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Morten’s Monday Morning Column: Welcome To The Elite, Golden State Warriors

By Morten S. Jensen

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(Editor’s Note: This article was written prior to Sunday night’s games. All stats reflect prior to that.) 

The Golden State Warriors have gotten off to a red-hot start, but are they really one of the elite teams in the NBA

Led by the best defense in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors are a perfect 5-0 on the year, but there’s more to them than just a hot streak to open up the season. There’s a sense of unexplored toughness to them this year, which breaks the inner image of how the ball club has played in recent years. The loosey-goosiness of years past now seems but a distant memory, replaced by a sudden sense of urgency to prove their superiority.

The loosey-goosiness of years past now seems but a distant memory, replaced by a sudden sense of urgency to prove their superiority.

These Golden State Warriors now have layers, most notably seen in the somewhat surprising fact that they’re holding teams to 39.9 percent shooting against them. Gone is the lackadaisical habit of hoping to just outscore their opponents instead of stopping them, thus building off a foundation created by Mark Jackson before his clashes with management finally became one too many.

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Jackson’s Golden State Warriors were ranked fourth last season defensively, thanks in large part to the health of Andrew Bogut, and the progression of Klay Thompson. This year, the group is even better, further assisted by the minute increase given to Draymond Green due to David Lee‘s hamstring issues.

Green is playing terrific perimeter defense, and he’s particularly good at contesting three-pointers. Opponents’ 3FG% drops by a ridiculous 21.4 percent when guarded by Green, settling in at 13.3 percent accuracy on three attempts a night. When Green defends a shot from anywhere greater than 15 feet away from the basket, that shot has a 17.4 percent less chance of going in.

Unfortunately, Green isn’t a strong rim defender, allowing over 62 percent shooting from opponents. Thankfully for the Golden State Warriors, this is where Bogut enters the picture. The former top overall pick is rock solid defensively from 10 feet and in, decreasing opponents’ shooting percentage by 11.1 percent, and decreasing it a terrific 12.3 percent when it’s six feet and less. Where Bogut struggles is past 15 feet where he allows opponents to shoot almost 6 percent better than their average, which ironically is the place where Green is thriving and why it makes the duo highly effective together.

Added to that defensive brew is Klay Thompson’s superb production. For whatever shot he defends, he allows 13.3 percent less makes than his opponents’ average. He’s currently the best defender on the team, especially considering how Andre Iguodala (allowing 4.8 percent more makes) is having a poor start to the year.

Even Stephen Curry is joining in on the action, allowing 9.6 percent less makes on all shots he defends.

Offensively, these Golden State Warriors are shooting 49.3 percent as a team (10 percent more than they allow) and have eight players averaging seven or more points, with Curry and Thompson combining for 51.4 a night. They’ve still just had David Lee for one game this year, after he came off an impressive 18 and nine line last season. A healthy Lee will likely bump up the offensive volume a notch, while his defense – or lack thereof – might bring the Dubs down a peg.

Overall however, these Golden State Warriors look different. Good different. Against their win over the Clippers this week, they appeared to be in full-blown revenge mode for their playoff series loss. There’s a level of confidence in these players not before seen and a swagger that, if present, was never brought to light under Jackson.

Kerr, having played under both Phil Jackson and Gregg Popovich, seems to bring the right blend of composure and mental strength, knowing when to push his guys, and when to let them take over by instinct. Andrew Bogut is a big fan of Kerr, telling USA Today’s Sam Amick that Kerr comes well prepared and has a keen sense for details in his practices. That should come as no surprise, seeing as Kerr in the later stages of his career was surrounded by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Tim Duncan, and David Robinson, all fully fledged superstars who worked tirelessly to perfect their craft and to whom no detail was too small. In many ways, Kerr got to understand that drive by the best in the game, just as he saw how the two best coaches in history joggled egos and got themselves personally involved with their players.

Finally, there’s a symbolic randomness to the fact that Kerr’s best player is a guy whose main on-court identifier is the same as his was. Curry, playing his now sixth season, is zeroing in on his 1,000th career three-pointer, a mark Kerr never reached, and doing it on a near 44 percent accuracy. Kerr made 726 at 45.4 percent and is widely known as the most efficient percentage shooter of all-time, so if there’s anyone who can relate to the pressures of being a marksman, it’s Kerr.

For now though, these Golden State Warriors are on a mission to show the league that they belong as a contender and will no longer will be an annual stepping stone in the post-season.

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