San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Warriors’ Chriss rises to the occasion
Exlottery pick scores 26, grabs 9 rebounds
Consider this for a moment:
A month ago, 29 NBA teams passed on Marquese Chriss after the Warriors waived him, and now, the bouncy 22yearold center might be a starter next season for a team contending in the Western Conference.
Chriss scored a teambest 26 points in 27 minutes, making 12 of 15 shots to go along with nine rebounds, against LeBron James, Anthony Davis, JaVale McGee, Dwight Howard and the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night at Chase Center — the highlight of a hardtobelieve season for the former lottery pick.
“That’s one of the reasons we’re excited to have him,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s a different look than (Kevon) Looney, and we’re going to need both of them at center next year. And, probably another center in free agency.
“I’m just excited that Marquese is going to be with us going forward.”
Thirteen months after Phoenix gave up on the 2016 No. 8 overall pick and Houston and Cleveland subsequently passed on Chriss’ services, he accepted a trainingcamp invitation from the Warriors on Sept. 30.
The 6foot9, 240pounder flashed such promise during camp that Draymond Green starting lobbying for Chriss to make the team. Even though that required the Warriors to waive Alfonzo McKinnie, they made the difficult decision to keep Chriss. McKinnie was immediately claimed by Cleveland, but when the Warriors had to cut Chriss on Jan. 7 to make room for Damion Lee, there were zero takers. Chriss agreed to come back to Golden State on a twoway deal Jan. 15.
In the 10 games between rejoining the Warriors and Saturday’s contest, Chriss averaged 10.1 points on 61.1% percent shooting, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots. That earned him a multiyear deal Friday.
The Warriors haven’t released the details of the contract, but it’s believed to be a minimum deal, with a team option for 202122. No matter the specifics, by Saturday, the transaction looked like absolute larceny.
Chriss scored the Warriors’ first six points and 10 of the first 12. He surpassed his season high of 17 points by halftime, when he had accumulated 20 points on 9of10 shooting.
“Steve said yesterday that he wanted to start playing faster, how they have the past four or five years that led to them being successful,” Chriss said. “I think that’s what we were doing. We were pushing the ball up the sideline and being aggressive. I was just running rim to rim, Ky (Bowman) throws lobs, and I go get them.”
During the past couple of days, Kerr has repeated how important the Warriors’ final 30 games will be for Andrew Wiggins and Bowman as the franchise tries to set the tone for next season. With his play, Chriss responded: “What about me?”
He’s doing everything the Warriors expected from their rotating list of centers during their dynastic run — and a little more.
He set screens, moved the ball from side to side and rim ran. What makes his potential so special is what he does once he beats an opposing center in a lengthofthecourt sprint.
Chriss caught and finished a series of lobs from Bowman, including one in the third quarter that had Chase Center buzzing despite an 18point deficit. Chriss took off from two steps inside the foul line, and, with his head well above the rim, caught the lob and hammered it home with both hands.
After the dunk, Chriss waved his hands in the air. Maybe he was saying hello to the NBA’s other 29 teams.
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@ sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron