The 2022-2023 Golden State Warriors preseason mega recap:
Mini-recaps, player reviews, stats, film, and much more.
What happened with the Warriors’ training camp invitees?
The Warriors cut Trevion Williams and Mac McClung and signed Anthony Lamb and former Oklahoma City Thunder guard, Ty Jerome to training camp deals on October 3. 10 days later, the Warriors released Lester Quiñones and Quinndary Weatherspoon from their two-way contracts, creating open competition between former lacrosse star, Pat Spencer, former lottery pick, Jerome Robinson, and the aforementioned Jerome and Lamb for the Warriors’ two-way contract spots. The Warriors, as expected, left their 14th roster spot open. What was surprising was that Jerome and Lamb won the Warriors’ two-way contract spots.
Did anyone get hurt during training camp?
Moses Moody and JaMychal Green missed the Warriors’ last preseason game with calf soreness and a sore ankle respectively, but both players are expected to play on opening night. Klay Thompson was the only significant health-related absence during the preseason. During training camp, Thompson opened up about a mental block he experienced during the offseason that kept him from playing any pickup basketball. While Thompson did plenty of skill work, his conditioning was not to game speed at the start of training camp, so the Warriors held him out of their first four games. Thompson played the Warriors’ final preseason game, but only played 18 minutes, all of which came in the first half. The expectation seems to be that Thompson will be on a minutes limit at the start of the season. Andre Iguodala is also expected to miss the start of the season, if not longer, as the Warriors preserve his body for when he’s truly needed.
Did anything notable happen off the court during training camp?
Oh, baby. On October 5, The Athletic’s Sham Charania and Anthony Slater reported that Draymond Green had been in an altercation with Jordan Poole during practice and had “forcefully struck” his younger teammate. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes built on that report with his own tweet that insinuated a sense of inevitability for this altercation due to Poole’s attitude changing as a result of his contract extension talks.
During the Warriors’ first press appearances after Green’s punch, Steve Kerr and Steph Curry both refuted the notion that Poole’s attitude had changed in any way. The force with which they pushed back on Haynes’ report was notable and begged the question — who told Haynes that Poole’s attitude had changed and why?
Any chance the Warriors had of quietly moving past Green’s punch evaporated when TMZ published a video of the altercation in question, which turned out to be quite one-sided. In the video you’ve almost certainly seen, Green gets into Poole’s personal space and nearly gets nose-to-nose with him, at which point Poole gives him a two-handed shove — the physical equivalent of telling somebody to “fuck off.” At this point, Green charges Poole and throws a hard punch and his momentum carries him directly into Poole’s body and against the wall. The whole thing is ugly, the type of physical altercation that is embarrassing and effectively impossible to justify.
When Draymond Green finally had a press conference to apologize, he admitted that the punch was embarrassing and told reporters that he was going to keep his distance from the team for some time and work hard to rebuild trust with his teammates, and specifically Poole, who Green swore he’d continue to love regardless of his own (unjustifiable) actions. Green’s absence from the team lasted nearly a week and the Warriors chose not to suspend him, which was apparently a conclusion the Warriors came to through discussions with Poole, Kerr, and the Warriors’ veteran core.
The ugliness of that punch prompted journalists and casual fans to wonder if it would have any impact on Poole’s willingness to sign an extension with the Warriors. Those doubts were apparently unfounded — on Saturday afternoon, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Warriors and Poole were expected to agree to a 4-year/$140 million contract extension. That number turned out to be a little misleading; Anthony Slater provided valuable context to Woj’s scoop and reported that Poole’s contract included $123 million of guaranteed money — a little bit more than Poole’s peer, Tyler Herro, just signed for — with $17 million worth of incentives.
Hours later after the reports of Poole’s extension, Woj struck again with a report that Andrew Wiggins had agreed to a four-year/$109 million contract extension that brought the total length of his contracts with the Warriors to five years/$143 million. That contract is likely to be a bargain and it opens a possibility that seemed nearly impossible only days ago — the Warriors might be able to keep all of the Foundational Six of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Poole past this current season and do it for less than $400 million in combined salary and luxury tax payments. This tweet, which uses a spreadsheet created by Friend of the Substack, @fakelogic, lays out one possible scenario where the Warriors can keep the band together for less than $400 million:
So how did the Warriors do in the preseason?
The Warriors went 3-2.
How did that happen?
The Warriors opened their preseason with two games in Japan against the Washington Wizards and won both games Nobody in the starting lineup, save for Jordan Poole, played in the second half of either of those games. Poole’s stints leading second-unit combinations were probably the most interesting minutes of those first two preseason games. As expected, Poole was paired with James Wiseman and the two ran high volumes of pick-and-rolls. What was surprising was just how often Wiseman shared the court with JaMychal Green in second units. Although Green isn’t much of a threat to put the ball on the floor, he is a credible shooter and his ability to pick-and-pop offers more perimeter spacing than a pairing with, say, Jonathan Kuminga.
The Warriors’ favored second unit in these games revolved around a core of Jordan Poole, Donte DiVincenzo, Moses Moody, and Wiseman. Jonathan Kuminga and JaMychal Green more or less split time with those units and Wiseman did get some run with the Warriors’ veteran core during their Japan games. The second halves of both games devolved into training camp battles and a soft landing spot for the Warriors’ rookies to have their first NBA-level minutes. Patrick Baldwin Jr.’s shooting stood out in those minutes, as did the clumsy on-court fit between Wiseman and Kuminga.
