Four Factors That Make the Golden State Warriors Better Than You Think

among centers—where he’ll likely get most of his minutes—in free throw attempts per field goal.

Certainly, the Warriors won’t rely on Turiaf for scoring. But if he can get to the line and continue to shoot 75 percent as he did last season, he will be a huge asset for a team that struggled from the charity stripe last season

Offensive rebounding percentage  Offensive rebounding percentage is a pretty straightforward statistic—it measures the percentage of available offensive rebounds that a team actually collected.

The Warriors’ rebounding percentage wasn’t too bad last season, ranked 12th in the league. But when you consider that they had one of the worst rebounding differentials in the league, and gave up the most defensive rebounds and the second-most offensive rebounds, it’s clear they need help on the boards.  Although Turiaf is not an outstanding overall rebounder, he should give the Warriors a huge boost on the offensive glass—especially if he gets some minutes playing next to Biedrins.   And if summer league and college statistics (3.0 offensive rebounds a game) are any indication, Hendrix—who could project as a Turiaf-like player in his first season—stands to help on the offensive boards as well. That’s a lot more beef up front for a team that has historically lacked any kind of inside presence.

And if Brandan Wright shows improvement—read: more strength—he could be a huge help here as well

Turnover problems (corrected) One area the Warriors have yet to address this off-season is turnovers. They were near the top of the league last season (12.90% of plays ended in a turnover), which is positive. However, they might see a decline in turnover percentage if they don't add a veteran point guard to help Monta Ellis handle the ball handling responsibilities. Maggette, who will probably have the ball in his hands a lot, is also no model of ball-handling efficiency—he made more turnovers than assists last season.

Ultimately, they have not yet made any improvements in this department, and may have even regressed. We can only hope that the players are able to improve their execution on offense to turn this around

The building blocks for success  The Warriors will probably miss the playoffs for the 15th time in 16 years next season, but they seem to be moving in a positive direction. Their two recent signings are certainly nothing to get excited about, but what I think we’re seeing is the construction of a coherent team, something we haven’t seen here in a long time.   And I think the key is that we not expect them to fix all of these problems at once. 

The Warriors have made progress, getting good role players to fit around a strong young core of Ellis, Biedrins, Wright, and (hopefully) Randolph. The key now is to build a system that maximizes their talents, masks their weaknesses, and allows them to develop some good chemistry.   So these moves may not be as insignificant as we think. The team has bolstered some critical weak points without compromising their ability to play an up-tempo style that will bring the best out of Ellis and Wright. When I look at what this team has done from a team chemistry standpoint, I can’t help but be satisfied with the offseason moves thus far.

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