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As NBA champions in three of the last four seasons (including the last two) and with their core virtually locked up for the rest of the year, the Golden State Warriors don't really have any pressing needs to worry about.
They do have a hole at center and that has been the case for many years now, but they were able to make up for that with their “Death Lineup” featuring a long-armed, ox-strong athlete in Draymond Green. Still, if you have a chance to add a dominant inside-outside big man like DeMarcus Cousins for next-to-nothing on your roster, it's hard to pass up.
And while Cousins is months away from stepping into the court, the challenge remains of adjusting the playing style to accommodate his talent and ability to mix up the Warriors' perimeter-heavy offense. After all, relegating the 6-foot-11 behemoth into a spot-up shooter is a disservice to the easy buckets in the paint that he could give you, particularly when the offense stalls or goes cold.
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Warriors head coach Steve Kerr weighed in on this change with Ethan Strauss of The Athletic.
“It’s why we talked with Kevin and Draymond (Green) and Steph, Andre (Iguodala) about all this stuff because it’s going to be different, it’s going to feel different, but I think it’s important to keep evolving. You know the league keeps chasing us. Everybody’s getting better; you saw what Houston did. You’re seeing everybody switch everything against us. They’ve kind of figured out a set of rules to try to defend us. It doesn’t mean it’s going to work, but they’re constantly tweaking and adding and trying to figure us out. I think this gives us a whole ‘nother dimension that they’ll have to account for so we’re just trying to stay ahead of the pack.”
This has been among the many special things about the Warriors. As good as they have been, the Dubs continue to evolve, leaving the rest of the competition eating dust.
