Steve Kerr is busy coaching Team USA in the FIBA World Cup. When he comes back and returns to the sidelines for the Warriors, he’ll have an interesting lineup decision.
Golden State still has all of its usual starters — Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney — on the roster. It’s a group that won a championship two seasons ago.
The acquisition of Chris Paul now creates a dilemma. The future Hall of Fame point guard has appeared in 1,214 regular season games. He’s started all of them, even during his rookie campaign for New Orleans in 2005/06.
It’s safe to assume Curry and Green will remain in the lineup. Thompson has started every game since his second NBA season. Wiggins went through some personal issues last season but he’s started every game in his NBA career.
Looney would be the logical candidate to lose his starting job, though that would leave the Warriors with an awfully small lineup. Looney’s defense and rebounding are key components to the team’s success. If he comes off the bench, it may be difficult to have both Jonathan Kuminga and free agent Dario Saric in the rotation.
At this stage of his career, Paul might be willing to be a sixth man in order to get that elusive ring he’s been chasing. But it would still seemingly be an uncomfortable spot for a player of his stature.
That brings us to our topic of the day: Should Chris Paul start for the Warriors this upcoming season? If he’s in the lineup, which of the returning players should come off the bench?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Why not? He will be on the shelf by Halloween anyway.
Chris Paul to the Warriors is one of the worst fits imaginable. Only Westbrook to Lakers tops it recently. They have zero use for him and only acquired him to get out of that awful Poole deal. They just won’t buy him out because he’s a lock to sign with an LA team
Yup the move made no sense as well as the Wiseman deal. Oh well Dynasties dont last forever!
What was the problem with the Wiseman deal? He hasnt figured it out in DET. I hope he does eventually. I also dont think they could have gotten anyone better than GPII for Wiseman, his value had fallen a lot.
GPII would have been good for them last year if he was healthy, and will be good for them this year. I dont think Wiseman will be good before they would have had to extend him which they wouldnt do with his production.
They definitely needed another ball handler on the roster that isn’t a chucker. The only reasons Paul is a questionable fit is that he’s always been a starter and his salary.
And that he’s never been a fast-paced guy and most of his ball handling has come in the pick-and-roll, which GSW doesn’t run. Paul isn’t a terrible fit, but he’s not a good one either, at least on paper.
Eon, that’s essentially the reason why Chris Paul is a huge pickup for the warriors. They don’t run the pick and roll and they need a guy who can.
Now they have one so they have their regular offense which is superb, and now added another element. That’s huge. Maybe not huge but it adds more to the arsenal. Homer take yes but still legitimate.
Very much a homer take. Trying to introduce new elements to their offense last season is a big reason why they sucked on the road. Not the biggest, but definitely a factor. With CP3 as a leader of the second unit, maybe it’ll work. But I’m skeptical until I see it in practice. GSW has *never* had success with the pick-and-roll in their current run, specifically because the play type doesn’t fit with the motion offense.
They have played the pick and roll in the past when they had a big man to do it. Last few years there has been no real big man to set screens. Paul’s fit will be on Paul to not have a ego and goal is to win a championship. It will work if Paul has the patience to be second team.
And their efficiency on the pick-and-roll with Bogut or Zaza was always 30th to 40th percentile. They weren’t good at it, ever.
They’ve had success with the pick and roll in the past, especially during the playoffs when they really need a bucket. The Curry/Dray pick and roll is devastating. They just treat more as of a “in emergency break glass” type play.
It’s amazing to see some Dubs fans discounting CP3 without remembering how good Livingston was for the team when he was playing.
He is better than Poole at the role Poole filled. He should work well as the starting PG when Curry rests and the main PG when Curry is on the bench. That was Pooles role and CP is better at it than him since Poole isnt a distributer.
The other use for Paul is his contract would let you match for a bunch of interesting players they may take a run at before the deadline.
It’s easy, he’s coming off the bench.
He’s 38 years old now and well past his best. For him joining GSW was always going to be about sacrifices in order to win a championship.
He’s still going to get 25+ minutes a night on average, still average something like 12-6-2.
GSW doesn’t have to change a things king their starters which only won a championship 2 seasons ago. Off the bench CP3 will be the leader and run the show. He’s great at getting the best out of guys aswell as facilitating/running the offence effectively.
What doesn’t really make the most sense to me after that is him working with GP2 (a non shooter), while Moody and Podziemski won’t get much (if any) minutes. Kuminga will have a huge role as the back up combo forward and then Saric I guess plays a stretch 4/5 role.
What would make abit more sense to me would be having another big body rim running centre for depth. CP3 always plays his best with a screen setter and lob threat. GSW has always had a big man doing dirty work off the bench like ZaZa or McGee. Saric definitely isn’t doing that a Looney will be with the starters while also lacking height. Not to mention they seeming have a good amount of guards and lack forwards.
Bismarck Biyambo would make sense as would a Stanley Johnson. As of right now GSW only has 12 fully contracted players on ESPN’s trade machine. Meaning they could easily add these two for the minimum.
Curry Thompson Wiggins Green Looney
CP3 GP2 Johnson Kuminga Saric
Moody Podzi TJD Biyambo
I agree with most of what you said except GP2 is shooting .383 from deep since become a regular rotation player. I also Moody will get more run. This is his 3rd season and it’s kinda make or break for him. They’ll want to see what they’ve got to so they know whether to keep him or cut him loose in a mid season trade.
agreed with most of that. CP3 had a huge impact on Shai in their one year together. he could possibly make JK and the others look a lot better than they have so far. Dont count MMoody out, he could end up having a better career than JK in the ind.