Upon their return from Japan, the Warriors cut Trevion Williams and signed Anthony Lamb to a training camp deal and a few days before the third game of the preseason, Draymond Green punched Jordan Poole and things got quite weird. Green’s absence from the team opened up starting minutes for Jonathan Kuminga, whose performances in scrimmages earned him the praise of Steve Kerr.
In the Warriors’ 121-124 loss to the Lakers, the Kuminga/Wiseman frontcourt got torched by Anthony Davis and when fourth-quarter garbage time came around, Jonathan Kuminga was still on the court alongside future G-Leaguers and training camp cuts. The most impressive Warrior in that game was Jordan Poole, who, fresh off of being the unwitting subject of a media frenzy, had a dominant stretch with the second unit when he scored 18 points in the third quarter.
The Warriors’ fourth game of the preseason wasn’t exactly priority viewing — Steve Kerr announced shortly before tipoff that the Warriors’ veterans (Jordan Poole included) wouldn’t play. The absence of the Warriors’ Foundational Six provided opportunities for players up and down the roster; Donte DiVincenzo started at the point guard and dished out 10 assists in 23 minutes and looked more than capable of handling the ball without either Steph Curry or Jordan Poole, JaMychal Green and Moses Moody each scored 20 points, Ryan Rollins had his best game of the preseason, and Lester Quiñones, Pat Spencer, and Quinndary Weatherspoon were part of a surprisingly fun and smooth fourth-quarter garbage time unit.
Before the Warriors’ final preseason game, the team announced that they’d released Lester Quiñones and Quinndary Weatherspoon from their two-way contracts. That decision, Steve Kerr explained, was motivated by a positional crunch at the wing. Cutting Quiñones and Weatherspoon immediately after their best games of the preseason seemed a little cruel, but both players were unlikely to become long-term contributors on this team. That left Anthony Lamb, Jerome Robinson, Pat Spencer, and Ty Jerome to battle it out for the Warriors’ two-way contracts and a deeply unlikely 15h roster spot.
In the final game of the preseason, the Warriors finally had all of their Foundational Six available. But because JaMychal Green and Moses Moody both sat with soreness, the Warriors still have yet to play a game with a fully healthy roster since their first-round series in the 2019 playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers. I really wanted Steve Kerr to have one preseason game to test out his rotations and substitution patterns with a full roster, but that did not happen in this game. The absences of Moody and J. Green paved the way for extended minutes for Jonathan Kuminga and James Wiseman, the most interesting of which occurred alongside Steph Curry. Here are a few highlights from the Warriors’ two young, athletic bigs from their stints alongside Steph and the adults:
Klay Thompson’s return was also quite satisfying to watch. At one point, Klay went on a heater and the spacing he provided alongside Steph Curry (and for a few minutes, Jordan Poole) created big runways for Jonathan Kuminga to put on aerial displays like this one:
After one last stint of minutes for the Warriors’ starters (and with Jordan Poole replacing a minutes-restricted Klay Thompson), Steve Kerr emptied his bench. What was most interesting in the final, relatively meaningless minutes of the game was Jonathan Kuminga’s vision as a passer. After the game, the Warriors announced that they had cut Jerome Robinson and Pat Spencer and intended to keep their 15th roster spot open while giving Anthony Lamb and Ty Jerome two-way contracts. Two days later, the Warriors came to agreements with Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole on contract extensions, thus concluding the Warriors’ roster transactions during training camp.
Preseason stats and observations:
Some caveats for the numbers listed we’ll talk about here: sample sizes are small in preseason and net ratings are going to be especially wonky over those sample sizes. The net ratings of players like, say, James Wiseman, who played a fair amount of minutes with training camp invitees, are essentially meaningless. So it goes.
Steph Curry:
2022 preseason stats: 15.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 0 steals, 0.3 blocks, 1.0 fouls, and 3.0 turnovers on 41/24/100 shooting splits with 12.8 FGA, 7.3 3PA, and 3.0 FTA in 20.2 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 27.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 0 steals, 0.5 fouls, and 5.3 turnovers with 22.8 FGA, 13.0 3PA, and 5.3 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +0.0 net rating (110.5 ORTG), 54.2% TS, 48.0 EFG%, and 32.0% USG.
Not since Steph Curry’s rookie year has he shot worse from three than he has in this preseason. Does this worry me? Not really. I wouldn’t be surprised if a deep playoff run followed by a short summer stacked with public appearances makes it such that it takes Steph a while to get into his groove, but I can live with a dip in counting stats if he makes it to the playoffs healthy and relatively well-rested.
What was probably the most interesting and novel part of Steph’s preseason was watching him share the court with James Wiseman, a genuine lob threat:
Klay Thompson:
2022 preseason stats: 17.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.0 steals, 1.0 blocks, 1.0 fouls, and 1.0 turnovers on 60/62/0 shooting splits with 10.0 FGA, 8.0 3PA, and 0.0 FTA in 16.0 minutes.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 38.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0 steals, 2.2 blocks, 2.2 fouls, and 2.2 turnovers with 22.5 FGA, 18.0 3PA, and 0.0 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +10.8 net rating (118.9 ORTG), 85% TS, 85% EFG, and 26.8% USG.
