The Golden State Warriors, with Stephen Curry back and healthy, have scuffled out of the gate.
The 138-99 drubbing the Milwaukee Bucks gave them was the second consecutive blowout defeat they suffered. Three days prior, they were blown out by the resurgent Brooklyn Nets, 125-99.
What has been ailing these Warriors? Have there been any positives to have come out of what has largely been a disastrous start to the season?
Here are 4 early observations:
An offense that hasn’t been cured by Stephen Curry
The dynastic Warriors offense was considered among the best, if not the absolute best, in NBA history. The presence of offensive juggernauts such as Curry and Kevin Durant made it an inevitable fact. Klay Thompson’s elite shooting and Draymond Green’s passing and high basketball IQ bolstered it and kept it afloat. Supplementary playmakers such as Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston were important cogs in the offensive machine.
That is the distant past. The reality facing these new Warriors is much darker.
Last season’s Warriors – the version that went 15-50 – didn’t have Curry for most of the year. As a result, they not only finished with the worst record in the NBA – they also finished dead last in offensive efficiency, putting up an offensive rating of 104.4 points per 100 possessions.
The return of Curry was expected to cure the Warriors’ offensive woes. But Curry’s ability to be the solution was also contingent on how his fellow Splash Brother, Klay Thompson, looked like coming back from a yearlong ACL rehabilitation process.
Thompson’s return was further delayed because of an untimely Achilles rupture, and the burden on Curry became even heavier.
The sample size so far is small and must be taken with a grain of salt, but nevertheless, the numbers look bleak.
In two games against the cream of the crop in the Eastern Conference, the Warriors have an offensive rating of 89.6 points per 100 possessions, the worst in the league so far. That number is with Curry on the floor – the same Curry that has often served as a boost to the Warriors offense.
That efficiency isn’t surprising considering the Warriors’ atrocious two-game shooting split: 35.9% from the field and 25.6% on three-point field goals (20-of-78). That abysmal three-point percentage becomes even more of a sore point when you consider the Warriors’ attempt rate: 39 three-point attempts per game, 7th in the league.
What exactly has been keeping the Warriors from having a decent start?
“I think the thing I was most disappointed in is we just had two good days of practice with our execution, working on getting into offense, and making hard cuts and reads,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “We did not execute much of anything [during the game]. It was just kind of scattered and disorganized. I’m disappointed in that and I’ve got to take the blame for that [since] I’m the head coach.”
It’s safe to say that a team with the greatest shooter in NBA history shooting significantly worse than the league average – despite being one of the most prolific three-point shooting teams in the league – isn’t looking like a playoff team.
The gravity that Curry provides hasn’t been the problem. He has generated plenty of open looks for his teammates because of the amount of attention and effort defenses have been dedicating to him. That fact isn’t new.
What is new, however, is that those open looks aren’t being taken by Thompson or Durant, but instead are being given to Kelly Oubre Jr and Andrew Wiggins.
Suffice to say, both of them have been a considerable downgrade.
“I think we’re used to some of those possessions where in years past you get a drive and a kick and swing, and somebody’s getting a lot of them [and making them] and everybody’s celebrating and feeling good; we’re missing those possessions,” Curry said after the game.
Stephen Curry’s early season struggles
On paper, Curry’s numbers have been decent, if not subpar by his lofty standards: a double-double of 20 points and 10 assists against the Nets and 19 points and 6 assists against the Bucks.
But his efficiency to start the season has been all over the place, an unusual spot to be in for the two-time MVP and three-time NBA champion. In two games, Curry’s shooting split has been anything but MVP-level: 34.2% from the field and 20% on threes (4-of-20).
However, the most uncharacteristic statistic has been Curry’s plus/minus. Normally a plus on the floor because of his ability to stretch defenses to their absolute limit, Curry’s 59 total minutes on the floor have instead resulted in the Warriors being outscored by 47 points.
The struggles continued against the Bucks, where Curry showed some difficulty getting past his man at the point of attack. There were moments where his burst and fast-twitch shiftiness – trademarks of his on-ball wizardry – were glaringly absent.
There were flashes of Curry’s brilliance against the Bucks. This one stands out – a classic display of his ability to evade his defender using his handle and pulling up from no-man’s land:
And in this sequence, where Curry fakes Jrue Holiday with a behind-the-back crossover and makes his way to the paint for a floater:
Curry’s personal struggle is closely tied to the team’s difficulties as a whole. The offense can go as far as he can take it. For Curry, it’s a matter of settling down and not getting too fazed by dry spells and stagnation.
“I think sometimes when things don’t go your way, you miss shots, there’s a tendency to force and press and not think,” Curry said. “Our group’s collective IQ has to get a lot better in those moments where you’re not making shots and try to get some easy buckets.”
