(Photo: Rocky Widner/Getty Images)
Quick, name the team who’s ranked 6th in defense, and 14th in offense? At first glance, you probably wouldn’t say the Golden State Warriors.
For years, the Warriors have been synonymous with offensive firepower and defensive shortcomings.
This year has seen a flip with an elite defense, especially when Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut play, but a league average offense.
All that said, something just doesn’t add up with this year being 14th in offense, 30 games into the season.
Four different players have scored over 30 points in a game this year, something no other team can claim.
The Warriors have six players capable of getting over 20 points in any game. There is too much offensive firepower for this to be the case.
So why the struggles?
Bench
The most obvious problem is a thin bench.
Harrison Barnes is a capable scorer, but he’s still not at a point where he can consistently finish the shots he has created for himself. He’s been often used in full bench lineups, which feature a lot of players who cannot create shots.
Toney Douglas is a good catch and shoot player, but not a point guard to create. Marreese Speights is a pick-and-pop big man, often played without a player who can run a pick and pop.
Draymond Green and Kent Bazemore are more defensive minded players who also cannot be counted on to create.
Players not suited for running pick-and-rolls or creating offense are forced to do so, and it has not been pretty.
The starters’ offensive rating is 115.8, which would rank above the #1 rated offense in the NBA, the Portland Trailblazers, who are at 113.8.
Meanwhile when the Warriors have no starters on the floor, the team’s offensive rating is 81.3, which is below the last-place team offensive, the Milwaukee Bucks, who have an offensive rating of 98.7.
Rotations
Head coach Mark Jackson has curiously used his bench for heavy stretches, which has resulted in a net negative all season.
It’s an unenviable position for any coach to be in, because he can’t just play his starters 48 minutes per game, but whenever he rests more than two starters at a time, the team falls apart offensively.
The Warriors are at their worst when Stephen Curry or Iguodala, the team’s two best shot creators, are not on the floor.
Curry currently has the league’s highest +/- differential when he’s on and off the court. The team is scoring 23.4 fewer points per 100 possessions when he is on the bench.
Incompatible Bigs
This team’s two best big men, Lee and Bogut, have been, for the most part, incompatible all season on offense.
Over the last ten games, Lee and Bogut have secured ten or more rebounds per game, making them the first duo to do so in over thirty years. They have combined for 29.8 points on 53.8% during that stretch.
However, this production is largely a function of more efficient play when the other is not on the floor. Together on the floor, the team’s offensive rating has been 104.3, which is lower than the overall team average of 105.2.
When Bogut is on the floor without Lee, the team has scored 109.8 points per 100 possessions, with a huge bump in Bogut’s individual efficiency.
When Lee is on the floor without Bogut, the team has scored 116.6 points per 100 possessions, with an even bigger personal spike in efficiency: Lee’s true shooting percentage jumped from 48.9% with Bogut, to 67.5% without.
The team has the offensive firepower to be a Top Ten offense. However, because of a myriad of factors, the Warriors have been under-performing on offense. In Part Two we’ll discuss potential fixes.
[Note: All stats per nbawowy.com and basketball-reference.com)
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