Preseason Observation 1: Why do the Warriors play so fast? What is the crux of the starting lineup digging holes?

After the two preseason games, the discussion among Warriors fans mainly focused on the performance of several young people, arguing with each other about who played worse. But in fact, the height of the Warriors' lineup for the new season is more determined by the four veterans. Although they only played for about 15 minutes in the first two games, it is still obvious that the coaching staff's training intentions are very frequent, especially for fast attack training. So in today’s article, we will focus on two questions. One is why the Warriors are playing so fast now, especially during the time when the four veterans come on stage; the other is why the starting lineup always digs holes at the beginning, and what are the possible solutions:

1. Warriors The fast-playing whirlwind

How fast the Warriors played in the past two games can be understood from the table above. In the first half of the past two preseason games, when the starting players played a large number of games, the game rhythm was above 110. If the rhythm of 111 in the first game has seemed mediocre in the past five seasons, the rhythm of 115 against the Trail Blazers yesterday was obviously deliberate.

So I counted how many rounds the Warriors took in the battle with the Trail Blazers when there was more than 16 seconds left on the clock, which is the concept of "8-second offense." It turned out that the Warriors took a total of 25 shots in the first quarter, 11 of which completed the "8-second offense." The ratio is as high as 44%; if only the time period when the four veterans are on the court is counted, 50% of the time they have achieved quick offense, including many times Curry's rapid advancement/long throw after getting backcourt rebounds or out-of-bounds serves, Horford's advancement with the ball, Butler Kuminga's rapid advancement, etc. Judging from the actual results, 6 of these 11 quick attack shots were direct hits, and the 5 missed shooting opportunities were also good (including Horford's missed 3-pointer in the corner, Curry's missed 3-pointer on the screen, Moody's layup on an air cut, Post's missed 3-pointer in the open, and Hield's handoff 3-pointer). It can be said that the Warriors did produce very good results in these fast attack rounds and created a large number of high-quality opportunities.

So why does the Warriors coaching staff place so much emphasis on fast offensive drills with the starting lineup at the beginning of training camp? I think the main reasons are as follows:

1. Transition offense is a trend in the NBA, and the Warriors did not perform well last season

The above table shows the specific production and efficiency values of the team that ranked 10th in the league in transition offense ratio per season in the past ten years. You can see that the league's 10th transition offense in the 2016 season Switching offenses accounted for only 15.6% of all offenses. By the 2025 season, it had grown to 20.6%, and it has shown a trend of continuous growth over the past 10 years. At the same time, the efficiency value of the 10th team's fast break has basically stabilized at the level of 1.15 points per round. It increases production without reducing efficiency, indicating that this offense still has room for continued improvement. In fact, in the 25th season, the regular season conversion offense ratio of all teams in the league has exceeded the pick-and-roll ball-shooting ratio, becoming the second most productive offensive method, second only to fixed-point shooting, which fully shows its importance.

On the other hand, the Warriors' fast break output and efficiency in the 25th season can only be ranked in the middle of the league, but the team's ability to cause opponents to make mistakes is fourth in the league. This means that the Warriors can cause a large number of opponents to make mistakes last season, but these mistakes cannot be converted into points efficiently, which is equivalent to a large part of the unremitting efforts on the defensive end being wasted. Especially after Butler joined the team, the Warriors ranked first in the league in their ability to create turnovers during the same period. If they can convert them into fast break points more efficiently, it will greatly improve the Warriors' overall offensive efficiency.

2. The passing and controlling ability of the Warriors' core lineup has been greatly improved

From the above table, we can see that the Warriors' passing system once had good fast break genes. The team's fast break production in the 16-19 seasons was at the top level in the league. However, entering 2.0 After the era, it fell to the middle or even middle-lower level. This is mainly related to two factors - the team's overall shooting environment has been greatly degraded, resulting in the inability to open up space during fast breaks, wasting a lot of more opportunities and less opportunities; the team's overall passing and control ability has been degraded, resulting in constant mistakes during fast breaks.

After the introduction of Butler and Horford, the team's passing and control capabilities have been greatly improved, especially the combination of Curry + Butler + Dream Chasing + Horford, which has been extensively experimented in these two games. The four of them have excellent passing, controlling and sharing the ball, and can quickly capture fleeting opportunities. During a fast attack, the opponent's defensive formation is often not fully arranged, and loopholes often appear. This is the time to use your high football intelligence.

For example, the first "8-second offense" in this game was when Curry passed the ball from the backcourt to Butler, and then passed to Horford in the corner and missed an open three-pointer. The whole process only took two passes to quickly find a good opportunity before the opponent was fully positioned. There were also a large number of rounds in which there were good opportunities to take action after less than 3 passes. "Accurate pass" is much more important than "pass more."

However, these two games are just a small test in the preseason. Whether such a fast offensive idea is still effective at the regular season level requires further observation. Especially in the context of opponents being prepared, whether the Warriors can regain the 1.0 version of the fast-playing whirlwind deserves continued observation and tracking.

