Getty Golden State Warriors wing Damion Lee celebrates during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Although Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and a resurgent Draymond Green have been the headline-grabbers, the Golden State Warriors have been cooking from top to bottom this year.
Curry may be the MVP frontrunner, and the Warriors’ starting five is a league-best plus-175 in just over 700 minutes on the court this season despite the absence of a major piece of the puzzle. But bench play has also gone a long way toward propelling the club to the best record in the NBA as of this writing.
Steve Kerr’s support crew isn’t just good; it may be the top bench in the Association, even as its top scorer, Damion Lee, is putting up just 8.5 points per game.
For his part, Bleacher Report’s Dan Favale is ready to crown Lee and his reserve running mates.
B/R: ‘Capability in Numbers’ Propelling Dubs Bench
In his top-five ranking of the league’s best bench units, Golden State came in at No. 1 with a bullet for Favale. For him, it’s the group’s whole being greater than the sum of its parts that puts it above the rest. The Warriors may not have a sub like Tyler Herro or Kelly Oubre flirting with 20 points each night (yet), but they are still shredding the competition.
Wrote Favale:
Success from second-stringers too often gets oversimplified. Perhaps this falls under the umbrella. Sometimes, though, the strength of reserves is really just about talent and having loads of it.
Like the Golden State Warriors do.
Head coach Steve Kerr has a ton of competence at his disposal. Nemanja Bjelica, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Otto Porter Jr., Damion Lee, Gary Payton II and Andre Iguodala (nursing a knee injury) would all crack the rotation of any other NBA team. That Golden State has Chris Chiozza and Jonathan Kuminga minutes in its back pocket is just unfair.
He refers to it as “capability in numbers,” a term that hits the nail on the head. Porter was a high-level starter on a max deal just a couple of years ago. Iggy is a former All-Star and Finals MVP. Bjelica has been one of the game’s stretch big men. And so on.
The end result is a bench unit that is outscoring opponents by eight points per 100 possessions. It’s a number that could get even higher in the not-so-distant future, too.
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The Return of Klay Thompson & James Wiseman Could Make the Bench Even More Dominant
The crazy thing about all of this is that Klay Thompson has yet to return. If he is put right back into the starting five, that will bump Poole, which would give Kerr a legit super-sub and go-to guy when the big guns are sitting. Or, perhaps Thompson could work his way back into form with the bench.
That would give the second unit one of the game’s all-time great shooters and a two-way master if he’s anything close to the pre-injury Klay.
Meanwhile, former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman still hasn’t played a game, either. His return would give Kerr yet another sterling option in the first five or off the bench. As a rookie, put up 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game — marks that figure to explode over the next few years.
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