Warriors’ midseason awards: Why Casspi is biggest surprise
For a Golden State Warriors team chasing its third NBA title in four years, the regular season is a sixmonth prelude to the games that matter.
By that measure, Golden State head coach Steve Kerr reckons 2017-18 has been a success. The Warriors aren’t on pace to break their NBA record for regular-season wins, sure, but they’re well-positioned halfway through an 82-game grind to be at their best come June.
Missing Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green because of injuries at various points allowed role players to shoulder heavier loads and, ultimately, left Curry, Durant and Green refreshed for what should be another long season. After some early hiccups, Golden State is beginning to resemble the dominant group that Las Vegas tabbed in preseason as the biggest championship favorites in NBA history.
The Warriors have won five games in a row and 18 of their past 20. In addition to boasting the league’s highest-scoring offense, they rank third in defensive rating. Golden State is four games ahead of Houston for the top Western Conference seed, but it has yet to maximize its potential.
“I feel like we’re getting better,” Green said. “I like where we are. We’re not peaking by any means of the imagination, yet we don’t quite suck. I feel like we’re in a good spot. We have a lot of things to improve on, which is great. You don’t want to hit your ceiling too early.”
Here are our picks for Warriors’ standouts at midseason:
MVP: Klay Thompson
Seldom is Thompson tabbed as the MVP of a team that features a THE REIGNING CHAMPION Golden State Warriors haven’t only given Israeli forward Omri Casspi (with ball) a chance to prove his mettle; they have given him an opportunity to grow and change as a player in his ninth season in the NBA. two-time NBA MVP (Curry), a fourtime scoring champion (Durant) and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year (Green), but therein lies what makes Thompson so valuable: He is a consistent two-way force without infringing on his All-Star teammates’ touches or attracting much fanfare.
A catch-and-shoot maestro, Thompson is content to make shots, guard the opponent’s best perimeter scorer and hang with his beloved bulldog, Rocco. His scoring might be down slightly from last season, but Thompson is shooting career-best percentages from the field (48.3%), three-point range (45.3%) and foul line (88.5%).
Thompson is the only player in the league with a top-10 threepoint percentage who is averaging more than 20 points a game. In 30 of the Warriors’ 41 games, he has posted a plus-minus of at least plus1, helping pave the way for a 29-1 record in that span.
Perhaps most important: During a season in which Curry, Durant and Green have each missed extended time, Thompson is Golden State’s only player who has appeared in all 41 games.
Defensive MVP: Durant
Long known as one of the best scorers in league history, Durant isn’t on track for simply his first career All-Defensive-team selection. He is the front-runner for Defensive Player of the Year. His size and experience make him a vexing matchup for some of the league’s most skilled players. Thirty pounds heavier than he was as a rookie, Durant is strong enough to bang against centers in the post and agile enough to defend guards along the perimeter.
Durant is tied with New York’s Kristaps Porzingis with a league-high 75 blocks. When Green missed five of six games with a sore right shoulder, Durant anchored a defense that allowed a league-best 97.6 points per 100 possessions. In the Warriors’ Christmas Day win over Cleveland, he swatted five shots and held LeBron James to 7-for-18 shooting.
Biggest surprise: Omri Casspi
In July, after an injury-marred season in which he bounced among three teams, Casspi signed a oneyear, veteran-minimum deal with Golden State worth $2.1 million. These days, he is one of the better bargains in the league. Casspi is a middling athlete by NBA standards, but he is an ideal fit for Kerr’s movement-heavy system.
A master at cutting to the rim, he has been free to curl off screens, catch passes and convert layups. More than 85 percent of his shots this season have come from within 10 feet of the basket, and less than a quarter of them have required him to hold the ball for at least two seconds.
On 58.3 percent of his attempts, Casspi hasn’t needed to dribble. He is shooting 61.2 percent from the field, more than 16 points above his career average. When Green missed four consecutive games last month, Casspi averaged 13.5 points, nine rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26.8 minutes.
Team grade: A-
The Warriors are on pace for 66 wins, which would be their worst total in the Kerr era. However, Golden State owns the best record in the league and still looks like the championship favorite.
(San Francisco Chronicle/TNS)