Grading the end-of-bench Golden State Warriors players
Mychal Mulder, G – Grade: C+
Mulder’s role on this team is to space the floor, and he does that very well. His jumper is versatile, he knows how to come off screens with enough space to get off his jumper, and he is accurate, shooting 46.7 percent on 8.2 attempts per 36 minutes. He doesn’t bring much else to the table, but as a one-trick pony, his trick is pretty good.
Nico Mannion, G – Grade: C
Nico Mannion is yet to hit a shot in his brief NBA career, missing all four of his field goals. Yet the two-way player comes into a game and immediately injects it with energy, and he is addicted to hitting teammates for open shots. His 45.5 assist percentage would rank third in the league behind Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. Obviously, that is a result of such a small sample size — just 16 minutes of action in two games — but he is doing something well when he comes into the game.
Marquese Chriss, C – Grade: C-
Chris went down with a broken right leg, and will most likely miss the rest of the season. Prior to that, he had settled in as the center who played when Stephen Curry was off the court, pairing often with players such as Brad Wanamaker and Andrew Wiggins. He was a plus rebounder and inefficient scorer during his minutes, part of units that were anemic offensively.
Juan Toscano-Anderson, PF – Grade: D+
Toscano-Anderson is on a two-way contract, a break-in-case-of-emergency option for Steve Kerr that he had to break for the first few games of the season with Draymond Green out and Eric Paschall not jiving with the starters. He plays hard and doesn’t take bad shots, but otherwise, he’s not a rotation player for a playoff-level team.
Jordan Poole, G – Grade: D+
There is unfortunately little positive to say about Poole, the Warriors’ first-round pick in 2019. Kerr occasionally gives him some run as the fifth guard, but he has done little with those minutes. He may as well not be there on defense, and on offense, he is a below-average efficiency shooter who hasn’t taken to off-ball work. His hold on a roster spot with the Golden State Warriors is tenuous.
Not graded: Klay Thompson, out for the year