Golden State Warriors: Steve Kerr is a big fan of offseason additions

It’s been a terrific past few months for the Golden State Warriors. They’ve been neck-in-neck with the Phoenix Suns for the top spot in the Western Conference, a place not many expected them to be.

Defeating the Suns despite being short-handed showed both the Warriors’ depth and resilience, both aspects of the team that might not have been present in previous rosters.

The Golden State Warriors have got key contributions from several offseason additions, and Steve Kerr praised the front office for bringing the talent in.

That’s the type of “new man up” mentality that you get when veterans line your second unit. That seemed to be a theme of what general manager Bob Myers aimed for this past offseason. He went out and signed players like Otto Porter Jr., Andre Iguodala, and Nemanja Bjelica.

To say the last, Kerr has noticed how well the older players have performed through most of the season.

“Bench has been great. The older veteran guys who we signed and expected to play a lot for us have all performed really well. Otto, Belly, Gary Payton, they’ve all been really good. The young guys are developing,” Kerr said to reporters via NBC Sports’ Dalton Johnson.

Kerr is giving credit where credit is due. No one expected this team to excel because of how they perceived this roster competing against other high-level teams. However, they’ve taken down the Bulls and Nets in the East and the Lakers, Clippers and Suns (twice) in the West.

While much of their success can be put on the team’s consistent threats, Draymond Green and Stephen Curry, the play of Porter Jr., Bjelica, and Payton have been a key difference-maker in many games as well.

For example, Porter Jr. has scored double figures in 11 games, getting over 30 minutes in just one of those performances.

Players like the trio of veterans named above have been primed to accept whatever is allotted to them. Their attitude, talent, and readiness have all come up huge for the Warriors this season.

All three will likely continue to fade in and out of the rotation, but one thing can certainly already be said. That is, when these three get their number called in the postseason, they’ll undoubtedly be ready.