Moody a ‘victim of our depth’ in struggling to stay in rotation
Golden State Warriors guard Moses Moody finds himself in a curious situation: Despite playing well this season, he is out of the rotation for a sub-.500 team.
This speaks to head coach Steve Kerr’s rotational dilemma. These Warriors are deep, but their lack of an obvious hierarchy after Stephen Curry often makes it tough for Kerr to decide whom to leave out of the lineup.
“Moses right now is the victim of our depth as a team, as a roster,” Kerr said Monday. “I think we have 13 guys who could all be in the rotation. Cory Joseph, every time I’ve put him out there, has played really well. Obviously, he’s got two Hall of Fame point guards ahead of him. So it’s tough to play three guards.
“But when Cory is in the rotation, I feel great. When Moses is in the rotation, I feel great. When you go down the list, I feel confident that 13 guys could be in the rotation. You can only play nine or 10. That’s the reality. So we are trying to find different combinations.”
In 13 minutes off the bench in Thursday’s loss to Miami, Moody posted 11 points on 4for-8 shooting, two blocks, three rebounds and was a teamhigh plus-10. Two days later against Dallas, guard Gary Payton II returned from a strained right calf and forced Moody out of the rotation, his first DNP of the season.
It wasn’t so much that Kerr wanted to sit Moody. But Payton has cemented a spot in the regular rotation, and so have fellow guards Curry, Klay Thompson, Chris Paul and Brandin Podziemski.
Still, it’s understandable Moody would get frustrated with his ever-evolving role. On several occasions this season, he has impressed in extended minutes, only to get squeezed out of the rotation.
“One player like Gary coming in has a domino effect on the entire rotation,” Kerr said. “So now you’re mixing and matching. At different times this year, Moses has been out of the rotation. (Jonathan Kuminga) has been out of the rotation. Gary’s been out.
“Because we haven’t found consistency, we’re going to continue to experiment. Right now, Moses is out. But I know the way he carries himself, and he’s going to find his way back in.”
When that will happen remains unclear.
Asked whether he would stick with Saturday’s starting lineup of Curry, Paul, Thompson, Kuminga and Trayce Jackson-Davis on Tuesday against Orlando, Kerr said, “I’m not just throwing darts. Every night, it’s not like, ‘Hey, what do you think we should do? ’ We’re going to give this (starting lineup) a look.”