A defense bleeding without Draymond Green
The loss of Thompson also had implications on the defensive end. Known for his ability as a lockdown defender, Thompson was often counted on to guard the opposing team’s most dangerous perimeter scorer.
With Thompson sidelined, that responsibility fell upon the shoulders of Oubre and Wiggins. Their profiles as lengthy and athletic wings were, on paper, the perfect combination to throw against most guard/wing scorers. Such traits were being counted on as the catalysts for what could become a transition juggernaut: a team forcing turnovers that would translate into easy fastbreak baskets on the other end.
That is the theory; in practice, Oubre has been historically decent but otherwise unspectacular on defense. Wiggins is infamously known for his occasional brilliant spells, but has otherwise shown a nonchalant and unfocused approach on defense.
So far, that has been the case. Oubre and Wiggins have been nonfactors on defense. The rest of the team have been struggling without any sort of defensive identity to anchor them to.
“If we can get stops and turn it into transition offense, that might help us kind of simplify the game a little bit, but [we’ve got a] long way to go,” Curry said.
Again, small sample size and quality of opponents must be considered, but the numbers from their first two games have been terrible: a defensive rating of 118.5 points allowed per 100 possessions (5th worst in the league), allowing opponents to shoot 50.3% from the field, and allowing opponents to shoot 48.6% on threes (35-of-72).
“Defense is all about being connected,” Kerr said. “You have to be together as a five-man unit [and] you’ve got to communicate. We’re just throwing this thing together. It’s hard when you don’t have all 5 guys thinking alike and rotating and playing together.”
“The basic structures and functions of our defense are not in place. It’s just the way it is. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us, obviously, so we’ve got to continue to work on those things.”
Thompson’s absence hurts, but it has been Draymond Green’s absence that has perhaps stung the most.
Currently sidelined due to a right foot strain, Green’s presence is sorely missed. He is the undisputed defensive leader and maestro, the one who can make plays on the floor and also guide his teammates to the correct spots, call out correct schemes, and can dole out the occasional stern lecture as needed.
According to Kerr, Green’s return will be huge but will not solve everything.
“[Green] will help us tremendously defensively,” Kerr said. “But as I said, we have a lot of other things to grow and get better [at]. It’s going to take much more than Draymond’s return for us to be a competitive [and] good team.”
With Green expected to return against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday, December 27 (Monday, December 28, Manila time), expect the Warriors defense to get a much-needed injection of energy and quality.
James Wiseman’s boundless potential
Amid the copious amounts of negativity surrounding the Warriors, one glaring positive stood out: James Wiseman.
Wiseman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, displayed what he is capable of in his first two games as a professional.
With averages of 18.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks while having a shooting split of 50% from the field and 80% from three-point range, Wiseman is looking every bit like the future star the Warriors are hoping he can become.
It is arguable that so far in this very young season, Wiseman has been the Warriors’ second-best player. He might be their future, but it seems as if they might also need him to be their present, especially as Curry’s pick-and-roll partner.
“James is so talented that he’s going to make plays [and] he’s going to put up numbers,” Kerr said. “We kept running high [drag screens] with James and you could see the impact that it made [when] James gets going downhill.”
With film of Wiseman scarce prior to the draft – he played only 3 games in the NCAA before being suspended due to eligibility violations – hearsay and snippets of his open gym workouts were the only scouting sources available. Reports of his improved jump shot spread like wildfire. Some were doubtful – after all, shooting in an open gym is worlds apart from shooting in a full-speed NBA game.
Those doubts were washed away with shots like these:
What kind of work did Wiseman do in the long offseason to improve his shot?
“[I worked on] the fluidity,” Wiseman said. “I’m the one putting in work at practice… I just want to put in the work, I want to get better every day.”
With his 7-foot-1-inch height and 9-foot-6-inch standing reach, Wiseman was expected to be a proficient rim protector. Against the Bucks, he was able to block 3 shots, including one that he grabbed while in mid-air:
Wiseman was occasionally tasked to defend reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo – a tall task for a rookie. But a rookie with a 7-foot-6-inch wingspan can make life difficult even for someone as deadly as Antetokounmpo:
It was a stark contrast from his performance against Brooklyn, where Wiseman often missed rotations and mistimed his block attempts. Once he settled down and became accustomed to the flow of an NBA game, Wiseman began to showcase his defensive capabilities.
“I had jitters and nervousness in the first game, but in the second game we got comfortable,” Wiseman said. “I feel very comfortable out there and the game is starting to slow down for me.”
Wiseman is still very much a project, an uncarved piece of marble that already has some semblance of form but has yet to be transformed into its final visage. Once the Warriors finally do get to minimize the defects and smoothen the rough edges, Wiseman’s boundless potential will skyrocket to stratospheric levels. – Rappler.com
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