Why the Warriors’ second unit puzzle will be difficult to solve originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Warriors have reached the team meeting stage, so the rhythmic reggae sounds that carried them well into November have been replaced by horns, alarms and piercing sirens. They are at the edge of the cliff, and that didn’t happen in one day. Or even a week.
It took them a full month to stumble this far down the rugged mountain of the Western Conference, and the factors are numerous, with two above the others.
One of them is defense. When the Warriors were 12-3 and atop the conference standings, their defensive rating of 105.8 ranked fourth in the NBA. Over the last 14 games, 11 of which are losses, their defensive rating of 114.9 ranks 21st in the league.
In Golden State’s latest loss, 115-113 to the Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, there were too many plays – including the final seconds, when Austin Reaves slipped past Andrew Wiggins and Jonathan Kuminga rotated late for the winning layup – when the defense was too soft or not attentive enough.
“We felt like we should have done better defensively tonight,” coach Steve Kerr said. ‘I just didn’t think they ever really felt us. They had 9 turnovers for the game. We pride ourselves on being a tough, defensive-minded team.”
The Warriors have proven they can make multiple stops in a row, so this should be repairable.
The second and most annoying factor is their rotations. There are times when it seems like Kerr is resorting to pulling names and lineups out of general manager Mike Dunleavy’s hat. The value of the bank has fallen from gold to scrap scrap.
This has no simple solution.
“In fairness to our guys,” Kerr admitted, “we’ve been all over the map rotation-wise this year. I’ve had a million different starting lineups. Guys are in and out of certain roles, rotations. I know that very well. And that’s difficult as a player, not knowing how many minutes you’re going to get, what minutes you’re going to get.”
This has been the path of the Warriors. Kyle Anderson, a summer signing hired as a solid interior defender and playmaker for the second unit, never left the bench at Christmas. That includes Moses Moody, who rarely makes the loud mistake but always seems stuck on the edge of the rotation. Neither does Lindy Waters III, who was out of the rotation before starting seven straight games during Kerr’s first experiment replacing the injured De’Anthony Melton.
The crucial role of pairing Stephen Curry in the starting backcourt has been passed from Waters to Brandin Podziemski to Buddy Hield. None of the three prospered, and the move sent the bank into a tailspin.
That’s why Dunleavy traded Melton, who is lost this season, for Dennis Schröder a few weeks ago. The goal is to stabilize the second unit while making life easier for the acutely defended Curry, but Schröder is trying to give his best in real time. In four starts, he is averaging 8.5 points on 11-of-39 (28.2 percent) shooting from the field, including 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from deep. His assist-to-turnover ratio is 2 to 1 and trending upward.
Schröder is the leader of the second unit, but it will take a few more games to develop visible chemistry. It will last all season if he is consistently surrounded by different groups.
It comes back to the composition of the selection. Golden State has offensive players and defensive players, but too few of the bench players are effective at both. It’s deep but flawed.
“I don’t feel like this is a roster where you just say, ‘Okay, here are our top eight guys or top nine guys, we’ll just play those guys,’” Kerr said. “Our squad is very extensive and we have a lot of guys who can play and every match calls for something different. That’s the problem. There are certain games where we have to shoot more. There are certain games where we need more defense.”
Kuminga leads the team in role changes, shuttling from starter to reserve to starter and back to reserve again. Regardless of his role, there are nights where he looks like a star and there are nights where he is lost on defense and short-sighted on offense. He is an enigma in search of a solution, and that is an inherent problem.
Still, Kuminga and Hield are the team’s most reliable bench scorers. Hield was great in the first month, but has lost much of the warmth he brought in the first fifteen games. He scored double figures in 11 of the first 15 games, averaging 16.2 points, but only seven of the last 14, averaging 11.3.
Golden State’s bench averaged a league-high 54.2 points per game through the first 15 games. The average was 38.9 (sixth) over the last 14.
The Warriors won’t look like a playoff team until the defense rebounds and the bench becomes more consistent. Second-unit minutes should be available and will remain that way if this decline continues — or until Dunleavy makes a new deal that leads to clarity.
If it comes after another team meeting, it’s too late.
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