Golden State Warriors: Perimeter defense could be a problem next season

The Golden State Warriors have gone through quite a good amount of change this offseason, but perhaps nothing will be greater than the change they’ll see on defense.

The Golden State Warriors will look like a completely different team when they first take the floor back in San Francisco next season.

Gone are mainstays such as Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Shaun Livingston — and temporarily gone is star shooting guard Klay Thompson. And in their place, the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Willie Cauley-Stein, and more will be asked to step up.

While they may be able to replace their aging bench depth and Russell could provide a suitable replacement for Thompson for the time being, what they will not be able to replace is their contributions on the defensive side of the floor.

In short, the Warriors could have a real problem on their hands this season — and it shouldn’t be scoring the basketball.

While the Warriors dynasty made its name by scoring ungodly amounts at unprecedented rates, it was the team’s defense that often carried them to victory. But now, the backbone of the Warriors dynasty is set to change

More specifically, the team’s perimeter defense will be most affected.

Golden State will, of course, return defensive stalwart Draymond Green who is arguably the best defensive player in the NBA today with the accolades and analytics to back it up. They will also return valuable role player Kevon Looney who also provides some stout defense down low.

In fact, FiveThirtyEight’s aptly named defensive statistic “DRAYMOND” even rated Looney as the team’s top defender last season scoring a rating of 2.72. Unfortunately, only three current Warriors even graded out above-average — and two of them were Green and Looney.

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Even with the addition of the defensively-challenged Cauley-Stein, the Warriors frontcourt defense shouldn’t be a major concern at all. Throw in rookie second-round pick Eric Paschall and you have a very solid rotation of defenders to mask Cauley-Stein’s weaknesses.

However, the same cannot be said for the Warriors backcourt. And as such, their perimeter defense could struggle mightily next season.

Stephen Curry has never been known as a particularly strong defender and the same could be said for Russell. Russell’s 6-foot-10 wingspan allows him to record above-average steal and block rates but his overall team defense needs a ton of work.

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Essentially, Russell may be able to do a lot of the same things Thompson does on offense, but he will pale in comparison to his efforts on the defensive side. And the same could be said for the Warriors role players.

The aforementioned Livingston was a solid, well-rounded defender whose reach and wingspan allowed for the same steal and block production that we see from Russell — if not more. The only difference is that years of experience made Livingston a much better team defender than his younger adversary.

And on the wing, the likes of Jordan Poole and Alec Burks are hardly encouraging options — at least defensively. Burks has never been a stout defender as evidenced by his -1.49 DRAYMOND rating last season and Poole is still very inexperienced in that facet.

Replacing Durant and, more importantly, Iguodala on defense should prove challenging as well as projected starting small forward Alfonzo McKinnie grades out as a below-average defender. And don’t even get us started on Glenn Robinson III‘s “defense.”