From the moment it came out that the Phoenix Suns might be waiving Chris Paul, the Golden State Warriors were mentioned as a potential landing spot for the veteran point guard.
The Warriors did manage to eventually get their man via trade from the Washington Wizards and they seem pretty pleased about it. Despite their insistence on landing him, this doesn’t seem like a slam dunk of a move by any means and JJ Redick explained the concerns surrounding Paul’s fit with the Warriors.
“Chris is smart enough, he’s one of the smartest basketball players ever,” Redick said. “He’s gonna figure out a way to contribute and help them win games, but the contrast in play style is very apparent. He’s a methodical player, he’s calculated, all of that stuff.”
The stylistic difference was evident to anyone who has followed the Warriors and Paul. Golden State led the league in Pace at 102.54, as per the NBA, while Paul and the Suns were 22nd at 98.83. Reddick went on to explain more in detail about the questionable fit.
“The numbers back it up,” Redick continued. “There’s some great stuff on this. So speed on offense: Warriors this past year, they had the sixth fastest average speed on offense. Paul had the slowest average speed on offense amongst players with 1000 minutes played. Average touch length… Warriors had the shortest average touch length on offense at 2.7 seconds. Chris Paul had the seventh-longest average touch length at 5.6 seconds.”
The Warriors emphasize quick ball movement and moving without the ball, but that’s not Paul’s game. He holds on to the ball as Redick pointed out and a bit of a change is going to be required.
“The other part is, since Steve Kerr took over, the Golden State Warriors have ran the fewest ball screens in the NBA,” Redick stated. “Last year, Chris had the fourth most on-ball screens in the NBA. Warriors had the third-fewest. So in that regard, maybe there’s more pick-and-roll.”
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Redick went on to add that he wished the Warriors had bigs other than Kevon Looney and Draymond Green, for Chris Paul to run the pick-and-roll with. He pointed to the success that CP3 had running the two-man game with the likes of David West, Deandre Ayton, DeAndre Jordan, and Blake Griffin.
Stephen A. Smith Did Not Like This Trade
While Redick was optimistic that Paul will figure out a way to make things work here, Stephen A. Smith stated he didn’t like the trade one bit. Smith doesn’t see how the move makes the Warriors better and he too, like so many others, pointed to the fact that it isn’t a great fit.
For his part, Paul is excited to play with the Warriors, but he hasn’t really said anything of note when asked how he fits with their roster. It will be very interesting to see how the Warriors plan to use him in this upcoming season.
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