Inevitable changes coming for deep Warriors rotation after latest loss

If winning cures everything, losing exposes the leaks in your foundation. 

The Warriors after Saturday night’s 113-105 road loss to the Phoenix Suns now have dropped four straight games, sending them from first in the Western Conference to fourth with a 12-7 record. Changes appear to be coming. 

Steve Kerr’s grand experiment of testing Golden State’s depth has been far from the norm for an NBA team. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer used four players off the bench against the Warriors, with each seeing at least 15 minutes of time. That gave them rhythm without having to look over their shoulder at the next guy down the bench ready to come in for them at the next whistle, and it showed. 

Oso Ighodaro played 31 minutes and was a plus-14 with six points on 3-of-4 shooting, eight rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Dunn, plus-8, also had two blocks in 20 minutes, plus two points, four rebounds and two assists. The scoring spark the Suns needed off the bench came from Royce O’Neale and Monte Morris. 

O’Neale, plus-15, scored 11 points in 19 minutes, going 4 of 6 from the field and 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. Morris saw the least amount of time by the Suns’ reserves, playing 15 minutes but scoring eight points on 3-of-5 shooting and was 2 of 3 from deep. He was a plus-9, adding five rebounds, three assists and one steal. 

The only Warrior with a positive plus/minus off the bench was Kevon Looney, who was a plus-1 in 16 minutes. 

“It can get difficult at times to find a rhythm, kind of not knowing what to expect from game to game,” Looney said to reporters in Phoenix. “But I think the guys are doing a good job of staying ready. Everybody knows they’re going to get in at some point. … I think with this group we know he’s going to play all of us at some point and we just have to be ready at the time to bring a spark and bring energy and make plays. 

“I think for the most part we’ve been doing that, but when we’re losing you’re trying to find a reason why we lost and get a little frustrated, but I think the group is staying positive and everybody is taking advantage of their opportunities.” 

Opportunities, however, might start to be shortened up and down the Warriors’ roster. 

Even with De’Anthony Melton out for the rest of the season, as the Warriors began the game slow in Phoenix, Kerr used 11 players in the first quarter alone. In the first half, 14 players saw the court. But changes were seen before and during the game. 

“Yeah, we gotta think about shortening it,” Kerr said of his deep rotation. “We’ve been really looking carefully at the combinations that we play game to game, and we have a lot of options. That’s not always an easy thing. Sometimes you have too many options. … It gets harder the more people you’re playing. 

“If we cut back, we’ll talk about that over the next couple of days. If we do, then we do, but things always come back around over the course of an NBA season.” 

In the second half against the Suns, neither Moses Moody nor Kyle Anderson received any minutes. Kevon Looney opened the second half at center in place of Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Brandin Podziemski, who made multiple threes for the first time in exactly one month, started the game alongside Steph Curry in the backcourt. 

When the Warriors started the season off 12-3, their bench was playing otherworldly, averaging 54.2 points per game. But over the course of their four-game losing streak, they’ve averaged 40 points per game. 

Kerr also is looking to get Jonathan Kuminga more minutes next to Steph Curry and Draymond Green. Kuminga didn’t make any of his five shots in the first half and was 0 of 7 through three quarters. Then, when Kerr went small and played Kuminga next to Green in the fourth quarter, he made four shots at the rim and nearly propelled the Warriors to a comeback win. 

Strength in numbers has been the philosophy of the Warriors due to how their roster was built, despite their offseason attempts of finding another star to play alongside Curry. There have been a number of positives in seeing so many guys step up and take advantage of their opportunities. Now that things have begun going south, the complications have taken the spotlight. 

“Everybody has to be ready for what they’re asked to do, and if you’re not playing you have to stay sharp,” Curry said. “It’s hard as hell, no two ways around it.” 

Does the rotation need to shorten? That isn’t for Curry to say, but even he can’t ignore the difficult positions it puts players in.

“The only thing I’ll say is it is hard for anybody to try and get a rhythm and know what you’re going to be asked to do. … We are a unique team, it’s a unique situation. I don’t think it’s been done in the league, probably ever. It is an 82-game schedule and you need to figure out what adjustments need to be made. We probably need to be a little more predictable on a night to night basis, so guys can get a little more of a rhythm. Is that shortening by one or two guys?

“Maybe.”

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