After serving as a starter for the first 50 games of the season, Kelly Oubre Jr. came off the bench for the Golden State Warriors on Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers. It appears that this is going to be a permanent move for Oubre, as Dubs head coach Steve Kerr discussed what he expects from the 25-year-old moving forward.
According to Kerr, Oubre took no issue with the new role that was given to him:
“It's not easy for any player to go from starting to the bench,” Kerr said, via Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports. “He told me, obviously, whatever we need to do to win. His attitude has been great. I'm going to try and help him through the process of coming off the bench and we'll do everything we can to make him as comfortable as possible.”
Oubre was coming off a five-game spell on the sidelines due to a wrist injury. Initially, we thought that his demotion to the Warriors' second unit was something that had to do with his conditioning following a rather lengthy layoff. As it turns out, however, coach Kerr will now need Kelly to provide a scoring punch for the second unit:
“We need him to perform at a high level,” Kerr added. “… if we can maintain the same energy we've had at the start of games with that starting lineup and then bring Kelly in to be a force off the bench, I think it could make a big impact for us.”
Injuries have been an issue for the Warriors for pretty much the entire season. Recently, they lost prized rookie James Wiseman to a season-ending knee injury. Kerr has been forced to make several adjustments to his rotation and Oubre's move to the second unit is now his latest experiment.
Follow Us
Subscribe