LOS ANGELES –The Warriors put together a veteran-laden roster in the offseason at a slight expense: They’re short on size and, with some lineups, athleticism.
All that smart basketball with future Hall of Famers is expected to fill the gaps, where they can combat youth and speed with the most feared NBA players of the last decade orchestrating fast-paced and intuitive offense. That strategy should pay off in the aggregate of a regular season, but being small can come back to bite defensively — especially against a team built like the Los Angeles Lakers.
All the defensive miscues that plagued the Warriors last year have come into play in their two preseason games against the Lakers. Seven-footer Anthony Davis’ presence in the paint has historically sent the Warriors offense into a tizzy, but they’ve had just as many issues containing Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and a mosaic of players shooting open 3s on kick-outs.
If the Warriors are vying for a championship run by outsmarting the rest, they’ll also have to play smarter defensively to make up for their athletic disadvantage. They’re not off to a good start, particularly with Saturday’s defense against the Lakers starters. Overall Golden State committed 27 personal fouls and was slow on defensive rotations.
“Not much to like to this point. We’re not anywhere close to being a top 10 defense,” coach Steve Kerr said on Friday. “At halftime, all the key areas we talked about in camp, we didn’t hit any of them. They shot 21 free throws, we had 11 turnovers. We had one offensive board. All those areas where we’re looking to improve, we hadn’t gotten to yet. We did in the fourth quarter, our young guys did a good job. But we have a lot of improvement to make. The fouling was too much and the turnovers, some unforced, we have to clean up those areas.”
A lot of this can be attributed to Draymond Green’s absence due to injury. Green is the Warriors’ primary defensive anchor and orchestrator who erases a ton of defensive blunders as the team’s free safety, providing help defense or fixing broken defensive plays.
The defensive issues can also be attributed to the date: The Warriors starters are learning to incorporate Chris Paul into the starting five. That may not be permanent, it may be, but in any event Paul and his new teammates are still learning how to play together.
Between play, Paul and Curry, in particular, get together to discuss what went wrong or right on each play. Paul has been in everyone’s ear, a visibly active communicator. Curry has said the team’s biggest goal this year is to get on the same page, make sure every part of the roster is connected when they’re on the floor in order to limit mistakes as much as possible. Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga and Gary Payton II give the Warriors the athleticism on defense they can run with, but for a team banking on IQ, intuition and chemistry could be their biggest source of success.
Golden State has only played the Lakers so far. They’ll have a new challenge on Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings — a team that’s not built big and tall like the Lakers, but young and quick with De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk. Preseason games are meaningless, but still an opportunity for the Warriors to get sharp.