The second leader, as the name suggests, is the second player on the team, in other words, the second main player on the team, contributing the second most valuable to the team. The leader of the Warriors is obviously the soul of the team Stephen Curry, and the competition for the second leader is much more intense. This is the former 3D top player of the league and Klay Thompson, who has been playing with Curry for more than 10 years, or is at his peak and has gradually transformed into attack and defense. Handyman Andrew Wiggins? Who is most valuable to the Warriors?
Before we reveal the author’s choice, let’s take a look at the offensive and defensive prowess of the two of them in the Warriors, and then compare who has more value and is best suited to be the second leader of the Warriors.
-Klay Thompson
Thompson returned with more ball possession than ever and his tactical status hardly changed. Steve Kerr also offered a lot of play to pair with Curry, and Thompson could be said to have unlimited firepower. Looking at the stats, Klay averaged 17.9 shots per game last season, the second-highest in his career and second only to the 2018-19 season. He averages 9.3 three-pointers per game, his career record, with 51.7% of his three-point attempts per game. Kerr designed several plays for him to make him more comfortable, allowing him to increase the hit rate from the perimeter to bring him back to pre-injury peak faster.
After his return, Thompson increased the percentage of singles with the ball and reduced the time spent off the ball. Her single has changed from not good at the start of her comeback to a concept that is not bad at the end of the season. There are signs of transformation in his playing style. He is not only an off-the-ball shooter, but he has also started developing different skills.
After his comeback, Thompson is indeed weaker than before. He was unable to score from three points with large gaps. The two percentages of shooting have dropped significantly. The shooting rate is only 42.6% and the three-point shooting rate is less than 38.5%. Although this data is already good among NBA shooters, it belongs to the middle and upper level, but it is very low for Thompson. So far in his career, Thompson’s 3-point percentage has never been below 40% and he has an exaggerated 44% at his peak. His shooting rate was really worse than usual last season.
Thompson added more organizational work last season – he often made the right decisions in transitions and often saw him have imaginative assists. 2.8 assists per game may seem low, but he also has an assists rate (AST%) of 15.4%, and while he’s not a traditional point guard, he’s also useful in directing.
Thompson was the big block on the team, taking on the second best defense behind Green. He was the model of the league’s 3-ed player, one of the best players in his position. But upon his return, the Warriors coaching staff decided to reduce his defensive responsibilities so as not to burden him. Andrew Wiggins is gradually taking on the responsibility of defending the opposing stars. Thompson’s defensive skills are still very good and he can still do basic interference, but his defensive side movement speed is 10% or 20% slower than before. He will now be affected by high speed players and will start to occur some dislocations. Speed degradation after a serious injury is also inevitable, but feeling sad is also inevitable.
-Andrew Wiggins
While Wiggins’ offensive stats aren’t much different than before, he still contributes to every game consistently, becoming the most stable player on the team. While his performance dropped significantly after the All-Star hiatus, it was a successful season overall.
The most important statistic on last season’s offensive end was his three-point shooting rate, which accounted for over 40% for a long time in the first half of the season and 39.3% for the entire season. His exit on the perimeter was also very sufficient, with an average of 2.2 shots from the outside, and his contribution was very sufficient. Finally, an exaggerated statistic was announced: Wiggins’ three-point shooting rate last season was the team’s highest, higher than Curry and Thompson’s, and his three-point value last season was indeed the most high of his career.
In the playoffs, everyone’s Wiggins impression is that he is a bouncy nut. In the regular season, he only averaged 4.5 rebounds, but when he entered the playoffs he worked hard and became a completely different person in terms of competition for card slots and so on. , The number of rebounds has increased geometrically, contributing 7.5 per game, and there is a terrible figure of 2.5 offensive rebounds. Those two numbers are second only to Kevon Looney, who is really another him in the playoffs.
In the early years of his career, Wiggins always gave the impression of a player who only focuses on attacking and constantly skims the stats. But after joining the Warriors, Wiggins took less ball, became more efficient, and his shot rate started to improve. His value is no longer seen in the data and his contribution is greater than expected.
Another thing to say is his defense. Since he joined the Warriors, the Warriors coaching team has begun to focus on cultivating his defensive skills. After all, he has athletic prowess and a high wingspan and is fully equipped with defensive hardware. The Warriors are also hoping to successfully turn him into a player on both offense and defense, and Wiggins’ contribution on the defensive side is also increasing. He uses his physical hardware to make a good one-on-one defense. He successfully defended Tatum, Doncic (draining his stamina) and others in the playoffs. Although his awareness and resolve to assist defense still needs to be improved, and his overall defensive capacity has not reached the highest level, his DEFRTG is 105.4, which is also the lowest in his career, and positive values and negatives gradually changed from negative to positive, with +3.6 positive and negative values. All in all, his defensive ability is improving step by step.
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