It became evident that the Golden State Warriors needed a bit of a shift, so moving on from Jordan Poole made sense. But trading him for Chris Paul was rather bold.
While there’s no denying that Paul is one of the smartest players to ever live, his style of play doesn’t look suited for Steve Kerr’s run-and-gun, full-motion, rather chaotic offense.
That’s why former NBA player JJ Redick — who actually played with Paul — took some time to dig deep into the numbers and explain why this will be an awkward fit for both sides.
JJ Redick Explains Chris Paul’s Odd 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 numbers back it up,” the former shooting guard 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 other part is, since Steve Kerr took over, the Golden State Warriors have ran the fewest ball screens in the NBA,” Redick added. “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.”
Great players usually figure things out, and there’s no denying that Paul is one of the greatest players to ever do it. But at first glance, it doesn’t seem like this move benefited either party, from a basketball standpoint, at least.