No reason to turn Curry into Harden

NEW ORLE A NS» Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr isn’t ready to turn Stephen Curry into James Harden.

Warriors fans have often speculated what the team’s offense would look like if Curry was put in a similar, high-usage position as the Houston Rockets guard, but Kerr doesn’t believe that’s the solution to fixing the seventh-worst offense in the league.

“I don’t know that it’s that simple,” Kerr said Monday before the Warriors (1-2) beat the New Orleans Pelicans 134-123. “We can turn him into James Harden and give him the ball on every play, but that’s really hard to do. You have to build a team for that.”

Harden, the 2017-18 MVP, is

engine, gas, ignition and driver of the Rockets offense. His usage ratings — how many possessions he uses in a given game — have hit historic levels.

Almost every Rockets possession follows a similar script: high pick-and-roll between Harden and a center with three other players positioned beyond the 3point line ready to shoot if Harden passes them the ball. The 30year-old Harden, at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, is unusually qualified to shoulder that load over the course of a season.

“That kind of basketball wears you out, too. Especially for a guy who’s 180 pounds like Steph is,” Kerr said. “I don’t think it makes a ton of sense from Steph’s standpoint.”

If having Curry run more pickand-roll and shoot 15 3-pointers per game isn’t the answer, then Kerr is still working to figure out how to fix an offense he called “disjointed.” Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters Sunday that the team’s newer, younger players are confused about their assignments on a play-to-play basis. Kerr echoed those statements Monday.

Curry and Green are used to an offense that facilitated improvisation and leaned on role players like wings Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston with more experience and high basketball IQs. Those players are no longer on the roster, while incumbents Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney have been sidelined for all or most of the season.

With nine players age 23 or younger, there’s a learning curve for Curry and Green, too.