The Golden State Warriors didnât make many moves in free agency. They got a couple of great players in the NBA Draft and will get Klay Thompson back from injury and think thatâs enough to go back to championship contention.
Some fans went at the teamâs front office and called them out for not making big trades. They believe that their championship window is closing and that they needed to be aggressive and pursue another star.
The team, on the other hand, is pretty confident in their ability to compete at the highest level, and coach Steve Kerr even said that they have a new secret weapon. Per Kerr, the X-factor wonât be Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, or Draymond Green, but Nemanja Bjelica.
Steve Kerr Says Nemanja Bjelica Will Be The Warriorsâ X-Factor
(Transcript via The Athletic)
âI think itâs really exciting. You think about it, weâve never had a pick-and-pop big. Actually, I shouldnât say that. We had Mo Speights. What I should say is we havenât had a 3-point shooting pick-and-pop big. When we had Mo, he was a 20-foot-and-in jump-shooter, and he helped us win a lot of games. A fan favorite. Mo Buckets, he was great and played a really important role on our team.â
âI look at Bjelica as the 3-point-shooting version of Mo, in many ways. Because all of a sudden, youâre looking at a spaced floor when you consider Klayâs return and Stephâs play last year, the ability to play Bjelica with Draymond, which basically turns Draymond into the five and the pick-and-roll guy with Bjelica spaced. Really exciting.â
While never a superstar, Bjelica is a serviceable and dependable veteran whoâs tailor-made for the Warriors system. He can roll to the basket or pop to the perimeter and is an underrated help defender and passer as well.
Bjelica may not play big minutes or be as good as Kerr says heâll be. But the Warriors have made the most of every single guy on their bench during their championship run, so who knows?
