.

Warren questioned if Hegseth would be able to lead, saying she was “deeply concerned by the many ways in which your past behavior and rhetoric indicates that you are unfit to lead the Department of Defense.”

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Biden establishes 2 new national monuments in California, as part of final big environmental push

President Biden on Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025 established the Sattitla Highlands National Monument over 224,000 acres of national forest land in the Medicine Lake Highlands and surrounding areas east of Mount Shasta near the California-Oregon border. (Photo: Bob Wick)

President Biden on Tuesday established two new national monuments in California, the latest in a flurry of major environmental initiatives affecting the Golden State as his presidency comes to a close.

Biden designated the Chuckwalla National Monument in Southern California, south of Joshua Tree National Park, and the Sáttítla Highlands National Monument in Northern California, east of Mount Shasta near the Oregon border.

Chuckwalla is 624,000 acres of federal land, mostly overseen by the Bureau of Land Management where the Colorado and Mojave Deserts come together in a mix of scenic mountains and canyons that is home to bighorn sheep, desert tortoises and chuckwalla lizards. Sáttítla is 224,000 acres of national forest land in the remote landscapes of Siskiyou and Modoc counties, a landscape rich with bald eagles, black bears and salmon. Together, the two areas are larger than Yosemite National Park.

Both places are sacred to native tribes, who pushed for monument status, which limits logging, mining and other extractive uses, such as energy development.

“The stunning canyons and winding paths of the Chuckwalla National Monument represent a true unmatched beauty,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. “I am so grateful that future generations will have the opportunity to experience what makes this area so unique.”

President Biden on Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025 established the Chuckwalla National Monument, a 624,000-acre protected area in the Southern California desert south of Joshua Tree National Park. (Bob Wick, Center for Western Priorities)

The Sáttítla monument, which includes parts of Shasta-Trinity, Modoc and Klamath national forests, was a top priority of the Pit River Tribe, which is based in Burney, northeast of Redding.

“For generations, my people have fought to protect Sáttítla, and today we celebrate the voices of our ancestors being heard,” said Yatch Bamford, Chairman of the Pit River Nation.

Not everyone supports the new monuments, however.

Last summer, when the idea of a Sáttítla monument was first gaining momentum, Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Yuba City, whose district includes the area, said he was opposed because the designation would mean more regulations and limits on the land, which has been eyed for geothermal development.

“They just want to lock everything up so nobody can access it hardly at all,” LaMalfa told the Redding Record Searchlight in July. “These aren’t the friends of rural California here.”

City leaders in Blythe, a town of 18,000 people near the Chuckwalla monument area, opposed it because they worried it could limit large scale solar development.

On Tuesday, however, a major California solar industry organization said the boundaries appear to have been drawn in a way that wouldn’t affect transmission lines, or solar plans.

“Solar development is off limits in so much of the desert,” said Shannon Eddy, executive director of the Large-Scale Solar Association, in Sacramento. “I understand their concern. But right now we don’t share that concern. We don’t think the monument is going to hamper solar development.”

Biden was scheduled to visit in Thermal, in the Coachella Valley, Tuesday afternoon with Gov. Gavin Newsom and give a speech about the monuments. But because of dangerously high winds in the area, his flight was cancelled, and White House officials said a ceremony will be held next week in Washington D.C.

Tuesday’s moves were the latest in a wave of environmental actions that Biden has taken at the request of California leaders before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

On Monday, Biden withdrew 625 million acres of federal ocean waters from new offshore oil and natural gas drilling, including all federal waters off California, Oregon and Washington, along with the entire Atlantic Coast, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

In November, he finalized the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, banning oil drilling over 156 miles of coast along San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. It was the largest new national marine sanctuary in California in 30 years since President George H.W. Bush, established the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in 1992.

Last Friday, the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency granted California permission to enforce its zero-emission rules for lawn mowers and leaf blowers, and to allow tougher new emissions rules for refrigerated trucks and off-road vehicles like mining trucks and bulldozers. The decisions, called waivers, grant California the authority to set rules under the Clean Air Act that are more far-reaching than federal standards.

In December, the EPA granted California waivers for the state’s landmark pollution rules for cars and trucks, which prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles like cars, pickup trucks and minivans by 2035.

Trump is expected to try to reverse the EPA waivers, which will likely lead to a prolonged court battle. In a radio interview Monday, he said he would also reverse Biden’s offshore oil drilling ban. But under a court ruling in 2019, to do so will require an act of Congress, where Republicans have a very narrow 219-215 majority in the House and may not have the votes.

