Warriors’ five biggest questions a month before training camp originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The glory of Steph Curry’s Olympic exploits is in the rearview mirror. Off-season holidays are over. With the first practice of Warriors training camp now less than a month away, we dive deep into five questions that will need to be answered.
Who Will Be Steph’s Starting Backcourt Mate?
The player who leads the NBA in 3-pointers made over the past five seasons seems like the least likely option to be the Warriors’ starting shooting guard. Buddy Hield31, is the easiest to step into Klay Thompson’s 3-point shooting shoes. But he also most closely resembles what the Warriors envisioned in Klay if he came back
Since Thompson returned from injury on January 9, 2022, the perennial Splash Brother has made 683 threes. Hield in that span has sunk 622. For as much as he is a threat from deep, Hield has always been seen as a negative defensively. However, his 1.6 defensive win shares last season set a career high. However, his skill screams shooter from the bench.
Another veteran addition the Warriors brought in who can start games alongside Curry is 26-year-old De’Anthony Melton. Pairing Melton with Curry would make sense from a balance point of view. Curry and Thompson weren’t a dominant duo at their peak just to be possibly the two greatest 3-point shooters ever. It was Thompson’s defensive prowess and versatility that pushed them over the edge.
That’s where Melton comes in, as long as he’s healthy. A back injury kept him to 38 games last season. Last season, Melton was worth 3.1 defensive win shares, and 2.8 in 2021-22. Melton, like Curry, is only 6-foot-2. His 6-8 wingspan makes him a headache for opposing offenses.
Both Hield and Melton will be vital to the Warriors’ success. A second-year standout from his rookie year still has the clearest path to the starting job. Brandin Podziemski, 21, was the first player to replace Thompson in the starting five under Steve Kerr, and his role will only continue to grow in Year 2.
The question is whether that will be off the bench or as one of the first five on the floor. Podziemski shot better in reserve, and his offensive and defensive rating off the bench – 119 Ortg, 116 Drtg – upstaged his 115 Ortg and 118 Drtg in 28 starts. However, the 117 offensive rating that Podziemski and Curry produced together was the best among partners for Curry who played at least 500 minutes. The two had a 4.1 net rating, the fourth best for Curry and a teammate.
Kerr surrounding Curry with length and athleticism and turning Andrew Wiggins into a shooting guard is the wild card option that might be a reality at some point.
Do The Warriors Have a No. 2 Scorer?
Curry will be 37 years old in March and just showed during the rescue of Team USA men’s basketball in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics that building around him is still a pretty good idea. The Warriors tried to give him a legitimate, established second scoring option this summer in Paul George and Lauri Markkanen, but fell short on both offers. So, now what?
Before we answer that question, let’s have a quick reality check. Everyone on the Team USA roster has a teammate on their NBA roster who is either a No. 1 or No. 2 scoring option. The same applies to every team in the Pacific Division, and every Western Conference team that either made the finals or play-in tournament last season.
Except for the Warriors. They have options, although each one comes with a question mark.
Among the starting shooting guard options, Hield averaged the most points per game last season at 12.1, his lowest since his rookie year. Melton’s 11.1 points last season before his season was cut short by injury was a career high, and he shot 38.3 percent from three the past four seasons as someone who is seen as a defense-first player. Podziemski for how much more the Warriors want him to shoot, with a major emphasis on the 3-point shot, feels like the one of the three who could outscore the shooting guards in scoring. Whether Podziemski starts or comes off the bench, he will see some of the most minutes on Golden State.
Wiggins and his disappearing act last season saw his scoring averages drop to 13.2 points while shooting 35.8 percent on threes. He averaged 18.6 points his first full season with the Warriors, 17.2 points in his NBA All-Star 2021-22 season, 17.1 the season after that and then cut four points per game when the Warriors missed the playoffs. He’s in his 11th pro season, and in some ways is the Warriors’ biggest unknown.
Which brings us to the most likely player to assume the second scoring spot Jonathan Kumingawhich turns 22 in October. With Thompson gone, Kuminga is the Warriors’ second-highest returning scorer since beating his scoring averages by more than six points to 16.1. He has the athleticism to get to the rim whenever he wants. The holes are also still apparent, and for Kuminga it all comes down to consistency.
