The Golden State Warriors reunite with Andre Iguodala: A review of his previous season(s)
How Iguodala's role and shot diet changed in Miami, what roles Iguodala can play for the Warriors, Iguodala's offcourt value, lineup stats and more
The return of Warriors legend, Andre Iguodala, might be the least surprising move of the Warriors’ offseason. This move is significant not only for its emotional value, but for the institutional knowledge Iguodala possesses and his assertive and calming influence on the court. Andre Iguodala will be 38 years old during the Warriors’ next playoff run. You should not expect Iguodala to play more than 50 games this year or play 25-30 minutes a game at this point in his career. Instead, think of Iguodala as a player/coach whose presence should offer young wings like Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody an invaluable resource on and off the court.
You know what Andre Iguodala provides as a player — he is an aging basketball savant who is a reluctant shooter, a brilliant perimeter defender who might be best suited to guarding 4’s at this point in his career, and a calming presence on the court. Because Iguodala is such a smart player who knows Steve Kerr’s system, he could still play impactful minutes in short spurts.
If Moody or Kuminga are not ready for minutes, they can watch Iguodala to gain an understanding of how to play the right way and avoid dumb mistakes. Iguodala could play alongside the young wings as well and coach the younger Warriors into their spots on the court. Iguodala told The New York Times’ Jonathan Abrams that he wants to mentor the young Warriors with a level of structure and discipline similar to that of his most recent employer, the Miami Heat:
Iguodala said he is looking forward to mentoring the team’s younger players like the veterans Kevin Ollie and Aaron McKie did for him when he entered the league — a component he feels is often overlooked — and using the “militaristic, kind of Navy seal approach” he learned in Miami.
“The way that they develop their younger players in making sure they have the proper approach to how they’re doing their job is second to none and I really appreciated that,” Iguodala said, “because there’s a fine line between your superstar and your eighth, ninth guy coming off the bench and all of our guys were always ready.”
In the long run, Iguodala’s second Warriors stint might offer more value two or three years after his retirement than he will this season. But if Iguodala’s minutes and body are well managed, he could provide genuinely useful rotation minutes in the Warriors’ bench units.
Iguodala is not a shot creator or someone you’d spam PNR’s with, but he’s a brilliant connective passer who can allow Steve Kerr’s motion system to work to its full potential. Until Juan Toscano-Anderson claimed a more substantial share of playmaking duties, the best non-Steph Curry playmaker that Jordan Poole played with was Nico Mannion.
Andre Iguodala could be an excellent fit alongside Jordan Poole — Iguodala can handle periodically while Poole slithers around screens and tries to cut into open shots from beyond the arc and at the rim. Iguodala’s presence could also allow the Warriors to run various lineups where Poole is the smallest defender on the court. Mercifully, there should be no more instances of Mannion/Poole backcourts getting picked on and dragged into PNR’s over and over again.
But I cannot stress enough the fact that Andre Iguodala is going to be 38 years old by the time of next year’s playoffs. The list of similar aged players who played significant roles on winning teams is small. Andre played some crunch time minutes for the Heat in the 2020 bubble playoffs but again, he’s nearing 40 years old! I’ve pulled up videos of some of Iguodala’s games this year so we can get a sense of how this version of Andre Iguodala compares to the one Warriors fans know and love.
A few things stick out to me in a cursory viewing of Iguodala’s games here. He’s taking threes with much less hesitation than I’m used to, but he’s barely looking at getting to the rim unless it’s off of a cut. I’m also heartened to see that Andre’s incredible hands are still poking the ball loose from unsuspecting ballhandlers.
Regardless of his health and physical ability, Andre Iguodala signing signals not only a commitment to development (and perhaps more cynically, profitable nostalgia), but to building a deep and varied collection of wings. There are four legitimate three point shooters among the Warriors wings, three robust multi-position defenders, two secondary ball handlers with passing chops, and two young wings oozing potential. But, make no mistake, this is an imperfect collection of wings — Otto Porter Jr. and Iguodala have significant injury concerns, Damion Lee and Juan Toscano-Anderson haven’t played a minute of playoff basketball, Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga cannot even legally drink, and Klay Thompson is unlikely to play until December or January, as recently reported by The Athletic’s Anthony Slater.
Even with the concerns about the Warriors various wings, it is notable that the Warriors roster is so heavy on wings. In the 2019 playoffs, the Warriors got 9 and a half games of Kevin Durant and had only Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Alfonzo McKinnie, and Shaun Livingston to fill minutes at the wing. In 2016-17, the Warriors carried 7 centers on their roster at one point, at the time of writing, next season’s Warriors have only two centers, or perhaps three, if you expect Nemanja Bjelica to play most of his minutes at the 5. Andre Iguodala’s signing in 2021 is not the franchise altering moment it was in 2012, but it is an undeniably positive development for the Warriors’ long term prospects even if Iguodala is on his last legs.
