Golden State Warriors: Willie Cauley-Stein return is critically important
The Golden State Warriors lost their season opener, and it was, in part, because their frontcourt just couldn’t keep up with the LA Clippers.
With their christening of the Chase Center ruined by the Clippers, the Golden State Warriors must now look to the future. That future, for now, is still one without starting center Willie Cauley-Stein, who should be re-evaluated in the coming days.
Cauley-Stein, the team’s only 7-footer, has missed all of training camp, the preseason and now the start of the regular season with a left mid-foot strain. This has been pivotal for the Dubs frontcourt depth, significantly hurting their chances against the Clippers.
The Clippers were absolutely pounding the paint on Golden State. While one may look and see just three offensive rebounds on the box score, it was clear that Los Angeles was just too efficient to secure many offensive boards.
LA shot 50-for-80, 62.5%. Players like Montrezl Harrell and Ivan Zubac were absolute monsters and showed exactly just how bad the Golden State Warriors need Willie Cauley-Stein in the starting lineup.
Zubac scored 16 points on 4-for-5 shooting and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line, tagging on ten rebounds as well. As for Harrell, he put up 18 points and six rebounds on 8-for-9 shooting.
The two bigs just feasted on the helpless Warriors, and it was painful to watch.
They were playing Kevon Looney, Eric Paschall, and Omari Spellman, three players that all started their careers as power forwards. The Warriors, patiently awaiting the return of Cauley-Stein, could certainly use his defense in their frontcourt.
Coming into the league, Cauley-Stein was hailed as the next Samuel Dalembert. While his career hasn’t quite panned out like that, he still is among the better defensive centers in the league, and the Warriors are missing that presence.
It’s as simple as being able to cover more ground in the paint. The Dubs need all the added help they can get as they may start to get behind in the standing.