Breaking the Warriors Down By Play Type: Cuts

In this series, we’ll break the Warriors down on offense by play type, and look at how they will change next year. This time, we look at one of the most important components of a motion offense like Steve Kerr’s: Cuts.

In the modern NBA, where pace is often king and passing comes at a premium, motion offenses are all the rage. The read and react game plan preached by Steve Kerr for the Golden State Warriors mixes a lot of every type of play, but one massive component in a system like his is cuts.

Cuts are a type of off-ball movement based on fakes and bursts away from the defender. This does not always mean breaking towards the hoop, as the Warriors often show.

The idea is to position yourself close to your man, move away from your shooting spot, and to suddenly break, or “cut” to an area where you will receive a pass for a quick shot in space. This can mean layups, floaters, dunks, or jump shots. Good cutting teams rely on ball movement and spacing, often with the passer near the top of the key or the wing to provide the highest number of angles for the inlet.

Since this play type is a bit less straightforward than our previous ones, isolation and post-ups, we’ll take a look at the Warriors’ favorite types of cuts before jumping into the numbers. Let’s get started.

Next: Defining and Visualizing Cuts