Golden State Warriors: Analyzing the various lineups the team could use
6. Finishers/Death Lineup/Small
Stephen Curry, D’Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, Alfonzo McKinnie, Draymond Green
Before DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Warriors, they always used to finish close games with their ‘small-ball lineup of death.’
It used to be Curry, Thompson, Durant, Andre Iguodala, and Green. The Warriors’ 2019-20 version will be swapping Durant and Iguodala for Russell and McKinnie which is quite a big downgrade, there’s no doubt about it.
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The Warriors will be hoping that Russell can try to replace Iguodala’s playmaking and Durant’s isolation scoring. McKinnie will ideally fill Durant’s role on defense, while Thompson will have to take on some of the assignments that Iguodala used to have.
It would be foolish to suggest that this lineup will be as effective as their original ‘Hamptons Five’ lineup was, although it should fare reasonably well. The key here is playing Green at center. He is so mobile for a center that it feels like he is everywhere on defense.
On offense, the opposing big must defend Green, but the Warriors will hope he’s enough of a threat from three that he’ll drag the big out of the paint a bit to open up the lane for drives.
He famously shot very poorly last season — 28.5% from long range — however he’ll be working to improve that this offseason.
This lineup should see major minutes, particularly at the end of games and particularly against teams like the Houston Rockets who also play small-ball a lot.