‘Less Inclined’: Warriors’ Steve Kerr Reveals Team’s New Strategy for the Upcoming Season

In 2019, the Golden State Warriors marginally missed out on completing their first-ever championship three-peat. And now, in a topsy-turvy situation, their fans head into 2021-22 fearing a third consecutive regular-season failure. But it looks like coach Steve Kerr has his analysis ready to not let any of it happen.

As a part of decision-making, the GSW franchise still remains to fill their one last guaranteed roster spot. And their current team comparison with last year’s unit suggests they lack a big man. So is it that they’ll go for a giant center or does coach Kerr’s assessment suggest something else?

Steve Kerr and his calculated moves

The NBA is mostly like the Chess moves and filling a roster spot is like the pawn promotion rule. So now, coach Kerr must decide whether he can count on James Wiseman and Kevon Looney as his centerpieces or not. Now, the catch is, James is still recovering from his knee surgery and will miss the practice. 

So the Warriors will either have to stay very optimistic about his recovery (and performance) or they’ll have to look for options. But the 55-YO coach does not see a point in adding more centers to the lineup.

In a recent interview, he added, “the league has changed quite a bit. I know if you look at our team historically over the last six, seven years, we’ve always carried a lot of centers. But think about the last part of last season, we played Draymond at five so much, we even played Juan at five. The league seems to be getting smaller and quicker every single year.”

May 16, 2021; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) celebrates with forward Draymond Green (23) against the Memphis Grizzlies during the fourth quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Well, Dray might not be as lethal a rebounder or defender as he was in 2016, but he certainly can come in handy at that position.

Read more – Warriors Finally Have a Timeline on When Klay Thompson Will Make His Return

What gives the coach high confidence in his Warriors?

For one, apart from Wiseman and Kevon, they have Draymond and Juan Toscano to count on. So they have four trustworthy options already. Plus, they’ve also sent out invitation to former #37 draft pick Jordan Bell for joining the camp. He could show his talent in just one game last season and if he impresses in the trials, coach Kerr can reconsider.

Steve Kerr explains why the Warriors are “less inclined” to carry a bunch of centers this season https://t.co/qimjS9dz7m pic.twitter.com/ffSnM5mA4f

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) September 26, 2021

As the champion coach added, “we’re less inclined to carry a bunch of centers like we used to. But really, if we had somebody in there who was playing well at that position and thought they could help us win, then we would keep that guy. It’s really still a matter of using training camp to figure out what makes the most sense for us.”

This confidence in carrying a smaller team can also be a result of their 14-5 run without Wiseman last season. In fact, they ended their 2020-21 regular season with an 8-1 record. Plus, they managed this with a small lineup and Curry as the obvious offensive cornerstone. So when Klay joins, they can keep rotating centers more freely and the four options would do well.

If you do not agree with the strategy, feel free to drop your opinion in the comments below.

Watch this story – Stephen Curry and Other NBA Stars Who Have Featured in Ellen DeGeneres’ Show

The post ‘Less Inclined’: Warriors’ Steve Kerr Reveals Team’s New Strategy for the Upcoming Season appeared first on EssentiallySports.