The Steve Kerr specialty is playing deep Golden State Warriors rotations all season long. It has its positives (Stephen Curry averaging barely over 34 minutes a game for his career) and its negatives (Anderson Varajao and Festus Ezeli getting key minutes in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals).
That being said, for the rest of this season, Kerr is going to need to shorten his rotations. The Warriors depth chart is not as deep as it was following the Jimmy Butler trade, and Kerr is going to have to bench some players in order to increase the Warriors chances at a playoff berth. Here is who needs to be benched.
These players could be impacted by a shortened Warrior rotation
With the Warriors remaining 10th in the Western Conference and therefore needing to enter almost every game as a must-win, let's look at players who should be benched over the remainder of the season:
Bench Buddy Hield
The first player that Kerr is going to have to bench is Buddy Hield who has simply been hot and cold all season long. Hield is averaging 23.6 minutes a game, shooting 40.7% from the field and 36.3% from three. All in all that isn’t terrible, but the issue is that Hield is an absolute zero on the defensive end. If the Warriors want to go on a run to finish out the season and get solid playoff positioning, they need to start it on the defensive side.
Moses Moody is a perfect candidate to take some of Buddy’s minutes. Moody is only averaging 19.4 minutes a game, but is shooting 43.3% from the field and 37.5% from three. Although he is still showing that he needs development on the defensive side, he is far superior to Hield on that end of the floor.
Moody has also shown that he is improving as an off-the-dribble playmaker and finisher, meaning Kerr needs to give the fourth-year wing more run and as opposed to maintaining faith in Hield.
No more feel-good stories
Pat Spencer, Gui Santos and Trayce Jackson-Davis have all had solid moments this season. Their stories alone make rooting for them to succeed so easy. However, their time getting rotation minutes should come to an end. Spencer and Jackson-Davis are just not bringing enough to the table offensively, and Santos still feels very raw. None of them bring are bringing enough on the defensive end either, suggesting their minutes should be limited moving forward.
Gary Payton II has lost a step
This one hurts. GPII was an essential cog in the Warriors rotation during their 2022 championship run, with his on-ball defense key in guarding players like Ja Morant and Luka Doncic on their way through the Western Conference playoffs. The reality is that now he just doesn’t have the same juice on that end of the floor.
A perfect example was when Kyrie Irving torched the Warriors for 42 points before the All-Star break. Payton just can’t seem to lock up the elite scoring guards the same way he could a few years ago, while shooting 23.6% from 3-point range doesn’t help his case either. It may be time to move on from the fan favorite.
An ideal playoff push rotation
You may be thinking, if all of those players are benched, who is going to play? The Warriors need to finish this season with a tight eight or nine-man rotation. Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Kevon Looney, Brandin Podziemski and Moody should be the core moving forward.
They can all hold their own on defense and will have enough offensive firepower to match most teams. Quinten Post, Hield, Santos and Payton should only play spot minutes as needed, which while may sound extreme, is the kind of bold move necessary to the Warriors getting out of the 10th seed and securing a playoff spot.