Golden State Warriors: How can the team replace Kevin Durant’s impact?
2. Post-Scoring
Out of post-ups, Durant was fifth in the league in points per possession with 1.04. He will be a difficult player to replace from that perspective. His combination of size, length and just a high release point is something that cannot be directly replaced.
There are a few players that the Warriors could look to on low frequency to provide some post-up scoring: Omari Spellman and D’Angelo Russell.
Omari Spellman
Post-ups are a big part of Spellman’s game and if he is to play a big role on this Warriors team then he’ll be expected to take advantage of mismatches in the post. He’ll play a similar role to Brook Lopez for the Milwaukee Bucks.
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He’ll be expected to space the floor as a stretch five, but if he gets a mismatch down low then he’ll be needed to score from the post. This should be something Spellman is comfortable with.
D’Angelo Russell
Russell is big for a point guard at 6-foot-5. Against smaller guards, the Warriors should look to get Russell in the low post against shorter, weaker guards.
He has an array of turnaround fadeaways and face-up plays which he can use to score down on the block. This will be used especially when Curry is on the bench, leaving Russell to play point guard. This is when the mismatches will be the most pronounced.