Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has taken some heat for his decision to take rookie Will Richard out of the rotation for several games, especially after the rookie guard threw down a great performance in Saturday's victory against the Phoenix Suns.
Kerr was very transparent in his reasoning for putting Richard on the bench, saying that it was because he's a rookie and that he wanted to give some of the team's veteran players more of a chance.
Warriors must roll with Will Richard the rest of this season
It was a frustrating answer at the time and made all the more frustrating after Richard dropped 20 points in 19 minutes while making all four of his three-point attempts. The question becomes if Richard was in the rotation all along, could Golden State have won one or two of their three close losses to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, and the Suns.
To Richard's credit, he took the benching in stride and did not complain or make a fuss about it. Instead, he remained ready and when his number was called, stepped up in a huge way and was a massive reason why the Warriors got revenge in their second meeting in three days.
It's that maturity that shows why Richard has to remain in the rotation going forward. He doesn't have to start every single night necessarily, but he needs to get his minutes even if it comes at the expense of veteran players so long as he continually outperforms them.
Kerr has to keep on rewarding players for their play, not their experience. It would be one thing if the Warriors were playing really well and could afford to drop some games as they tried to work some returning veterans back into the fold, but this is a team that's struggling to get any sort of momentum going.
Kerr needs to keep riding the hot hand to see if the Warriors can get on a winning streak to improve their standing in the Western Conference. The Western Conference is going to be too tight to afford giving games away in the name of giving a shot to older players.
There may come a time when Buddy Hield is hot and Will Richard is not, but for now Golden State simply have no choice other than to go with whoever brings the goods. The Warriors have to take advantage of Stephen Curry's greatness while they still can, meaning Kerr can't afford to make the same rotation mistake with Richard again.