What the Golden State Warriors Need from Andre Iguodala Next Season
The Golden State Warriors will need Andre Iguodala to build on his last campaign and perform at a higher level next season.
The Warriors failed to place Iguodala in a setting where he was consistently successful, and it hurt both parties. Former head coach Mark Jackson utilized the high-flyer as his backup point guard and secondary ball-handler behind Stephen Curry.
Iguodala is a good passer and decent orchestrator at best. He’s much more suited to create as a second option or third option after defenders have already converged on the first one.
Golden State will want defenses rotating in Iguodala's direction as opposed to stifling him directly at the point of the attack when he makes his initial move.
Iguodala is a good spot-up shooter and scary finisher, and the Dubs will want to emphasize those strengths.
Abandoning the Point Forward
The 6'6'' Iguodala will likely start at small forward, and that’s exactly where the Dubs want him. Sure, he might play some at 2-guard, which is fine, but the days of orchestrating the offense are over.
To be clear, Iguodala will get opportunities to feed teammates within the flow of the offense, and that will be the extent of the creativity needed.
B/R’s Fred Katz touched on this in August: “Iguodala can still be a secondary ball-handler, but he may not be a guy you want to turn the offense over to for long stretches anymore, considering how important the pick-and-roll has become in today's NBA.”
By signing Shaun Livingston this past offseason, it would appear that management was making this fairly clear to Iguodala. Katz added: “The Shaun Livingston acquisition will help remove some of the offensive burden from Iggy's shoulders.”
Livingston is one of the league’s best backup point guards, and he will handle all ball-handling duties when Curry rests. Furthermore, Livingston’s defensive prowess coupled with his finishing ability will earn him minutes alongside Curry as well.
As a result, the Warriors will have a lot of playmakers on the floor, which will make the offense look incredibly fluid. Just think of what Boris Diaw does for the San Antonio Spurs.
What’s more, Steve Kerr will rely a bit more on his big men to initiate the offense.
“I think you’ll see a lot of ball movement; I think you’ll see the bigs utilized as passers on the elbows and on the block,” Kerr said in May, per the San Jose Mercury News' Tim Kawakami. “I think you’ll see some Triangle concepts.”
Indeed, by stationing David Lee, Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green at the elbows, they will be able to hit cutters directly at the rim.
This is right up Iguodala’s alley. He’s at his best while moving around the court without the ball because it gives him opportunities to attack spread-out defenses from different angles. It makes him far less predictable and enhances his scoring opportunities.
George Karl did a masterful job at executing this when coaching Iguodala with the 2012-13 Denver Nuggets. That Denver team lacked anything resembling a legit three-point threat, and yet it had top-five offense.
It simply came down to overwhelming opponents with fast breaks, cuts, ball movement, pick-and-rolls and back screens.
This is specifically what the Warriors need from Iguodala. As long as he’s not static, Golden State will gladly live with the results because it will mean that the offense is flowing.
When Kawakami pressed Kerr on whether he could see Klay Thompson and Iguodala improving as a result of a shared approach, the Golden State coach did not mince words: “I don’t know if I’ve ever met a player who didn’t improve with ball movement and spacing.”
The last thing the Dubs want is Iguodala handling the ball with great frequency and firing up contested jumpers with the shot clock ticking down or running pick-and-rolls as a primary option with defenders daring him to shoot off the dribble.That was the case last year, and Golden State will want none of it going forward.
An offense inspired from the triangle offense keeps him active and, more importantly, gets him open.
Rediscovering Defense
Iguodala has to become the lockdown defender that poeple around the league have become accustomed to through the years.
Although Iguodala made the All-Defensive first team last season, he simply wasn’t that impressive when compared to his usual work.
The honor was likely earned by reputation, given that the Golden State swingman barely handled the tough perimeter assignments during the 2013-14 campaign.
Don’t get me wrong, Iggy was a terrific help defender last season, and he did well in some individual matchups. Iguodala was a net positive on this front, but he wasn’t as disruptive as in previous years.
The coaching staff felt more comfortable giving those matchups to Thompson, which indicates he earned the trust of his team. In the same breath, this suggests Iguodala lost some of the faith of his teammates and coaches.
Granted, he dealt with injuries (hamstring, tendinitis and hip soreness) last season and may have taken a step back defensively in an effort to concentrate his efforts on an offense that desperately needed a secondary ball-handler.
The offseason probably allowed him to regain the ideal physical form, and the reduction of duties will give him an opportunity to focus all of his energy on shutting down the player he must guard.
Golden State will need for Iguodala to once again become the destructive defensive force he once was. It will allow the Dubs to occasionally flummox the opposition’s offense and perhaps even completely lock it down with Iguodala and Thompson on the perimeter and Bogut on the interior.
Thompson and Bogut’s contributions helped the Warriors become the third-ranked defense in the league last season.
With Iguodala regaining his previous form, this could be the most feared defense in the league.
Iguodala holds the key to unlocking a killer Golden State squad. If he meets the team’s expectations, we’ll be looking at one of the best units in the Western Conference.
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