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Dieter Kurtenbach: Why I'm not worried about the Warriors losing Klay Thompson (and other Dubs thoughts)

Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News on

Published in Basketball

But tactically and individually, what progress have we seen from the Dubs on that side of the court?

The Warriors sold out to protect the paint with their smaller roster, allowing opponents to shoot 37 3-pointers a game — 40 percent of all shot attempts. And there were countless games last season where those opponents actually hit all those shots. At the same time, all that selling out didn’t help much with interior defense — the Warriors allowed teams to score on nearly two-thirds of shots within six feet of the hoop.

The math seemed off the whole time.

Is Jonathan Kuminga — the only young Warrior with the potential to be an ace defender — someone the Warriors can actually trust on that side of the floor going into 2024-25? I don’t think so. Andrew Wiggins has regressed, and the Warriors ended up showing a lot of zone looks.

It’s all a gross simplification. And it’s unfair to pin the Warriors’ defensive woes entirely on Atkinson, but he has to bear some blame, too.

His skill set is more holistic — better suited for the head coach role. And while he’ll be missed as a person and basketball mind, I’m not sure the Warriors will be worse off without him.

 

Of course, the Warriors have two assistant coaching spots to fill, following the death of Dejan Milojević in January. Is it Chris DeMarco’s time to step up into the “No. 2” role? Look for Kris Weems, Anthony Vereen, and Seth Cooper to be in the mix to move up to the front row of the bench, too.

Four NBA names to note:

— The Warriors have seen their staff poached in recent years — can Joe Lacob put up some cash to pull Aaron Miles back from the Pelicans and Willie Green’s staff?

— Luke Walton was on JB Bickerstaff’s bench in Cleveland. Is it time for him to come back to the Bay?

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