The Warriors loss got me thinking....The Durant acquisition is an unprecedented experiment as a team has for the first time willingly given up any ability to rebound the ball adequately on both ends. Some obvious consequences follows: (1) There is an immense pressure in scoring on your first shot because missing means surrendering possession. (2) You are going to take a hit on D no matter how elite your perimeter defenders are because you are conceding 2nd and 3rd chance shots. The other team, if it has an elite rebounding frontcourt, can keep rebounding until they score.(OKC did the same thing to the Spurs in last season's playoffs). (3) More importantly, you are giving up control of the pace of the game. The Spurs showed how deadly this can be as they had the leisure to run when the fastbreak was on or play a slower half-court offence where size gives them an advantage. The Warriors were unable to make use of their speed on offense. Worse; they had to defend fast breaks when they could not get numbers back or defend against size on the block. The Warriors' experiment comes at an interesting moment in NBA history where mobile big men like Adams, Turner, Porzingis, Noel, KAT, Embiid and Davis are starting to modify the game. They may not defend adequately in the open court but in the half-court they are more than capable which is very interesting since now opponents playing small ball cannot force them to run. Thoughts?
How has adding Durant and subtracting Harrison Barnes hurt their rebounding? Durant, Draymond and Zaza will be just fine rebounding the ball.
Zaza was a better rebounder last year (per game and per minute) than Andrew Bogut AND Fest Ezeli. Fact. 9.4 a game, 12.6 Per 36. Both better marks than Andrew or Festus.
Nope the Warriors will be much worse, getting Durant made them less likely to win a chip - you can guard perimeter players - they are too much jump shot, and no rebounding or interior scoring. DD
They also provide far superior interior defense/rim protection. Losing them both was big. I still think they win it all though.