Andre Iguodala’s statistical profile (career bests bolded):
63 games played, 21.3 minutes a game, 4.4 points a game, 35 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.1 turnovers, 0.9 steals, 0.6 blocks, and 1.1 fouls.
38.3% FG, 33.0 3P%, 65.8 FT%, 51.9 TS% (-6.3% league average TS), 50.4% EFG (-3.4 league average EFG).
3.9 FGA, 1.9 3PA, 0.6 FTA.
BBREF: 103 ORTG, 110 DRTG, -1.6 +/- per 100 poss., 0.4 VORP, 0.62 WS/48, 11.2% USG.
-3.2 DIFF in non-garbage time (36th percentile), 24th percentile usage, 20th percentile PSA, 85th percentile AST%, 98th percentile AST:Usg, 4th percentile TOV% among forward position.
-1.38 ORPM, -0.46 DRPM, -1.84 RPM (#355 rank of 534 players).
Andre Iguodala has the statistical profile of somebody who has a year or two left in the league, tops. Iguodala ranked as a negative player by all of the catch-all advanced metrics referenced above (BPM, RPM, EPM) and Cleaning the Glass says that Andre’s two years in Miami are the only in his career where he’s been worse than 50th percentile in DIFF. Unsurprisingly, Andre played the least and second minutes per game of his career in his time in Miami. It figures those minutes should be reduced even further on a Warriors team with a big collection of wing players.
Something else that sticks out to me is that Iguodala’s three point attempts per game are the highest they’ve been since he was playing for the Philadelphia 76ers in his age 26 season. Nearly 3/4 of Iguodala’s shot attempts came from three point land and he upped his previous career high on three point attempts per 36 minutes by more than a shot a game. Iguodala was a far more aggressive three point shooter for the Miami Heat than he has been at any point in his career. Part of this may be role dependent — the Miami Heat had Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic, and to a lesser extent, Kendrick Nunn to handle the ball instead of Iguodala — but it’s also possible that his increased three point attempts are simply Iguodala adapting his game to the modern NBA.
What hasn’t really changed for Andre Iguodala are high assist numbers for his position and poor free throw shooting. Iguodala’s free throw shooting began to decline from the beginning of his first Warriors stint. For better or worse, Iguodala probably shouldn’t be on the court in closing minutes for this Warriors’ team, so maybe the poor free throw shooting isn’t a huge deal anymore.
An older version of Iguodala who doesn’t attack the rim as much will have to up his three point percentage to not muck up the Warriors’ spacing. Whether Iguodala can do that is anyone’s guess. On the immortal versions of the Steve Kerr coached Warriors, Iguodala never topped 36.2% from three and that was with a significant amount of minutes played next to Steph Curry and variants of closing time Death Lineup(s). The bench units Iguodala figures to spend most of his minutes with will have better shooting up and down the lineup than dynasty era units led by Iguodala and Shaun Livingston, but their collective IQ will pale in comparison to the Warriors of old.
How Iguodala will fit into those lineups will be a curious development — I’d figure Iguodala is pressed into ball handling duties to free up Jordan Poole to hunt shots but what does that do to somebody like Juan Toscano-Anderson who is not yet a volume three point shooter? JTA’s assist numbers skyrocketed when Eric Paschall and James Wiseman got hurt late in the season and the Warriors went small. Toscano-Anderson’s bigger role as a initiator ala Draymond coincided with a late season offensive surge from Jordan Poole who finally had another capable passer alongside him in bench units.
If Iguodala is taking the bulk of those frontcourt touches while Poole is off-ball, JTA needs to bomb credibly from deep. If JTA and Andre split those possessions, then both of them need to shoot from deep on volume. Playing Nemanja Bjelica alongside JTA, Iguodala, and Poole gives the Warriors enough shooting to survive, but what of the defense and the Warriors’ ability to put pressure on the rim? Do you then slot in Andrew Wiggins at the 2? Do you go ultra small with a Poole/Lee/Wiggins/Andre/JTA lineup? Where does Otto Porter Jr. fit into relation to Iguodala and Toscano-Anderson? What about the Warriors rookie wings, Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody?
These questions might take well over half of the season to answer, but Andre Iguodala has a wealth of experience to draw from and should feel comfortable trying to play whatever role the Warriors ask of him. Whether he can do so at his age is another question altogether, but Iguodala’s presence will provide much needed stability and veteran knowhow to a young Warriors team.
