3 Reasons Golden State Warriors have best bench in the NBA

The bench provides shooting

You either have it or you don’t. In the NBA, a lineup that can’t shoot the 3-pointer is a deal-breaker. The Golden State Warriors can thank themselves for that trend, but thankfully, they are no longer being hurt by their prior greatness.

The Warriors bench ranked seventh in 3-pointers made and 12th in 3-point percentage last season. This is not a horrible place to be but the vast majority of Golden State’s second-unit shooting came from just two players; Jordan Poole and Kent Bazemore.

This season? The Dubs have multiple options from deep. Nemanja Bjelica, Otto Porter Jr., Damion Lee, Juan Toscano-Anderson and even Gary Payton II have all contributed to spacing the floor.

For this reason, Golden State’s bench ranks third in 3-pointers made and second in 3-point percentage. They are also third in points, a stark improvement from 16th the year prior.

Lee deserves much of the praise here. He’s been electric from deep, drilling nearly 50 percent of his attempts. His progression has been a huge reason for the bench’s success. The same goes for Porter, Bjelica and Anderson who are all shooting above 38 percent on varying volumes. Most notably, the usually restricted shooter, Payton, has made 5-of-9 attempts.

Then, you have a future knockdown catch-and-shoot threat in Moses Moody quietly developing in his rookie season. Not to mention, a streaky deep-shooter in Jordan Poole, who will revert to a sixth-man role once Klay Thompson returns.

It is safe to say the Dubs have one of the best 3-point shooting benches in the league and it is only going to get stronger.