President Biden on Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025 established the Sattitla National Monument over 224,000 acres of national forest land in the Medicine Lake Highlands and surrounding areas east of Mount Shasta near the California-Oregon border. (Photo: Bob Wick)

Only Congress can establish new national parks. But Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt to reduce looting and theft of Indian pottery and artifacts in New Mexico and other areas, presidents can establish national monuments by proclamation on existing federal land, without approval from Congress.

Monument designation often brings new conservation rules that limit mining, oil drilling, or other development. Nearly every president has used the law to establish monuments, which in many cases Congress has eventually upgraded to national parks.

Roosevelt used it to set aside the Grand Canyon, and also Pinnacles in San Benito County; Herbert Hoover used it to protect Arches in Utah and Death Valley in California; Bill Clinton set aside Sequoia National Monument and George W. Bush used it to protect expansive areas of the remote Pacific Ocean, including the world’s deepest location, the Marianas Trench.

President Biden on Tuesday Jan. 7, 2025 established the Chuckwalla National Monument, a 624,000-acre protected area in the Southern California desert south of Joshua Tree National Park. (Bob Wick, Center for Western Priorities)

Marina’s Imjin Parkway widening, roundabout project nears phase two

MARINA >> The first phase of four for the Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project is nearing completion and is getting set to move into the second phase where traffic will be switched over to the newly constructed north side of Imjin Parkway to build the south side of the roadway.

The Imjin Parkway Widening and Roundabout Project is a two-year effort to widen and increase safety on a traffic artery for about 30,000 daily motorists. The project affects 1.7 miles of Imjin Parkway from Reservation Road to Imjin Road and will include the construction of four roundabouts, and increase the stretch of roadway to four lanes. The city of Marina is the lead agency on the project.

From now until Jan. 17, day work on the Imjin Parkway project will include removing old curb and gutter, and forming concrete new curb, gutter and sidewalk for the southwest corner at Imjin Road, continuing the installation of streetlight and fiber optic conduit between Marina Heights Drive and Imjin Road, continuing fine grading of roadbed for upcoming paving operation of Marina Heights Drive and the western project limit between Imjin Road and Abrams Drive west, resuming earthwork and beginning placement of underground facilities on the south side of Imjin Parkway between Preston Drive and the Christina Williams Memorial, and continuing environmental monitoring of contractor activities job wide. No night work is anticipated during this time.

Marina Heights Drive and Imjin Road are closed at Imjin Parkway and Abrams Drive will not be part of phase one but has been moved to phase three to maintain pedestrian access at the intersection for as long as possible.

In the near future, activity will include construction of half of the roundabout and adjacent roadway at Marina Heights Drive, roadway paving from east of Marina Heights Drive to the project boundary west of Imjin Road including Marina Heights Drive, as well as the move into phase two of the project which will see traffic switched over to the newly constructed north side of Imjin Parkway so that construction of the south side of the roadway can begin.

The project is split into different phases in an effort to minimize construction impacts along the roadway as well as attempting to increase efficiencies to complete the project as quickly as possible.

Construction began Feb. 12 and is anticipated to be completed by the end of June 2026.

Phase 1 saw work on the north side of the roadway, west toward Highway 1. Work included demolishing the existing roadway, grading, drainage, utilities, irrigation and lighting, retaining and sound walls, roadway paving and temporary striping, landscaping and north side of roadway roundabout construction at Preston Avenue, Abrams Road, Marina Heights Road and Imjin Road.

Phase 2 will see work on the south side of the roadway, eastbound toward Reservation Road. Work will include demolishing the existing roadway, grading, drainage, utilities, irrigation and lighting, paving and temporary striping, landscaping, south side of roadway roundabout construction at Imjin Road, Marina Heights Road, Abrams Road and Preston Avenue.

Phase 3 will be miscellaneous roadwork including demolishing temporary paving, roadway paving and temporary striping, drainage utilities and lighting and grading.

Phase 4 will be final paving — top lift — and striping.

Upon completion of the project, the Widening and Roundabout Project will provide transit and pedestrian improvements, add on-street buffered bike lanes, stormwater treatment areas, retaining walls and a sound wall.

49ers fire special teams coordinator Brian Schneider

The 49ers fired special teams coordinator Brian Schneider on Monday, the first move made by coach Kyle Shanahan after a 6-11 season.

Schneider’s units were a year-long problem in contributing to one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

Place kicker Jake Moody slumped badly after missing three games with a high ankle sprain and ended up missing 10 field goal attempts in all. Punter Mitch Wishnowsky last nine games before he was sidelined with a back issue.