If everything comes together, Kuminga can be a true No. 2 next to Curry and trend closer and closer to a future All-Star.
Who Jonathan Kuminga Appears?
After an offseason full of Kuminga sharing training videos on his Instagram of him hitting shots, shooting down and going through dribbling drills, potential needs to be replaced with production on a game-to-game basis.
Kuminga averaged 2.2 3-point attempts per game each of the last two seasons. He was a 37 percent 3-point shooter in 2022-23, and dropped all the way to 32.1 percent last season. A two-man lineup of Kuminga and Wiggins was a minus-0.3 net rating last season, although Kuminga and Draymond Green had a 9.4 net rating together.
He is best served as a four, but has the size of a three, which is also the position Kuminga should guard, although he doesn’t shoot well enough to be a small forward as opposed to a power forward. Kuminga shot 62.1 percent from under 10 feet from the basket last season, and 30.8 percent everywhere else.
From January 27 to March 26, Kuminga went on a two-month stretch where he started all 29 games for the Warriors and averaged 19.1 points. The Warriors went 18-11 in that span. When he’s locked in first on defense and streamlines his offense, Kuminga can quickly be one of the better two-way players in the NBA. It just depends on how often that is from all points of view, and in a team concept.
A Wiggins-Kuminga-Green three-man lineup last season had a 10.9 net rating — 116.4 offensive rating and 105.5 defensive rating — in 427 minutes, showing Green’s importance to both players, and giving Kerr some interesting rotation decisions to make in spurts. .
Are The Warriors Too Small?
That three-man lineup also makes the Warriors’ center, Green, their smallest player. He is listed at 6-foot-6, with Wiggins being 6-foot-7 and Kuminga 6-foot-8.
Trayce Jackson-Davis took over as the Warriors’ starting center in place of Kevon Looney for the final month-plus of the regular season. Both are 6-foot-9, and both are the Warriors’ tallest players on the current roster. Golden State’s 2024 second round pick draft pick Quinten Post is a 7-footer, but doesn’t even have a roster spot – standard or two-way – at the time of this publishing.
However, the Warriors led the NBA in rebounding last season and ranked 12th in opponent rebounds per game. They averaged the fourth most defensive rebounds per game, and the fifth most offensive rebounds. But also the fourth fewest steals per game, and sixth fewest blocks.
Kyle Anderson at 6-foot-9 adds length and versatility on both sides of the ball. Melton plays taller than his listed height, and a big boost to the Warriors’ rebounding came from Podziemski’s nose for the ball at just 6-foot-4. The age-old question of whether the Warriors are too small can’t be ignored either.
The 3-pointer is king in today’s NBA. Even more so is the skilled big man. Only in the Western Conference the Warriors have to deal with the twin towers of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns in Minnesota, Nikola Jokic in Denver, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in Oklahoma City, Anthony Davis and Ivica Zubac between the two teams in LA. , Domantas Sabonis in Sacramento, Dereck Lively II in Dallas, Jusuf Nurkic in Phoenix, Alperen Sengun and Jabari Smith Jr. in Houston and of course Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio.
At some point, the height and size difference apparently has to catch up with the Warriors.
Any Other Name Change?
There will be no seismic changes to Golden State’s roster before the season begins. However, with the first practice in Hawaii taking place on October 1st, there will be some changes.
A post will need to be added to the list during September. He needs a contract to be part of training camp, and the most likely route seems to be as a two-way player. The problem is that the Warriors already have their three two-way contracts secured now.
Thanks to an impressive summer league showing, Daeqwon Plowden will have one of those. The remaining two are Pat Spencer and Reece Beekman. Spencer’s ability to handle the ball as a veteran who already knows the system could give him the upper hand. Beekman has real defensive upside, but he may be the odd man out.
The Warriors have no room to add a 15th player to the roster. This is also the time of year where players come for training camp and compete for a place. Remember Rudy Gay last year? A few years back Gary Payton II beat out Avery Bradley for a spot, which turned out to be a steal and a career changing deal for Payton.
Gui Santos and Lindy Waters III have non-guaranteed contracts. Could an outside player come in and beat any of them? There will be competition, one way or another.