Andre Iguodala’s shot profile:
Restricted area: 65% on 40 attempts.
Non-restricted area paint: 42.9% on 14 attempts.
Mid-range: 25% on 12 attempts.
Left corner 3: 43.9% on 41 attempts.
Right corner 3: 33.3% on 51 attempts.
Above the break 3: 29.4% on 85 attempts.
Floaters: 0% on 2 attempts.
Layups and fingers rolls: 46.4% on 43 attempts.
Dunks: 89.5% on 19 attempts.
FGA% per total drives: 20%.
Assisted by: Goran Dragic (21), Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler (11), Tyler Herro (10), Kendrick Nunn (9), Duncan Robinson (7), Gabe Vincent and Kelly Olynyk (4), Max Strus and Precious Achiuwa (2), Avery Bradley, Trevor Ariza, and Victor Oladipo (1).
Total FG’s assisted: 64
FGM% assisted: 88.4%
FGM% unassisted: 11.6%
Of all the players I’ve written about in the extended Warriors universe, Iguodala has one of the highest percentages of assisted FGM’s. Iguodala’s 92 combined shot attempts from either corner is the highest since his pre-Warrior days and in far less minutes. Iguodala is an imperfect floor spacer, but having him hang out in the corner might be a good way to preserve his body on offense and limit his shot diet to threes and restricted area attempts off of cuts.
What is concerning in Iguodala’s shot profile is that shots in the restricted area accounted for the lowest percentage of his total shot attempts in his career. Restricted area shots attempts were just 16.1% of all of his shot attempts last year. In his final season with the Warriors, 35.7% of Iguodala’s were in the restricted area. In his previous years with the Warriors that percentage was 34.3%, 38.1%, 32.8%, 30.0% and 32.1%. It’s also jarring to see Iguodala shoot an Oubresque 46.3% on layups and finger rolls. In Iguodala’s previous stint with the Warriors, his lowest percentages on layups and finger rolls were 50% in the 2018-19 season and 55.8% in the 2015-16 season.
Simply put, it’s unreasonable to expect Andre Iguodala to be a shot finisher anymore. God forbid Steph Curry or Jordan Poole miss significant time, Iguodala is probably best suited to play minutes as a quasi back-up point guard. Even with a fully healthy team, that role probably makes a lot of sense for Iguodala as a way of minimizing his potentially detrimental effects on the Warriors’ spacing. It’s very hard to imagine Iguodala being much of a vertical threat cutting baseline as he was in the dynasty days and it’s even harder to imagine Iguodala creating his own looks in the paint. Players like that have to be killer shooters or provide immense value as a playmaker to not tank a team on offense.
This diminished version of Andre Iguodala is probably best suited to a role where he is not asked to be a shotmaker. That has been the case for most of his time in the Bay Area but will doubly true as he plays what seem to be his final games in the NBA.
I’ve included shot charts from Positive Residual for Iguodala’s previous three seasons below.
2020-21:
2019-20:
2018-19:
The lineup stats!
I’ll be using Cleaning the Glass’s non-garbage time lineups here.
Notable 5 man combos (positive ones bolded):
G. Vincent/T. Herro/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +7.2 net rating (112.2 ORTG) in 180 possessions.
T. Herro/D. Robinson/J. Butler/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +4 net rating (110 ORTG) in 150 possessions.
G Dragic/K. Nunn/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +8 net rating (120 ORTG) in 100 possessions.
G. Dragic/K.Nunn/T. Herro/Iguodala/D. Dedmon: +4.5 net rating (113 ORTG) in 69 possessions.
G. Dragic/K. Nunn/M. Strus/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +27.1 net rating (123.8 ORTG) in 63 possessions.
G. Dragic/T. Herro/J. Butler/Iguodala/P. Achiuwa: -1.9 net rating (95 ORTG) in 60 possessions.
G. Dragic/T. Herro/D. Robinson/Iguodala/P. Achiuwa: -22.4 net rating (86.2 ORTG) in 58 possessions.
G. Dragic/K. Nunn/T. Herro/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: -20.5 net rating (121.8 ORTG) in 55 possessions.
G. Dragic/A. Bradley/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +16.8 net rating (124.5 ORTG) in 53 possessions.
K. Nunn/T. Herro/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: -23.2 net rating (100 ORTG) in 53 possessions.
K. Nunn/D. Robinson/T. Ariza/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: -13.6 net rating (110.4 ORTG) in 48 possessions.
