SAN FRANCISCO — Hours before Friday’s 129-118 loss to the Pacers at Chase Center, the Warriors agreed to trade center Willie Cauley-Stein to the Mavericks for a 2020 second-round pick.
The deal will impact how the Warriors approach the center position for the rest of the season, and Friday’s game provided early signs of head coach Steve Kerr’s plan. Here are a few things to monitor for the remainder of the season.
Chriss, who the team waived and re-signed to a two-way contract earlier this month, was given the starting role in the first game after Cauley-Stein was traded. The trade will allow the Warriors to promote Chriss back to the 15-man roster, and it seems the starting center job is his to lose.
In 21 minutes, he had 13 points on 5-for-5 shooting — including one 3-pointer — and three rebounds. With 9:36 left in the first quarter, Chriss was assisted by forward Draymond Green and scored on the fastbreak to give Golden State an early 9-2 lead. 30 seconds later, guard Damion Lee found him cutting to the rim for the dunk.
“He’s going to be a guy that shoots a high percentage from the field because of his athleticism,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s got good hands and finishes well around the basket.”
He also had four screen assists in the game, helping the Warriors shoot 48.8% overall and 48.7% from 3-point range.
“He is very skilled and plays hard every night, sets great screens and I like to be on the floor with him,” forward Glenn Robinson III said. “He is a smart player.”
Defensively, Chriss had some impressive moments. In the second quarter, he blocked Pacers guard Jeremy Lamb’s layup and then bodied up Pacers forward Domantas Sabonis in the post and forced a shot clock violation.
Marquese Chriss >>>>>>> pic.twitter.com/Tbim0j464k
— Chris Montano (@gswchris) January 25, 2020
This is the role Chriss will play going forward, and it will be interesting to see what kind of contract the Warriors sign him to. There’s a belief within the Warriors organization that Chriss is a good fit with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. When both return to the court, Chriss’ strengths should be highlighted.
“I’ve tried making a role off playing hard and doing the dirty work,” Chriss said. “I’m not the guy who is going to shoot 20 shots and get you 40 points. I’m going to try and be that guy that is down low and banging and getting rebounds and setting screens.”
In the 345 minutes that Green and forward Eric Paschall — two of the team’s better players — have played together this season, the Warriors have been outscored by 84 points. In the 13 minutes they played together in Friday’s loss, the Warriors were outscored by five points.
The fit between those two has been clunky, but mostly because it has featured Green at power forward and Paschall playing slightly out of position at small forward.
Against the Pacers, however, a bulk of those minutes had Green playing center and Paschall playing the more appropriate power forward position. Kerr believes Paschall, like Green, is strong enough to handle 4s and 5s, making the two interchangeable in the frontcourt positions — similar Green and Kevin Durant last season.
“I think it’s something we will look at a little bit more as we go down the second part of the season.” Kerr said.
However, the Warriors may be giving up too much size with Green and Paschall. Strength is one thing, but Golden State has often struggled against traditional centers this season, and neither Green nor Paschall offer enough in terms of floor spacing to play those more bulky centers off the floor.
Chriss has the inside track at the starting spot. Omari Spellman showed flashes in his three starts earlier this month, but is better suited as a change-of-pace center off the bench. Green, as noted, will see minutes in small-ball units.
On Friday, Chriss played 21 minutes, Spellman played 16, and the Warriors went small for the remaining 11 minutes.
It should also be noted that Kerr didn’t rule out rookie Alen Smailagic, currently playing for the team’s G League in Santa Cruz, returning to Golden State this season.
“I still think it’s more valuable for him to play big minutes in Santa Cruz rather than shorter minutes here,” Kerr said. “But for sure he’ll be up here for more games at some point the rest of the season.”
No matter who plays at center, it will take a better effort all around to improve a defense that has been sinking in the league standings during a stretch in which they’ve lost 13 of the last 14 games.
“It’s a matter of helping with help defense with all five guys on the screen and we have to communicate,” Kerr said.
