Warriors frustrating rotation strategy is leaving them painfully vulnerable

With Kevon Looney seeing reduced minutes, the Warriors small-ball bench rotation is becoming painfully outmatched against opposing big men.

Golden State Warriors v Memphis Grizzlies
Golden State Warriors v Memphis Grizzlies | Justin Ford/GettyImages

After two solid wins against the Philadelphia 76ers (139-105) and the Memphis Grizzlies (121-113), the Golden State Warriors had a rotten outing against the Sacramento Kings, losing 129-99 and being thoroughly outpaced throughout the game.

While the Warriors were on the second night of a back-to-back, providing some explanation for their slow-footedness, the Kings, missing star guard De'Aaron Fox, dominated on both ends of the floor. The fast-paced, ball movement-led offense the Warriors employed against the 76ers and Grizzlies fell flat, with the Kings interrupting passing lanes and disrupting drives to the rim.

While the starters have struggled at times, the Warriors bench has so far been the second-highest scoring one in the league behind the Memphis Grizzlies. Yet, their ineffectiveness in recent games has exposed a vital flaw in the Warriors' structure.

Warriors small-ball strategy continues to frustrate

While the Warriors beat the Memphis Grizzlies handily, the outright score does not tell the whole story. This iteration of the Warriors offense, at its best, relies on dominant performances from Steph Curry and, now, Dennis Schröder. The dynamics of the Warriors backcourt, including off-ball cutting, screens, and the pick-and-roll game, are integral to a high-performing Warriors team.

Therefore, when the Warriors backcourt meshes well together, as they have done in two of the past three games, the Warriors offense clicks. Yet, the Warriors still struggle to capitalize during their bench minutes, led by Jonathan Kuminga and Buddy Hield.

Although this Warriors team has an unusual number of rotation-capable players, its true lack of depth has been exposed by the recent injuries to Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II.

While the Warriors' starters outplayed the Grizzlies, their bench, following the Kuminga injury, struggled to keep up. This was in part due to Steve Kerr's insistence upon a small-ball lineup in those minutes. In the game against the Grizzlies, not a single Warriors bench player posted a positive plus-minus, and the Warriors almost allowed the Grizzlies back into the game multiple times as a result.

A reduction in Kevon Looney's minutes have resulted in the Warriors relying on the likes of Kyle Anderson and Moses Moody to guard opposing teams' big men at times, while also forcing veteran forward Draymond Green to play significant minutes as a small-ball five. Both the Grizzlies and the Kings capitalized upon this by staggering Zach Edey's and Domantas Sabonis' returns to the floor accordingly.

Against the Grizzlies, this trend was augmented by the presence of Jay Huff in the non-Edey minutes. While neither big man posted dazzling scoring numbers for the game, their ability to effectively eliminate the paint as an option for the Warriors offense and dominate the rim on the other end simply neutralizes a large part of Golden State's scoring ability.

While Looney has only posted a 0.5 defensive box plus-minus this season, his mere presence and length in the paint could stabilize some of these issues. Yet, even in the starting lineup, Trayce Jackson-Davis does not provide enough physicality, being out-gunned by the likes of Joel Embiid, Sabonis and other big men in recent games.

What the Warriors need, truly, is a physical big man who can simultaneously space the floor and provide presence in the paint, moving Jackson-Davis to the bench where he would provide an anchor a the fast-moving, Kuminga-led offense.

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