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Ranking Warriors’ pressing NBA free agency needs by position originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
From the outside looking in, the Warriors are stepping into Sunday’s opening of NBA free agency having already taken two steps back between their Paul-George-Klay-Thompson quandary that might become a real problem for the front office.
In either case of the Warriors trading or waiving Chris Paul, they always were going to have 11 players under contract going into free agency.
“We’ve got some spots to fill. We’ve got some needs to fill,” Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy said Thursday after the NBA draft. “We’ll turn the page here from draft to free agency and see what we can do.”
Some spots are more important than others for the Warriors to fill. Some needs are more urgent than others, too. Following the draft with work to be done, here are the Warriors’ free agency needs ranked by position and skill sets.
5. Backup Point Guard
Whatever your feelings are on Paul’s one season with the Warriors after years of being one of the organization’s greatest rivals, Steve Kerr constantly praised Paul for giving him his best non-Steph Curry minutes ever at the position. Paul is going to be gone. There is once again a hole here on the Warriors’ roster.
The only other option on the Warriors’ roster right now is someone who’s a real candidate to be their starting shooting guard: Brandin Podziemski.
The 21-year-old ranked fourth among rookies in total assists last season behind Scoot Henderson, Keyonte George and Victor Wembanyama. Henderson totaled 212 turnovers, George turned it over 188 times and Wembanyama had 260 turnovers, just 14 fewer than his 274 assists.
Podziemski turned the ball over 88 times. The All-Rookie First Team selection also tallied 273 assists. That ranked fourth on the Warriors behind Paul, Draymond Green and Curry.
Paul struggled to bring the ball up against pressure defense. Podziemski already showed he can handle that heat. But he also played as much small forward as point guard. Even if Podziemski is handling the ball more often in his second season, the Warriors have a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ranking-warriors-pressing-nba-free-171749723.html
Author : NBC Sports BayArea
Publish date : 2024-06-30 17:17:49
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