The 49ers coverage units were also ineffective, at one point losing both Moody and Matthew Wright when their kickers were forced to tackle on returns that had broken into the clear.

Schneider’s dismissal was first reported by ESPN’s Nick Wagoner and was confirmed by a league source. Schneider, 53, coached three seasons for the 49ers after Shanahan fired Richard Hightower.

In the 49ers’ season-ending 47-24 loss to Arizona, Moody missed a 47-yard field goal attempt and the Cardinals’ DeeJay Dallas ran 22 yards on a fake punt attempt that led to a Cardinals field goal.

Before the season was at their bye week, the 49ers committed at least one special-teams gaffe in in six previous games. They included a blocked punt, a fake punt, a missed field goal, a last-minute punt return, a fumbled kick return, two injured kickers, a 97-yard kick return for a touchdown, a 55-yard punt return, a missed point-after kick, and an embarrassing onside kick.

“We’ve got to get a lot better at it. It’s pretty obvious to everybody,” Shanahan said at the time. . “It’s obvious to us, it’s been that way for a few weeks and can’t give you guys one narrative on it, because there’s not one narrative.”

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The 49ers averaged just 9.2 yards per punt return (with rookie Jacob Cowing averaging 8.8) while giving up 13.7 yards per return. They averaged 28.5 yards per kickoff return while giving up 28.6.

Still to be determined is the status of defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen after the 49ers’ defense collapsed repeatedly during a 2-6 finish. Shanahan and general manager John Lynch are expected to address the media later this week.

 

 

 

Ahead of NBA trade deadline, Steph Curry is calling out Warriors’ flaws

SAN FRANCISCO — That joy Steph Curry plays with, that has made him one of the game’s most infectious superstars, has been absent lately, at least from his seat at the podium inside the Bill King Interview Room.

After the Warriors were blown out Sunday by the Kings, Curry wore a stoic expression and struck a monotone voice as he made a blunt assessment of the 18-17 team for the second time this homestand. In a 30-point loss, featuring 22 turnovers, to a team that was missing its leading scorer and fired its head coach less than two weeks ago, “there were no silver linings,” Curry said.

More tellingly, Curry acknowledged the reality of the current roster, something that would be difficult to say about the nine previous iterations of his Warriors teams that have gone on to make the postseason or, especially, the four that have hung banners in Chase Center.

“We’re not really built … to have that comeback,” Curry said.

That’s right. The game’s most lethal assassin from 3-point range, who actually converted two four-point possessions in the loss, looked up at his team’s 36-21 deficit at the end of the first quarter and believed it was too far out of reach. He was correct. The Warriors trailed from buzzer to buzzer.

Uncertainty pertaining to offensive firepower, or a lack thereof, is new territory for a team that, up until this summer, boasted a duo nicknamed the “Splash Bros.” With Curry and Klay Thompson, the Warriors never finished lower than eighth in offensive rating.

So far this season, they rank 18th out of 30 teams. The only worse offensive team to feature Curry in the Steve Kerr era was in 2020-21, when Thompson missed the entire season rehabbing from knee surgery and the team missed the postseason.

Curry’s signature flurries have traditionally made any deficit within reach, and he unleashed one Sunday that cut the Kings’ lead from 15 points down to 4 in the span of 1:07 in the second quarter. By halftime, he had poured in 20 points. But the Warriors entered the locker room trailing by 24.

He spent the entirety of the fourth quarter on the bench with a towel draped over his head.

“It’s just one of those things where you don’t want to be in that situation, especially in a back-to-back where the guys just exerted a lot of energy last night to get that win,” Curry said, referencing Saturday’s 121-113 win over the Grizzlies that he sat out. “I would have loved to have started the game a lot better to give ourselves a chance and not be in that situation that we’ve been in where you have to have crazy offensive fireworks to even have a chance to come back. That’s not our M.O.”

Six days earlier, after a 113-95 loss to the Cavs, Curry said to similar effect: “I think we’re just average.”

Two months from his 37th birthday, in his 16th NBA season and managing tendinitis in both his knees, Curry is being asked to shoulder a substantial load. Perhaps it is no coincidence that with a month to go before the trade deadline he is becoming more outspoken about the shortcomings of the roster assembled by Mike Dunleavy Jr.

When the Heat visit Chase Center on Tuesday, they won’t have Jimmy Butler in tow. The irascible superstar was suspended by the team after demanding to be traded, with the Warriors reportedly one of his preferred destinations. Meanwhile, other reports have tied Golden State to Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith.

Kerr said he and the Warriors’ general manager planned to take a wait-and-see approach while continuing to evaluate their roster leading up to the Feb. 6 deadline, but that was before they learned they would likely be without Jonathan Kuminga for the duration of that period.

