4) Goal: Perfect the Little Things
If this were a LA Clippers website, I’d hesitate to begin a category with “The Little Things” because readers would surely click away to something more glamorous, but we’re Warriors fans. We’re a people who applaud defensive rotations and don’t need giant video screens to tell us when to cheer. So let’s jump into what every high school basketball coach writes on the whiteboard during the pregame: The Little Things!
- Get Harrison Barnes and Andre Iguodala more corner three-pointers. Barnes shoots an absurd 71.4% from the right corner and 40% from the left corner. Iguodala -the definition of a streaky shooter- hits on 39.3% of his left corner threes. The all-time ridiculousness of the Splash Brothers’ shooting seems to quiet the fact that outside of Steph & Klay, the Warriors have a SSD (Severe Shooting Deficiency). Increasing Barnes’ and Iguodala’s attempts from the corner three should help mitigate that problem.
- Replace Shaun Livingston Post-Ups with Shaun Livingston Pick & Rolls. Prepare yourself for some numbers. 21% of Livingston’s offensive possessions are spent as the ball handler in the Pick & Roll, while 23% are spent Posting-Up -that’s essentially an even-split. Here’s the discrepancy, Livingston shoots 11.7% higher on Pick & Rolls than he does on Post-Ups. Livingston’s Pick & Roll with MO (inconsistent of late) BUCKETS is one of the Warriors’ best weapons -employ it more.
- Box out on defense -now I’m really feeling like a high school coach. The Dubs have given up the 2nd most offensive Putbacks in the league. The Warriors’ defense is incredible in every sector except collecting the misses they force. Improving this could save the Warriors a valuable 4 to 6 points per game.