Why TJD’s new Warriors role means fewer thrills in Year 2 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors are 9-2 through their first 11 games, just like they were 9-2 over their last 11 games last season. The records are identical, but there are several notable differences, the most noticeable being an offseason roster makeover.
A little less visible, perhaps, is the handling of Trayce Jackson-Davis. Although the 6-foot-9 center started all 22 of those games, the splits tell a story of a changing role.
Jackson-Davis as a rookie finished with a flourish, average 10.5 points per game, on 66.2 percent shooting, as well as 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Show was frequent, and he averaged 25.4 minutes as the Warriors squeaked into a Play-In Tournament.
Jackson in Year 2? Aside from a slight increase in field goal percentage (68.4), TJD’s numbers are down across the board: 7.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, .5 blocks and 16.5 minutes — about equal to backup center Kevon Looney’s 16.1 minutes.
No less remarkable is that the kind of “wow” moments who announced the arrival of TJD last season were few and far between.
So, I asked coach Steve Kerr for an estimate of The first 11 games of Jackson-Davis, and the coach quickly responded. What is the role of the big man?
“It’s rhythm, rhythm, rhythm with Trayce,” Kerr said Thursday. “The way he played the other night, the strength in transition, the buckets he got early in the third running the floor, protecting the rim, rebounding. When he really sprints the floor, you feel it. And we feel it.”
Jackson-Davis played just 14 minutes Tuesday night, delivering eight points and nine rebounds in Golden State’s 120-117 win over the Dallas Mavericks. He went 3-of-5 from the field, just 2-of-6 from the line. He added two assists and two steals but had zero blocks.
“He’s settled into a role now where he’s going to play a little bit like the Zaza (Pachulia) role, or JaVale McGee,” Kerr said. “He will play the first six or seven minutes of each half and then see where it goes.”
TJD is being asked to set strong screens and pass as efficiently as Pachulia did a few years ago. He is also asked, encouraged and told sprint from rim to rim, protecting the rim on one end and smashing lobs on the other, like McGee did on a submission for Pachulia.
Jackson-Davis is trying to make the adjustment, and it’s not always smooth sailing.
“Defensively, I think sometimes I’m still a little hesitant when to go and when not to go,” he said. “Those are things I need to keep watching film on. Offensively, I just keep working on my screening, keep running to the rim. Doing things like that. That’s all coaches ask of me to be an edge rusher because if I pressures the rim, it opens guys up for shots and or I get easy dunks. Those are the main things.
“But coach says I’m doing a great job, so I just need to keep getting better at those things and keep working.”
This is a slight tweak to TJD’s duties as outlined last season with the Warriors. With more minutes, he produced nine games with at least 15 points, nine games with double-digit rebounding and nine games with at least three blocks. There were many occasions when he simply shone.
“Last year, that was kind of my specialty, really,” Jackson-Davis said. “I would come in and be an energetic guy.”
With the rotation expanded to unprecedented levels this season, Jackson-Davis is spending less time on the floor and continuing to find his comfort zone. Although his role is slightly different from last season, it is significantly changed from his role as a four-year starter at Indiana University, where the offense generally hit him on the block.
“What am I still doing here,” Jackson-Davis said. “We’ll run split-action (plays) sometimes, and I’ll try to read or take my guy off the dribble if I need to.
“But in college, it was very one-dimensional in the sense that the ball was going through me, and I had to do things like that. Being here is very different. And I actually like it a lot more because I feel like I can play more freely, getting lobs, getting dunks and stuff like that.”
Jackson-Davis continues to lead the team in dunks with 26, more than twice the total of runner-up Jonathan Kuminga. TJD’s 3.5 rebounds per minute are second behind Kevon Looney, who grabs one every 1.9 minutes.
Although Jackson-Davis as the starter, he is only the first of Golden State’s three-center rotation. With the team playing well, he will continue to share with Draymond Green and Looney.
“We can play Loon. We might go smaller with Draymond,” Kerr said, referring to options beyond Jackson-Davis to open the first and third quarters. “Those might be the only 12 to 14 minutes he gets.
“But just in case, he should fly out onto the floor. When we see that, we feel good about his impact.”
Through 11 games, the system works. But there’s little doubt that Kerr and his staff believe Jackson-Davis can do whatever they ask. It all starts with him sprinting onto the floor, because that’s the launch pad for everything they want to see.