GPII can be the slasher/dunker with Saric as the big with the second unit since Saric stretches the floor.
I think draymond will have to sacrifice the most. Similar to how Steph created less shots for himself when they got another elite shotmaker in KD, now CP3 will take a portion of play&pace-making responsibilities from dray who’s been leading in those categories slightly more than Steph. It’s funny how Klay’s one-dimensional mastermind has kept his role safe of change throughout the years. He just be shooting his butt off while Steph and dray adapt to the ever-changing 3rd guard that the warriors gotta put out there for 20 mins. HB, KD & Wigs are same same tbh strategically speaking
My guess is CP plays all the min Steph sits, and Drays min are aligned with Steph so they can work their 2 man game. Also does Dray even really care about stats? He just got paid and cares about defense!
They could employ the 7 second offense to start games with CP3, Curry, Klay, Wiggins, and Dray pushing early.
Kerr’s a great coach he’ll figure it out. CP3 will get plenty of starts when Thompson needs a night off to rest the achilles and when Curry gets his annual mid season “injury” break. The rest of the time he’ll be the first man off the bench. He’ll have to adapt as he’s an iso playmaker and they run the motion offense but he’s a basketball savant, he’ll be fine.
There is nothing logical about moving Looney out of the starting 5. He is crucial to the warrior’s success.
Paul should learn to love leading the 2nd unit. His body will thank him in the playoffs. Plus, Curry had can more rest.
The man’s 38 years old, he’s slipping a little, he needs to be preserved and he knows it, and he’s coming to a team with championship history.
Of course he’s coming off the bench and as mentioned above by several guys, he’ll get plenty of starts because the Warriors are older themselves. No problem, easy to figure out.
Chris Paul’s job will to improve the games of Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and his familiarity with Dario Saric comes into play off the bench too.
If Chris Paul’s ego enters the picture and this doesn’t work out, you dump him at the deadline because he’s in a contract year/expiring. No problem at all.
Not sure how many know this but the Warriors starting five of last year had by far the best efficiency numbers of any five in the NBA. And it’s by far.
Sure they didn’t play 82 games together maybe around 40 or 50 but the numbers jump off the page.
There’s no way Chris Paul comes to the Warriors as a starter right away. He’s ready to go in case of an injury but you would hope not cuz he could get hurt himself lol.
The Warriors bench was so bad last year that even with that starting lineup efficiency they got bounced in the second round. I think Chris Paul and the others they brought in really help the Warriors this coming season. Dark Horse candidate to go all the way and that’s not a big reach by any means.
Chris Paul would be invaluable on the 2nd unit. It should help the negative plus/minus when Curry is resting.
It would also reduce his minutes which may help keep him healthy.
1) Chris Paul would be invaluable on the 2nd unit. It should help the negative plus/minus when Curry is resting.
It would also reduce his minutes which may help keep him healthy.
CP3 needs to come off the bench. He is fragile when the work load is demanding. Suns kept his work load at a respectable level during their postseason appearance few years ago. But as they got desperate to go all the way, his minutes increased significantly. I feel Warriors is the best place for him at this stage in his career. Keep him healthy as much as possible and give the Warriors a 6th man to keep games in reach while curry and company are resting.
I am a Houston Rockets fan and the year Chris Paul got an injury against Golden State in the playoffs, stalled out Harden and the Rockets. Had CP3 been healthy throughout that series, I really believe the Rockets would have been in the finals. CP3 was the leader and coach on the floor during that series. Up 3-1 against a very good Warriors team and CP3 goes down, Warriors win next 3 games and the championship. I am not bitter towards CP3 or the Warriors. I just wanted CP3 to get a ring and I feel the Warriors is the team to help achieve that. It’s baffling that they don’t project Warriors to be a top seeded team this year. I seriously think they are a team to beat and are well above majority of the west. Lakers and Clippers are definitely behind the Warriors in my opinion.
Denver is still the king of the hill in the west.
They’ve come back to earth losing two of the three bench guys they played in the playoffs. They were only eight deep the entire run now they’re 6 deep? We’ll see if the new additions can perform as well as Jeff Green and brown last season.
They’re obviously still incredible but they’ve come back to the pack a little bit.
If CP3 actually cares about winning it all and is a true team player he will happily be the 6th man. You don’t get to go to a team with core that’s won 4 rings and dictate your spot in the lineup.
Chris Paul has never even had a healthy playoff season as a starter. There really isn’t much of a debate here lol. Let the hall of famer made of toothpicks come off the bench so he can play 60 games instead of 40
There will be enough rest and injury days between Paul, Steph, Klay and Green that the problem will take care of itself.
If the Warriors are serious about tanking this season then yes they should start Chris Paul…
CP3 will be traded by the TD. That’s his value to the Warriors. He gives them another option at Point. Since he’s a Real PG. He can also score off Warriors offense. Nothing wrong with coming off the bench.
Since GSW did the WSH trade mostly to jettison Poole, anything they get from CP3 on the court is a bonus.
CP3 has one of the all time great skill sets for a lead guard. Of course, it’s faded some but considering where it started from, it’s still elite. Health is more than just a concern, it’s threshold, as is his ability to find his niche off the bench with this group in a role he’s never played. But GSW is still in their contender window, and this very high upside flyer was purchased with house money.
Obviously he’s coming off the bench. And His minutes need to be limited to keep him healthy.