The Warriors, whose season has had its ups and downs, added even more uncertainty as Dream Chase Greena added another touch to his sordid black history. Recently, the league made an unprecedented verdict on Green - an indefinite ban, which made the three elders of the Warriors instantly missing a corner, and it also means that in the past, they continued to emphasize the defensive center of the Warriors and the return of the system center to the team. However, since Green's suspension, the Warriors have pulled out a wave of five wins and one defeat and returned to the ranks of contention. In the end, what impact does Dream Green's absence have on the Warriors?What are the hidden concerns?
Effect: Relief of offensive space
In 2022, the Warriors won the championship with a five-man combination of splash and Wiggins, Green and Looney, which also proved that this team with little star has first-class strength. But in last year's playoffs, the weaknesses of Looney and Green's poor shooting were targeted, often by shooting one of them to help defend the other players, resulting in the Warriors' offensive space being extremely crowded, and finally reduced to a dilemma that could only rely on Curry's hard solution.
This season, the problem has worsened rather than improved. With Looney and Green still targeted, the addition of Paul, who is also poor on the perimeter, and Klay and Wiggins, whose shooting form has dropped to freezing, makes the Warriors' offensive space look extremely ugly, and the starting group, which has been proud in the past, has an efficiency value of -8 per 100 possessions this season1, and the tragedy of "starting to win points, substitute losing points" at the beginning of last season has become an ironic status quo of "starting to lose points, substitute chasing points" this season.
While the problem of attacking space is not the responsibility of a single player, it is undeniable that when multiple players in the squad are unable to pose a threat from the outside, the offense on the field can be like a backwater. And this season's Green, although the three-point target, dreamed back to 2016 and reached a career high of 429%, but the lack of self-confidence is the object that the opponent is willing to put in after all.
The embarrassing thing is that Green's key positioning as a transmission response point is no longer irreplaceable after Paul joins, although the former is better in cover and size, but the latter's stability and offensive creativity are the top in the league's history, plus more stable fixed-point shooting, injecting a new style into the Warriors system, but also slightly diluting Green's irreplaceable important positioning in the past.
As a result, Green Gui is a veteran of the team's system and a key player in the system, but the strange thing is that after someone can replace his passing task and someone can do the covering work, the lack of this "shooting point" seems to make the Warriors' offensive space more comfortable. This is reflected in the team's offensive efficiency as it progressed from mid-to-late to 10th place (during Green's suspension).
Change: Kuminga's hope for a bit
After Green was suspended indefinitely, unlike the warm-up game where Wiggins played the No. 4 and Paul pulled the starter, this time Kerr sent the in-form Wiggins off the bench, took rookie Podemski and used Kuminga to the starting No. 4 position. As far as the results are concerned, the former still shows overage ball intelligence and adaptability, but what really makes fans see hope is nothing more than the potential stock that has been looking forward to three years - Kuminga finally shows a little bit of a first-class posture.
Since starting from the top, Kuminga has averaged 61 in six games1% hit rate and 42He shot 14 percent from three-point range at 9 percent5 points, 5 rebounds, 22 assists. The mediocre transcript on the books is far less than the contribution he actually brings. During the winning streak, Kuminga has had a lot of shots that were rarely seen in the past, such as grabbing a rebound and dribbling the ball forward, going all the way into the paint and finding a teammate to follow. Another example is to find a shooter on the perimeter of ambush after grinding into the penalty area through his body, not to mention the already excellent defense (the last six games outside diff is a terrible -91%), all of which are a perfect indication that he is indeed worthy of the starting position.
Admittedly, the current Kuminga still has a long way to go to provide Green's high-end cover quality and instantaneous decision-making ability, but he has the independent offense, speed and physical fitness that Green does not have. Perhaps Kuminga's success in replacing Green's vacancy is not rigorous and not quite correct, but Kuminga's success in the starting position is irrefutably correct in terms of his performance in the past six games.
It's worth mentioning that at the moment, it seems that Kuminga and Wiggins are in a competitive state, and the one who is in better shape and performs will get more playing time and attention. For example, Wiggins, who scored 25 points against the Trail Blazers on the 18th, played 29 minutes off the bench (Kuminga only had 18 minutes), and on the 20th, against the Celtics, Kuminga, who was omnipresent on both ends of the floor, played 33 minutes and played full overtime.
Next, who will be able to put in the favor with a better performance, or will Kerr be willing to put on this talented two-wing pair?It's worth staying tuned.
Concern: Irreplaceable defensive influence
Attentive readers may have discovered that the part mentioned above about the current Warriors replacing Green, whether it is Paul's passing skills, Kuminga's young blood, etc., is the play on the offensive end, but how to solve Green's impact on the defensive end?Frankly, this question can be difficult to answer.
You know, no matter how dirty Green is, he is a defensive ace who can go from No. 1 to No. 5, not to mention the top-level judgment that can seamlessly switch between single defense and co-defense, not to mention the Warriors, the players who can withstand this condition in the entire league can be counted with one pair of hands.
Compared to the perimeter defense, which has big locks such as Wiggins and Kuminga, Green's indefinite suspension will undoubtedly have the most profound impact on the penalty area defense. You must know that Green's assistance defense and concept are among the top among the best, and in addition, it is not a problem for him to defend himself to star centers such as Jokic and Davis at a specific moment. To put it bluntly, Green's presence can bring a lot of margin for error and flexibility to the Warriors' defense, and these are the skill sets that no one on the Warriors can provide at the moment.
Judging from the recent games, in addition to the slow Looney and the defensive Sharic, rookie Tress Jackson-Davis (hereinafter referred to as Davis) is one of the few hopes of the Warriors, and his judgment and mobility are perfectly suited to the needs of the system. However, in terms of size and height alone, Davis has to defend against Jokic and other playoff imaginary opponents after all, and because the offensive space is limited to the basket, he can't play the No. 4 with Looney, so if he targets a playoff-level center, Davis can still provide limited help.
At present, it seems that the Warriors will still need some time to find answers to the hidden concerns of interior defense, in addition to letting big men in the restricted area such as Looney, Sharich, Davis and even Garuba take turns to play wheel battles. (The last six teams are: Clippers, Nets, Trail Blazers, Celtics, Wizards, Trail Blazers, Green Army Porzingis has not played, so the Warriors have not met a powerful center with strong destructive power after missing Green, so how to face a star-level center is still lacking in actual combat observation).
Summary: The rebirth after destruction is not known whether it is good or bad
To be fair, the Warriors didn't start the season well, and after greatly improving their bench strength, the starting five except for Curry have been in poor form one after another. Fortunately, Kerr is not as stubborn as the outside world says, and the Suns changed their lineup for the first time to press the miserable Klay and Wiggins on the bench, which also shows that the Warriors are bound to make changes, and Green's indefinite suspension has undoubtedly become the last force to promote change.
In the six games since the suspension, the Warriors have enjoyed impressive performances from three young men, Kuminga, Podemski and Davis, while Klay, who has been nervous, has finally recovered his nerve with 529/50.0/100.0 shooting percentage averaged 25 per game7 points. Ideally, Kuminga will be able to grow into a starter or even a star forward, and Davis will seize the opportunity to become an indispensable blue-collar player for the Warriors to make the playoffs. However, it is undeniable that the recent five-game winning streak is not a playoff competitive team except for the Celtics, so it is impossible to conclude what the strength of this dreamless team is.
But at least after Green's suspension, the Warriors have taken the first step toward change, and it's an amazing and hopeful first step. As for the appearance and strength after the reorganization, it still needs more time and a test of the schedule.