{"id":58420,"date":"2023-11-09T15:34:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T20:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=58420"},"modified":"2023-11-09T15:34:53","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T20:34:53","slug":"issue-golden-state-warriors-size-draymond-green-steve-kerr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/11\/09\/issue-golden-state-warriors-size-draymond-green-steve-kerr\/","title":{"rendered":"The Glaring Issue With the Golden State Warriors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Golden State Warriors have quickly jumped out to a 6-3 start. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/paulch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Chris Paul<\/strong><\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/10\/understanding-chris-pauls-role-golden-state\/\" target=\"_self\">seemingly fit in very well, and the team seems to be gelling nicely<\/a>. However, there\u2019s one problem with the roster that\u2019s highly apparent through their first nine games, and it\u2019s exactly what everyone expected. They\u2019re too small. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Glaring Issue with the Golden State Warriors<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">CLEAN UP <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/CLJqhrrsb0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/CLJqhrrsb0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nuggets\/status\/1722457189938237536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 9, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">Matchup Nightmares<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">As of today, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/saricda01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Dario Saric<\/strong><\/a> is the tallest player on the roster at 6-foot-10. In the past week, Golden State has found itself matched up with the likes of a Cavaliers team that boasts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mobleev01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Evan Mobley<\/strong><\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> <strong>Jarrett Allen<\/strong><\/a>, and the Nuggets with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jokicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Nikola Jokic<\/strong><\/a>. Allen is listed at 6-foot-9, but is highly athletic and a constant lob threat, while Mobley is the same, only at 6-11. Jokic, also 6-11, is widely regarded as the league\u2019s best player. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">While Warriors fans know and love Kevon Looney, he may have one of the most grind-it-out jobs in the NBA. Night in and night out, he stands at just 6-9 and goes up against guys like Jokic, Mobley, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Joel Embiid<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/adebaba01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Bam Adebayo<\/strong><\/a>, and eventually <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wembavi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Victor Wembanyama<\/strong><\/a>. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Looney and Saric are by no means freak athletes. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Draymond Green<\/strong><\/a> is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/06\/28\/evaluating-draymond-greens-100-million-value-free-agent\/\" target=\"_self\">one of the league\u2019s premier defenders<\/a>, but he\u2019s only 6-foot-6. With the way the league is shaped now, the small ball may not work as well, especially against teams with two bigs, or a big and an athletic forward. Teams like Denver, with Jokic and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gordoaa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Aaron Gordon<\/strong><\/a>; Cleveland, with Mobley and Allen; or the Lakers, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>LeBron James<\/strong> <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Anthony Davis<\/strong><\/a> will give the Warriors problems with their size.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">A New Era<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Sure, it\u2019s worked in the past. After <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogutan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Andrew Bogut<\/strong><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pachuza01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Zaza Pachulia<\/strong><\/a> was enough at the center position because of the greatness of the four starters. In 2022, Golden State overcame the size disparity against Boston due mostly to the greatness of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Stephen Curry<\/strong><\/a> and a phenomenal postseason from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wiggian01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Andrew Wiggins<\/strong><\/a>. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Since then, the league has changed; players have evolved. Despite winning back-to-back MVPs during that time, Jokic has elevated his game to another level, becoming a champion and an efficiency master. Embiid has become an MVP. Wembanyama is seen as both the present and future of the NBA. All these guys and more have become the prototype for success as the game begins to revolve around ultra-skilled bigs. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-contrast=\"none\">Adjustments<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\"> to be Made<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">There\u2019s really not much the Warriors can do to address this issue outside of bringing in a new face. There was talk over the summer of them bringing in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/howardw01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Dwight Howard<\/strong><\/a>, but it quickly flamed out. It doesn\u2019t have to be somebody that plays every night, because Golden State obviously likes their system. But bringing in a big, physical center that can bring some energy and defensive effort to match up with the big stars of the league would be helpful. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The organization seems to be very high on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jackstr02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Trayce Jackson-Davis<\/strong><\/a>, who is only 6-foot-9, but very athletic. He showed flashes in the preseason of guarding elite bigs when matched up with Domantas Sabonis. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">While Golden State may be able to thrive when not consistently facing these matchups, eventually they will. The road to a title will force them to play the Nuggets, Lakers or another big-centric team at some point. Time will tell if they decide to add some size, or if they think they have everything necessary to win it all once again. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:160,&quot;335559740&quot;:259}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Golden State Warriors have quickly jumped out to a 6-3 start. Chris Paul has seemingly fit in very well, and the team seems to be gelling nicely. However, there\u2019s one problem with the roster that\u2019s highly apparent through their first nine games, and it\u2019s exactly what everyone expected. They\u2019re too small. \u00a0 The Glaring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4610,"featured_media":58430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25,1608,2,62],"tags":[48,528],"class_list":["post-58420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-warriors","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","tag-stephen-curry","tag-steve-kerr"],"modified_by":"Zach Kircher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}