Stotts’ influence is evident in the Warriors’ preseason win against Kings

Stotts’ influence on display in Warriors’ preseason win against Kings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SACRAMENTO – Since joining the Warriors as part of a historic six-team trade this offseason, Buddy Hield has said several times that he probably wouldn’t have been drafted as high if it weren’t for his new teammate Steph Curry. While Curry won his second straight NBA MVP, Hield put on a three-point clinic of his own during his senior season at Oklahoma.

His enthusiasm for the long ball led to him winning every major college award imaginable before being drafted sixth overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2016 draft. A handful of seasons have passed since Hield last wore a Kings jersey, but he certainly reminded his former team what it’s like when he gets hot from deep, scoring 22 points off the bench in the 122-112 Warriors preseason. win Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center while going 6-of-7 from 3-point range.

Steve Kerr’s offense has always been heavily influenced by three-pointers. The Splash Brothers of Curry and Klay Thompson were in Golden State before Kerr arrived in 2014, though his offensive mind took them both to another level. Newcomers also seem to thrive outside the arc of Kerr’s system.

So it was easy to imagine Hield making a seamless splash in a Warriors jersey under Kerr. But it’s a new addition to the Warriors’ coaching staff that’s also already paying off big time. Kerr brought in former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts to help his offense, and players like Hield should thrive.

“The things we put in with Terry, the Portland things, you saw some of that in the second half,” Kerr said after the win. “The torches are what Buddy was built for.”

Stotts spent nine seasons as the Blazers’ head coach from 2012 through 2021, winning 402 regular-season games and reaching the playoffs in all but his first season. An undersized but sharp-shooting backcourt of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum excelled in Portland under Stotts, unlocking their 3-point ability and even reaching the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors in 2019 as a small-market team unrelated to by adding superstars, instead making the most of his inner talent.

While Hield was hot as a summer day in Sacramento shooting the ball, it was a time when he gave up the ball that featured a key part of Stotts and Kerr together.

The Warriors, to start the fourth quarter, made a play to free Hield for a three in the corner, but it wasn’t there. What happened next was a split action with Kyle Anderson in the post and ending with Brandin Podziemski on two points at the rim.

“That was a Terry Stotts move, the Portland stuff he did with Dame and CJ,” Kerr explained. “Part of the idea of ​​bringing Terry was that his offense was similar to ours, but had more structure based on personnel. The interesting thing about that piece was that it was all old Portland stuff. And then we got nothing, and then it came back to the split game we’ve been playing for forever.

“So that’s what I like about some of the things we’ve tried to add: it seems to fit in well with what they did and what we’ve already done.”

For more than a decade, the Warriors – led by Curry, of course – have been considered the revolutionaries of the three-point shot. This season they are looking to up the ante as they have already attempted 100 threes through their first two preseason games. They shot 52 on Wednesday night, totaling 28, which would have been a franchise record if it had been a regular-season game.

Those 28 threes also gave them a 63-point lead behind the three-point line. When asked what he liked most about the look of the threes, Podziemski, who had eight assists in the game, credited the ball movement and everyone involved in the attack. Unsolicited, his response also included praise for Stotts.

“Shout out to Coach Terry,” Podziemski said. “He got some good things out of the timeouts, which made us look easy as well.”

Throughout the preseason, Kerr will delegate duties to his assistant coaches in games. As the game progressed, Stotts was seen handling the offense and getting everyone on the same page as Kerr watched from a distance. The Kings made it a three-point game with three and a half minutes left, when Kerr had seen enough and called a timeout.

In those 60 seconds, Stotts controlled the offense and ensured Sacramento never got within striking distance again. Lindy Waters III immediately hit a three after the timeout. A minute later, Waters made another three to extend the Warriors’ lead to 11 points, and a Reece Beekman 3-pointer with three minutes left was the icing on the cake that put the game out of reach, putting the Warriors got a 14-point lead. .

“He’s very good at communication,” said Jonathan Kuminga, who scored 16 points and made four 3-pointers. “He has been a head coach and he knows what he is doing. Every time he sees something, he helps us in the attack. He tries to communicate as much as possible.

“It certainly helps us.”

Kerr and Stotts coached against each other on opposite sides of the line for seven seasons and saw each other in the playoffs three times – all of which ended in the Warriors’ favor. As early as it is, joining forces is the perfect offensive creation from the two that these Warriors embrace wholeheartedly.

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