In the huddle coming out of the third quarter against the Kings in the preseason, Steve Kerr turned to new assistant Terry Stotts — or, at the very least, turned to Stotts’ playbook.
Stotts, hired to retool the Warriors’ offensive approach, perennially ran an elite offense with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. In his last three seasons in Portland, Stotts’ teams ranked second, third and third in the league in offensive rating.
So the Warriors ran one of his pet plays. De’Anthony Melton flew across the top of the arc, using a flare screen. He wasn’t open. Buddy Hield, starting in the far left corner, sprinted along the baseline and off a Kevon Looney pin-down screen. He caught the pass, but wasn’t free to take a shot.
Instead of panicking, Hield entered a pass to Kyle Anderson in the post. From there, the team ran what the Warriors have made a living off for the past decade: split-action. The sequence ended with a Brandin Podziemski layup.
The play was everything the Warriors have been working toward this preseason. Each of the three new veteran role players was involved, there was more structure in the possession than the typical “organized chaos” Warriors offense, and the group was able to meld a set play with the bones of Steve Kerr’s free-flowing philosophy.
Like with the Warriors overall, it’s not out with the old, in with the new. They want to layer on top of what they’ve built, retool but not reimagine. Coming off a 46-win season, the Warriors aren’t broken. But with a new roster bereft of dynasty stalwart Klay Thompson, they do need some renovations.
It’ll start with their season opener Wednesday night in Portland.
“This feels like a new beginning for us in a lot of ways,” Kerr said after the team’s first training camp practice. “Last year felt like an extension of what we already knew. Part of that is the way that Steph and Klay had each been a part of our heart and soul.
“It’s a pretty dramatic change. So we have to turn that into a positive.”
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Once the Warriors finalized their group, after failed offseason pursuits of stars Lauri Markkanen and Paul George, they devised a to-do list as long as a CVS receipt. It included being more efficient in transition, implementing more structure offensively, shooting more 3-pointers and intensifying their defense.
They’re all valid and commendable objectives. But it’s also how just about every team talks before the season begins.
“Everybody in the offseason, their guys get bigger, stronger, faster and hungrier,” Kerr said, agreeing with the premise. “Every team. We are pushing it every day in practice. We’re talking about our identity. We want to be feisty, we want to be really tough defensively and scrappy and get to the loose balls. But it doesn’t mean anything unless we do it.”
What gives Kerr hope that his team can carry over its gains into the season is depth. The Warriors truly believe their roster, while imperfect, has quality depth. Kerr has repeatedly said this is the deepest team he’s ever coached, and he pulled the strings for the championship teams that made “Strength in Numbers” their unofficial motto.
“I’m really confident we’ll do it because we’ve got 13 possible rotation players and only 10 spots,” Kerr said. “So if you don’t (produce), you come out.”
Golden State went undefeated in the preseason and its depth was on constant display. In Podziemski’s words, the Warriors played through principles, not plays.
Golden State Warriors’ Brandin Podziemski (2) reacts after making a half-court shot during the Golden State Warriors open practice at the Chase Center in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Golden State used six different starting lineups in six games. Steph Curry’s minor finger injury and Andrew Wiggins’ illness complicated things slightly, but Kerr experimented with lineup combinations.
By holding open competitions throughout the roster, including in the starting lineup, Kerr hoped to establish a foundation of toughness and sacrifice to emerge.
In coaches meetings, Kerr has been at a loss as to how to get everyone the minutes they deserve. He has informed Lindy Waters III and Gui Santos that they’ll be out of the rotation on opening night, but that still leaves 12 players for 10 rotation spots.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can play, and (Kerr) says they’re in the back room trying to figure out matchups and stuff of that nature,” likely starting center Trayce Jackson-Davis said. “So we’ve just got to be ready to go.”
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After Thompson departed for Dallas, the Warriors pivoted to recreating him in the aggregate.
Their three veteran pickups — Hield, Melton and Anderson — can bring a lot of what Thompson did at his best.
Hield, who leads the NBA in 3-point makes since 2019, is the closest analog to Thompson as a volume, movement shooter. He had a tremendous preseason, draining 48.7% of his 3s while attempting a ludicrous 6.5 in 17.2 minutes per game.
If the Warriors are going to stay in the top five in 3-point attempts , they’re going to have to play Hield real minutes.
Melton would never claim to be the shooter Thompson (or Hield) is, but he shares many of the qualities that made Thompson the perfect backcourt mate to Curry. An elite point-of-attack defender, Melton can check opposing teams’ more threatening guards, giving Curry respite.
In limited time together this preseason, Melton looked like a natural fit with Curry. As long as he hits his catch-and-shoot jumpers, he’s primed to be among Golden State’s most valuable players — starting or not.
And Anderson is the prototypical postseason player. His style is nothing like Thompson’s but he has a lengthy playoff resume and a respected locker room aura.
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Between all the talk of establishing an identity and building a foundation in Hawaii, Kerr went on a stream-of-consciousness takedown of the championship-or-bust culture that has too often framed basketball discourse in the social media age.
“To modern sports fandom, everything is, ‘Win the championship or nothing else matters,’” Kerr said. “But it’s really not true. What matters is do you have a good team? Do you have a team that your fans love watching? Do you have a team that, ‘Hey, we’ve got a shot.’ Let’s be scrappy, let’s be tough as hell. Let’s have a team that brings a lot of juice, a lot of energy, a lot of joy. This is not a zero-sum game.”
No matter how astute Kerr’s point is, it is still rare for an NBA head coach to so clearly lower expectations.
And it’s fair to set expectations. This isn’t a championship team as currently constructed, not after missing out on George and Markkanen in the offseason. Even if depth can carry the Warriors through the regular season, the main problem entering training camp — the lack of a true No. 2 scorer next to Steph Curry — remains.
Entering his 16th season, Curry knows it, too.
“I think we’re in that position where we can be a relevant team early and give ourselves a chance to compete and then assess where we are because that’s what every team has to go through,” Curry said at media day.
Both Kerr’s “Ringz Culture” take and Curry’s media day admission hint that the Warriors aren’t a finished product. That much is clear. They’ve overtly postured themselves as a team eager to pounce at an in-season trade.
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Their depth could help out in that area, too. By deciding not to extend Jonathan Kuminga, their best young asset is still tradeable. So are their own picks (in alternating years), other promising young players with upside on cheap deals (Podziemski and Jackson-Davis) and veterans on mid-sized deals (Hield, Anderson and Melton). The Warriors have the luxury of consolidating multiple players for a talent upgrade.
As Curry noted, that conversation could get expedited based on how the team starts. Golden State plays seven of its first 10 games on the road. But that stretch includes games against the Pelicans, Wizards, Jazz, Blazers, and Clippers — all teams in or well below the Warriors’ weight class.
Mike Dunleavy Jr.’s front office has exercised patience. The Warriors know seasons aren’t decided in the first three weeks. But it’s easy to wonder if they can dial up another club’s appetite for a risky transaction.
Or, they can coalesce behind their new points of emphasis to be relevant early.
At 36, Curry is still capable of competing for a championship. He’s still hungry for contention and has made clear that he wouldn’t play for a bottom feeder.
The Warriors are confident they’re not that. They went 26-12 after February last season and many within the organization believe they improved in the offseason.
That will only be the case if they can take all their changes and turn them into positives. Because if it’s not championship or bust, it’s adapt or die.