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Kuminga, 22, had begun to look like a potential answer to the Warriors’ scoring woes without the ball in Curry’s hands before he sprained his ankle on Saturday. He missed the first of what is expected to be at least a three-week absence Sunday, which only served to highlight their need for alternative options.

“He’s been one of our best players over the last few weeks,” center Kevon Looney said of Kuminga. “He provides something special for us and brings a different energy in that second group. He’s definitely going to be missed. It’s something we needed tonight, somebody to put pressure on the rim.”

Without Kuminga, Curry said, “Our defense has to be our calling card.

“Offensively, just getting as organized as possible to have good possessions. I think we’re obviously going to shoot a lot of 3s and try to create good looks from 3, but we’ve got to figure out ways to attack the rim. Especially for a team that doesn’t have much rim protection, (Kuminga) feeds off that. We’ve got to be able to unlock (Andrew Wiggins) more, unlock Moses (Moody). Kyle (Anderson)’s gonna get some minutes. We’ve just got to be a little bit more organized when the game slows down.”

Kurtenbach: The 49ers carry a huge advantage into the 2025 offseason

SANTA CLARA — You can fault the 49ers for many things this season. There are too many to list.

But make no mistake about it: they were professionals until the end.

(Save for DeVondre Campbell, of course.)

And as this team heads into a pivotal and critical offseason, that professionalism shouldn’t be overlooked.

While the rest of the league’s non-playoff teams are firing coaches and general managers left and right, the program, as it were, is still in good standing in Santa Clara. No one is arguing that renovations aren’t needed, but the foundation — something head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch built from scratch when they took over in 2017 — is still in place.

As the 49ers cleaned out their lockers in Levi’s Stadium on Monday—the day after the team’s 11th loss of the season, which guaranteed them the No. 11 pick in April’s NFL Draft and an indisputable spot in the league’s bottom third for the 2024 campaign—it was impossible not to be struck by how the team’s leaders and others purported themselves.

No finger-pointing unless it was to one’s chest.

No phony-sounding inspirational messages.

Just reflection, fair accountability, and a universal belief that this hot mess of a season — one where seemingly nothing could go right for San Francisco — will prove valuable in 2025. The Niners took their months-long humbling with a smile and a “thank you.”

That’s how a pro does it.

Oh, and there was a bit of confusion as well.

This is the first Dry (from football) January for the 49ers since the end of the 2020 season, when, you might remember, options were fairly limited regarding how one could go about living.

And while the Niners had ample time to cope with the season’s disappointment ahead of Monday’s exit interviews, amid the grind of an 18-week regular season—even with three, four, maybe even five games meaning close to nothing—it seems as if few plans were made for what happens next for these creatures of routine.

On Monday, there were more than a couple of “take a couple of weeks off, I guess” answers.

They’ll figure it out.

And amid all the negativity around this team —much of it deserved given their play this season — is it ridiculous to suggest that the Niners, too, might figure it out this offseason?

Because as far away as it seemed San Francisco was to contention this season, the NFL is a fickle league. What would a healthy Christian McCaffrey have done to the 49ers’ record?

How about a healthy Dre Greenlaw?

Like the grievances with the 2024 49ers, that list is too numerous to fit here. Coincidence? Probably not.

This isn’t to exonerate the players on the field or the front office that acquired them.

It’s merely to say that if 2024 were a pay-back for the team’s success three years prior, the Niners have fully paid back the debt.

And now, the Niners’ front office, with Shanahan and Lynch still justly at the helm, needs to decide how much continuity the 2025 team should have.

Quarterback Brock Purdy isn’t going anywhere—not if he had his way about it. The 25-year-old said Monday that he wants a swift and painless contract negotiation. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was dealing with the 49ers.

But if Purdy comes in with a reasonable ask, perhaps the Niners — having learned the lessons of last offseason — might be sensible in return.

Which of the team’s assistant coaches and coordinators will return is unclear. While San Francisco is likely to avoid the wholesale poaching—quarterbacks coach Brian Griese has a lot of buzz for an offensive coordinator gig—that ravaged their ranks over the last few years, that doesn’t mean they cannot cull their own.

It’s the first order of business in an offseason that everyone agreed is too long, but it might not be long enough to accomplish everything the 49ers need to do.

But they’re not starting from scratch — they’re building around a foundation of All-Pros, who, despite every reason to fly off the handle this season, stayed pros until the very end.

Yes, this season was a brutal watch from start to finish, but perspective is necessary now that it’s over:

Things could be much, much worse.