Mike Brown, Jama Mahlalela and Kenny Atkinson gone, Dejan Milojevic tragically passed away during the season… The Warriors may also owe their lack of fresh air to the many departures in recent years on the bench around Steve Kerr. Golden State hopes to have remedied this with several signings, including that of Terry Stotts. The former Portland technician, recruited by the Bucks last year before leaving Milwaukee before the start of the season, will be one of Steve Kerr's main supporters to breathe new life into the Bay Area team's offensive game, less unpredictable and therefore irresistible than in the past.
Without going so far as to call himself a “has-been,” Steve Kerr readily admitted that his game plan isn't working as well as it used to. And while they didn't know each other personally, the Team USA coach and Terry Stotts quickly found a common interest in joining forces.
Sowing discord with more control
” It fits with what we want to do, to become a little more structured. ” explained Steve Kerr at The Athletic. ” He loves the game of movement. You know, Portland always had a lot of movement and mobility, but it was probably more structured than what we were doing. Terry can really help us implement some new things that would be easy to implement while still maintaining that mobility. »
An essential key in the Warriors' “great era” which led them to four titles between 2015 and 2022, this fluidity in the game, particularly without the ball, has lost its splendor (ninth “Offensive Rating” in 2024, tenth in 2023), while the rest of the league has continued to evolve in attack.
“They've had a great offense for many years, Steph's done pretty well.” Terry Stotts jokes. I think maybe I can bring a fresh perspective to it. The roster has changed a little bit. But it's not like I'm going to be responsible for anything. I can be a critical eye for Steve offensively and maybe bring some of the things we were doing to the Blazers. »
Schemes to initiate for other Warriors
With Damian Lillard as the hub, Terry Stotts had made Portland a consistently formidable team on that end of the floor, notably using its point guard off the ball, with CJ McCollum as a second creator, and interiors offering solutions with screens away from the ball.
” Steve loves to read opponents and react ” decrypts Terry Stotts. ” I think that's the best way to play. But at the same time, you can do it in a framed way. What I like to have is announcing a system, but you don't know what's going to happen inside of it. »
A kind of organized chaos, to better destabilize defenses. And the Warriors have the weapons for that in stock.
” We are not going to change drastically ” explains Steve Kerr. ” Steph and Draymond are still going to run a lot of plays. And they're going to play the way they know how. […] We need to practice more. I need to find a way to organize the practices, repeat our actions over and over again until they become patterns so that we can better set ourselves up against defensive pressure.”
