Golden State Warriors: Which lineups should the team run without Stephen Curry?
Who will start now?
Now that the Warriors have played four games, Steve Kerr has more of an idea about which players he can play in his rotation and what their roles should be.
Kerr now has a chance to start D’Angelo Russell at the point guard and really let him take the reins of this team. Jordan Poole will also be thrust into a much bigger role and Eric Paschall will be given more responsibility as well.
The starting lineup with the current roster should be:
- PG: D’Angelo Russell
- SG: Jordan Poole
- SF: Eric Paschall
- PF: Draymond Green
- C: Willie Cauley-Stein
This lineup has the right combination of size and shooting ability with high IQ players as well as tough defenders.
This is a lineup that Steve Kerr should go for based on what we’ve seen so far from the Warriors, however, Kerr has shown quite a strong preference for playing Glenn Robinson III a lot of minutes. Despite his weak start to the season, Robinson will probably start in place of Paschall.
However, Paschall has shown much more promise in his ability to make the right plays in their offense. He’s also shown he can be a good defender on the ball as well as in help defense for the team.
This lineup will allow Golden State to play the Kerr-ball that everybody has come to know and love. We’ve seen flashes of it this season, but not enough so far to bring about positive results.
Russell and Draymond Green will be the main ball-handlers and they can facilitate the offense. Jordan Poole will be in a Klay Thompson role, just running around off screens trying to find openings for three-pointers or layups.
Paschall will hopefully be able to play a similar kind of role to Andre Iguodala in the offense, but an even better shooter. He’ll be setting screens, making cuts to the hoop, making the extra pass when he needs to, and taking shots when he’s open.
Willie Cauley-Stein should be used just like all Warriors big men have been in the past. He’ll be at the low post making passes for post-splits and setting pin-downs for shooters.
He is not known as much of a passer, but there is some evidence of him being able to make good reads on offense and deliver passes on time and on the money.
The other talent which Cauley-Stein has is as a pick-and-roller. He can set big screens and is a lob threat whenever he drives towards the rim. He can be a very useful player in that regard in a similar role to that which JaVale McGee had on the Warriors.