Warriors rookie Jordan Bell provided a spark off the bench in the first half vs. the Kings on Monday night, scoring four points, grabbing five rebounds and blocking one shot in just six minutes of action.
It was then curious why Bell was nowhere to be seen in the second half as the Kings narrowed the gap, especially with many of the other Warriors struggling to make up for the absence of the injured Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. Golden State ultimately lost the game, and questions as to why Kerr kept Bell on the pine in a game that the Warriors were in desperate need of energy, surfaced from frustrated fans on social media.
Athletic columnist and former Warriors beat writer Marcus Thompson attempted to provide some insight when he joined Murph & Mac on Tuesday morning, saying that he believes Steve Kerr is trying to teach Bell a lesson now, because he knows he’s going to be an important piece for years to come.
“He’s doing other things wrong,” Thompson said about Bell messing up on the little things. “It’s ‘before we start doing cash money signs, I need you to get the rotation right.’ I think it’s stuff like that. I think Steve Kerr knows they have a gem in Jordan Bell. So it’s almost like ‘because I know you’re going to be special, I’m really going to make sure you get this.’ It’s not like a throw away dude where it’s like Nick Young will be here in year two max, Jordan Bell is like the future, so I get the sense that Steve is trying to make sure he learns what he needs to learn and not let him get away with not learning, because he’s so good, he’ll impact the game anyway.
“You see him talking to Bell a lot, you see him in his ear. I think he’s teaching the youngster a lesson, I need to figure out what his lesson is pretty quickly but…He always talks about how Kevon Looney is in the right place, and then with Jordan Bell he says he’s got a lot to learn. So I think it’s stuff like that. It’s being in the right place, it’s having focus, it’s knowing what to do, but he’s so good that he still produces even without that. So it’s kind’ve hard to keep him off the court.”
Listen to the full interview below. To hear Thompson’s comments on Bell, skip to 2:55.