Space and shoot.
The Steve Kerr and Steph Curry-led Warriors have been known for launching 3-pointers but they could be splashing at an all-time rate in 2021-22.
General manager Bob Myers has reshaped the team’s roster by adding veteran shooters like Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica, while shooting guard Jordan Poole looks ready for a bigger role. Not to mention that Klay Thompson guy is expected to return to full-speed practice by mid-November and looks on pace for a January return.
“I think adding the shooting in the frontcourt with Belly [Bjelica] and Otto can really change the chessboard for us,” coach Steve Kerr told reporters Monday.
Without players like Kelly Oubre Jr., Kent Bazemore, Eric Paschall and Brad Wanamaker, the Warriors have looked much more fluid in the preseason, leading the league with 29.8 assists per game.
The Dubs are in Los Angeles to face the Lakers for Tuesday night’s season opener, which tips off at 7 p.m. on 95.7 The Game with 6:30 pre-game coverage with Tim Roye and Jim Barnett.
Here’s a player-by-player breakdown of the Warriors heading into 2021-22:
Stephen Curry, guard
Year 13.
Steph signed a four-year, $215 million extension in August that will keep him in a Warriors uniform until the 2025-26 season, meaning he’s primed to spend his entire career by The Bay.
If the preseason has been any indication, Curry is still in his prime, if not still ascending to new heights. In Friday’s preseason finale against the Portland Trail Blazers, Curry dropped 41 points in 30 minutes, going 7-of-14 from 3-point range. He has always had the shooting touch, but it’s his ridiculous range and ever-evolving wizardry around the hoop that still makes him arguably the game’s most entertaining player.
The Dubs legend is 142 3-pointers away from breaking Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record, which is expected to happen in December. With the Warriors’ new personnel and Jordan Poole’s promotion to the starting lineup as a fellow playmaker, Curry could make a run at breaking his 2015-16 record of 402 3-pointers made in a season.
Steph led the NBA in scoring with a career-best 32 points per game last year and looks to be in the same zone.
Draymond Green, forward
Most expect Golden State will regress from last year’s fifth-place showing in defensive rating (109.4) after losing Kelly Oubre Jr..and Kent Bazemore. As much as Steph Curry is the engine of the offense, Draymond Green is the engine of the defense. He might be 6-foot-6, but Green will take on the grueling and familiar assignment of guarding opposing team’s big men on a nightly basis while directing defensive traffic.
Offensively, Green has regressed from his modest scoring outputs of the early stages of his career while becoming one of the league’s best facilitators. Green often handled the point and let Curry work his magic off the ball, allowing Draymond to average 8.9 assists per game, good for fifth in the NBA. By comparison, he only took six shots per game and averaged 7.0 points per game.
As Jim Barnett said, Draymond remains “the head of the snake” for the Warriors heading into this crucial year of the Warriors’ championship window.
Jordan Poole, guard
Dub Nation is excited for the rise of Jordan Poole.
He enters his third NBA season with a lot of hype, after scoring 21.8 points per game in 22.7 per contest during the team’s five exhibition games.
It’s hard to compare anyone to Steph Curry, but Poole plays with the same confident and fun energy as his backcourt mate. This preseason, Poole has also pulled up from extremely long range for deep 3-pointers and shown the ability to make some high-flying, creative finishes in the lane.
Maintaining attention on defense, especially when his man doesn’t have the ball, continues to be the biggest point of development for Poole, who said he’s embraced the challenge thrown his way by the coaching staff.
Poole was listed in the Warriors’ starting lineup listed ahead of Tuesday night’s season opener against the Lakers and he figures to play alongside Curry until Thompson returns. Poole may be forced to make a big midseason adjustment to a sixth man role.
Andrew Wiggins, forward
It seems like all that drama regarding Andrew Wiggins’ COVID-19 vaccination status is a thing of the past.
Coach Steve Kerr told reporters Tuesday that Wiggins will be on a minutes restriction as he ramps up his conditioning to begin the season. Wiggins, who is dealing with a minor knee issue that kept him out of an Oct. 9 preseason game against the Lakers, remains a key part to the Warriors’ defense with his length and versatility.
