WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Puff Daddy (at last check, now “P.Diddy“) coined the phrase “Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems”. That might be a good description of the banter from Golden State Warriors fans anytime the subject of defensive assignments for Klay Thompson is brought up.
The addition of Andre Iguodala and a healthy Andrew Bogut has resulted in a “defensive juggernaut” where, as head coach Mark Jackson put it yesterday after practice, “guys can guard the 1, 2, or 3”.
With Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant coming into town tonight, Jackson will once again put Thompson on the star point guard.
“We’re asking (Steph) to do a lot for us offensively,” Jackson said, “Steph Curry will start on (Thabo) Sefalosha and we’ll put a bigger body on Russell Westbrook and it’s not to hide (Steph), it’s to save him. There’s going to be moments, long moments where he’s going to be asked to guard Russell Westbrook, but it’s a strategic move that we’ve been doing since we got size at the 2-guard position in Klay. Last year, for a lot of the times, that’s exactly the way we went.”
Today after shootaround, I asked Steph if he ever had a desire to defend the opponent’s star guard. He answered:
Of course I do. But it’s all about game plan and using each guy’s strength to help us win games. Klay’s a great on-ball defender using his length against some of the point guards and I’m going to get my turn at them. I always have that competitiveness. I wanna guard the best guys on the floor especially when they get going, but it’s all about the game plan . I’ll get my turn throughout the course of the game and have to step up and make defensive plays.
Unfortunately, fans often point to Thompson’s burden as a reason for anytime he has offensive struggles. They clamored for Iguodala to guard Tony Parker:
@gswscribe Tell me Igoudala on Parker won't help Klay get going on offense and I'll stop pining for it.
— Trapped in Golden St (@TrappdnGoldenSt) November 9, 2013
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Jackson hasn’t dismissed the idea. Iguodala could guard the star point guard in lieu of Thompson “at times, but initially starting the ball games it will be Klay. It’s just the way we go but all of these guys, I believe I have big-time defenders at every position and I believe we have the luxury of having tremendous depth and tremendous versatility.”
Not that Curry’s defensive responsibilities are to be diminished, either. Part of the game plan involves making the non-stars of their opponents try to beat the Warriors, which the Warriors are honed in on stopping as well.
“Start with those two guys (Durant and Westbrook),” Curry said, “Stick to the game plan to guard them and not let the other guys that are capable, not let them have big nights throughout the course of the game.”
Stopping a force like Kevin Durant isn’t just about putting your best defender on him and telling him to do his best.
“Only the dumb coaches said, ‘Do your best’. At the end of the day you’ve got to put together a plan to try and get him uncomfortable and make sure that help is coming and everybody understands where that help is coming from,” Jackson said, “No matter how great a defender a guy is, in this league, great offense beats great defense everyday of the week.”
Defense is also not the entire game plan, either, of course. During last season’s playoffs against the Spurs, Parker was the target of offensive schemes. As Fred Silva wrote for Pounding The Rock:
Unfortunately, there is no one for Tony to guard in this series. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jarrett Jack are all too big for Tony to defend. We’ve seen it over and over already in this series. Mark Jackson is treating Tony like most coaches treat Matt Bonner. The ball goes to Tony’s man and that guy attacks him. If (Gregg Popovich) switches Tony’s assignment, the ball follows. Mark Jackson has Tony’s man run him through a myriad of screens, both legal and illegal, all game long.
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It does two things. First, the Warriors score with ease and their confidence grows as the game’s momentum swings. Second, it tires Tony Parker out. In these past two games, Tony looked winded and had dead legs in the fourth. He’s been so tired that there’s been transition opportunities for the Spurs that Tony never even attempted to join. Instead, he stayed on the other end of the floor, hunched over and sucking wind. I think Pop even sacrificed a few timeouts last night just to give Tony a chance to catch his breath. I’ve never seen Tony look so depleted during a game.
And one might conclude that with Curry guarding the opponent’s weakest offensive weapon, aside from the fact that it is a tad harder to find your man running back on defense if he wasn’t already guarding you on your offensive end, Jackson is simultaneously avoiding Curry suffering the same fate as what the Warriors tried to do to Parker.
When asked how does Curry feels about all this, Jackson replied, “He trusts his coach.”
As with the culture Jackson has laid down as a foundation, the team is out to establish consistency and a certain way of doing things. A system like this is what has made franchises like the Spurs successful. It leads to trust in leadership and confidence in executing towards the desired end result of winning.
So don’t expect this to be altered much in the near future.
“I’m sure he has his mind made up before I even approach him,” Curry said when asked if he would ever lobby to change it up and ask for the defensive assignment on a star point guard, “We have healthy conversations. I’ve been working on the defensive part of my game and trying to, like I said, just stick to the game plan.”
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