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Golden State Warriors: How Steve Kerr plans to use D’Angelo Russell

By Connor Littler

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 18: D'Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles around Los Angeles Lakers defense during the third quarter of the game at Barclays Center on December 18, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 18: D'Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles around Los Angeles Lakers defense during the third quarter of the game at Barclays Center on December 18, 2018 in New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Golden State Warriors
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 30: D’Angelo Russell #1 of the Brooklyn Nets drives against the Memphis Grizzliesduring their game at the Barclays Center on November 30, 2018 in New York City. Golden State Warriors D’Angelo Russell (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

1. Pick-and-roll

The most obvious aspect of the offense which will be different is pick-and-roll frequency. Steve Kerr touched on this subject during the interview. He said, “my guess is we’ll run more screen-and-roll than we have in the past.”

Besides Russell’s talent for running the play, Kerr also pointed to the offseason losses as a reason to why they might have to run less motion and more pick-and-roll.

He mentioned the loss of players who can “distribute the ball,” and that he didn’t know yet what his new young guys bring to the table in that regard.

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Despite that, he still advocated a motion-based offense, saying that he’s “always going to believe as a basketball coach that the ball has to move.” However, Kerr then immediately qualified that statement, saying “you always to take the most advantage of your talent.”

Last season, Russell had the second-highest pick-and-roll possessions per game with 11.4, behind Kemba Walker at 11.8. Curry, on the other hand, ran less than half of what Russell did with just 5.1 per game.

Despite Russell’s frequency, he was much less efficient than Curry in these situations. He only scored 0.89 points per pick-and-roll possession, whereas Curry scored 1.02 in these situations, on average.

Given this information, we’re hoping that Curry will be able to give Russell some tips on how to run pick-and-roll more efficiently which might help the offense when D’Angelo Russell is running it.

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