How did Yaxel Lendeborg do in first big test as an offensive centerpiece for Warriors?

PHOENIX – Stephen Curry and Draymond Green closing Warriors games in the pick-and-roll have long been Steve Kerr‘s self-described bread-and-butter, still. On Friday night against the Grizzlies, it showed some of its age.

“It’s still very effective,” Curry told the Chronicle, leaning in the hallway after Golden State’s loss Saturday to the Suns. “But if we had to diagnose it after one game – it was because I missed shots, missed a couple layups, and it was kinda predictable.”

Sometimes predictability is good, sometimes not. The Grizzlies looked like they were all too aware of what was coming late in Golden State’s stunning collapse Friday night. The Warriors went to the Curry-Green two-man game up by eight with roughly 3:30 left, and then again up eight with a little less than three minutes left, and again up four inside two minutes, and again in a tie game inside one minute, and got zero points out of it. Some of it was just missed shots. Some of it was because Memphis center Zach Edey was able to read and react quickly enough to contest.

As Kerr pointed out Saturday, the Warriors can’t simply rely on the Curry-Green pick-and-roll to close night after night, where a 38-year-old guard and 36-year-old big try to make magic with five sets of defensive eyes on them.

“The idea of using the tools you have, the toolkit,” Curry said Saturday. “As you get through the year, you learn what you have, what you don’t have, what works, what doesn’t work.”

And what will work, as Curry believes, is placing the ball in the hands of Yaxel Lendeborg.

“He’s so calm with the ball in his hands, as a playmaker,” Curry told the Chronicle, on Lendeborg. “And he can get schemes going where, you highlight that, and put him in a position to be successful with spacing around him.

“It’s very Jimmy-esque in a way, but a different way,” he continued, referencing the injured Jimmy Butler. “Where he can slow possessions down and create a threat, whether it’s picking on a mismatch or driving the lane with space where nobody can really stay in front of him. And make teams make decisions.”

In Phoenix, with Curry, Green and Al Horford resting for back-to-back purposes and Brandin Podziemski resting a sore back, the Warriors got to look at their younger players. Squint, and young bigs Graham Ike and Charles Bassey provided rebounding and defensive activity – and the rough outline of a capable center rotation. And also an opportunity for some of the veterans, as De’Anthony Melton found his groove with four threes and new signee Brandon Williams attacked the rim relentlessly in a 20-point night.

But it was an exhibition, most of all, for the 6-foot-9 Lendeborg, who found himself as Golden State’s de-facto lead ballhandler and primary offensive decision-maker for long stretches in a 26-point, nine-rebound, five-assist night.

The Warriors’ opener last week in Los Angeles – surely you heard about what happened with Luka Dončić – was Lendeborg’s defensive welcome to the league. Saturday in Phoenix was his first offensive trial, as Kerr tossed a 24-year-old the keys to a banged-up Golden State ride and accepted that the rookie might hit a couple curbs.

“He’s a rookie,” Melton said postgame. “And I think sometimes, given his age and given what he did at Michigan … we expect him to do all these great things, which he has. But he’s going to come with rookie stuff.”

Rookie stuff, on this night, looked like a couple forced passes into paint windows that closed a little too quickly, or challenging shot-blockers without a plan. Several times on Friday and Saturday, the 6-foot-9 Lendeborg has launched himself downhill against a vertical 7-footer with little visible plan of attack. Hoping for a foul. It rarely worked, and Lendeborg’s often hit the deck without any kind of whistle for it.

Those plays, as Kerr has referenced a couple times, need to be a jump-stop. Or a euro-step. Or a pull-up jumper. And Lendeborg has shown he can do all those things.

“He’s fearless, and he’s huge, and he’s got a great skill set,” Kerr said postgame.

The shot looked better than advertised Saturday, as Lendeborg went 6-for-11 on threes and hit a couple of advanced-level sidestep triples when Suns defenders were eager closing out. He also showed nifty floor vision, as Lendeborg spun gracefully and hit lurking cutters or bigs inside. He made few wrong decisions against a well-coached Phoenix team, making the game a test passed and a harbinger of moments to come.

“We’re going to put Yaxel in more and more pick-and-roll situations, playmaking situations, and I have no doubt he’s going to help us close a lot of games this year,” Kerr said.

The offensive benefit is obvious. If Kerr trusts Lendeborg enough with only a handful of possessions remaining, he could have the rookie run pick-and-roll with Green, let Green make short-roll decisions, and run off-ball actions to ensure Curry’s gravity as a shooter opens up the floor. It’s “a lot of pressure” on Curry and Green to put them in that two-man spot over and over, as Kerr said Saturday postgame. Lendeborg is a natural lever.

The next step for the rookie is to improve his defense. Kerr said point-blank Saturday that Lendeborg’s weak-side awareness is “very poor,” which passes the eye test: he’s a step slow or simply absent on rotating down to contest big men or cutters attacking the paint. It’s a concern large enough to potentially keep him off the floor in crunch time.

But the notion that Kerr doesn’t play rookies is fading. Lendeborg will likely lead the Warriors in minutes this season, Kerr said Saturday. He’s earning it, and earning the ball in his hands, enough to make the Warriors think slightly differently about their bread-and-butter.

They also have little other choice. 

“We’ve had rookies, young guys, who – they’re helping, but it doesn’t really show because they’re not getting minutes, or not getting opportunity because of the situation,” Curry said. “But he’s going to develop right in front of everybody’s eyes.”

Subscribe

There’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.

This article originally published at How did Yaxel Lendeborg do in first big test as an offensive centerpiece for Warriors?.