Through the first month of the season, the Warriors are atop the NBA standings and also team leaderboard for scoring (115.2 points per game) and defensive rating (98.9).
NBA insider Anthony Slater of The Athletic joined Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky on 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Thursday to share some insight on the Warriors’ dominant defense. Listen to the full interview below (16:55 mark):
“98.9 rating right now?” Slater said. “That’s Detroit Pistons, like Ben Wallace days-type defense in 2021. Now, league-wide ratings are down, which is good. There are reasons for it, but the product just looks better because it feels like defenses are fighting back a little bit this year. But the Warriors are prime among that. They’re seven or eight rating points below the Lakers, who were No. 1 last year.”
Slater said that associate head coach Mike Brown deserves recognition for getting the most out of the Warriors’ roster. When you think of players like Otto Porter Jr., Nemanja Bjelica and Jordan Poole, you might not think defense. But Brown is working to change that.
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“It’s being done with personnel that doesn’t scream absolutely elite,” Slater said. “Obviously, Draymond Green is a leading candidate for defensive player of the year, he’s come into the season super motivated and in shape. Beyond that, I think the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit.
“Mike Brown, behind the scenes, he’s challenging young players. He has some formula, where it’s made public, the defensive, every guy on the team has a personal rating for some metric system they have behind the scenes. Apparently it’s really motivating a lot of these guys.”
Slater also reported Thursday morning that Steph Curry (hip) is probably for Thursday night’s matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Andre Iguodala will rest the front end of the back-to-back. The Warriors will wrap up their four-game road trip with a matchup against the Detroit Pistons Friday.