Because Klay Thompson only played in one preseason game, his averages are meaningless. What is more interesting to me than the numbers is that Klay missed any preseason games at all. I am sympathetic to Klay’s mental block about scrimmaging and I’m sure it didn’t feel good admitting that to the world. But I do wonder how much contact the Warriors had with Klay during the offseason. I get that there’s no suitable substitute for the conditioning that scrimmaging provides, but it’s just surprising to me that Klay came to training camp not in game shape. I digress.
Klay was loads of fun during his one preseason game and he did, as Steve Kerr predicted, chuck the ball quite a bit. I really would have liked to see Klay play more preseason games so we could get a bigger sample with which we could evaluate whatever improvements he made in his first healthy off-season since 2018.
Something that I noted in my season-in-review post for Klay (I’ve linked to that article here) is that his share of shots in the restricted area decreased, a phenomenon that has occurred to most prominent NBA players who tore their Achilles — Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Wesley Matthews, and Rodney Hood, among others. To that point, Klay only took two shots that weren’t threes in his one preseason game and didn’t take a single shot at the rim. Klay took just 6.1% of his shots from the 0-3 foot range in his most recent season — his previous career-low was 12.1% — and I’d expect (and hope I’m wrong) that he hovers around that number this season.
Andrew Wiggins:
2022 preseason stats: 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.3 steals, 0 blocks, 3.5 fouls, and 0.3 turnovers on 37/35/56 shooting splits with 8.8 FGA, 4.3 3PA, and 2.3 FTA in 19.8 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 16.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0 blocks, 6.3 fouls, and 0.5 turnovers with 16 FGA, 7.8 3PA, and 4.2 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: -2.9 net rating (109.2 ORTG), 47.5% TS, 45.7% EFG, and 19.3% USG.
The 2022 preseason stats of Andrew Wiggins are eerily similar and somehow... better than his 2021 preseason stats where he averaged.... 9.3 points in 18.9 minutes a game on 35/22/64 shooting splits. But after Andrew Wiggins fully embraced grunt work and hustle during a Finals run, these numbers don’t really bother me. Wiggins is stamped, for now. If you want me to doom for a minute, I am skeptical that Wiggins’ three-point shooting will be consistent this season — his poor free-throw shooting and periods of hot streaks followed by equally brutal shooting slumps make me believe that he’ll be a high-variance 37% ish shooter. That’s fine, but I’d like to see his free-throw shooting improve.
Something Wiggins did do well in the preseason was rebounding the ball. This is something that Wiggins openly wants to make a part of his game after legendary and unprecedented growth on the glass during the playoffs:
I am thrilled to feel so at peace about Andrew Wiggins’ role and his abilities within the Warriors’ system. Wiggins didn’t shoot the ball very well during the preseason, but the glow of a championship run has made me more patient. On the instances where Wiggins dribbled into long or step-back twos, I didn’t even feel a hint of annoyance! If a few meh shots a game are the price we pay for playoff Wiggins hitting the boards like a prime Gerald Wallace, that’s fine with me.
But I think something else that made those long twos more palatable is that Wiggins has a better sense of timing than he used to. Several times during the Warriors’ preseason game against the Lakers, I noticed that Wiggins sought the ball out when the Warriors needed to calm things down — game management is not something that I associate with Andrew Wiggins, but growth is growth and his presence now feels soothing in a way I never imagined in February of 2020 when the Warriors traded for him and I nearly chucked my phone into the pavement with frustration.
Draymond Green:
2022 preseason stats: 5.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 0.3 steals, 0 blocks, 1.7 fouls, and 1.0 turnovers on 42/33/100 shooting splits with 4.0 FGA, 2.0 3PA, and 1.3 FTA in 18.0 minutes a game.
2022 per-36-minute preseason stats: 10.6 points, 10 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 0.6 steals, 0 blocks, and 3.4 turnovers with 8.0 FGA, 4 3PA, and 2.6 FTA.
2022 advanced preseason stats: -13.8 net rating (100 ORTG), 58.1% TS, 50% EFG, and 12.2% USG.
Before Draymond Green threw his now infamous punch at Jordan Poole, he’d looked pretty spry and pretty motivated in two preseason games. Draymond’s 4.0 3PA/36 minutes was especially encouraging — the threes he took were decisive and in rhythm and to my eye, his form looked a little less backpack-y, despite the joking caption on this video below:
But the punch that Draymond threw changed things and for obvious reasons, his play on the court has been overshadowed by his actions off of it. Contract extensions for Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole have made it clear that one of two things needs to happen in order for Green to have a long-term future with this franchise: Joe Lacob needs to pay well over $400 million — a number he’s already expressed an unwillingness to exceed — if Draymond opts into his player option and gets a new contract north of $25 million, or Draymond needs to take less than $20 million annually on a new deal — perhaps as recently as next season if he opts out of his player option — to keep the Warriors’ payroll below $400 million.
This is to say — Draymond has reason to play his ass off during the regular season. I find it hard to believe that any non-Warriors team, save for maybe the Detroit Pistons or Portland Trail Blazers, would be interested in paying Draymond north of $25 million for his services if his offensive decline continues and the inconsistency that plagued him in the playoffs bleeds into this regular season.
Remember, Draymond was the prohibitive favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award last season before an injury derailed his regular season. Health permitting, Draymond showed only a year ago that he was still at or near the peak of his defensive powers. Playing with that level of impact would go a long way to securing Draymond’s next contract, be it with the Warriors or another team.
