The Warriors have played three games.
This reminder needs to be stated upfront as well as the facts that, (a) nobody in their right mind should be panicking about Golden State’s hiccupy start and (b) that they will undoubtably continue to improve as they figure out the ideal formula to get the most out of their immense talent.
That said, from what we’ve seen so far in the admittedly small sample size, the Warriors offense has bared little resemblance to the high flying juggernaut from last year, even with the addition of Kevin Durant.
Part of that has to do with the simple fact that adding a talent like Durant causes a shift in everybody’s roles, something head coach Steve Kerr has said the team is still working to figure out. But a big part of the Warriors offensive success since Kerr took over had to do with their emphasis on ball movement, and so far with this new look team, that is just not happening.
Durant has always been a solid isolation scorer, with 14.9 percent of his scoring opportunities coming in isolation situations last year, the 21st highest mark in the league. For context, not one player on the Warriors was above 10 percent in that category last year. Durant’s isolation numbers have actually gone up in his three games with the Warriors, right now sitting at 15.2 percent, which stands in direct contrast to the idea of KD joining Golden State because he wanted to be part of a movement based offense, and was tired in consistently leading the league in contested shots.
In fact since Durant’s inclusion, the entire offense as a whole has been passing the ball significantly less. Per Anthony Slater, the Warriors are averaging 279.3 passes in the first three games, the sixth fewest total in the NBA. That is a far cry from last season, where the Warriors averaged 323.1 per game, the seventh most in the league. Something to consider: the Oklahoma City Thunder finished dead last in total passes per game last season, and third to last in 2015-14.
What’s more, the 2016 Warriors are one of only three teams in the NBA running more post ups than pick and rolls. As pointed out by Sam Esfandiari, Stephen Curry was number one in the NBA in points per possession out of the pick and roll last season, with Durant finishing as the 11th most efficient. Most assumed the Durant/Curry pick and roll would be the unstoppable cornerstone of the offense, but through three games Curry has been in just 11 PNRs while Durant has been in a grand total of two.
This is all to say that from both a stylistic and efficiency standpoint, since Durant joined, the Warriors offense has not resembled what we saw last year. The Warriors were the most efficient offense in the league by a country mile in 2015-16, and currently sit at 12th in that category through three games. Obviously with a bonafide isolation scorer like KD, some changes were expected, but the Warriors goal moving forward is to find the happy medium between Durant’s one-on-one prowess and the dizzying motion of last year’s offense. Once they do, it may resemble something the league has never seen before.