G. Dragic/G. Vincent/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +4.6 net rating (127.1 ORTG) in 48 possessions.
G. Vincent/K. Nunn/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +24 net rating (129.8 ORTG) in 47 possessions.
K. Nunn/M. Strus/D. Robinson/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +44.6 net rating (127.9 ORTG) in 43 possessions.
G. Vincent/K. Nunn/M. Strus/Iguodala/B. Adebayo: +3.1 net rating (111.4 ORTG) in 35 possessions.
What immediately sticks out here is that Iguodala is the power forward in every single one of these lineups. Perhaps that distinction didn’t matter nearly as much when Iguodala played next to Jimmy Butler or Trevor Ariza, but it’s still striking that Miami Heat coach, Erik Spoelstra, determined that Iguodala was best suited to playing a quasi-big role for his team. I’m encouraged to see so many lineups with positive net ratings here. Most of the lineups that come up positive have several non-Iguodala ball-handlers in them — the Warriors really only have Steph Curry and Jordan Poole as credible ball-handlers, so maybe that’s a point of concern — or a few shooters.
The Warriors figure to have shooting chops, health provided, so that’s encouraging, but I do have my concerns about Steve Kerr’s ability to put together lineups that put pressure on the rim. It’s possible that rim pressure will have to come at the expense of spacing, so maybe Andre plays lots of time with Andrew Wiggins. Maybe, instead, the Warriors embrace shooting in Iguodala-centric lineups to manufacture restricted area attempts from attacking closeouts.
If there is predictive value in Iguodala’s lineup stats in his last season with the Heat, I suspect it’s in his positional role. If Juan Toscano-Anderson can shoot at volume next year, he and Iguodala make sense together as an interchangeable 3/4 combo. The same can be said for Otto Porter Jr. if he’s healthy. If Klay Thompson is even at 60% of what he used to be, he could slot in as a more slow footed version of himself at the 3 with an Iguodala and Green frontcourt. There are options here with Iguodala and Steve Kerr is bound to try them.
Out of curiosity, I looked up Iguodala’s lineup stats for the bubble playoffs where the Miami Heat lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals. They are screenshotted below, as are Iguodala’s lineup stats in the regular season of the 2018-19 season and the 2019 playoffs.
2020 playoffs lineup stats:
2018-2019 regular season lineup stats:
2019 playoffs lineup stats:
What’s next for Andre Iguodala?
When he announced to the New York Times that he was coming back to the Golden State Warriors, Andre Iguodala made it clear that the Warriors would be his final NBA team. In a recent interview with The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, Steph Curry said this about Iguodala:
“I think there was a question of, like, did he have a year or two left in the tank to even make a decision of wanting to come back? The way I’ve heard him talk and saw him the other day, the dude’s motivated. It’s not just, ‘I’m coming back to be a chaperone and try to fade into the sunset in the Warrior jersey.’”
Iguodala only signed a one year contract, which would imply that this will be his swan song season. But who knows? Maybe after this season he feels like the recovery of Klay Thompson and development of the Warriors’ young players will allow him a chance to keep playing and preserve his body.
In the abstract, we know what Andre Iguodala provides to the Golden State Warriors — stability, intelligence, and emotional comfort. But as Iguodala nears 40, his availability will be limited. Andre Iguodala will have moments this season where he turns back the clock and helps the Warriors win games, I’m certain of that. But those moments will be far less frequent than we are used to. I suspect that some of Andre’s minutes this year will leave Warriors with an uncomfortable feeling of sadness, not unlike the final seasons of Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum’s storied careers with the San Francisco Giants.
Still, Iguodala is an invaluable resource to the Warriors. If the Warriors find themselves reliant on Andre Iguodala minutes at any point this season, things will have gone terribly wrong or magnificently right. I will choose to go into this season viewing every positive Iguodala minute as a cherry on top and an emotionally satisfying coda to the career of one of this generation’s most underappreciated wings.
Where Iguodala’s deepest value will lay is in the locker room where he will take a leadership role that frees Steph Curry and Draymond Green from having to not only carry a team to victory but hold the hands of the organization’s various young players; Iguodala’s value will be seen in the continued development of James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody; his value will be felt as Jordan Poole and Juan Toscano-Anderson build off of their sophomore NBA seasons and how to play championship level basketball; and his value will be felt on the rare occasions that Iguodala glides into a lob on the baseline and swoops his arms out on the landing and you will remember what the Warriors (and Iguodala) have been before and what you hope they can be again. If everything, and I mean everything breaks right, maybe Iguodala is here for the Warriors’ return to the top of the mountain and that’s what we should hope for but not be foolish enough to expect.