For the sake of legacy, I hope Draymond plays well this season and that all interested parties can find a way for him to retire a Warrior. As a Michigan native, no doubt Draymond Green remembers how Ben Wallace’s reputation and impact suffered when he left the Detroit Pistons. Wallace did retire with the Pistons, albeit as a role player on genuinely bad Pistons teams, but no doubt Wallace has had second thoughts about leaving the place where he built his name. Hopefully, Draymond does not eventually have similar regrets.
Kevon Looney:
2022 preseason stats: 4.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.8 blocks, 2.8 fouls, and 1.5 turnovers on 50/0/25 shooting splits with 4.5 FGA, 0.0 3PA, and 1.0 FTA in 16.5 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 10.4 points, 13.7 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 0.6, steals 1.7 blocks, 6.1 fouls, and 3.2 turnovers with 9.8 FGA, 0.0 3PA, and 2.2 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: -5.3 net rating (108.5 ORTG), 48.1% TS, 50.0% EFG, and 15.0% USG.
Kevon Looney built on his legendary postseason with a solid preseason. By my eyes, Looney looked a little more agile than he did last season and he absolutely looked more confident on the offensive end. In past seasons, Looney has gotten off to slow starts, only to start turning in consistent performances later in the season. But I think this season we might get mid-season Loon earlier than expected. Here are some nice Looney moments from the preseason:
One last thought: Looney’s negative net rating from this preseason stands in contrast to his +19.6 net rating in the 2021 preseason. You’ve probably noticed by now that Klay Thompson is the only player whose numbers we’ve looked at that actually has a positive net rating. Steve Kerr used last season’s training camp to set a tone of win-chasing with his established veterans — Kerr’s focus in this training camp has been to sort out his rotation and figure out who amongst the Warriors’ young players can give valuable rotation minutes, so don’t read too much into the negative net ratings.
Jordan Poole:
2022 preseason stats: 10.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.8 blocks, 1.8 fouls, and 1.8 turnovers on 33/18/86 shooting splits with 11.5 FGA, 5.5 3PA, and 1.8 FTA in 16.5 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 17.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.2, steals 1.3 blocks, 3.1 fouls, and 3.1 turnovers with 19.6 FGA, 9.4 3PA, and 3.1 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: -2.7 net rating (97.3 ORTG), 40.7% TS, 37.0% EFG, and 25.9% USG.
Last October, Jordan Poole announced his third-year breakout with an explosive preseason where he averaged 34.5 points per-36-minutes on 50/36/87 shooting splits. Poole’s most recent preseason pales in comparison, but again, don’t read too much into it — many of Poole’s minutes were spent on in second units that were building chemistry and establishing their hierarchy.
The two most interesting games that Poole played were his final ones of the preseason. In the Warriors’ loss to the Lakers, just days after Poole got punched in the face by Draymond Green, Poole put on a show in the third quarter and scored 18 points and assisted on several buckets. The Warriors’ offense was as pick-and-roll heavy in that stretch as you’ll ever see a Steve Kerr team play and I thought it was a good thing that the offensive identity of the Warriors’ second unit was so clearly defined.
Poole’s final game of the preseason came just a few days before he signed his extension and with Klay Thompson back, Poole moved back to the bench role that he’s now quite overqualified for. Poole shot 1/10 from the field, but he was on the court during the Warriors’ most explosive minutes, including this very satisfying sequence:
Jordan Poole’s contract extension should give him and the Warriors some respite from media noise after any bad or inconsistent performances — if Poole were going into restricted free agency this summer, could you imagine how exhausting it would be to have his future earnings discussed after every game? But I think Warriors fans should prepare for a brief statistical downturn from Poole at the start of the season as he settles into his sixth-man role with an unfamiliar supporting cast. I have no doubt Poole will eventually put things together, but as Steve Kerr shuffles his rotation and figures out how to stagger Draymond Green, Jonathan Kuminga, JaMychal Green, and James Wiseman in his second unit, I’d expect there to be some early second and fourth quarter growing pains.
Moses Moody:
2022 preseason stats: 10.5 points, 1.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.3 blocks, 2.5 fouls, and 0.5 turnovers on 44/41/83 shooting splits with 8.5 FGA, 4.3 3PA, and 1.5 FTA in 16.5 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 16.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.6, steals 0.5 blocks, 4.0 fouls, and 0.8 turnovers with 13.6 FGA, 6.8 3PA, and 2.4 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +11.2 net rating, 57.3% TS, 54.4% EFG, and 16.1% USG.
In the Warriors’ first game of the preseason, Moses Moody was the first player off of the bench. Moody is clearly in line for a consistent spot in Steve Kerr’s rotation and his solid play throughout preseason demonstrated the growth of his sturdy, reliable game. Look at Moody’s shooting splits and his shot attempt numbers — that’s an excellent, even distribution of shots. Moody looked increasingly comfortable attacking closeouts and finishing, albeit sometimes in a vertically limited fashion, and he cut into the open spaces created by the Warriors’ spacing and motion principles.
If you want to nitpick, I was a little disappointed in Moody’s poor rebounding numbers — if you believe that life without Draymond Green could be as soon as next season, you need the rest of the wings on the Warriors’ roster to really step up their work on the glass to survive his absence — and would have liked to see him get to the line more. But Moses Moody looks like a clear upgrade on Damion Lee and his presence on the court exudes a calm more typical of a veteran than a second-year player. Here are some of Moody’s notable moments from the preseason:
Jonathan Kuminga:
2022 preseason stats: 10.0 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.0 blocks, 2.6 fouls, and 2.6 turnovers on 48/27/85 shooting splits with 6.2 FGA, 2.2 3PA, and 3.4 FTA in 26.3 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 13.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.8, steals, 0.0 blocks, 3.5 fouls, and 3.5 turnovers with 8.5 FGA, 3.0 3PA, and 4.6 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +16.0 net rating (106.3 ORTG), 62.8% TS, 53.2% EFG, and 16.9% USG.
