Blue Man Hoop
Fansided

5 Takeaways from Warriors win over the Kings

By Carlos Murillo

Oct 6, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) stands in the hallway before the start of the game against the Sacramento Kings at the SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 6, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant (35) stands in the hallway before the start of the game against the Sacramento Kings at the SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
Golden State Warriors
Oct 6, 2016; San Jose, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) steals the ball from Golden State Warriors center Zaza Pachulia (27) in the second quarter at the SAP Center. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports /

Rim protection is a serious weakness

The Warriors didn’t have a lot of options after they signed Kevin Durant. They had to let a lot of players walk in free agency in order to make room. Then, they Bob Myers had to find a way to round out the roster with cheap players.

It’s a good problem to have because the NBA is driven by stars. And the NBA Finals showed Golden State that, ultimately, it doesn’t matter who has the deeper team–it’s about stars taking over in big moments. Still, it’s a challenging task.

Enter: Zaza Pachulia. The Warriors brought in the former Dallas Maverick to replace Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli at the center spot. Spoiler alert: he’s not those guys.

For the price, Pachulia is worth it. He’s a solid NBA center with good size that was extremely cheap. After losing every center and having no money to replace them, he was definitely the best they could do.

But he’s not a rim protector and, outside of the 6’5(?) Draymond Green, no one else on the team is either. DeMarcus Cousins exposed that. He did whatever he wanted at the rim. We wrote about that possibility here at BMH and some Twitter users (including our own Angelo Mendoza) roasted us. I don’t want to say “I told you so” but…*sips tea*.

The Warriors are going to need to find a way to address this. While Cousins is probably the best big man, they’re going to face a lot of players who are great around the rim, especially in a potential playoff series. The Thunder have a lot of big me and Westbrook who loves to attack the basket. The San Antonio Spurs have LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol together. The Cavaliers have LeBron James.

The Warriors don’t have many weaknesses. DeMarcus Cousins exposed their biggest one. They need to find a way to fix it.

Home/Warriors News