{"id":327506,"date":"2025-10-07T22:26:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T22:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/327506\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T22:26:14","slug":"warriors-spacing-issue-with-jimmy-butler-jonathan-kuminga-draymond-green","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/327506\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors’ spacing issue with Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 The Warriors dazzled fans \u2013 at least for the first half \u2013 with stellar passing and shot-making in their preseason opener against the Lakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Game No. 2 against Portland, however, will see the team focus on a more individualistic side of the game that is favored by Jimmy Butler.<\/p>\n

Coach Steve Kerr expressed a desire<\/a> to work on his team\u2019s alignment in half-court and isolation sets, which will feature more five-out looks this season with the addition of sharpshooting center Al Horford<\/a>, who has developed instant chemistry with his teammates.<\/p>\n

Great spacing is more than just having all five players dotted a couple feet outside the 3-point line, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it means there\u2019s a big in the dunker spot, and sometimes it means you have a guy in the corner and the other three guys are all around the 3-point line and nobody is in the paint,\u201d Kerr said after Tuesday\u2019s practice. \u201cThere\u2019s all these things that are possibilities, and we have to adjust and react to what the circumstances are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spacing remains a factor in Jonathan Kuminga\u2019s playing time with the veterans<\/a>. Though Kuminga made a 3-pointer against the Lakers\u2019 backups, he, Draymond Green and Butler are not big threats from outside the arc.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t much spacing, which is the big concern, but we have to continue to give them some looks,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cBut I think Al changes the equation here, and I\u2019m really intrigued to put Al and JK together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shooting center makes an impact on the other side of the ball, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Horford\u2019s addition, the Warriors now have another experienced and versatile defender to play next to Green.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old newcomer had three blocks in just 14 minutes on Sunday, and that was not by accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like he had my back out there, and he allowed me to go out and make some plays,\u201d Horford said of Green. \u201cTo be aggressive and go and block some shots and do things with him back there.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Golden State\u2019s youngest players is also benefiting from Horford\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I can learn from him, where he picks his spots to be aggressive, whether that be in short rolls or quick seals,\u201d second-year center Quinten Post said. \u201cHe\u2019s very aggressive with his shots, and he even attacks the rim out of those closeouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horford on Curry connection<\/p>\n

Horford had three assists against the Lakers, none more spectacular than his give-and-go bounce pass to a cutting Steph Curry in transition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s such a smart player and it\u2019s easy to play off of him,\u201d Horford said of Curry. \u201cWhen he passed me the ball, I knew he was going to cut. So I guess that\u2019s the unspoken chemistry right there. He expected me to pass the ball, and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horford later added, \u201cHe just does a good job of terrifying everybody in the league every time he moves. That\u2019s something I\u2019m going to take advantage of.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matter of minutes<\/p>\n

The veterans \u2013 Curry, Horford, Green and Butler \u2013 all played fewer than 15 minutes against Los Angeles. None of the four played in the second half, something that will likely change against Portland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe usually ramp them up a little bit each game,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cI imagine it will be\u00a0 a little bit more than the other night, but I\u2019ll wait and see what (team doctor) Rick (Celebrini) says.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 7, 2025 at 2:50 PM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 The Warriors dazzled fans \u2013 at least for the first half \u2013 with stellar passing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3786],"tags":[7,159,160,479,164,4025,4024,155,165,6,66,255,1372,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-327506","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golden-state-warriors","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-golden-state","12":"tag-golden-state-warriors","13":"tag-goldenstate","14":"tag-goldenstatewarriors","15":"tag-inside-sports","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-warriors","20":"tag-warriors-alert","21":"tag-warriors-hq"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115335239060433338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}