Steve Kerr of the Warriors is furious after a question from Trace Jackson-Davis

The The Golden State Warriors are one of the hardest teams to judge this NBA season. The Warriors started the season surprisingly well, quickly climbing to the top of the Western Conference with a hot start to the year. They have since crashed back to Earth, however, and are now trying to find the groove that has eluded them for the past few months.

On Tuesday night, that slide continued with a terrible performance in a 114-98 loss to the Miami Heat. The Warriors seemed to have the upper hand in this matchup, hosting a Heat team that played the Sacramento Kings in double overtime last night. However, they were never able to put together the big run they needed to get back into the game, and the Heat kept them at arm’s length for much of the second half.

Young big man Trace Jackson-Davis had a good night for the Warriors in the loss, finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds on 9-for-12 shooting. However, the head coach Steve Kerr he wasn’t looking for any silver linings when asked about Jackson-Davis’ performance after the game, via 95.7 The Game.

“I can’t sit here after that and be excited about anything,” Kerr said. “He scored 19 points.” Awesome. He’s having a good season. But who cares if we’re not competitive? If we don’t have competitive spirit, fight, and the will to compete through everything. I’m not going to sit here and talk about any so-and-so having points. Awesome. Who cares? It’s about us competing. Being Warriors. Being the team that we have been for 10 years, we don’t feel sorry for ourselves. That’s what I’m thinking about tonight. “

The Warriors fall into the mix for Western Conference play

Through the first 15 games of the season, it looked like the Warriors would be one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season. However, they have now fallen all the way to .500 and are stuck in the 10th seed in the Western Conference.

Golden State’s record is 18-18 puts it right there with the Spurs, Kings and Suns at the bottom of the play-in bracket, which is certainly not what the Warriors and their fans had in mind this season. After the way they started the season, Golden State certainly expected to compete for another Western Conference championship come spring.

The The Warriors have already made one trade for former Nets point guard Dennis Schroederbut they may need one more to climb back up the table. Currently, Stephen Curry is the team’s only real star, which is not enough in the ultra-talented Western Conference.

Of course, the obvious target here is Jimmy Butler. Butler publicly requested a trade from the Miami Heat and is currently suspended by the team, so the Heat will definitely look to move him. The problem is, the Warriors would be expected to extend Butler’s contract, but it might pay off for an organization trying to stretch its championship frame as much as possible during the last few years of Curry’s career.