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The Golden State Warriors took a pair of stiff blows from big man Nikola Jokic during Games 1 and 2 against the Nuggets and lived to tell the tale, but their lack of size in the pivot may still prove costly.
The odds-on favorite to capture NBA MVP honors is, of course, playing without the aid of injured ballers Jamal Murray and Michael Porter, Jr. Were Jokic’s co-stars healthy, the Draymond Green-Kevon Looney-Nemanja Bjelica trio’s inability to contain him would be more apparent.
Should the Warriors end up duking it out with any of the other elite big men who are active in the playoffs, that shortfall could come back to bite them.
With that being the case, there’s a thought among armchair GMs that the team should bring in more bulk this offseason, regardless of how the current postseason shakes out. To that end, former No. 2 pick James Wiseman has been oft mentioned as trade bait, and that noise has only grown louder amid his injury saga.
If the Dubs do decide to dangle the blue-chipper in their pursuit of a more seasoned center with a win-now skill set, one hoops pundit is of the belief that a suitable replacement could be plucked from a West rival.
B/R: Warriors Would Benefit From a Jakob Poeltl Trade
On Monday, Blacher Report’s Greg Swartz chronicled his latest foray into trade-machine tinkering. His obective: to identify the one trade that each playoff team “wishes it could make” in order to address a current weakness.
As relates to the Warriors, he floated the following trade scenario, which hearkens back to a similar proposal made here on Heavy.com:
- Golden State Warriors receive: C Jakob Poeltl, 2022 second-round pick (via LA Lakers)
- San Antonio Spurs receive: C James Wiseman
While the Warriors get a less desirable pick in this version of the trade, the basic concept remains the same. Golden State opts for a known quantity in the extremely underrated Poeltl, as well as a draft asset, over a would-be star who may never develop as the franchise hopes.
Wrote Swartz:
Poeltl would be an upgrade in the starting lineup over Kevon Looney and provide the Warriors with some additional size and defense should they be forced to play against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets again next postseason.
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Poeltl Isn’t Flashy, But He Brings a Ton to the Table
At 7-foot-1 and 245 pounds, Poeltl was built to go head-to-head with the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Joel Embiid, Rudy Gobert, Deandre Ayton, Steven Adams, et al. He’s a lot more than just a big body, though. The 26-year-old has the game on both ends of the court to make life hard on the aforementioned.
Poeltl finished the regular season as the league leader in contested shots per game at 14.2. Consequently, opponents had a field-goal percentage differential of minus-8.3% on attempts within six feet of the hoop when the Spurs big man was the closest defender.
On the other end, he’s a low-key game-changer offensively. In addition to scoring 13.5 points per game on 61.8% shooting — and 74.7% within three feet of the hoop — in 2021-22, Poeltl finished tied for second league-wide in screen assists at 5.5 per game. Moreover, he’s a sneaky good passer who can find teammates out of the low post.
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