4. Shooting
Over the Warriors’ current run of dominance, their shooting has continually grown more top heavy, with the stars, Curry, Thompson, and Durant, shouldering more and more of the load.
In the past, the Warriors had shooters to complement their stars — Marreese Speights, David West, Leandro Barbosa, Harrison Barnes, Ian Clark, Nick Young. I know, not exactly names you think of when you recall the greatest shooters of the game, but all were capable of hitting shots at a respectable percentage in the mid-range or three-point line to space the floor, something that no Warrior was consistently able to do well off the bench last year.
That shooting depth has dried up. Quinn Cook shot a nice 40% from three last year but averaged just a tad over one make per game. Jerebko shot a decent 37%, but with less than a make per game. Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala, who have been sporadic three-point shooters their whole careers, had very poor seasons shooting 29% and 33% respectively from beyond the arc. DeMarcus Cousins, who shot 35%+ from three in his previous four seasons, shot a dismal 27% in his return from the Achilles injury.
Now, with Durant and Thompson both going to miss most or all of next season (not to mention that as I write this article neither are contracted to play for the Warriors next season), the Warriors find themselves in a dire situation in need of shooters.
Ironically, the Warriors are now falling victim to the new 3-point frenzy NBA era that they pioneered. Shooters that can space the floor used to be a ‘nice-to-have’. They are now a ‘must-have’ for every top tier team.
If the Warriors don’t find some shooting depth through free agency, the draft, or internal development, the ‘Box and 1’ that Toronto unleashed in the Finals against Steph Curry might become a more enticing strategy for opponents to stop Curry at all costs.
Understanding their shooting void, the Warriors prioritized this in the draft by taking Michigan’s shooting guard Jordan Poole with their first-round selection and Villanova’s forward Eric Paschall in the second round.
Poole looks to have the talent to be molded into an NBA shooter that can spot up or create shots, based on the limited highlight reels that I’ve seen. However, the pick is an interesting one, since “some had Poole going undrafted”, while “others tagged him as a mid-to-late second rounder,” according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
Maybe the Warriors know something we don’t. I surely hope so.
Paschall, not the prolific shooter that we hope Poole turns out to be, seems to be able to knock down his open shots, hitting his threes at a 35% clip in college last year. He also launched nearly six attempts per game from beyond the arc, which shows that he isn’t afraid to let it fly.
In addition to the potential new help through the draft, the Warriors will surely be looking at shooters in free agency as well as hoping for improved performances from role players such as Cook and McKinnie.