Golden State Warriors: Should Festus Ezeli Start At Center?

The Golden State Warriors have become known as a selfless team. From their ball movement to things like Andre Iguodala taking a backseat to Harrison Barnes as the team’s starting small forward, the reason the Dubs are so dangerous extends beyond Stephen Curry‘s shooting prowess — this roster is full of players constantly setting each other up for success.

Heading into Wednesday night’s road game against the Memphis Grizzlies with a sterling 8-0 record, the Warriors have yet to feel the adverse effects of Steve Kerr being sidelined with a serious back problem or Klay Thompson‘s ho-hum start. The machine has kept rolling, with the Dubs sporting the league’s top ranked offense, top ranked defense and leading scorer.

But much like the Warriors of last season, this year’s rendition may have a decision to make about a young player who could be ready to take over the starting job from the older incumbent. In the case of Festus Ezeli, it appears his breakout season has finally come.

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The comparisons to the sacrifice Iguodala made last season would be apt to describe what Andrew Bogut would be doing if he accepted a permanent demotion to the bench. So far, Bogut has come off the bench and will do so again Wednesday as he continues to get back into game shape following a concussion that sidelined him for six games.

But there’s actually a better example handy: Last season, when David Lee started the season off with a hamstring injury, Kerr was forced to start Draymond Green at the 4. Green stepped up in a major way, with his defense, versatility, passing ability and improved three-point shooting being a revelation.

The Warriors were winning and had the league’s best defense with Green starting, and Kerr made the wise decision to let the train keep rolling even after Lee returned. This won’t be interim head coach Luke Walton‘s decision to make alone, but we may be seeing something similar happen with Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut.

The question is, once Bogut is back in game shape, does Walton have the green light to make that kind of gutsy call?

Through the team’s first eight games, Ezeli is averaging 10.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 20.4 minutes per game. He’s shooting 57.1 percent from the field and the team has posted a +10.7 point differential per 100 possessions with him on the floor.

By way of comparison, Bogut averaged 6.3 rebounds, 8.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 23.6 minutes per game last season on 56.3 percent shooting last season, helping the Warriors outscore opponents by 16.4 points per 100 possessions when he was on the floor.

As you can see, the raw numbers are fairly similar, but each center brings a different skill set to the table.

In the case of the 30-year-old Bogut, though he’s not much of a scorer, he’s a far superior passer to Ezeli. Last season he averaged 2.7 assists per game and is posting 3.5 per game this year in an admittedly small two-game sample size. At age 26, the younger Ezeli is not quite the same dynamic playmaker that Bogut is.

Having a big man with not only the ability to zip those cross-court passes but also the court vision to see them coming before his man is open makes the Warriors that much more dangerous, especially since Bogut and Curry are usually in sync with each other when the big Aussie catches the ball and Curry starts running around off the ball.

Bogut sets monster screens and his passing ability helps make him someone the Dubs can run offensive sets through. Ezeli doesn’t have that same skill set, but he’s not a bad screen setter himself, especially once he rolls hard to the rim and frees himself up as a prime alley-oop target to suck defenses in and make the Warriors’ perimeter attack that much more potent.

Another difference would be their approach to the game. Bogut has never been a strong athlete, relying on his savvy technique and high basketball IQ to make him one of the game’s most underrated defensive anchors. Though Ezeli is no dummy by any stretch of the imagination, his abilities as a defender are more on the rim protection side because of his breath-taking athleticism.

No offense meant to Bogut, who is one of the smartest defenders in the league, but I’m pretty sure he’s no longer capable of making plays like this:

On that same point about athleticism, Ezeli is better for the Warriors when it comes to their desire to run the floor. The Dubs led the league in fast break points last season and they’re doing so again in 2015-16, averaging 25.1 points per game in transition so far.

Bogut scored a grand total of 11 fast break points in 67 games played last season. Ezeli has already scored nine points in transition through the first eight games of the season.

When you have a player who can swat shots or close out defensive stops with a rebound, and then also get in transition to either rebound the Warriors’ ballsy pull-up threes in transition or finish easy buckets, that’s a huge asset to have on a team that wants to push the tempo. I mean, just look at this. THIS IS A REAL SEQUENCE THAT HAPPENED WITH FESTUS EZELI.

Again, eight games is a tiny sample size, and no one would question Walton/Kerr if they decided to bump Bogut back into the starting rotation once he’s back in full game shape. But there’s a reason the Dubs considered a contract extension for Ezeli before he becomes a restricted free agent next summer: they know Andrew Bogut won’t be around forever and Festus is going to be good.

Bogut is only 30 years old, but he’s not exactly the most durable player around. Last season’s 67 games played was his most since the year before (67), but in that season, he was injured for the playoffs and the Dubs were eliminated in the first round. At the time, Green and Lee had to hold down the frontcourt because Ezeli was not ready and out with an injury anyway.

That’s not the case anymore, and with Ezeli showing signs of having a breakout season, the Dubs might want to consider giving him the title of starter. Not only would it make a deep team even deeper, but it’d help preserve Bogut’s minutes and health for another long playoff run.

The truth is, the Warriors are probably going to be just fine no matter what they choose. They have two legitimate starting centers now, and the bench will be even stronger than last year, no matter which one is coming off the bench.

But since the Warriors know better than most teams that a little sacrifice goes a long way to sustained success in this league, we may be approaching the time for Bogut to step down and accept a lesser role off the bench in favor of Ezeli.

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After all, the Warriors would not be restricted to that starting lineup as their crunch-time formation, and as Bogut found out himself in the NBA Finals last season, all that matters at the end of the day is that the team is still winning.