Golden State Warriors: 10 Steps To Winning A Championship

6. Putting Andre Iguodala On The Bench

In his first 758 games in the NBA, Andre Iguodala was a starter. He had zero experience in a bench role outside of the Olympics and the Warriors had poached him from the Denver Nuggets heading into the 2013-14 season to try and take the next step forward.

But Kerr’s decision to have Iggy come off the bench — and getting Iggy to buy into that decision — was the big difference in helping the Warriors take the next step forward.

More from Golden State Warriors

• Grade the Trade: Warriors become title-favs in proposed deal with Raptors
• 5 NBA players everyone should be keeping a close eye on in 2023-24
• New detail about title-costing mistake reopens old wounds for Warriors
• 5 NBA players facing do-or-die 2023–2024 seasons
• 7 Harsh realities of the Golden State Warriors offseason

In Iguodala’s first season in Oakland, Mark Jackson demoted Harrison Barnes to a sixth man role, ignoring the evidence from the playoffs the year before when the Warriors thrived in small-ball lineups with Barnes at the 4. The move to bench duty clearly affected Barnes’ confidence and his production suffered for it.

Heading into the 2014-15 season, Kerr made the ballsy, but ultimately correct, decision to start Barnes over Iggy. Doing so gave Barnes more confidence and allowed him to excel with the starters, but it also supplemented Golden State’s depth with a backup point forward who could control the tempo, run the offense and play tremendous defense off the bench.

Iguodala didn’t start a single game all season long until the NBA Finals, when Kerr made another gutsy decision to go with small-ball lineups mid-series, benching Andrew Bogut and moving Iggy into the starting rotation alongside Barnes and Draymond Green. The way he stepped up, and the result of that lineup change, was pretty baffling:

In that way, Kerr manufactured some of Golden State’s depth. We’ll get to the decision he made about relegating the injured David Lee to bench duty even after he returned, but having one the NBA’s best glue guys coming off the bench bolstered Golden State’s depth, versatility, and team-first mentality that ultimately set the tone for the season and led to a title.

Think about this: as much as guys like Bogut and Lee prized winning above all else, would they really have been so comfortable with reduced roles if Kerr hadn’t established that team-first mindset from the get-go with Iggy?

The winning obviously made it easier, but the decision to move Iggy into a sixth man role — and then rewarding him for his hard work in the Finals when a change was needed — perfectly exemplifies why this TEAM won a championship.

Next: No. 5