Loss to Lakers casts concern on Warriors’ 3-point shooting
The Warriors’ preseason loss to the Lakers on Wednesday was bad. All sorts of bad.
It was the kind of performance that can create a pessimist out of even the most optimistic Warriors fan.
Thank goodness it didn’t count for anything.
One preseason game isn’t a viable reason to panic — especially when considering that the Warriors were without three presumed starters for the game.
Stephen Curry — who did not play Wednesday — will cover up a lot of the Warriors’ woes. Adding wings Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III — both were out with injuries Wednesday — should be helpful, too. And one would imagine that the Warriors won’t be so futile in defending the rim when their top two centers — Kevon Looney and Willie Cauley-Stein — are playing, as they did not do Wednesday.
But even with those absences, Wednesday’s 126-93 embarrassment — in conjunction with the Warriors’ other performances this preseason and this roster’s
history — is valid enough reason to be more concerned about Golden State and its postseason aspirations.
That’s because the Warriors have looked downright deficient in the two most important things in the modern game — shooting and perimeter defense — in the lead-in to Thursday’s opening night.
The Warriors’ lack of reliable shooting was glaring without Curry on the court Wednesday — Golden State shot 36.5% from the floor and 21.5% on a lowly 18 3-point attempts. An off-night? Sure. But D’Angelo Russell made 3- of-8 attempts — dead-on with his career averages — while the never-shy Jordan Poole went 2 for 9 on the night, as the rookie is going to go plenty of times this year.
As I wrote after Monday’s game, the Warriors are going to be subject to plenty of 3-point variance this year, because Poole could well be the player who takes at least the third most 3-point attempts per game, and he’s both a rookie and has a reputation of being streaky.
That point stands — the Warriors were always going to be behind the eight ball Wednesday because, for a second straight game, it wasn’t Poole’s night. That said, it can’t hold it against him.
The bigger problem is that outside of Russell and Poole, the rest of the Warriors shot 12% from beyond the arc. Yep, 2 for 16 for the rest of the squad.
Worse yet, I can’t tell you it’s going to get much better.
Now, of course, the greatest 3-point shooter of all time will aid the overall number and Burks has shot 35% from behind the arc on a decent volume in his career — those two can rip the net — but why would anyone expect Draymond Green (0 for 5 Wednesday) to turn into a passable 3-point shooter this year? It’s not 2016 anymore. Same goes for Alfonzo McKinnie (0 for 2), who might be trying to play his way off the roster with his performances this preseason. Unless he’s in the left corner, his 3-pointers are not effective shots. Is Damion Lee, who is on a two-way contract, supposed to provide serious shooting for this team? If so, he hasn’t made much of a case this preseason (25% shooting from beyond the arc). Or are the Warriors really relying on Looney to make 3s this season?
There will be nights where the 3-ball reigns for the Dubs — just like any other team. Perhaps they will get more than their fair share because of the superhuman Curry. But the team’s five-year run of leading the NBA in effective field-goal percentage — well, that’s almost assuredly over. This team could very well struggle to score the ball if either Curry or Russell has an off-night.
Some of that could have been presumed, of course.
But this looming possibility of offensive futility wouldn’t be such a concern if the Warriors defense looked at all competent this preseason. It hasn’t though. The lack of the Dubs’ top two big men make interior defense hard to evaluate, but there’s no reason to believe that this team’s perimeter defense — an area that I would argue is more important in his day and age — is going to make a significant leap forward once the team is at full health and the regular season starts.
Simply put, I don’t think there’s a single reliable defensive wing on this team, outside of Green, who is more of an inside guy anyway.
And given the team’s admitted defensive liabilities in the backcourt with Curry, Russell and Poole, that lack of wing defense could spell disaster for this team.
Robinson has the athleticism to be a solid defender, but he is yet to show the instincts in his NBA career. Perhaps the Warriors can hone those abilities — I’m not holding my breath.
Burks isn’t a stopper, either — in fact, he’s known as a one-way player and it’s not for his defensive prowess.
Meanwhile, McKinnie was a rag- doll against LeBron James on Wednesday — it seems he’s carried his 2019 playoff form into this year — and I’m not sure what Jacob Evans is quite yet. The Cincinnati product doesn’t look like a defensive ace, though. Maybe he can be a solid wing defender? Two years in, I have no idea. I don’t think the Warriors do, either.
And while I like Eric Paschall’s defense — on Wednesday, he provided more push-back on LeBron than the L.A. media the other day — he, like Green, is not at his best on the perimeter.
Of course, the jury is out on the Warriors’ team defense until we see Green go at full speed. He deserves that deference. And perhaps there are fiveman combinations with Green and either Looney or Cauley-Stein that can be effective in stopping other teams from scoring.
But the early returns have been uninspiring, to say the least, and history tells us that a breakout isn’t looming on that side of the ball for any of these wings.
Again, there’s no reason to truly panic — to totally freak out and sell all your Warriors stock — over a game that doesn’t count and didn’t include Curry.
But if you were still holding out the belief that the Warriors could continue to be one of the top teams in the NBA this season, this preseason hasn’t provided you much evidence to back that claim.
In fact, it’s done more to expose issues that I don’t think can be fixed in a week.
And that should be concerning.