Kent Bazemore (Kelley L Cox / USA TODAY Sports), and Toney Douglas (Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports)
The Golden State Warriors are a deep team with plenty of backup options. They may have lost Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry, but as restated over and over again, they have signed replacements, and the Warriors’ bench is looking even better than it was last year. If it’s possible, the Warriors, who weren’t supposed to make huge changes, have had a bench overhaul and are looking even stronger.
People are quick to criticize when someone makes a bold statement saying that the Warriors are going to finish a higher seed than they were last year, but I believe this to be true. They’ve got the home crowd, they’ve got the finishers (Andre Iguodala), they’ve got the defenders, and they got some of the best shooters in the league. As far as I’m concerned right now, the only thing holding the Warriors back from a possible championship run is experience, something that very few of their players actually have.
With this being said, the Warriors look like they’re set for next year. They have solid players coming off the bench and solid starters. Which two players, however, could be the Warriors’ breakout players?
Kent Bazemore:
Bazemore nobly lead the Warriors to the first ever summer league championship, and proceeded to post the cliche instagram picture of himself hugging the trophy. I’m sure it was a huge honor to win the first one, but what does this mean for him? As a sophomore, he was outplaying some of the lottery picks and he himself was undrafted last year.
This means that teams overlooked him and the Warriors signing him was a great move. He’s showing potential and he knows how to play the game, indicating that he’s going to be a good player. If he’s frequently in the rotation this year, and not just apart of the defensive unit, I think that he’s good enough to average at least six points per game, maybe more. He had some of the summer league highs, and he was playing against some of the best rookies in the NBA today.
This means that he’s good enough to get some real NBA minutes instead of just garbage time. What the Warriors need to realize about Bazemore, however, is that he will flourish if given the opportunity. Mark Jackson needs to play him for extended minutes along with the backup unit, and maybe even in crunch time. He may be a damn good cheerleader, but that’s not all he can do.
Toney Douglas:
The Douglas signing was a very smart move by the Warriors, considering they needed a backup point guard. The only problem, however, is if Curry misses a few games with an ankle injury, then Douglas cannot immediately come in and score 20 points on a given night. He may able to get hot from the 3-point line, but how likely is that?
As opposed to Jack, however, Douglas is an elite defender. If he’s in the game with Klay Thompson and Iguodala, the Warriors are going to be solid on the perimeter, and some of the more explosive teams like the Thunder are going to have a harder time than usual making their regular plays. Curry will obviously get more minutes than Douglas because he’s the main offensive weapon, but Douglas will be in there for defensive purposes.
Based on what I’ve seen, Douglas isn’t a very motivated basketball player. When signed by the Warriors, however, he was more excited than ever, and he looks to be motivated this season. He said that he vowed to be the next Jack. While that may not be true, because Barnes will be the sixth man, I think that it shows that Douglas is determined to do some damage from the bench, no matter the number of minutes he gets.