Caveats for garbage time notwithstanding, I was surprised — in a good way — by Jonathan Kuminga’s preseason numbers. His three-point percentage confirms my memories of poor perimeter shooting but check out Kuminga’s TS% and EFG%. Both numbers are above last year’s league average, but his TS% is way better than average, in part because he shot it really well from the free-throw line. I looked at Kuminga’s preseason game logs to get some more details about his numbers and found the shot 60% on two-point field goals in the preseason. But... five of Kuminga’s 12 made two-point field goals came in the final game of the preseason when Kuminga shot 5/5 on two-point field goals playing alongside the Warriors’ grown-ups.
In the four previous preseason games, Kuminga had shot 46.6% on two-point field goals and 22.2% from three and his overall field-goal percentage came out to 37.5%. That’s less than ideal and it’s also pretty much what Kuminga did in this past summer league when he had 41/20/47 shooting splits (obviously, Kuminga shot way better on free throws in the preseason than he did in the summer). Kuminga’s assist numbers in preseason are also boosted by him dishing out 7 assists in the final game of preseason — he’d accrued exactly 7 assists in the four games prior.
Kuminga’s performance against the Nuggets was so impressive because of how he’d played in summer league and preseason up until this final game. As Kuminga cut into open dunks alongside Steph and the adults, he showed not only patience and purpose but an understanding of his role. Later in the game, Kuminga had the ball in his hands and created for his others, rather than try to Maggette his way to the hoop. It seemed as if Kuminga’s stubbornness and offensive struggles in summer league and preseason gave him valuable insight into his limitations and strengths — insight that he parlayed into a focused and purposeful preseason finale.
Up until this point, I’ve mostly talked about Kuminga’s offense. I don’t want to diminish what he showed on the other end of the court — Kuminga didn’t take possessions off during preseason and he looked equally comfortable guarding quick guards as he did powerful wings and stretch 4’s. At one point, Kuminga even found himself guarding Jusuf Nurkic in the post. That went about how you’d expect. Kuminga’s physicality on defense was a welcome sight and I’d like to see him apply that more often to rebounding. Kuminga averaged just 6 rebounds per 36 minutes in the preseason, a slight improvement upon his 5.2 rebounds per 36 minutes in summer league, and a slight decrease from his 7.2 boards per 36 minutes during his rookie season.
Here are some video clips from Kuminga’s preseason:
James Wiseman:
2022 preseason stats: 14.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.0 steals, 0.8 blocks, 3.4 fouls, and 2.4 turnovers on 67/50/61 shooting splits with 8.4 FGA, 0.4 3PA, and 5.6 FTA in 19.1 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 27.8 points, 11.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 0.0 steals, 1.5 blocks, 6.4 fouls, and 4.5 turnovers with 15.8 FGA, 0.7 3PA, and 10.5 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +8.7 net rating (97.6 ORTG), 68.1% TS, 67.9% EFG, and 28.3% USG.
In his first extended NBA minutes since April of 2021, James Wiseman looked like a capable backup big with the potential to gobble up easy dunks that will lead to an outrageous points-per-minutes yield. In short, James Wiseman looked perfectly capable of playing a JaVale McGee role for the Warriors.
JaVale McGee never played more than 10 minutes a game in the regular season under Steve Kerr and these are his minutes averages in the three biggest playoff series of his Warriors’ tenure: 5.5 minutes a game in the 2017 NBA Finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, 3.1 minutes a game (and 3 minutes total) in the 2018 Western Conference Finals against the Houston Rockets, and 13.8 minutes a game against a severely overmatched Cavs team in the 2018 NBA Finals.
Can Wiseman throw down some big dunks, soak up regular season minutes, and only be marginally playable — if at all — during the playoffs this season? Absolutely. But because James Wiseman is the fifth-highest paid player on the Warriors, his salary slot could be freed up to keep the Warriors below $400 million in payroll — a number Joe Lacob has already to as “not even remotely possible” — if the Warriors want to keep Draymond Green next season. Everything James Wiseman does is of huge consequence, regardless of whether or not he’ll actually be making any impact on the court come playoff time.
James Wiseman was a very bad NBA player during his rookie season. A brief recap: he had the 7th-lowest net rating next to Steph Curry of any Warrior to ever player >100 minutes alongside Steph Curry, he had the lowest points-per-possession (PPP) of any player to post up at least twice a game, he had the lowest PPP as the roll man of any Warrior, and his OBPM was -4.0, which ranked #453 of 540 among all players. The optimist’s view of Wiseman: he played 84% of his minutes with Steph Curry alongside Kelly Oubre Jr., he’s young and inexperienced, and he has immense physical gifts. This is all to say, Wiseman being capable of filling the JaVale McGee role would be a huge win, considering how bad he was as a rookie and how long it’s been since he’s played NBA minutes.
