Warriors’ weaknesses hard to find, but there might be some

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Steinmetz

The Golden State Warriors don’t have many weaknesses. That much we know. Yes, the Warriors got knocked off the by Lakers on Sunday in LA, but that doesn’t change the big picture: They’re still the odds-on favorites to win the NBA title.

As we head down the stretch of the regular season, a few minor issues have cropped up for the Warriors. These, of course, aren’t big problems because there can’t be any big problems when you’re 55-6. Still, if you’re looking to nit-pick, here’s what’s a tad troublesome:

Free throw shooting: The Warriors rank 17th in the league in foul shooting percentage at 75 percent, and all in all, that doesn’t sound like too much of a weakness. But we know those numbers are a little bit skewed when you consider Stephen Curry is shooting 90.8 percent from the line and Klay Thompson 85.9 percent from there.

But Draymond Green (.675), Andre Iguodala (.623), Andrew Bogut (.468) and the injured Festus Ezeli  (.532) have all had their issues at the line at one time or another. When you start to think of how efficient the Warriors can be at times, it might start becoming more tempting for opponents to foul

For example, in their Feb. 27 come-from-behind win over the Thunder, the Warriors had eight possessions in the game’s final eight minutes (three in regulation and five in overtime) where they came away with three points. That kind of offensive explosiveness could very well force opponents to begin to foul more — rather than take the chance of giving up the potential of three points per possession.

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Warriors assistant GM Travis Schlenk: On what team looks for in a player, what they saw in Draymond Green, why Anderson Varejao fits in, etc.

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Steinmetz

Warriors assistant general manager Travis Schlenk is in his 12th year with the organization and is the only member of the team’s front office who has been around for every move the team has made assembling the current roster.

Schlenk joined the “NBA This Week” from Baltimore, Md., where he was scouting the CAA tournament. We talked in detail with Schlenk about the ins and outs of scouting and what he’s looking for in the next Golden State Warriors player.

Here is the link to the interview with Travis Schlenk on 95.7-FM The Game.

Here are bullet points from the interview:

–If you look at the Warriors’ core, you see their players have played for great college coaches. Steph Curry played for Bob McKillop at Davidson, a very respected coach; Andre Iguodala played for Lute Olson in Arizona; Andrew Bogut played for Rick Majerus in Utah; Harrison Barnes for Roy Williams at North Carolina and Draymond Green for Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Is that something you look for, that kind of pedigree?

Schlenk: “And you forgot Klay Thompson with Tony Bennet at Washington State. Great coach as well. It’s obviously a huge advantage for players if they’re coached by good coaches, even before they get to college. If you’re a young kid and fortunate enough to have a good youth coach, a good high school coach you could be light years ahead just in your knowledge of the game and having it taught the correct way since Day 1.

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Thunder and Cavaliers must look like same team to Warriors

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Steinmetz

There remains plenty of sentiment out there that the Oklahoma City Thunder are still the toughest matchup for the Warriors. It’s not a crazy notion, either. Yes, the Warriors completed a three-game season sweep of OKC at Oracle on Thursday night with a 121-106 win, but all things considered each and every game was competitive.

Which is more than San Antonio, Cleveland and the LA Clippers can say because the Warriors have blown out each of those teams once a piece this season on their way to 55-5.

In their three losses to the Warriors, the Thunder have been up nine with 4-plus minutes remaining in the third quarter (Thursday); up 11 with under five minutes remaining in fourth quarter (last Saturday); and tied with three-and-a-half minutes left in the fourth quarter (Feb. 6)

So they’ve been right there, on the one hand.

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