The Golden State Warriors currently rank 30th in the NBA for transition points per game, averaging 14.6. They give up 22.2 points per game when defending teams on the break, placing them 19th in the league. Considering Steve Kerr has multiple young talents at his disposal, the lack of fast-break offense has become a burden on a Warriors team that sits 12th in pace.
Recently, John Schuhmann of NBA.com looked at the Warriors’ struggles with transition offense and made a keen observation. Schuhmann noted that while Golden State has been better on both sides of the floor with Chris Paul in the rotation, Jordan Poole‘s pace of play has left a hole in the roster when looking to get out on the break.
“Overall, the addition of [guard] Chris Paul has been a positive for the Warriors, who’ve been better, both offensively and defensively, with him on the floor,” Schuhmann wrote. “But when it comes to transition, there’s a big difference between Jordan Poole and the future Hall-of-Famer who replaced him.”
Poole hasn’t enjoyed the greatest of starts to his new life with the Washington Wizards. However, his ability to run the floor and provide scoring gravity was a weapon the Warriors knew how to utilize. Kerr may choose to start looking at some of his younger talents to help fill Poole’s former role on the break.
Brandin Podziemski and Moses Moody could both be potential candidates when on the court. Regardless of how Kerr looks to solve his team’s lack of transition scoring, it’s clear Golden State needs to improve their transition scoring as the season continues.
