Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from 2017-18 season opener
2. Downsizing a matchup-based adjustment…or a new trend?
No one knew exactly what Kerr’s rotation would look like this season. We still need to be open to all possibilities, especially after a game that saw Green and Omri Casspi exit while Andre Iguodala did not play at all.
Still: Kevon Looney and Jordan Bell combining for more minutes than Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee was shocking.
It was not bad shocking, especially for observers who have been frustrated with Steve Kerr’s strange disdain for small-ball. Maybe the presence of Bell changes his calculus, but considering that Green played only 0:32 of the 15:40 second-half minutes that featured a non-traditional big, a larger strategy seems to be at play.
Whether or not this adjustment was game-specific or philosophical remains to be seen.
Related Story: 3 takeaways from Houston Rockets' season opener
The Rockets are a unique opponent, especially after adding Chris Paul, P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute. They are switchier on defense, which allowed Mike D’Antoni to play Ryan Anderson and Tucker at center for over two-thirds of the second half (15:48, to be exact), while Nene was out of the rotation completely. Kerr may have been reacting to a challenge on the fly, or may have entered the game knowing that he would downsize if D’Antoni did the same.
That much is a new wrinkle from Kerr, who likes to make opponents adjust to him before he adjusts to them. Whether or not this mindset change is accompanied by more frequent small-ball will be something to watch in the coming games, though Friday’s matchup with the massive New Orleans Pelicans may also be an outlier.