LAIE, Hawaii – Steph Curry has heard it for years. So has Draymond Green, Kevon Looney, countless other Warriors and even their head coach Steve Kerr. The same consensus feeling is being heard around the basketball world once again: The Warriors are too small.
Center Trayce Jackson-Davis heard the noise last season as a rookie, too, but he wasn’t bothered by it then and he isn’t giving any thought to it now.
“It is what it is,” Jackson-Davis said in an exclusive “Dubs Talk” interview that will be released Saturday night. “I feel like you can say that about us, but at the end of the day I’m pretty sure we led the league in rebounds last year. Being small you also have an advantage because that means you get to play fast and that’s something that coach Kerr is really putting an emphasis on – transition.
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“He said if we can get our transition down on both ends of the floor, we’re going to be a really, really good team.”
Despite a 6-foot-10 Dario Saric being the Warriors’ tallest player last season, and not being someone known for crashing the glass, they did lead all of the NBA in rebounds at 46.7 per game. That still is a main goal, but there’s no downplaying how much Kerr and the coaching staff is stressing the importance of getting out and running, pushing the pace and getting back on defense.
The Warriors were one of the worst teams in the league last year in transition, both offensively and defensively. Jackson-Davis, however, is an ideal front-court player for improvements in those areas as a 6-foot-9 undersized big man who isn’t a sprinter, but is fleet of foot well enough for Kerr’s ideal two-way player.
Once Jackson-Davis was inserted into the starting lineup for the final month of his rookie season, the Warriors were a different team, especially defensively. Kerr hasn’t had a rim-runner and rim-protector the likes of Jackson-Davis since JaVale McGee, and the former is much younger than when the latter was a Warrior.
Golden State Warriors
As the second-to-last pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, Jackson-Davis swatted 76 shots to lead the Warriors in blocks, becoming the first to do so for the team as a rookie since Festus Ezeli had 74 in the 2012-13 season. He had 20 games with multiple blocked shots, making him the first Warriors rookie to hit that mark since Ekpe Udoh had 24 such games in 2010-11, and his four double-doubles off the bench were the most for a Warriors rookie in reserve in 36 years.
Now, Kerr is pushing Jackson-Davis to play with even more force after knowing what the NBA game feels like.
“Honestly, just being more aggressive,” Jackson-Davis said. “Picking my spots when ton attack, knowing when to keep the ball, make plays, just trying to take the load off of Steph and Draymond, guys like that.
“At the end of the day, it’s just being more aggressive in the offense. Trying to apply that while playing through Steph, [Brandin Podziemski], guys like that who are going to have the majority of the ball and handling it. Just picking the right spots to attack.”
In Las Vegas, Jackson-Davis had the perfect opportunity of different measuring sticks to see where that aggressiveness can come out best defensively and offensively. First, he was challenged against the likes of stars like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo as a member of the USA Basketball Men’s Select Team, and then was able to pair with Podziemski as the go-to guys in a few summer league games as well. His experience going against Team USA gave Jackson-Davis a ton of confidence in himself and it already has translated to training camp in Hawaii.
Behind Curry, there’s no way of knowing who will be the Warriors’ second-leading scorer. On some nights it will be Andrew Wiggins, on others it could be Jonathan Kuminga, Podziemski or somebody else. Kerr wouldn’t be surprised in the least bit if Jackson-Davis has big scoring nights as well.
He isn’t one to post videos to social media showing off his workouts to the world for likes. Jackson-Davis is naturally reserved and is ready to show off all the behind-the-scenes hours he spent with the Warriors’ performance staff getting stronger and faster, ready to take the next step as Kerr confidently knows he already is in the right direction.
“Trying to just build off the end of the year that I had last season,” Jackson-Davis said. “It’s full swing now, and I hope all the work that I put in is going to pay off.”
Power is produced when speed and force come together, and that’s the exact equation Jackson-Davis is ready to display after a highly productive debut season with the Warriors.
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