What to Watch for in Warriors' Preseason Opener vs. Clippers (Yaxel, Dray Featured)

Yaxel Lendeborg has shined in summer league and training camp for the Golden State Warriors, but Sunday's preseason game against the Clippers is his biggest test yet.

How Lendeborg plays against the length and speed of NBA players leads off this "what to watch for" column.

Lendeborg will start with Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Draymond Green and Al Horford in his first preseason action.

Lendeborg's First Test

Here is the Clippers' starting lineup for Sunday's game:

PG: Darius Garland
SG: Max Strus
SF: Derrick Jones Jr.
PF: Rui Hachimura
C: Isaiah Jackson

Jones is an All-Defensive-caliber player who will likely be matched up with Lendeborg at times. The Clippers usually have Jones on Curry, which would give Lendeborg a mismatch on either Strus or Hachimura.

What will be a bigger test is Lendeborg on defense. Lendeborg had some defensive breakdowns in summer league, and it's not like summer-league offenses are running sophisticated plays.

Garland, Strus and Hachimura are great shooters, and Hachimura is an above-average scorer in one-on-one situations. Lendeborg has to be more locked in on defense to avoid not getting picked on.

Green's New Role

On Saturday, Steve Kerr detailed one thing he wants Green to change moving forward.

Instead of having Green stay in the backcourt to either bring the ball up or be an option to bring it up, Kerr wants Green getting up the floor immediately more often than not.

Kerr has also said he wants Green taking threes when he's open. Historically, he's passed on some of them in part because he was instructed to keep the ball moving.

Essentially, Green will have more chances as a play finisher and fewer chances as a playmaker.

How Five-Out Offense Looks

Kerr has repeatedly mentioned that playing five-out offense doesn't mean everyone on the floor has to be a shooter. He says all it really means is all five players start at or near the three-point line before there are plays that lead to cuts and drives into a more open lane.

Still, you have to wonder if the Warriors have the ideal personnel for a five-out offense.

Defenses are likely to sag off on the following players due to their history of mediocre three-point shooting or just not shooting threes at all:

- Brandon Williams
- Gary Payton II
- Draymond Green
- Charles Bassey
- Malevy Leons
- Graham Ike

A five-out offense can thrive with one rim-rum running player who sets great screens. But if it has two or more players who don't threaten defenses from the perimeter, it can get bogged down.

In truth, this is one of the most fascinating things to watch for the next several weeks. I agree with everyone who says the Warriors need an offense that more closely resembles what other top teams are doing (the five-out offense qualifies), but the issue is the Dubs have not surrounded Curry with much ball-handling and scoring talent.

Will they falter and go back to Kerr's old offense?

That would be a signal that they have bigger roster issues than Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Co. are saying publicly.

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