The Golden State Warriors made a great move by picking up Alec Burks in the offseason.
It’s going to be an interesting year for the Golden State Warriors. The Dubs have spent half of a decade at the top of the NBA food chain, but now, they have to battle their way back to the top after a brutal loss in the NBA Finals. Their acquisition of Alec Burks will prove to be key later on in the year.
Last season, the Dubs had a thin roster. Outside of their star power at the top of the lineup, the bench was weak and the depth was absent. Aging veterans and inexperienced players made up the second unit for Golden State.
As a result, when injuries began to plague the team, everything fell apart. Key injuries to DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, Kevon Looney and Kevin Durant decimated this team. It got so bad that the Toronto Raptors were able to play a box-and-one defense against the Dubs to stop Stephen Curry.
Obviously, depth was at the top of the Dubs to-do-list this summer. Though they did lose Durant, Andre Iguodala, DeMarcus Cousins and Shaun Livingston, they also added Willie Cauley-Stein, Alec Burks and D’Angelo Russell.
Russell and WCS have a good chance of playing big minutes as starters, but Burks will likely be reserved to a bench role once Thompson returns from his ACL injury. Because of this, Burks is going to become crucial towards the end of the season and in the playoffs.
Burks is a crafty scorer with sneaky athleticism. In 34 games with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season, Burks averaged 11.6 points per game. This type of bench production is going to help the Dubs mightily when they need an extra boost in the playoffs.
The Dubs front office did a good job of adding scoring to their bench. Burks has the potential to become a very important player this year.