The Golden State Warriors have showed some encouraging signs over the past two games.
Not only has Yaxel Lendeborg emerged as a true second option alongside Stephen Curry, but the offense as a whole has looked more viable, posting 134 points against the Denver Nuggets and 119 points against a solid Minnesota Timberwolves defense. More importantly, Curry only needed to take eight shots in the former matchup—although he, of course, made all eight of them.
The Golden State Warriors are now sixth in offensive rating through the first five games of this season. If they're able to hold even in the top-10 over the remainder of the campaign, that's a highly encouraging sign for their ability to advance through the Play-In Tournament and make some noise in the postseason.
Their defense has also looked improved, especially in terms of their rotations and ability to protect the paint with Draymond Green at center, over the past two games. But through their first five outings, they're still 27th in total defensive rating, and that only increases to 25th when you isolate to the team's bench minutes.
With Kristaps Porzingis' future in serious question, it seems as though the Warriors have settled into a small-ball lineup with Green at center as their best look on both ends of the court. Barring a trade for true starting big, then, the best way they can improve their defense at this point is simply acquiring a viable center to take over a chunk of Horford's minutes off the bench.
That, at the very least, would give Golden State some much needed rotational flexibility when it comes to its defense.
Al Horford is no longer a viable defender—and the Warriors need to find a solution this season
It's gone relatively under the radar with the myriad problems the Warriors have across this roster, but the two-year, $14 million deal the Warriors granted Al Horford this offseason (with a player option to boot) already seems to be backfiring somewhat.
Horford can still play his game, hitting 3-pointers when the opportunity presents itself and providing a veteran presence off the bench, but his viability as a true big man is quickly diminishing. He's averaging just 4.5 points on 3.5 field goal attempts through four games. His minutes were always going to need to be managed, though, and that level of production seems like a reasonable expectation for him in the early parts of this campaign.
More concerningly, he hasn't been a true solution for Golden State defensively in his minutes off the bench. The advanced metrics look good so far—the Warriors have a defensive rating of 107.9 in his limited minutes—but Golden State is still 22nd in the league in average points in the paint during the team's bench rotations.
Neither Charles Bassey nor Graham Ike seem to be real options at this juncture either, at least not according to Steve Kerr's minutes distribution. Bassey's largest workload so far this season was 12 minutes in the game against the Phoenix Suns—and that was when almost all of the Warriors' veterans were resting. Ike, for his part, started the game against the Memphis Grizzlies, but Golden State largely abandoned that look by the fourth quarter as Memphis clawed back into the game.
Assuming the team can find some sort of consistent defensive approach in their starting lineup under the guidance of Frank Vogel, the most Golden State could ask for at this juncture is simply another option to deploy when the situation calls for it. Using Porzingis' contract to acquire a piece like, say, Yves Missi would answer that question immediately—although the New Orleans Pelicans don't seem to be willing to move off their young center just yet.
But if the offense can stay at this level of viability, especially until the returns of Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody, all that's left for Golden State to complete this team in its current form is a deeper and more consistent defensive approach. Adding a rotational center, even if it means curtailing Horford's minutes, is likely the step that needs to be taken.
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