Luke Walton Details One Way The Warriors Can Go To The Next Level: Stephen Curry Setting Drag Screens

WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Golden State Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton said today after practice that the coaching staff has encouraged their guards, especially point guard Stephen Curry as well as shooting guard Klay Thompson, to change things up a bit and, for example, set screens for power forward Draymond Green if he happens to be dribbling the ball up the court.

Having Curry doing things that were not a “steady diet of ball-handling and coming off screens” happened a couple of times in last night’s record-breaking win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Warriors ran a pin-down screen for Green to come up like a wing and receive a dribble hand-off from Curry.

On another play with the “small-ball” lineup in which Green technically becomes the center, Curry himself set a pin-down screen for Green and Green “popped to the corner and hit a three”, per Walton.

Often times, Green will get a defensive rebound and push the ball up court by himself. An even more next-level type of execution would involve Curry recognizing that setting a drag screen for Green, as Green often does for Curry with their more familiar roles reversed.

“Is anyone going to want to guard Steph or leave Steph to help, for one?” Walton explained.

“Two, point guards aren’t used to defending pick-and-rolls from the picker spot,” said Walton. “If you mess up at all, Steph’s going to get an open shot or Draymond should be able to turn the corner for a layup.”

Here’s the interview from today’s practice. The question was asked by Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com:

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(Photo: AP/Ben Margot)