Coach Steve Kerr is trying to build a team identity in Golden State, but every time a winning personality appears to form, it collapses like a house of cards.
That’s because the team in inconsistent, according to Kerr. It showed in the Warriors’ lackluster performance in Phoenix on Thursday night, when they had their chance to notch their first three-game win streak of the season.
At least Golden State hasn’t lost three straight, either. But seriously, that’s not going to make anyone in the organization happy. Here’s what Kerr told 95.7 The Game in San Francisco about his team’s issues.
The team is making the same mistakes, over and over again, on both offense and defense. On defense, the main issue is over-fouling, which seemed to reach a peak in the Warriors’ loss to the Knicks. Kerr said after that game that his team had to stop reaching.
But it’s still happening. Take a look at the first play of the Suns game, courtesy of Anthony Slater. Guard Kelly Oubre Jr. reaches on guard Chris Paul and takes himself out of the play, leading to an easy bucket and setting a terrible tone for the evening.
Furthermore, defensive stalwart Draymond Green been his stout self, at least not consistently, which is the entire theme here. He’s averaging just 4.6 rebounds thus far, a career low. And he’s not blocking shots anywhere near his career rate, either.
And on offense, the team simply has to learn how to revolve around superstar Stephen Curry. Oubre has especially struggled with this, as has rookie center James Wiseman, but he’s a rookie and that’s to be expected.
Here’s Green explaining that Curry drives the offense (duh).
So how will this get fixed? It’s boring, but the only remedy is time and practice. Unless they decide to trade Oubre and his valuable expiring contract. But even then, the team needs work, simple as that. They are unfamiliar with each other, and Kerr is doing all he can to fix that via practice. At least the team is treading water in the process.
He said he’d need 20 games to figure out what his team has, and Golden State plays its 20th game on Saturday against the Pistons. So this figures to be an important game for Kerr and his staff — both with their identity, consistency and in the standings, as Golden State attempts to stay in the hunt amid the bunched-up standings in the Western Conference.
(Photo credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
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