Golden State Warriors: 5 Midseason Takeaways

5. Brandon Rush Has Revitalized His Career

You wouldn’t know it from looking at the stat line, since Brandon Rush is averaging a meager 5.4 points and 2.9 rebounds in 16.7 minutes per game, but this is the most relevant Rush has been since he tore his ACL two games into the 2012-13 season.

Just like last season, it was beginning to look like Rush would once again be relegated to mop-up duty for a championship contender, even after a summer of getting his body right to be a more active contributor. But when Harrison Barnes went down with an ankle injury 17 games into the season, Rush became the de facto starter.

The Dubs could have inserted Andre Iguodala into the starting lineup, but they wanted to maintain his role as sixth man off the bench. Luckily, the Warriors kept cruising even with Barnes missing 16 games, posting a 14-2 record in that span. Rush averaged 7.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game on .492/.493/.667 shooting splits in 23 games as a starter.

The Warriors brought Barnes off the bench for his first couple of games back to ease him into the action again, but Rush did his job of filling in quite nicely. He’s shooting an impressive 46.5 percent from three-point range on the season and though he’s just another cog in the Warriors machine, his role on this team is vastly more important than it was last year.

The Golden State Warriors hardly needed another weapon. With Rush being so efficient from long range, it’s safe to say they got another one anyway.

Next: No. 4