In nearly 20 minutes a game, Wiseman showed significant improvements in his understanding of the Warriors’ offensive system and demonstrated the limitations that are likely to keep him in the JaVale McGee role for at least this playoff run. To Wiseman’s credit, he looked fully bought into his role with this Warriors’ team, unlike Jonathan Kuminga, who often shared the court with Wiseman and looked to create more than he should for the first four games of the preseason. What pleased me most about Wiseman’s growth on offense was his patience; post-ups that would once end in off-balance hook shots instead became opportunities for Wiseman to flow into dribble hand-offs or look for cutters. Here are a few examples:
Wiseman will never be Nikola Jokic — his AST:TO was 0.58 in the preseason, a slight improvement upon the 0.47 AST:TO of his rookie season — but those moments of patience were welcome sights of growth, even if he threw some risky and inaccurate passes testing his abilities.
The Warriors’ spacing is much improved from what it was during Wiseman’s rookie season and this roster features at least four players capable of handling the ball and creating shots for others (Steph Curry, Jordan Poole, Draymond Green, and Donte DiVincenzo). When Wiseman was a healthy rookie, Kelly Oubre Jr. clogged the Warriors’ spacing, Steve Kerr had yet to give the reigns to Jordan Poole in the second unit, and Brad Wanamaker’s impotence forced Kerr to go small in the second unit. That explains, in part why Wiseman had a team-worst PPP as the roll man during his rookie season. That shouldn’t be the case this year. Here are a few examples of Wiseman operating in pick-and-rolls:
But even in a simplified role with an increased dose of pick-and-rolls, there are still moments where Wiseman’s lack of experience is apparent. Wiseman has a penchant for lingering too close to the basket if he doesn’t get the ball when rolls. Sometimes, Wiseman tries to seal his man, which makes puts another defender between the basket and whoever now has the ball and wants to, but cannot drive to the hoop. In other instances, Wiseman will simply linger instead of vacating to the dunker spot. Here are two such examples:
I’m not terribly concerned about Wiseman’s offensive limitations right now in the context of this season’s Warriors’ team — he’s an exceptionally large human who can jump high and walk into 10-15 points a game by being in the right place 75% of the time — but they are worth discussing when considering Wiseman’s long-term future.
Here’s something else to consider: Wiseman shot 60.7% from the free-throw line in preseason on top of sub-par free-throw shooting in his G-League stint and Summer League games in 2022, following a 62.8% free-throw percentage during his rookie season:
If you want to go back even further, Wiseman shot 58.5% from the line in 10 AAU games during the 2018-19 season and then shot 70.4% from the line in three games at the University of Memphis. Wiseman has a multi-year sample size that shows him to be a mediocre free-throw shooter and he’s shot just 3/12 from three since the start of his G-Leauge comeback. In total, Wiseman has made 15 shots from three since he began his college career — it’s safe to say that the three-point shot is not a focus of his development right now and his free-throw shooting suggests that he doesn’t have a very high ceiling as a shooter. That in turn, limits his overall ceiling as an offensive player.
A rim-running center with a shaky, or perhaps, non-existent three-point shot, needs to have an excellent post-up game or be an excellent defender to justify a large financial investment. Right now Wiseman is neither an excellent post player nor an excellent defender. It shouldn’t be a surprise Wiseman struggles on defense — he’s played less than 50 games since graduating high school and feel was an issue for him dating back to college. But without significant improvements on the defensive end, he has practically no path to closing games over any of Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, or even, say, JaMychal Green. Pick-and-roll defense remains particularly vexing for Wiseman:
Again, Wiseman can improve defensively and with more reps, he should get up to speed at some point in his NBA career. But if Ish Smith and DeAndre Jordan-caliber players are still giving him trouble come spring, Wiseman will be unplayable in the playoffs. Playoff basketball is a ruthless blood sport where weaknesses are exploited to a cruel extent — there’s a reason JaVale McGee only played 3 minutes in the 2018 WCF. If James Wiseman is going to be a part of the Warriors’ long-term future — and at the expense of Draymond Green or Klay Thompson — he’ll need to be much more than JaVale McGee to justify the Warriors’ investment in him.
A few more stats on Wiseman’s preseason before we move on:
The Warriors were +1 (I’m going by old-fashioned plus/minus, not net rating, which is nearly impossible to find for preseason and I do not have the means to calculate) in 13:08 minutes that Steph Curry and James Wiseman shared the floor. The Warriors were +5 in the 28:39 minutes that Jordan Poole and James Wiseman played without Steph Curry (think the second unit) and -5 in the 9:49 minutes that Curry, Poole, and Wiseman played together
JaMychal Green:
2022 preseason stats: 5.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 blocks, 2.0 fouls, and 0.5 turnovers on 44/40/0 shooting splits with 4.5 FGA, 2.5 3PA, and 0.0 FTA in 16.6 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 10.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.2 steals, 1.1 blocks, 4.3 fouls, and 1.1 turnovers with 9.7 FGA, 5.4 3PA, and 0.0 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +22.2 net rating (109.7 ORTG) , 55.6% TS, 55.6 EFG%, 11.8% USG.
In JaMychal Green’s first minutes as a Warrior, he played the 4 alongside Kevon Looney, a move that quite surprised me. A few minutes later, I was even more surprised when Green flanked James Wiseman in the frontcourt. Over the last two seasons, Green’s teams have defended better with him at the 5 than at the 4 and I figured that Green’s minutes would mostly be next to Draymond Green or Jonathan Kuminga for the sake of floor spacing, so he at the 4 was a curious development. By my count, JaMychal Green only played 4:20 minutes at the 5 during the preseason and the Warriors were +4 in those minutes. Here’s another surprising number: the Warriors didn’t employ the Green/Green frontcourt at any point in the preseason. Maybe Steve Kerr wants to take it easy on the scorekeepers.
