McCaw stole the show in ugly opener
Coach Kerr impressed with second-round guard’s smarts, skill
Patrick McCaw wasn’t the first Warrior guard off the bench. That was Shaun Livingston. He wasn’t the second. That was Ian Clark.
Steve Kerr went with a semiregular rotation in the first half of the Warriors first preseason game Saturday night. The starters played a ton. The main reserves rotated through. That meant, for now, only a brief second quarter cameo for McCaw, who sits on the fringe of the rotation.
But the second half was different. The starters all sat. McCaw got an extended look. And in it, the second-rounder was the brightest spot in an otherwise ugly opener, continuing his strong push for an immediate role.
For the past week, Warrior veterans have continually lauded McCaw. A few have directly mentioned his natural “feel” for the game. That’s a broad term, tough to define when the doors of the facility are closed during practice. But in his NBA unveiling, it shone most through his passing.
Take one mid-third quarter stretch for example. From the 8:05 to 6:41 mark — an 84-second burst — McCaw assisted on all three Warrior possessions.
The first came out of the pick-and-roll with David West,.
After taking a top of the key handoff and ball screen from West, McCaw sucked his man, DeMarre Carroll, and West’s man, Jonas Valaciunas, into the lane with a slow, probing left-handed dribble. As the two defenders surrounded him, hands up, McCaw deftly slid a low bounce pass between them, nailing a cutting West in stride for an easy layup.
On the next possession, McCaw and West ran a similar action toward the baseline. But this time, West popped wide open for a 16-footer. McCaw immediately recognized it and fed him. West missed, but the Warriors got the rebound.
It got kicked back out to McCaw, who sensed an open Ian Clark on the opposite wing. Before the ball hit his hands, McCaw was already in motion on the cross-court laser, which nailed Clark in the chest. He hit the three.
The next time down, McCaw lost Carroll on a little give-and-go with James McAdoo. By the time he got the ball back, the breakdown had forced the rest of the Raptor starters to collapse on him in the lane. Kyle Lowry was slow on a rotation, leaving Livingston open on a backdoor cut. McCaw darted a perfect bounce pass, leading to an easy layup, the rookie’s third straight assist, done against the starting lineup of a team that won 56 games last season.
Later in the game, McCaw drove left, again showing rare offhand confidence from a rookie. He drew help and then hung in the air long enough for Kevon Looney to squirt free for an open layup. His fourth assist was a team-high.
“He’s smart, knows how to move the ball, sees angles, understands the geometry of the game,” Kerr said. “He’s just a guy who gets it.”
Defensively, McCaw’s frame both helps and hurts him. He’s 6-foot-7 and longlimbed, which he uses well in the passing lanes. But he’s a slender 185 pounds and easy to move around.
But McCaw can be a terror for careless ballhandlers. He kept the Warriors in the game on Saturday with four fourth quarter steals. The first he stripped from away from an unaware post-up.
The second he tipped away after spooking rookie center Jakob Poeltl into an errant pass.
The third he searched out in transition, like a free safety, intercepting it and turning it into a layup on the other end. The fourth he completely ripped from Bruno Caboclo’s hands, capping off a late 10-0 run.
McCaw also hit a3, a cutting layup off an inbound and a nifty pull-up to finish with 11 points to go along with those four assists and five steals.
It’s early, incredibly early, in McCaw’s career. Growing pains await. But things couldn’t be trending better for the rookie.