PHOENIX — In the X’s and O’s department, perhaps the biggest pendulum swing for the Warriors is how much to play Draymond Green with or without a center next to him.
Green and head coach Steve Kerr prefer to play either Trayce Jackson-Davis or Kevon Looney with Green for the bulk of his minutes. It protects the 34-year-old from the physical demands of boxing out and working for positioning against bigger, often stronger assignments. The configuration also helps defensively, allowing Green to roam as a help defender instead of being locked into the other team’s center.
But playing Green at the five creates vastly different spacing for the Warriors, which is beneficial especially for Jonathan Kuminga. Historically, Golden State has used Green at center in big spots, including closing games, blitzing teams with speed, athleticism and Green’s generational defensive acumen. They’ve deployed the look for more than half of Green’s minutes this year.
The Warriors have started Green next to Jackson-Davis almost every game this season; the exception is their most recent contest, against the smaller Thunder, in which Green started with Kuminga playing power forward next to him. The balance, on paper, comes down to how important it is to optimize Kuminga’s downhill ability versus how many miles they can afford to put on Green.
“I’ve never been a guy who won’t do what a team needs,” Green said after the Thunder loss. “I pride myself in being whoever the team needs me to be.”
The Suns, Golden State’s opponent on Saturday, coincidentally have a similar issue. Because Jusuf Nurkic’s viability fluctuates based on certain matchups, Phoenix has played Kevin Durant — notably not a center — 10% of his minutes at the five. That won’t be an issue on Saturday, with Nurkic (quad) ruled out.
But the Warriors’ conundrum appears more urgent given how central it is to their identity.
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Green has played 53% of his minutes at center, per Cleaning The Glass. As the eye test would suggest, Golden State has been better in those situations, but only slightly. They’re +10 per 100 possessions with Green at the four compared to …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
