Thanks to the Warriors’ hyper-fast, ultra-small lineup combinations, the breakneck pace at which they played, and the video-game scores they’d often put up, the Warriors were known as a fearsome offensive unit when Don Nelson ran the team.
However, that wasn’t exactly true last season. While the Warriors did average 108.8 points per game last season (while giving up 112.4 points per game) their high scoring totals were more a product of the Warriors shooting a lot rather than shooting particularly well. The Warriors were only 13th in offensive efficiency, and often struggled to score in the half court. Somewhere along the line, the Warriors’ ball movement was replaced by stagnant offensive sets and too much isolation play, and the offense too often consisted of four players watching Monta Ellis force a 20-foot jumper with 17 seconds left on the shot clock.
According to Irv Soonachan of SLAM Onine, new Warriors coach Keith Smart is hoping to improve the Warriors’ half-court offense by importing a version of the “flex” offense that Jerry Sloan has run for years in Utah:Thus far in the preseason, the most noticeable change might be on offense. Smart has borrowed the playbook of Utah disciplinarian Jerry Sloan to give the Warriors a more patient approach to the half-court game.
“We want to be able to control the tempo a little bit,” Smart said at a press conference this weekend. “If there’s a night where the break is really going and guys are making shots, we’re going to let them play that way. But when we’re not shooting well, we have to make sure we get good shots and get to the free throw line.”
Though Smart wouldn’t reference Sloan or Utah by name during his press conference, players and staffers say that nobody is hallucinating if they flash back to John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Jeff Hornacek. Or for that matter to Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer.
The Warriors are working on an offense very similar to Utah’s time-tested 1-4 high post set, usually with Stephen Curry in the Stockton/Williams role, David Lee in the Malone/Boozer role and Monta Ellis as Hornacek. They’ve also experimented (unsuccessfully) with Ellis at the point. As in Utah’s scheme, the offense features a multitude of UCLA cuts to free up the three primary scorers, and options where the small forward (Dorell Wright) controls the ball.This seems like a pretty good idea for the Warriors. The Warriors offense could definitely use some structure, because a lot of Warrior players picked up some bad habits in Nellie’s final seasons with the team. And not only is the flex a time-tested offense, but the pieces the Warriors have seem to fit: Steph Curry is a budding star at point guard, and David Lee is the most talented big man the Warriors have had in years. Time will tell if this offense will help the Warriors return to NBA relevance.