With the return of Draymond Green to the Warriors Monday night against the Washington Wizards, there will be a seismic shift in coach Steve Kerr’s rotations.
The Athletic’s Anthony Slater joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Monday to discuss how Draymond’s return will affect playing time for his teammates and more. You can listen to the full interview below:
Slater said he thinks Nemanja Bjelica will join Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damion Lee as bench players who don’t get much run.
“I think Draymond really bumps Bjelica out of the picture, as we’ll start to see tonight,” Slater said. “No JTA, no Damion Lee. Do you still feel like the roster stretches down to 13 guys that can help you in a playoff series? I’m not sure. It depends on what you think of Bjelica, JTA, Damion Lee. But I think the encouraging part for the Warriors is, if you start taking two steps back and thinking long term, the guys who matter now are the guys you’re going to have going forward.”
With the ascent of rookie wings Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody – along with injuries to Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr. – the Warriors have had to do a lot of shuffling this season. Over the past few weeks, the rotation has become younger with the infusion of rookie minutes.
“It’s really transformed later in the season with Iguodala – we haven’t seen him for so long,” Slater said. “Porter’s really struggled for a couple months, Bjelica. JTA, Damion Lee – they’ve pretty much disappeared from the picture. As that’s happening, the roster underneath the main guys has transformed for the young guys. They played an eight-man rotation the other night and Kuminga and Moody are two of the eight. …
“Going forward into next season, Moody can help a ton and deserves more minutes. Kuminga needs a big role next season. That’s your core going forward. It’s better for them long-term that it’s the young guys not the old guys.”
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Beyond Draymond, there’s one more piece to the whole puzzle: James Wiseman.
The Warriors are yet to issue an update on Wiseman following his productive two-game stint in the G League. As of Monday afternoon, the second-year 7-footer was still listed on the roster for the Santa Cruz Warriors after his 19-point, 14-board performance on Sunday. It doesn’t make much sense for the Warriors to bring back Wiseman Monday for a second game in two days. Slater also said he doesn’t think Wiseman will play with Santa Cruz in Tuesday’s contest at Ontario, noting that Wednesday’s Golden State matchup against the Boston Celtics in San Francisco could be a natural launching point.
“I doubt he’ll go to that,” Slater said. “Maybe if they think he needs more reps. The truth is, he’s gonna get a whole lot more minutes and opportunity if he’s playing with Santa Cruz. If they think they want to test him out on the second unit, Wednesday seems like a good opportunity.”
Slater also noted how Golden State has a three-day break between Wednesday’s game and their next contest Sunday against the San Antonio Spurs at home.
“Maybe that break will give him a chance to get him in a scrimmage with the main guys and really get him a couple of good practices,” Slater said. “If it’s not Wednesday, I’d be shocked if it’s not Sunday.”
