Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors, admitted that they are not a "championship team" after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers 4-2 in the NBA Western Conference semifinals on Friday.

"To be fair, I think this team ultimately maxed out," Kerr said. "We were barely in the playoff picture most of this year ... This is not a championship team."

As the defending NBA champions, the Warriors only secured automatic qualification for the playoffs at the end of the regular season. Their 11-30 record on the road is also one of the worst in the league, only better than the tanking groups that included the Detroit Pistons. The Warriors went through seven games to beat the Sacramento Kings in the first round. In Game 6 of the lost series against the Lakers, they lost by 21 points (122-101). The competition long gone in the third quarter.

"From training camp to now, it was just the reality we were living in," Stephen Curry said. "We were trying to keep things positive and optimistic around what we were trying to accomplish this year ... but there's also an understanding that this is not good enough."

Though the Warriors didn't go far enough in the postseason, they have the second-biggest active salary cap of about $189.4 million and the biggest total salary cap of $200.3 million in the league while looking at an obviously flawed lineup. They have many problems to fix with very limited cap space.

The Warriors are often outsized by their opponents, especially from the interior. Sometimes they even have to go smaller because putting their best defensive big men, Kevon Looney and Green, on the court at the same time hurts their spacing too much. In extreme cases, like in the series against the Lakers, the opponents were willing to contain Curry and Klay Thompson at the cost of leaving other Warriors open. They failed to punish the Lakers for doing so because the rest of the team just couldn't magically become able to rain 3-pointers or finish efficiently under the hoop.

The Warriors initially wanted to count on the growth of their young men, namely James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and Jordan Poole, to fix at least some of the team's flaws. Unfortunately, it took them years to admit that Wiseman won't become the player they wanted him to be. Meanwhile, Kuminga was removed from the regular rotations as the playoffs went on, and Moody's role was too small to make any difference.

To be fair, none of the three players ever received enough playing time to grow. The Warriors must battle for the title because of their huge payroll and the limited "prime time" of their core players. Therefore, they can't afford to give the young players much time to play and learn but need them to become part of the team's complicated system as soon as possible.

Nonetheless, this excuse does not cover Poole. Instead of becoming the bench leader and joining the starters to generate the best firepower during clutch time as the Warriors had wanted him to be, Poole became an inconsistent scorer, a sloppy playmaker and one of the team's biggest defensive liabilities. Every time he was sent to the court in the playoffs, the team lost.

The Warriors will have to rack their brains to figure out how to improve their squad, but before they even begin to think, there are other formidable tasks to face. Both Green and Thompson have only one year left on their current contracts after this season, and Green has the player option to opt out of it. Negotiating extensions with them is unavoidable.

Thompson is 33 years old and, sadly, as proven by his performance in the playoffs, is no longer able to make a miracle for the Warriors in desperate times. His failures to drain enough triples were one the main reasons his team struggled offensively against the Lakers. Thompson is also too slow to play a reliable perimeter or wing defender.

Green had more highlights than Thompson in the playoffs, but his flaws have always been there. He is left open outside the 3-point line on most possessions, neither is he a trustworthy finisher next to the rim. Also, his bad temper often leads to unreasonable acts that hurt the team. Green is 33 years old too. Undersized big men usually age faster.

The Warriors' priority is undoubtedly to keep both Thompson and Green, but only if they agree to accept pay cuts. They are too familiar with the team's replacement system. Moreover, even if the Warriors are willing to trade them, it's hard to trade either of them for better options judging by their age and current form.

Of course, there is also the option of dissembling the team to start over completely. However, since 35-year-old Curry still averaged 29.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 4.9 triples at 42.7 percent per game in the regular season, the Warriors should be more motivated to believe in him to lead a competitive squad.