Warriors' Scrimmage Hints at Rotation Favoring Veteran Forward Over 2 Guards

The Golden State Warriors announced their starting lineup for their preseason opener on Sunday, and naturally that's getting most of the attention.

Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Yaxel Lendeborg, Draymond Green and Al Horford will start against the Clippers. Those five have been scrimmaging together in training camp.

But what caught my eye is who was—and wasn't—on the second team scrimmaging against the starters.

The second team included Brandon Williams, De'Anthony Melton, Georges Niang and Gui Santos, with Gary Payton II as the fifth player in at times and Charles Bassey in at other times.

This seems to hint at Niang being ahead of Payton and Will Richard on the depth chart.

Let's go over why the Warriors would have Niang ahead of them.

Niang's Shooting Fits Five-Out Offense

In truth, this subhead could be rewritten as "Niang's shooting fits any scheme," but it may be especially valuable for Golden State's new five-out offense.

Videos have been surfacing of scrimmage highlights that show Niang burying triples. Warriors beat writer Luca Evans reacted to Thursday's scrimmage by writing that Willams and Niang "could be impact rotational guys."

We don't know for sure if Steve Kerr will play Niang more than Payton or Richard in the regular season. Maybe he simply wanted another player with forward size for the scrimmage second unit.

But the Warriors are lacking high-end shooting in their rotation, and Niang (39.9 career 3PT%) is their best option off the bench to help fix that issue. He's certainly a much better shooter than Richard (33.5 career 3PT%) and Payton (32.8 career 3PT%).

The league's most successful five-out offense belongs to the Celtics, and they had seven players shoot at least 37.7 percent from three last season. The only three currently healthy Warriors who have career three-point percentages higher than 37.7 are Curry, LJ Cryer and Niang.

Warriors Seem to Value Positional Size More

When discussing what he likes about the Warriors' starting five against the Clippers, Kerr started his response with, "Really good size on the front line."

That's just the latest example of the Dubs seemingly valuing positional size more.

Other examples are a) drafting Lendeborg, a 6'9" wing capable of playing small forward, b) hiring Frank Vogel, a coach who has historically valued positional size, and c) trading for Kristaps Porzingis last year, which allowed Green to play much fewer minutes at center.

Niang is nowhere near the defensive disruptor than either Payton or Richard is. But Niang (6'6") is bigger, and the Warriors need more forward depth. It's easy to see just looking at the depth chart (not including two-way players or injured players):

Guards: Curry, Podz, Melton, WIlliams, Payton, Richard
Forwards: Green, Lendeborg, Santos, Niang
Centers: Horford, Bassey

It appears that Niang is the Dubs' fourth forward, whereas Payton and Richard are the fifth and sixth guards.

If Niang Falters, Kerr Will Have to Play 3-Guard Lineups

Some Warriors fans have been complaining about the frequency with which Kerr plays three-guard lineups. Niang is Kerr's ticket to avoid playing those lineups too often.

But if Niang struggles, Kerr won't have a choice.

It won't be sustainable for the Warriors to play Lendeborg, Green and Santos for all 96 available forward minutes every game. So the only solution will be giving Payton or Richard some run in three-guard sets.

Add us as a preferred source on Google