Kurtenbach: The big rotation change that could solve the Warriors’ bench
issues
Golden State Warriors: The Dubs' minutes with Steph Curry off the floor
have been disastrous. But there is one bench lineup with promise.
>Golden State Warriors guard Jordan Poole (3) during the first half of
an NBA basketball game against the Phoenix Suns, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022,
in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
By DIETER KURTENBACH | dkurtenbach@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News
Group
PUBLISHED: November 6, 2022 at 3:33 p.m. | UPDATED: November 7, 2022 at
5:31 a.m.
https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2022/11/06/kurtenbach-the-big-rotation-change-that-could-solve-the-warriors-bench-issues/

Changes are coming for the Warriors.

The Dubs’ rotations, set at the beginning of the season and relatively
unchanged as the team started 3-7, will be revamped when the Warriors
host the Sacramento Kings Monday night.

“There are just times in the NBA season, where things can go off the
rails a little bit, and a great part of being a great team — a solid
organization — is understanding how to work through that,” Warriors
coach Steve Kerr said Sunday. “The coaching staff makes a few
adjustments… I’m really confident that we can do that…It should be a
good week for us to get back on track.”

Only one of a few rotation adjustments was acknowledged by Kerr on
Sunday — Jonathan Kuminga is going to see minutes moving forward.

But I think the changes should and will be more significant than that.

No team in the NBA sees a greater drop-off between starter and bench
minutes than the Warriors. The team’s entire second unit needs to be
reimagined.

It needs to look like the first unit that played Friday in New Orleans.

The Warriors rested four stars and starters for the second game of a
two-city, end-of-a-road-trip, back-to-back on Friday. So instead of
Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins, we saw a
starting lineup of Jordan Poole, Moses Moody, Anthony Lamb, Jonathan
Kuminga, and Kevon Looney.

Why can’t that five-man lineup we saw against the Pelicans be the
Warriors’ second unit — the group that starts the second and fourth
quarters — starting on Monday night?

That lineup played 14 minutes against a full-strength Pelicans team and
posted a net rating of plus 36 points per 100 possessions.

A small sample size? Sure.

But that success didn’t look fluky to me.

Offensively, this lineup spaces the floor for drive-and-kick basketball.
Poole has room to create or take his defender one-on-one.

In addition, Moody, Kuminga, and Lamb all have the ability to catch and
shoot, slash, or put the ball on the floor for a secondary
drive-and-kick action.

And while technically this lineup could work with James Wiseman at
center, it’s better with Looney, who is an elite screen-setter and does
a great job of moving the ball on the perimeter if it finds him out
there. Looney knows the Warriors Way as well as anyone — he might not be
the point guard, but he ensures the system holds up when he’s on the floor.

In those 14 minutes together, this lineup scored 1.28 points per
possession. The ball moved. Players moved. Actions were incisive. These
kids looked like the Warriors.

What’s more important is that this unit played defense, too. The
Pelicans averaged 0.92 points per possession against these five on Friday.

This defensive lineup works because it gives the Warriors the option to
switch everything in man-to-man possessions or play a mean 2-3 zone with
serious length on corner closeouts.

The Warriors have played Ty Jerome — a combo guard — with Kuminga,
Moody, and Poole this season, but Lamb is a better fit next to the Dubs’
young core

When the Warriors have the ball, Lamb is a strong cutter who is willing
to look for his own shot. Jerome is a nice playmaker, but the Warriors
don’t need that playmaking next to Poole if the spacing is right. Plus,
Jerome is too much of a playmaker — he often passes up open looks at the
basket to try to find an open teammate with a pass. A nice thought, but
it’s oftentimes counterproductive.

And defensively, it’s not a competition. Jerome is a good player and
puts in a good effort on that end of the floor, but Lamb has length — he
has a nearly 7-foot wingspan on a stocky 6-foot-6 frame.

That’s key, because when Kuminga is on the floor, the Warriors’ defense
has to switch. The young forward might be an athletic mismatch for
nearly every NBA player, but he’s too raw to be a great one-on-one
defender right now.

By switching everything on defense, the Warriors can mitigate some of
Kuminga’s on-ball issues that would arise with prescribed matchups on
playmaking wings — the matchups that have seen him fouling too often.

But moving Kuminga around in a defense creates mismatches that give the
Warriors an advantage.

This lineup is worth further exploration. Hey, it can’t be any worse
than the second unit five it’s replacing.

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What happens with the other players in that established second unit?

I’d imagine JaMychal Green is dropped from the rotation for the time
being. Outside of his rebounding, he hasn’t performed up to expectations
to start the year, and is shooting just 23 percent from 3 after his
percentage dropped, dramatically, to 26 percent last season with Denver.

He’s a veteran. He can handle it.

Kerr hinted at Green’s demotion on Sunday.

“You have to have hard conversations… you have to be honest,” Kerr said
while trying to be coy about rotation changes. “The thing I learned as a
player — I just wanted to know. Players should not be caught off guard
by a rotation change.”

Donte DiVincenzo will see run if he, indeed, returns from his hamstring
injury on Friday. But I imagine those minutes will come away from Poole
— at least for the next few games — for the same reason the Warriors
don’t want to pair Poole and Jerome in the backcourt

And I expect the Warriors will keep playing Wiseman, but will shave his
minutes down and play him alongside Steph Curry at the end of the first
and third quarters (with the third-quarter minutes not guaranteed).

Of course, I could be way off. And even if I’m right, all of this can
change with one ankle turn or a truly bad shift.

But there was something worth exploring in that New Orleans game, and
the Warriors should spend the next few games finding out if that small
sample size success can translate with more minutes.