In the 36 days since the Warriors were defeated in the offseason, their inner circle has done enough brainstorming and analysis to knock down the walls of the Chase Center. Very displeased with the 2023-24 NBA season, they have identified several areas to address, one of which looms over the others.
The Warriors must repair their defense. Unless they do, nothing else will matter.
Not the shots or the rebounds or the availability of Draymond Green.
Even as the NBA leans toward offense, it’s Golden State’s defense that needs reconstructive surgery, including new pieces, and coach Steve Kerr knows it.
“It’s not just about scheme and personnel,” Kerr told Keynote USA Sports Bay Area on Tuesday. “It’s also about how much better the rest of the league is. And how different things are with filming and pacing. It’s much, much harder to protect. There’s a reason offensive ratings have skyrocketed.
“But there is no doubt that we have to improve defensively. We were good at many things. We were. As expected, we were excellent when Draymond was healthy.”
Golden State posted a defensive rating of 113.5 in the 55 games in which Green was available. The rating skyrocketed to 121.1 in the 27 games in which he was suspended or injured.
To put it in context, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the best defensive team in the NBA, posted a defensive rating of 108.6; 113.5 would have placed the Warriors in 11th place. A rating of 121.1 over a full season would have placed them in last place.
“But we can’t just say, ‘Well, as long as Draymond is healthy we’ll be fine defensively,'” Kerr said. “We just have to be better. I have to do a better job. Our staff has to do a better job. We have to evaluate everything.”
General manager Mike Dunleavy and Kerr made it clear late in the season that improving the team’s point-of-attack defense was a priority. Klay Thompson no longer receives the assignment. Gary Payton II is capable but missed 38 games. Kerr experimented with Brandin Podziemski, but the rookie was pursued and exploited too often.
So the job often fell to Andrew Wiggins. He has done well in the past, but he rarely achieved it last season. His defensive rating of 116.3 was worse than such poor defenders as Buddy Hield (115.7) and Pat Connaughton (115.9).
To put it bluntly, Golden State’s point-of-attack defense is a personnel issue that needs to be addressed by the front office.
However, there is one adjustment made by Kerr that is being considered, well, a readjustment: the increased emphasis on offensive rebounding.
“This year we put a lot of emphasis on crashing the offensive boards, and that may have hurt our transition defense,” Kerr said. “We have to study that. We are a great offensive rebounding team, but our transition defense from last year to this year was much worse.
“We have to examine that. Maybe we have to change that, not necessarily our strategy, but maybe our execution. “Be more thoughtful about where we crash and how often.”
Kerr said he does not anticipate making significant changes within his staff, but acknowledged there could be an addition to replace the late Dejan Milojević. Several league sources, however, believe Kerr’s focus on defense could result in some reassignment within the staff.
Despite the presence of superstar Stephen Curry, Golden State’s destiny has always been set on both its defense and its offense. With the league’s trend toward a high-powered offense, that’s especially true.
The Boston Celtics, who posted the best record in the league, were the highest-rated offense, but also second, behind Minnesota, in defense. Three of the four conference finals participants played top-10 defenses over the final six weeks of the season. Only the Indiana Pacers are doing it on offense.
Golden State was relegated to seeing the NBA Playoffs after finishing with the ninth-ranked offense in the league, mainly because their defense was ranked 15th. They know that’s not playoff-worthy because they know the formula that has worked for them.
The Warriors followed that formula two years ago, when their second-ranked defense more than made up for their 16th-ranked offense. Their 4.9 net rating in the postseason was good enough to earn them their fourth NBA Finals victory.
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