SAN FRANCISCO — The Golden State Warriors will be back on the floor Wednesday night against the Atlanta Hawks, suiting up for the first time since the tragic passing of beloved assistant coach Dejan Milojevic. Asked Monday how Golden State will forge ahead amid the grieving process, an emotional Steve Kerr imagined what ‘Deki' would've told the Warriors amid such devastating circumstances.
“‘You motherf***ers need to go win a basketball game!'” he said, envisioning Milojevic's message.
There's no right or wrong way for the Dubs to get back to the 82-game grind, but rest assured they'll try to do so with the “joyful energy” the 46-year-old pride of Serbia brought to the fore every day.
Golden State will have to manage that unenviable task without both Moses Moody and Gary Payton II, who remain sidelined due to hamstring and calf strains, respectively. In an update on their status, the Warriors announced that while both players are making “good progress” and have been “cleared to begin light individual on-court workouts,” neither is quite yet ready to take the court.
Warriors injury updates: pic.twitter.com/LfuHCpMzlw
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) January 22, 2024
Moody is set to be re-evaluated in one week, while Payton will be re-evaluated in two weeks. Expect both players to need a few additional days of ramping up from a conditioning perspective once they're cleared to return in full, leaving Golden State absent two key rotation players—and more specifically, two of its must disruptive defenders—for the immediate future.
Warriors sorely missing defensive impact of Moses Moody, Gary Payton II
The Warriors' on-court problems are layered and widespread. There's no single reason why they're 18-22 at the season's midway point, two games behind the surging Utah Jazz for the West's final play-in spot. Golden State isn't even just below Will Hardy's team in the standings, by the way. They're also a game back of the Houston Rockets for 11th-place in the West.
If Kerr could wave a magic coaching wand and fix one area that's dogged his team since 2023-24 tipped off, though, it might be forcing turnovers. The Warriors are creating turnovers on 12.5% of their defensive possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, a rate that ranks fifth-lowest in basketball and serves as a driving force behind a barely-there transition attack.
Golden State is third from the bottom in transition frequency and ranks dead last by scoring 9.1% of their points via fast breaks, per NBA.com/stats. Even more damning? No other team in the NBA gets less than 10.5% of its points in the open floor, underscoring just how little the Warriors have been able to turn disruptive defense into efficient, early-clock offense when the ball changes sides.
Draymond Green remains his team's most valuable defender, but he's never been the only one whose penchant for deflections, strips, steals and blocks has ignited Golden State's once-deadly transition attack. But that mantle has been foisted upon Green now, his return from indefinite suspension coinciding with the ongoing absences of Payton and Moody, whose length and anticipation make them easily the Warriors' most disruptive wing defenders this season.
Case in point: Golden State forces turnovers on 16.5% of possessions with Payton on the floor, a rate that ranks in the 97th percentile of all lineups league-wide, per Cleaning the Glass. That number dips to a league-average 13.9% with Moody in the game, still yielding a significant 1.4% improvement on the Dubs' bottom-five season-long mark.
The Warriors will never find the continuity and chemistry they need to function as more than the sum of their individual parts with multiple rotation players sidelined. Don't forget that Chris Paul is still out, too, potentially through what could be a truly transformational trade deadline.
When looking for more granular reasons why Golden State has failed to live up to expectations in 2023-24, keep an extra watchful eye on its opponents' turnover rate—and whether that number spikes once Payton and Moody get back in the fold.
Defense-to-offense feedback lops have long fueled the Warriors' success. The more havoc created on one end by instinctive, active defenders like Payton and Moody, the more easy opportunities Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and company will get on the other.
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