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Steve Kerr remains committed to the Warriors’ starting lineup, whether or not it’s Golden State’s best five-man unit at the moment.
Steph Curry, Kelly Oubre Jr., Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and James Wiseman have shown flashes together since Green’s season started on Jan. 1, but they are yet to click. In Monday’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, for example, Oubre was the only Golden State starter to finish with a positive points differential (plus-5) in his best game of the season.
Kerr said on Tuesday on 95.7 “Damon, Ratto and Kolsky” of the game that he would continue to start these five groups to build chemistry.
“If I had to win a game tomorrow, I wouldn’t start this group,” Kerr said. “If it was a one-time thing, I’d start a different group and probably go to different combinations. But this is the team that I want to see develop a very good defensive identity, and James needs to be there. -low. Kelly and Andrew should be together on the wings, keeping LeBron [James]and Kawhi [Leonard], and Paul George and all these guys. “
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Curry and Green have chemistry worthy of the players who have been teammates for nearly a decade, but Oubre, Wiggins and Wiseman remain newcomers. Wiseman hasn’t even played 20 games in college and in the NBA since graduating from high school in 2019, Wiggins hasn’t played a single game with Curry and Green in the Warriors roster. last season and Golden State traded for Oubre not even two months ago.
Wiseman barely attended training camp, and Green didn’t attend at all, so the Warriors newbies only really practiced together for a little over a month. They started nine games together in 2021, a byproduct of a compressed schedule amid an ongoing global pandemic.
The lack of group cohesion, according to Kerr, is only natural.
“So it’s going to take a while, and in the meantime, it’s going to be growing pains,” Kerr continued. “But I’m okay with that because in order for us to be great on the road – whether it’s by the end of the year or even next season – James has to develop, and Kelly and Andrew have to get on with it. comfortable. I’m willing to sacrifice some things at the start of the season to try to get to where we want to be later. “
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The slow start to the starting lineup has yet to sink the Warriors. Golden State is 5-4 since Green returned, entering eighth place in the Western Conference on Tuesday.
There are still 59 games left on the Warriors’ schedule, and Kerr seems willing to use each of them to make sure Golden State’s starting lineup lives up to their collective potential.
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