Despite Wiggins’ offensive struggles in the preseason, Kerr is still confident in Wiggins’ offensive production, recently saying that he could “fall out of bed” and still score 18 points in an NBA game on any given night.
Eventually, the plan is to have Wiggins and Klay Thompson on the wings with Steph Curry in the backcourt.
Kevon Looney, forward/center
Until second-year player James Wiseman returns from injury, Kevon Looney stands as the Warriors’ lone true big man on the roster.
Listed at 6-foot-9, Looney will start the year at center on the strength of his defensive ability. Looney doesn’t offer much athleticism or scoring, but the 25-year-old knows how to fit in the Warriors’ system heading into his seventh season with coach Steve Kerr.
Andre Iguodala, guard/forward
It just seems right that Andre Iguodala is back by The Bay, reunited with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Iguodala’s impact on the locker room has been lauded by his teammates and coaches, with Juan Toscano-Anderson recently calling him the “glue” of the Warriors locker room. Iguodala remains sage as ever and a respected fountain of knowledge for his teammates in basketball and other ventures, like financial investments.
Iguodala is not much of a scoring threat but showed some sneaky bounce during the preseason for a 37 year old. He’s still a solid defender, knows the game at a deep level and figures to be a valuable facilitator for the second unit.
Otto Porter Jr., forward
The Warriors are banking that Otto Porter Jr. can stay healthy as he has played in just 83 total games for the past three seasons due to various injuries. In 2020-21 with the Chicago Bulls and Orlando Magic, Porter was limited to 28 games with a nagging left foot injury, averaging 9.7 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting.
Golden State signed Porter, 28, to a one-year, $2.39 million deal. He figures to be a low-risk, high-reward signing who can provide some spacing for the offense off the bench. The 6-foot-8 Porter is comfortable putting the ball on the floor, but he’s a shooter with a 40.2 percent career 3-point clip.
Nemanja Bjelica, forward
Nemanja Bjelica -- or “Belly” as his new teammates call him -- also signed a one-year, veteran minimum deal with the Warriors this offseason. The 6-foot-10 forward has always featured a nice shooting stroke and he’s excited to play in coach Steve Kerr’s wide-open system.
Throughout the preseason, Bjelica also showed nice handles and passing ability for a man of his size. He’s not a bruiser, but he gives the Warriors some much-needed height on the second unit and a versatile scoring threat who can keep the pass-heavy offense flowing.
Damion Lee, guard/forward
Entering his fourth season with the Warriors, Damion Lee figures to get some rotation minutes on the wing, especially early when the team is ramping up conditioning.
Lee struggled from 3-point range in the preseason, shooting just 2-of-14. But he shot 50 percent from the field en route to 9.2 points per game in 15.6 minutes per contest. Rookie Jonathan Kuminga could eventually eat into his minutes down the road once recovering from his preseason right knee injury.
Juan Toscano-Anderson, forward
JTA remains the Bay’s favorite native son on the Dubs.
Deep East Oakland native Juan Toscano-Anderson has some job security for the first time in his NBA career. He might not average 20.9 minutes per game like he did in each of his first two seasons on the Warriors, but continues to carve out a role as a high-energy player off the bench who can get the team and crowd going.
Moses Moody, guard
The No. 14 overall pick looked confident in preseason after looking strong during the Summer League.
Moody is viewed as a “3 and D” type of player who adds to the Warriors’ arsenal of deep shooting threats. Listed at 6-foot-5, Moody’s best preseason game came against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 8, when he scored 10 points in 10 minutes while going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Gary Payton II, guard
GPII earned the 15th and final roster spot for the Warriors Tuesday when he signed a non-guaranteed contract.
Gary Payton II, who beat out Avery Bradley and Mychal Mulder to make the team, brings a tenacious on-ball defender to the fold for coach Steve Kerr. Payton also showed his high-flying abilities in the Summer League and during his brief 11-minute run against the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 12, when he scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Klay Thompson, guard
The beloved Splash Brother Klay Thompson is expected to resume full-speed practice by mid-November, meaning he could rejoin the Warriors in December or January.
