How the Warriors are using creativity to solve a classic Andrew Wiggins problem

Today at 04:11 AM

He had 27 points against the Atlanta Hawks in what has been a solid early season for the wing.

There have been many nights were cries for the Golden State Warriors to pressure the rim and attack the paint were commonplace. For a team that doesn't rely on traditional or conventional sources of rim pressure — the unconventional method being the outside-in approach made possible by the likes of Steph Curry and Buddy Hield (and Klay Thompson in previous years) — finding creative ways to solve a deficiency problem (i.e., generating rim pressure) while staying true to their overarching offensive principles has always been their modus operandi.

This creativity on offense can come in many forms: a certain formation, certain movements, certain personnel, certain screen types, etc. Commonly, the Warriors, with their motion offense, have preferred to space out and "invert" the floor, with their big up top handling the ball instead of parking himself in the low post and/or the paint. That requires their bigs to be adept at making decisions with the ball, knowing how to deliver the ball properly, and knowing what to once they've given the ball up.

It equally demands certain requirements of the four other players on the floor: knowing what to do if and when the ball comes their way, reading the defense and making decisions off of what defenders decide to do, and — perhaps the most important one — the ability to put pressure on the rim and make split-second decisions with defenders crashing their way. For obvious reasons, Curry is the poster boy of all of the above, especially while coming off of one or multiple screens. But while he can touch the paint and draw defenders on his downhill excursions, he is somewhat limited by his lack of height and the micro-decline in speed and burst.

If not Curry, it has mostly been other movement shooters such as Buddy Hield, De'Anthony Melton (prior to being ruled out for the season due to ACL surgery), Lindy Waters III, Moses Moody, and to a lesser extent, Brandin Podziemski who have been the recipient of off-ball screens in inverted floor setups. But curiously — albeit, not to the same extent and volume as the aforementioned players — Andrew Wiggins has also gotten some of these reps.

In all of those reps, a common theme has emerged, born perhaps out of a need to simplify decision making on the move for a player not particularly known for making advanced reads and high-degree-of-difficulty deliveries. Take note of this possession during the first regular season game of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, with the Warriors out of their "Delay" action (a 5-out inverted floor setup with their play call being "Open). Curry drifts toward the corner to set an away screen for Wiggins, followed by Wiggins receiving the ball on a handoff and driving downhill (called "Chicago" or "Zoom" action):

Whereas the most advanced and best-of-the-best when it comes to pick-and-roll passing anticipate the help coming from their "blind" side (or the side of the floor where they're dribbling away from) as exemplified by this Luka Dončić pass to Klay Thompson in the weak-side corner once Moses Moody (the low man) commits to pinching-in early:

Wiggins made the pass in the first clip to where he could immediately see where the help was coming from:

That pattern — along with another commonality — continues on several other possessions of Wiggins in pick-and-roll and pick-and-roll adjacent actions, where he comes off of a screen with the ball in his hands, sees a defender in his immediate field of vision help off, and passes it to the open man:

The open man on every instance above happened to be Draymond Green, a common sag-off target on opponent scouting reports. For the foreseeable future, nothing about how Green is guarded on the perimeter will change, despite him shooting 43% on 3.5 attempts from beyond the arc. Perhaps Green being the target on most of Wiggins' assists is no coincidence — given that it's expected that Green's defender will leave him alone to help on drives, the Warriors have purposefully made it so that Wiggins finds Green on most of his drives to simplify his processing on the move.

In turn, Wiggins being given a fair share of the touches and decision-making responsibilities empowers him to perform better on offense and equally be engaged as a defender — which certainly was the case against the Atlanta Hawks. Plays like the one below have been commonplace from him, a throwback to his 2022 championship-winning form...

... and, in part, caused by an increased trust in offensive role after a season of instability, even while Wiggins isn't posting an eye-popping point average (16.2). He is, however, posting decent shooting percentages (52.2% on twos, 39.3% on threes, 72.3% on free throws, 58.2% True Shooting), boosted by his 27-point performance against the Hawks. Steve Kerr is finding ways for Wiggins to be involved and engaged, and Wiggins has been repaying him with dynamic two-way play.

On those inverted floor setups out of "Delay" action, Wiggins is given an opportunity to pressure the rim with another handoff action for him — this time, working with an empty corner. He receives the dribble handoff from Trayce Jackson-Davis and waits for Clint Capela to commit to his downhill drive before feeding Jackson-Davis on the roll:

These "Zoom" actions are a creative solution to a straightforward problem (i.e., Wiggins' shaky handle that prevents him from being a dependable straight-line isolation attacker). It bypasses the need for him to pound the ball, slow the half-court possession to a crawl, and face a set defense that doesn't have to move around or scramble:

Wiggins being able to score consistently in the above manner garners him more attention from defenses, especially as a pick-and-roll ball handler. When it's usually Curry getting the majority of the reps on "Angle" pick-and-roll possessions (simply because they're set at an angle at the slot or wing area), Wiggins is getting more of them called for him. With Kyle Anderson in the corner and Lindy Waters III on the wing in the possession below, Wiggins dances to the beat of Jackson-Davis' constant screening and rescreening. Anderson clears to the other side of the floor to make way for Waters' sink toward the corner. As the next defender, Bogdan Bogdanović is drawn in by Wiggins' drive, a maneuver well within Wiggins' immediate line of sight. Therefore, the read he makes is simple and straightforward:

Having a big-man partner to act as screener, re-screener, and handoff hub bypasses Wiggins' shortcomings and transforms him into a round peg for the round hole that is the Warriors' offense, elevating parts of his game that would otherwise be buried and remain latent:

"Latent" is an apt term for Wiggins' past few seasons, no doubt caused in huge part by off-court family problems, something that has been woefully understated as a reason behind his on-court struggles. But he has come into this season with a seemingly renewed purpose and vigor, fully engaged and committed to the mission at hand. The last time that happened, the Warriors won a championship, with Wiggins making a solid case for being the second-best player in their playoff run. While his start to this season isn't an ironclad guarantee of history repeating itself, it sure doesn't hurt the chances that it is indeed a case of déjà vu.