JaMychal Green has the highest preseason net rating of any Warrior player I’ve written about so far. He’s not entirely garbage time proof though — he played a fair amount of minutes alongside recently cut players like Quinndary Weatherspoon and Jerome Robinson. Green’s fit with this Warriors team is obvious; he’s a rugged player on both ends of the floor that sets good screens, rebounds hard, and has a history of being a credible three-point shooter. But one thing that Green was not known for that could make his minutes at the four more palatable is his passing. Here are two such examples (although the first clip also demonstrates some of Green’s screening prowess):
Green’s credibility as a floor spacer also made him one of Steve Kerr’s preferred complements to James Wiseman when the Warriors put the ball in Jordan Poole’s hands and spammed pick-and-rolls here. Here is one example:
Donte DiVincenzo:
2022 preseason stats: 5.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.2 blocks, 1.4 fouls, and 2.2 turnovers on 30/20/89 shooting splits with 4.6 FGA, 3.0 3PA, and 1.8 FTA in 17.6 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 10.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.4 blocks, 2.9 fouls, and 4.5 turnovers with 9.4 FGA, 6.1 3PA, and 3.7 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: -3.6 net rating (97.9 ORTG), 46.4% TS%, 37.0% EFG, 16.7% USG
Because Donte DiVincenzo signed shortly after Gary Payton II left the Warriors in free agency, DDV has been cast in the media as GPII’s replacement. The similarity of acronym nicknames aside, I don’t think that’s an accurate take. While DiVincenzo might soak up GPII’s minutes, his role on offense is closer to that of present-day Andre Iguodala’s — a calming presence who can make passes on and off-ball, but has a shaky shot and isn’t much of an interior threat.
In my offseason article about Donte DiVincenzo’s signing, I noted that he’s gotten worse in the restricted area with each season in his four-year career — I suspect he might find it even harder to get good looks in the paint if his three-point shot isn’t respected. To that point, DiVincenzo took more than 65% of shots in the preseason from beyond the arc and he made just 20% of them. But DiVincenzo is a very smart player who knows how to cut, pass, and move and showed an instant grasp of how to operate within Steve Kerr’s system. His passing was a particular strong suit:
DiVincenzo is also a very good on-ball defender, so even if his shot abandons him, he can impact the game in at least two ways that Steve Kerr values — risk-averse ball-handling/passing and stout defense. But I don’t think it’s out of the question that DDV has a patch or two in the season where he gets DNP’s, especially if his shot is shaky.
DiVincenzo, health provided, is a known entity. If the Warriors’ coaching staff decide that they want to expedite the development of say, Moses Moody, Jonathan Kuminga, and Patrick Baldwin Jr. and give the babies minutes with the adults, then it wouldn’t surprise me if DDV misses games at their (occasional) expense. DiVincenzo has played real minutes on contender — Steve Kerr won’t have to get him up to speed in order for him to be useful during the regular season or the playoffs.
Patrick Baldwin Jr.:
2022 preseason stats: 7.2 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.2 blocks, 1.4 fouls, and 0.6 turnovers on 37/36/100 shooting splits with 5.4 FGA, 4.4 3PA, and 1.6 FTA in 14.4 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 18.0 points, 8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks, 3.5 fouls, and 1.5 turnovers with 13.5 FGA, 11.0 3PA, and 4.0 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +12.3 net rating (114.9 ORTG), 59.0% TS%, 51.9% EFG, 18.6% USG
In his first preseason minutes, Patrick Baldwin Jr. wasted little time before he started gunning threes. Gunning isn’t the right word — that implies inefficiency and irresponsible shot selection. Baldwin Jr. simply took open shots and he looked damn good taking them:
Baldwin Jr. spent most of the preseason getting his feet wet with his fellow teenagers and deep bench players and it wasn’t until the final game of preseason that he got his first minutes alongside Steph Curry. In total, Baldwin Jr. didn’t even play a full minute alongside Curry, but the Warriors outscored the Nuggets 4-0 in that stint and what’s notable to me is that PBJ’s first minutes with any of the adults came at the small forward. Up until that point, the bulk of PBJ’s minutes had come at the 4 or as a small-ball 5 in garbage time.
I think PBJ could give the Warriors spot minutes in the regular season playing with some of the starters if he plays the 3. Baldwin Jr. is slight of frame, he’s a rookie, and he’s not going to get any love from refs, so I’d be reluctant to throw him out against bigs who are grown-ass men. But PBJ playing alongside, say, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Jonathan Kuminga, and Draymond Green is something that I think could work; Curry is at least a plus defender at this point in his career, Thompson is good on-ball against bigger wings, Kuminga can toggle between quick guards and power wings, and Draymond is Draymond. In this configuration or others like it, PBJ could hide out of non-shooters or players who aren’t a threat to do anything off the dribble.
But I wouldn’t surprised if PBJ becomes a plus defender on the perimeter sooner rather than later. I watched several of Baldwin Jr.’s games in college for my “Good Game/Bad Game” series and the difference in his physical ability between then and now is striking. Baldwin Jr.’s ankle problems clearly affected his mobility during college — against NBA-caliber athletes, he’s showing a genuine ability to move his feet on the perimeter, even if sometimes he’ll pick up fouls when offensive players get into his chest:
Baldwin Jr. needs to grow into his frame and put on some muscle before he can play serious rotation minutes. But he’s got the tools and feel for the game to be useful to the Warriors in spurts this season, even if all he does on offense is take open shots.
