Golden State Warriors: 3 ways to mask D’Angelo Russell’s defensive woes
1. Precise Rotations
The Warriors’ defensive rotations are absolutely on point. This is clearly something the coaching staff works hard on at the start of the season to make sure everyone knows where to go and when.
More from Golden State Warriors
- Warriors unlikely to draft Anthony Edwards due to character concerns
- Warriors: September minicamp mimics NBA bubble
- Warriors: Eric Paschall named to NBA All-Rookie first team
- Warriors reportedly eyeing a wing in the 2020 NBA Draft
- Warriors: Is the team destined to trade its No. 2 overall draft pick?
It’s particularly important for them as in the playoffs they like to change their pick-and-roll coverages a bit to catch out the opposing offense.
Curry has been the target of a lot of pick-and-rolls in past playoffs and this has led Kerr to get creative with what he tells Curry to do. Something the Warriors have liked doing in the past is trapping the ball-handler if it’s a good player.
This is to make them pass the ball, to make someone else on the opposing team beat them. Against teams like the Houston Rockets and Portland Trail Blazers, it is highly effective.
Initiating the double-team means that there is going to be someone left open. Therefore the defense must execute defensive rotations quickly and correctly. This is something the Warriors are great at.
Russell can learn from Curry and the rest of the team how they do this. The defensive rotations will be one of the first things that he’ll learn at training camp.