Should Steve Kerr let Klay Thompson play the main striker on the Golden State Warriors?

The bringing in of Chris Paul and Draymond Green’s ankle injury have raised many questions for coach Steve Kerr about next season’s starting lineup. The captain of the Golden State Warriors revealed that he can name Paul, Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Kevon Looney in the starting lineup.

This is definitely the squad with the lowest height in the tournament. CP3 is only 1m83 tall, while Curry is 1m88, the tallest player in this squad is Kevon Looney, only 2m06 tall. Notably, Kerr wants to let Klay Thompson – a defender – play as the main striker.

During his entire career, Thompson often played as a point guard or secondary forward. According to Basketball-Reference, the time Thompson played as the main forward in his entire career was only about 1%.

Kerr said “Klay will play number 4. He is physically strong and used to defending against quick defenders, That’s where Klay must counter his opponent’s pick and rolls. It will be a very different experience for him. We are planning to make some adjustments and see how he adapts.”

Even though Kerr had faith in Thompson, it wasn’t a good idea. Thompson is 1m98 tall and weighs 100kg. Compared to a defender, that is a very ideal body shape. But compared to the main striker position, he is shorter than most players in the NBA.

When Thompson follows those big men, the opponent will immediately take advantage of his physical advantage to overwhelm him and score close to the basket. Despite his great defensive skills, it was not enough for Thompson to erase the physical gap.

In addition, the fact that Thompson had to focus in the area near the basket also affected the Warriors’ ability to defend the perimeter. Because, in recent years, the star wearing shirt number 11 has specialized in defending the Warriors’ perimeter. Wiggins and Looney are good defenders of the basket despite each averaging just under a block per game. While Paul and Curry can do almost nothing in that area.

 

The lack of height also raises the question of how the Warriors will rebound. Thompson has pretty good stats with 3.1 defensive rebounds per game. However, most of the rebounds he got were because the ball bounced in the right place. He is not the type of player who can box out opponents and jump into disputes in the air like real big men.

The above shows that Steve Kerr’s plan to test Thompson as the main striker could become a disaster. However, in the opposite direction, it will be very difficult for the opponent’s big men to mark Thompson when the Warriors attack.

Thompson is one of the outstanding shooters in NBA history. In addition, he also has the ability to move intelligently and persistently without the ball. Big big men will have a hard time keeping up with Thompson’s speed and intensity of movement. If Steve Kerr insists on using Thompson at the No. 4 position, the Warriors will aim to make up for it.

Luckily for the Warriors, this is only a short-term problem. Green will soon return to the lineup and that will raise another interesting discussion, about who should give up his spot to Green. Paul, Thompson and Wiggins are players who could lose their starting positions when Green recovers from injury.