The Warriors’ 29 turnovers open up bigger questions about the offense The Golden State Warriors have a mobile offense that is missing a key component Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) talks with Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (00) after scoring against the Portland Trail Blazers as they head back to the bench in the fourth quarter of overtime of an NBA game at the Chase Center in Health . Francis , California, Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green (23) talks with Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga (00) after scoring against the Portland Trail Blazers as they head back to the bench in the fourth quarter of overtime of an NBA game at the Chase Center in Health . Francis , California, Wednesday, December 6, 2023. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) a factor By Shayna Rubin | sruban@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area Newsgroup PUBLIC: December 10, 2023 at 5:18 am | Updated: 10/12/2023 at 5:18 Loading your audio article The Warriors have three days in Phoenix to help align as a team and bounce back from their latest setback in Oklahoma City. They can watch some college rounds together. They practice. Maybe a group dinner. However, the schedule says to watch a horror movie together. That horror movie: All 29 of Friday’s wins came in a 138-136 overtime loss to the Thunder. “We’re looking at all 29 teams,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Friday. “I can tell you that. We’re looking at all 29 deals.” What they see is a multifaceted comedy of errors. Of the ten Warriors who took the field, only Cory Joseph had zero in the turnover column. Only Brandin Podziemski had one turnover and everyone else had at least two. Disclosure of total turnover: Andrew Wiggins: 6 Draymond Green: 4 Klay Thompson: 4 Jonathan Kuminga: 3Steph Curry: 3Dario Å arić: 3Kevon Looney: 2Moses Moody: 2 Green, the man in the middle, is often the one who commits the most turnovers in tough offenses. Many of the exchanges between Wiggins and Thompson are a little more confusing considering they are not ball handlers. Despite the Warriors holding a 14-point lead and a three-point lead before Green’s costly foul, the plethora of turnovers highlights larger flaws in the Warriors’ approach and explains why they’ve struggled against taller, more athletic teams like the Thunder. A handful of moves were just lazy, moving screens, feet out of bounds. Only errors within the margin of error that occur during the day’s work. Most of that, though, was more a result of the Thunder getting into the passing lane with quick reads on the Warriors’ big move. Tournaments are a cost the Warriors have paid in the past to run this offense. But as some members of the team have said, the defense and offense have to be among the best in the league for turnovers to be a small detriment to the greater good. At their peak, the Warriors had a high-level defense that could force turnovers and turn chaos into a transition offense that stifled mistakes in the motion offense. Now, the Warriors have a league-average defensive rating of 114.4 and 15.8% of their possessions result in turnovers, which is tied for fourth worst in the league with the lowly San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers. Swapping the turnover-prone Jordan Poole for point guard Chris Paul was supposed to solve the problem — but to no avail. As the team members also point out, the offensive structure is not the core of the problem. However, the problem is caused by individual shortcomings. Of the 29 turnovers against Oklahoma City, 13 were marked as bad passes. In this session, these may be the clips that the team focuses on. They can overcome the 10 combined turnovers of Thompson and Wiggins to reach the bottom, which kept both as secondary scorers next to Curry.
Neither attacked the rim offensively and will almost certainly get the extra pass. In the third quarter of the Golden State game, Wiggins took a pass from Green over a defender, and instead of using his size and athleticism to get to the rim, he didn’t hand it off to anyone. In the third quarter, Wiggins had the ball in front of Josh Giddey and was patrolled by Jalen Williams, who could slide to the rim if Wiggins attacked – but also be in a position to destroy the extra pass from Wiggins to Green in the corner. Sale Some of Thompson’s most expensive moves came from going with Thunder players. Green’s four turnovers were mostly the same — Oklahoma City was on the Warriors in extra passes, correctly assuming no one would challenge their point guard one-on-one. Green, Thompson and Wiggins created a whirlwind of turnover chaos as they tried to create opportunities off the ball. Jonathan Kuminga gave Golden State life against Portland and the Thunder because he tends to create plays himself – taking the puck to the net and challenging defenses with his size and strength and finishing elegantly at the rim. Curry is also perennially great at creating his own shot, but defenders know he can take over the entire game and shut him down when needed. As crazy as it sounds after a big turnover, the Warriors could have used the offense that Poole brought. The Warriors are desperate for Poole’s offensive fearlessness, and it was a change that worked well with Curry’s fastball during the 2022 championship. Of course, Poole’s penchant for mind-blowing turnovers was one of the few reasons the organization traded him for Paul. But he left the score blank. Wiggins, Kuminga and Thompson could fill that void. Trust Project -logo
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