Preseason Losses Show Some of the Warriors Weaknesses By Jason Last week, the Warriors were 2-0 and some fans were starting to think playoffs, but after beating the Kings at Oracle, the Warriors lost by 19 and 13 to the Kings and Trailblazers in Sacramento and Portland. Two things stand out in my mind in the Sacramento loss. If the Warriors block out and get rebounds, then they have a chance to win. If the Warriors do not block out, then they get creamed on the boards and they end up without a chance to win like last season. The Kings were fired up to beat the Warriors at ARCO Arena because they lost to them the night before. Sure, it was a preseason game, but the Kings had to make a better effort than what they did the night before. I’m sure their players heard it from coach Paul Westphal and they responded, especially DeMarcus Cousins; He ended up with 20 pts and 8 boards. Getting whipped on the the boards was one of the huge problems last season and why we got David Lee. It probably was one of the reasons why Don Nelson isn‘t coaching anymore either despite his record setting number of wins as a coach. The Kings are a big and good rebounding team this year -- better than the Warriors. The Warriors will have to scrap and block out in order to get rebounds. Second, the high octane offense of the Warriors was sputtering. Too many missed shots and the 3-ball wasn’t falling either. Coach Keith Smart said he’ll start to control the 3-pt shot, and he did. The Warriors only shot 2 of 12. If it was Nelson, they may have shot twice as many. This writer thinks that the 3-ball is the staple of the Warriors, so they should have continued to shoot it if they were good shots, I.e. open shots taken by a good 3-pt shooter (> 36 %). Oh well, I’ll continue to monitor this situation as the season progresses. As for the game versus the Trailblazers, the Warriors rebounded and shot better. They had a chance to win, but the Blazers were better on offense. The Warriors have got to ratchet up their defense, especially their perimeter defense, against the better teams in the league. Portland is slated to go to the playoffs again this year, so the young Warriors will have to fight harder on the boards and do a better job on defense in order to beat the good teams. One player I will be calling out is Andris Biedrins. He hasn’t exactly set the world on fire, but it could be he’s still trying to get back into shape and isn’t 100%. His minutes have been limited. Second, the loss of Lou Admundson to a broken finger will hurt. We already have lost Ekpe Udoh and to lose another big off the bench definitely will hurt the Warriors. Brandan Wright and someone else from the bench will have to step up. Opportunity alert. It means someone like Jeff Adrien, who had a 15 rebound game against the Kings, will make the team.
I'm getting a little concerned about Curry's alarming turnover rate, he's averaging 5.5 turnovers per game in 4 preseason games vs. 5.8 assists, that's not good. And he wasn't taking care of the rock in FIBA ball this summer either. Don't get me wrong, I'm still high on the kid, but sometimes I think he gets a little too fancy with the ball (one handed passes, behind the back) when he doesn't need to be.
Yeah Curry's TOs and Biedrins overall play (at least in the box score) are somewhat concerning but I'm not going to get too worried about it since its only preseason. Curry has never really struck me as great with limiting turnovers though. Not that hes bad but he makes a lot of difficult, creative plays and hes very good at it. Its just that its a riskier style of play than a guy like Billups or Tony Parker and while Curry is sensational I still feel his handle isn't top tier. Looks like our biggest weakness is going to be defense up front though. That's both man defense in the post and help defense from penetration. Smart needs to really make up a good team defense scheme because this team is sorely lacking in guys who have defensive talent. After that I think our bench production is a huge question mark. I love Reggie but I fear that hes not a good fit for the scoring-centric 6th man role. Dude is crafty and skilled but I loved his game last year because he didn't force his shots and he made the right pass when necessary. Seems like Smart wants him to just shoot and forget about everything else but so far in the preseason his percentages have been poor. I think passing and taking what he can get is an important part of his game. After Reggie though we have nothing but question marks on the bench. Who knows what we'llget from Wright or if he'll be healthy. Amundson already broke his finger. Bell and Gadz are pretty meh. Vlad is a 3 point spot up shooter who doesn't shoot the 3 ball well lol. Carney is a huge question mark all around. Lin seems far too green.
Lol, yeah, it's weird because the guy is only 30, and had some huge years from behind the arc (he shot 42% on the season a few different years, 44% with the Lakers, etc... career 38%) but slap me if this guy isn't damaged goods at this point. He just seems fractured psychologically. Dude is getting nearly all backboard on some of those threes (one comes to mind in that open house scrimmage video you posted). I mean he shot 27% from three for GS last year. If you can't do what you specialize in, what else can you do? Guy just seems like dead weight at this point...
Good point on the bench Run BJM. That may be a big hole for the team. I think that is what Nelson was good at. He can find players who will produce out of nowhere. I think this team will need a couple of those kinds of players, a la Azubuike and Barnes. Hopefully this will be a breakout year for Carney.
Yeah, and I'm starting to get a little worried that Smart always brings him in as the first guy off the bench. Dude can't shoot. Hes too big and slow for the 3 but too small and weak for the 4. Don't see why he should ever get in the game over Carney, Wright, etc. let alone Reggie.