In addition to fast break training, Cole said that the focus of the second week's training is to "attack around Butler's single threat." This training project will be more worthy of attention than fast break, because historically speaking, Butler and Horford are both players who are better at slow-paced positional battles. Last season, the Warriors did not fully adapt to the switching problem between the two rhythms (Curry's fast and Butler's slow). How to achieve 1+1>2 when Curry and Butler are on the court at the same time is an important issue for the team in the new season.

2. Why does the Warriors starting lineup always dig holes at the beginning?

Although the Warriors always scored a lot of points by playing fast in these two games, in fact, the team was always lagging behind in the first few minutes of the game.. In fact, it has become a habit for the Warriors' starting lineup to dig holes at the beginning. Especially after Butler came last season, the team also experienced the experience of falling behind by 20 points against the Bulls and Nets before recovering to take the lead. So why does the Warriors' starting lineup always dig holes at the beginning?

According to my personal opinion, the main reason is that Curry and Butler are not used to attacking in the opening or even the first half. Instead, they create opportunities for their teammates to get into the state early. For example, in the past few seasons, offensive tactics were assigned to Clay or Wiggins at the beginning, allowing them to provide firepower in the early stages of the game. The characteristic of these two is that they are relatively comprehensive on the offensive end, and can be used both inside and outside. But the problem is that except for Kuba, the offensive abilities of everyone else in the current Warriors lineup are inconsistent and rely heavily on three-point shooting. Once three-pointers are missed consecutively, there is a high possibility of falling behind by a large margin.

Take the starter against the Trail Blazers as an example. Under the background that Curry and Butler do not hold the ball and mainly attack, more shot rights will flow to Moody, Dream Chaser and Horford. However, Dream Chaser and Horford have almost no output in attacking the frame and finishing near the frame as they grow older. Most of their shots are It comes from three-pointers, and Moody's passing and control ability is completely insufficient when facing a lineup like the Trail Blazers with many forwards and no small guards. Only three-point shooting is relatively reliable, which causes the team's offense to rely infinitely on three-point touch. As long as three-pointers are not scored continuously, the offense will become constipated.

Take the opening game against the Trail Blazers as an example. In the first 13 attacks of the game, the Warriors missed 7 shots, made 2 turnovers, and only scored 4 times. Among them, 5 of the 7 missed shots were three-pointers. One was a missed breakthrough with the ball that Horford has rarely used since he got older (forcing Horford to take more inside shots is an inefficient way). Another time was Moody's layup that was blocked by Hexion. Three of the four goals scored were three-pointers. Obviously, the ratio of three-pointers was ridiculously high. This situation was not relieved until Butler made two consecutive strong attacks after returning from the first timeout.

So how should the Warriors' starters be positioned? Assuming that the twin tower configuration of Curry + Butler + Dream Chaser + Horford is still used, if only the offensive end is considered, it is obviously reasonable to place Hield at the 2nd position. Double tactical shooters + twin towers are also the killer lineup for the 22-23 season. But if this lineup is used, it will first be a big test for Hield's outside defense ability. Although he has improved since coming to the Warriors, he is still better at dealing with strikers than defenders in terms of size. In fact, the most suitable outside defender in this lineup should be Butler. He has assumed such responsibilities for many seasons in the past. However, according to Cole's interview, he does not regard Butler as an outside defender. Therefore, it is difficult for the coaching staff to make up their mind to use this offensive lineup with the highest theoretical ceiling.

The second candidate is Moody, who started against the Trail Blazers. His specialty is that he "seems to have improved into a reliable three-point shooter who can implement some shooter tactics." At the same time, on the defensive end, he has been given a large number of perimeter defense tasks since last season. However, when facing a large team like the Trail Blazers, Moody's ability to break through with the ball still seems quite unreliable, and his passing and control ability is still shortcomings.

The third candidate is Bojie. His advantage is that he is versatile. He can pass and control, shoot, break through and finish near the frame, but his level in each of them is not very high. Especially in the first two games of the preseason, his near-frame finishing and three-point shooting did not show significant improvement. The only sign of improvement was his increased confidence in holding the ball and making three-pointers. If it were the March-April version of Boji this year, I would have voted for him, but the current version is a bit unconvincing. Whether it is Moody or Podger, one of Curry and Butler needs to take on the main offensive task at the beginning.

Finally, there is Melton. A healthy man seems to be the best answer, but until he returns from injury and can play, this is just a fantasy, and it will not solve the current problem, so there is no need to have high expectations before he officially returns. If none of the above candidates show an ability worthy of the coaching staff's trust during the regular season, then the No. 2 position will become the Warriors' top priority for reinforcements in the middle of the season.

Since the veterans did not have much playing time in the first two preseason games, and the overall rotation is also in the experimental stage, to see more changes and rotation order in the new season, we need to focus on observing the 1-2 preseason games in which the Warriors play at full strength. However, games with long rotations can also see exciting reversals. The atmosphere and spirit displayed by the team are quite outstanding~~ Richard and Claire are worthy of being the only players I love to watch in the summer league, and the NCAA championship and runner-up match temperament is well-deserved!