Steve Kerr Still Leaning Towards Bringing Andre Iguodala Off The Bench
The Golden State Warriors are an offensive experiment. The Splash Brothers in the back court and the front court of David Lee and Andrew Bogut are established, but the wing-forward position can be a challenging mesh when you have Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes, and even Draymond Green as rotation options. Golden State signed Shaun Livingston over the summer as a back up point guard option for Steph Curry, but Livingston is sidelined for the first part of the season after having toe surgery.
New Warriors head coach Steve Kerr recently expressed the potential desire to bring Andre Iguodala off the bench as a supplementary point forward, and he’s still leaning towards that thinking, as reported by Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group:
I could make an argument he’s been our best player, especially over the last two weeks. Right now in the scrimmages, he’s the most impactful player that we have. The last couple of weeks, he has sort of determined who’s winning (the scrimmage) depending on what side he’s on.
So from that standpoint, you could call me an idiot. If he’s my best player and I’m not starting him, maybe I’m the one who’s wrong… The argument is absolutely there.
Calling Iguodala his best player is a stretch for those of us strongly familiar with Stephen Curry, but Kerr is simply talking impact, which is Iguodala’s specialty as an athlete, defender, scorer, rebounder, and timely scorer. His versatility gives Kerr the experimental freedom to use him as the second unit point guard at times, which would grant Harrison Barnes the starting small forward role.
Bench scoring and production is particularly emphasized after the San Antonio Spurs’ performance in the NBA Finals this past June. At least until Shaun Livingston returns, Steve Kerr seems to like the idea of using Iguodala to try and help create that competitive advantage for his Warriors.