Ryan Rollins:
2022 preseason stats: 7.8 points, 1.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.0 blocks, 1.8 fouls, and 0.8 turnovers on 39/67/79 shooting splits with 5.8 FGA, 0.8 3PA, and 3.5 FTA in 12.0 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 23.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.9 assists, 2.4 steals, 0.0 blocks, 3.5 fouls, and 2.4 turnovers with 17.4 FGA, 2.4 3PA, and 10.5 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +8.6 net rating (109.6 ORTG), 53.2% TS, 43.5% EFG, and 28.9% USG.
In his first two preseason games, Ryan Rollins made only one bucket on 10 field-goal attempts, but he shot 8 free throws in just 17 minutes. This play below shows both Rollins’ ability to get to the hoop as well as his physical limitations against grown men:
Rollins took some contact on that drive, as well as some of his others in the preseason, and very much looked the part of a 20-year-old on the court, but his court vision and ball security were impressive: in 52 preseason minutes, Ryan Rollins committed just 3 turnovers while tallying 9 assists. This was my favorite assist of his::
Rollins also demonstrated advanced footwork:
Rollins has an uphill battle for minutes — Steph Curry, Jordan Poole, Klay Thompson, Moses Moody, and Donte DiVincenzo are all in his way — but defense could be one way he forces his way onto the court. Rollins has an unusually long wingspan for a guard and although he looks skinny out there, he is a disruptive defender:
Ty Jerome:
2022 preseason stats: 1.5 points, 0 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.0 blocks, 0.5 fouls, and 1.5 turnovers on 43/33/0 shooting splits with 3.5 FGA, 3.0 3PA, and 0.0 FTA in 9.1 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 5.9 points, 0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.0 blocks, 2.0 fouls, and 5.9 turnovers with 13.8 FGA, 11.9 3PA, and 0 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +5.3 net rating (105.3 ORTG), 57.1% TS, 57.1% EFG, and 23.3% USG.
After getting cut by the Houston Rockets, who traded for him during training camp, the Warriors signed Ty Jerome to a training camp deal, gave him 18 minutes over two games, and then signed him to a two-way contract. Jerome played for the Suns in 2019-20 and then played two seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder. I remember he caught my eye during the annoying 2020-21 season, but this was the statistical high point of his career — after averaging 10.7 points, 3.6 assists, and just 1.4 turnovers a game on 45/42/76 shooting splits, his shooting splits fell to 38/29/81 the next season.
When the Warriors signed Jerome to a training camp deal on October 4, Steve Kerr praised Jerome’s abilities as a pass-first point guard:
Steve Kerr’s love for pass-first point guards is something of a blind spot in my opinion — each one that he’s had since Shaun Livingston’s retirement turned out to be a turnover machine. Jerome’s number bears out that he’s good at protecting the ball, but I simply hope that he doesn’t become a cudgel ala Chris Chiozza that Kerr brandishes when he feels the Warriors are getting too sloppy with the ball.
Anthony Lamb:.
2022 preseason stats: 2.7 points, 3.0 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.7 blocks, 2.0 fouls, and 0.0 turnovers on 50/50/0 shooting splits with 2.0 FGA, 1.3 3PA, and 0.0 FTA in 12.2 minutes per game.
2022 per-36-minutes preseason stats: 7.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.9 steals, 2.1 blocks, 5.9 fouls, and 0.0 turnovers with 5.9 FGA, 3.8 3PA, and 0 FTA.
2022 preseason advanced stats: +2.1 net rating (110.6 ORTG), 66.7% TS, 66.7% EFG, and 6.1% USG.
The Warriors signing Anthony Lamb to a training camp deal made me feel icky after I read about the allegations that he raped several people while playing basketball at the University of Vermont. I felt even worse about the Warriors and Lamb’s relationship after they signed him to a two-way contract and Bob Myers’ response to these allegations felt inadequate:
As I understand it, one of the key frustrations of a woman who says Lamb raped her is that the University of Vermont did not adequately investigate those claims in the Title IX process (you can read about those claims here and here and for good measure, check out this thread on basketballforum.com from 2021 where multiple posters say that rumors about Lamb’s alleged rapes are well known). This is to say, Bob Myers, falling back on the absence of criminal charges to justify signing Lamb really sucks.
In the short time that Anthony Lamb has been on the Warriors, he’s been a burly and active presence. I can’t say much more beyond that because I’ve felt bad watching him and tried to block out his presence. Frankly, I don’t want to pay much attention to him. If Lamb were a better basketball player, he’d probably provoke something of a moral dilemma in some fans — plenty of people in Cleveland are happily rooting for DeShaun Watson right now after he’s been accused of sexually assaulting at least 20 people — but he’s not. He’s a two-way contract player who wasn’t all that good in either of his previous stops, which makes it really hard for me to understand why Bob Myers and Steve Kerr would put their credibility on the line for a bit player. All of this sucks and it makes me very bummed out about the judgment of the people in power with the Warriors. That’s all I’ve really got to say about Anthony Lamb.
What’s next for the Warriors?
Hopefully, another championship, but first, a glorious championship ring ceremony that I intend to enjoy with a nice glass of chilled, white wine. I can’t wait for this season to start and I hope you consider subscribing to my newsletter for more obsessively detailed and exhaustingly long content.