Golden State Warriors: Willie Cauley-Stein should start at center

The Golden State Warriors signed center Willie Cauley-Stein this offseason to bolster their frontcourt depth. Despite his disappointing tenure in Sacramento, Cauley-Stein should still start at center.

The Golden State Warriors made one of the more underrated moves of the offseason when they signed former Sacramento Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein to a two-year, $4.46 million contract.

Despite his struggles in Sacramento, there was a point when Cauley-Stein was considered one of the bright young big men in the NBA. And he definitely still has the talent to perform at that level.

Cauley-Stein entered the league back in 2015 as the sixth overall pick and wasted little time making an impact. The 22-year-old rookie would average 7.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game en route to earning NBA All-Rookie second-team honors.

Unfortunately, his career trajectory never seemed to go as planned as inconsistent play would become a common trend that would follow him throughout his time with the Kings.

Cauley-Stein would have stretches of excellent play where he looked the part of the athletic seven-foot big man that they selected sixth overall. But other times he would come across as disinterested and lackadaisical disappearing on defense and making foolish mistakes on offense.

That’s ultimately what led to the Kings decision to let Cauley-Stein — a restricted free agent this offseason — walk after just four years with the team. But just entering his prime, the market for a promising athletic big-man was certain to be plentiful.

That’s why it was so surprising to see the Warriors snatch him up so early into his time as a free agent. Just a couple of days after the Kings officially rescinded his rights, Cauley-Stein was on his way to Golden State to sign a contract with his new team.

Following the expected departure of DeMarcus Cousins, the Warriors were in need of another center option for next season. Even after re-signing standout role player Kevon Looney, it was clear that Damian Jones just wasn’t going to cut it.

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Now, after the trade for Atlanta Hawks castoff Omari Spellman and concurrent swap of Jones, the Warriors roster hosts three big men — Cauley-Stein, Looney, and Spellman.

And while Looney is an excellent candidate to start, the job should ultimately be given to Cauley-Stein. Now, this is anything but a knock on Looney.

The 23-year-old has been one of the most underappreciated members of the last few Warriors squads as his “Warrior spirit” and improved overall game have been invaluable coming off the bench.

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And that’s just it. Even with the Warriors revolving door at center once Cousins went down last season, Looney was almost exclusively kept on the bench. He simply meant too much to the second unit to justify putting him in the starting lineup.

For a Warriors team lacking in quality depth, his value was better felt with the second unit than it would have been with the starters. And that same thing should prove true this season.

While the Warriors did a good job reloading their depth with the little wiggle room that they had, much of their bench is relatively unproven. It would make sense to have a proven commodity coming off the bench in Looney to pair with the rest of the second unit.

On top of that, Looney’s defensive prowess would be better suited coming off the bench as well. It would be better to have a proven defensive liability in Cauley-Stein playing alongside defensive stalwart Draymond Green with the starters while Looney played with the second unit.