Coach Steve Kerr hasn’t ruled out the possibility of sending Thompson to the G League to get some rehab run before he rejoins the Warriors. Klay has been spotted at the Warriors’ practice facility shooting 3-pointers and jumping a bit with his picture-perfect release.
I haven't seen video of Thompson cutting hard laterally or doing defensive drills, but that figures to be the biggest concern as he returns from two full seasons missed due to injury. The Twitter account @LetsGoWarriors shared encouraging videos of Thompson dunking and shooting before the Tuesday's Lakers opener, though.
Klay is going to be able to shoot, everyone knows that. But will he be able to create separation from his defender like he used to?
After dealing with an ACL tear in 2019 and an Achilles tendon rupture in 2020, Thompson is due for a massive ovation when he comes back to the squad. Coach Steve Kerr has already ensured Thompson’s season debut will be at home, meaning it should be a magical night at Chase Center.
James Wiseman, center
Second-year center James Wiseman underwent April surgery to repair a torn right meniscus but is expected to ramp up his workouts and will be re-evaluated again on Nov. 1.
Golden State is expected to ease Wiseman into the rotation if/when he returns after the 2021 No. 2 overall pick experienced a whirlwind rookie season. Beset by injuries and COVID-19 complications, Wiseman never really got into a flow. The 20-year-old also often found himself in the middle of the storm when it came to the Warriors’ media machine.
The 7-foot center is a raw, athletic talent with the ability to stretch the defense and protect the rim, but the Warriors will likely keep it simple with a lot of pick-and-roll sets when Wiseman returns in the coming weeks.
Wiseman is still a cornerstone of the team’s franchise plans and its center of the future, but he will probably have to make major strides before supplanting Kevon Looney in the starting rotation.
Jonathan Kuminga, guard/forward
The Warriors used the No. 7 overall pick on Jonathan Kuminga in July after he spent last season with the G League Ignite, a team comprised of top-notch NBA Draft-eligible players.
Kuminga impressed during Summer League and looked dominant at times, before suffering a right patella injury in his knee after landing awkwardly on Oct. 6 against the Denver Nuggets.
Kuminga is only 19 but has shown some major confidence during his brief time with the Warriors. He loves to attack the rim and looks like he could be an exciting wing player for years.
Two-way contract players
The Warriors have a pair of guards under two-way contracts for 2021-22 in Chris Chiozza and Jeff Dowtin.
While the 5-foot-11 Chiozza averaged four points and nearly 11 minutes per game with the Warriors in the preseason, the 6-foot-3 Dowtin was claimed off waivers from the Orlando Magic on Monday and had his contract converted to two-way status.
Win-loss prediction
When looking at the roster for the 2021-22 Warriors, I believe the team’s biggest concern is with its frontcourt depth.
Draymond Green is tough but even he can’t be expected to shoulder the load of an NBA defensive center on a nightly basis for another full season. Kevon Looney is pretty one-dimensional as a defender who can’t really score, and he’s not a big shot-blocking threat. James Wiseman is still going to be a major project in his second season.
Steve Kerr’s shoot-first philosophy will surely lead to wins in the regular season, especially against tired opponents. But I also think the team is heavily reliant on Steph Curry’s health. The team went 2-9 and looked completely lost without Curry in 2021-22, compared to 37-26 with him.
The offense will surely play an exciting brand of basketball and the Warriors could break the 2018-19 Houston Rockets record of 45.4 3-pointers attempted per game, but I think defensive regression will eat into that offensive growth a bit.
The NBA’s Western Conference looks to be wide open this year with Vegas pegging the Warriors’ over/under on wins at 48.5. To me, that total seems a bit high given all the moving parts with the Warriors this year.
There will be two major player reintegrations with the returns of Klay Thompson and Wiseman. Jordan Poole will likely have to make a big midseason adjustment. Not to mention injuries are inevitable and I don’t think the Warriors have much margin for error.
As such, my guess is the Warriors will go 43-39 this year and finish as a play-in tournament team for the second straight year. They’ll be fun to watch, for sure, but I expect a lot of bumps throughout the course of the season, and that they’ll have to earn their way into the playoffs following a two-year absence.
Prediction: 43-39
