Early on, Oubre and Warriors struggling to find some balance
Earning respect as a 3-point shooting team can be a painful process and, for the Warriors, nobody embodies that pain more than Kelly Oubre Jr.
Oubre has missed all 11 shots he has taken behind the arc, and that’s not the worst of it.
“Kelly’s going to be fine,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after Oubre went 0 for 5 from deep and one for 10 overall in the Christmas Day loss to Milwaukee.
Today: Warriors at Bulls, 5 p.m., NBCBA
Oubre, a career 32.6% 3-point shooter, will make one eventually, possibly tonight when the Warriors (0-2) play at Chicago. Of greater concern to the Warriors is the shots the Oubre isn’t taking.
Kerr wants the Warriors to take more 3-pointers this season and space the floor, but he needs them to do so while striking a balance with scoring efficiently. Or, as Kerr says, going from “good to great” shots.
In the first two games, Oubre struggled to find that balance. Neither Milwaukee nor New Jersey respected his outside jumper. Oubre, 25, has been in the league five years. The scouting report on defending him is to go under screens and let him shoot.
When a defender goes under a screen, Oubre needs to drive to the basket. On one occasion Friday, Bucks forward Khris Middleton went under a James Wiseman screen, creating a 1- on-1 for Oubre against Milwaukee center Brook Lopez. Oubre, a springy wing, could have taken Lopez off
the dribble and gotten into the paint. Instead, he dribbled into a 3-pointer that clanged off the back of the rim.
Another time, a screen left Oubre matched up with another Milwaukee big man, Bobby Portis. Portis back-pedaled to the rim. Instead of driving against a scrambling defense, Oubre took two dribbles, allowing Middleton to recover, and shot a contested 3-pointer.
It’s not about taking 3-pointers. It’s about creating makeable 3-point attempts, especially for a team low on above-average shooters. Oubre needs to learn to pass up those “good” shots for “great” ones.
As a team, the Warriors have actually been OK at that. They currently rank fourth in the NBA in wideopen 3-point attempts, according to NBA . com’s tracking data. But they are converting on only 26.7% of those wide- open looks. Eventually, the law of averages will take over and that figure should float higher by the end of the season.
“We’re getting decent looks,” Steph Curry said af
ter the Milwaukee game. “I think we’re used to some of those possessions where, in years past where you get a drive, and a kick, and swing, swing, and somebody’s getting a wide- open look. Everybody is celebrating, feeling good. We’re missing those possessions.”
Saturday, Kerr said: “We’re not a classic 3-point shooting team, but we have guys who are capable of shooting. The biggest thing is to get rhythm shots. Watching the tape from last night … a lot of the ones we took, frankly, were too early in the shot clock, and difficult shots.
“So, what I’m interested in most is continuing to explore offensively and not pulling up and shooting with 15, 18 seconds on the shot clock, whether it’s a three or a two. If it’s not a wide-open look, we have to search for great shots and we’re not doing that right now.”
Doing this will have a trickle- down affect not just Oubre, but on the entire roster.
Because so many of Curry’s shots have been contested off the dribble, he has made only 20% of his 3-pointers this season. Andrew Wiggins, whom the Warriors are relying on heavily, also is at 20% (2
for 10) from beyond the arc. Unlike Oubre, Wiggins is getting good shots and not making them. Teams are daring Wiggins, a career 33% 3-point shooter, to shoot.
But Wiggins has created some value by running the second- unit offense. Oubre, whom the Warriors acquired from Phoenix three days after Klay Thompson was lost for the season, has yet to make his mark.
“I’m getting more and more acclimated every day with each and every practice, with each and every game,” Oubre said Saturday. “It’s like a rhythm and flow thing. So, we have to continue to just find that within each other.”
Getting Draymond Green back from a foot injury that sidelined him for the first two games will put another playmaker on the court and help organize the offense. But guys such as Oubre need to show patience and trust in the ball-movement ethos Kerr, Curry and Green have established over the last several seasons.
“The biggest thing for us is just really figuring out where guys like the ball, what spots they are in,” Green said, “and figuring out the things that we can keep and the things that we need to change. Because