Yaxel Lendeborg's challenge? Run Warriors when Curry sits. But first, fetch waters, rookie

HONOLULU – Three hours after the start of a new chapter in Yaxel Lendeborg‘s life, a chapter he once never thought he’d reach, security officers got his attention in the bowels of the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s arena. You gotta call Draymond, they said. Green was looking for Lendeborg, apparently. 

So Lendeborg called him, of course.

“(Draymond) says, ‘I need 10 cold Waiakea waters,'” Lendeborg tells the Chronicle, grinning. “I was like, ‘OK.'”

Thirty minutes after the Warriors’ preseason-opening loss to the Clippers, then, one of the most exciting rookies in recent Golden State memory bends down in the hallway of UH’s locker room this Sunday and fishes 10 cold Waiakea waters out of a cooler. Carrying 10 at once – even with a 7-foot-4 wingspan – is no easy feat. And Lendeborg fumbles a few away, encircling several in his arms, before a staffer mercifully steps in and offers a plastic bag for assistance. 

Green has already left, by this point. 

“Just gotta bring it to him, I guess,” Lendeborg says, a thousand-watt smile showing no signs of dimming.

Rookie duties, for a 24-year-old man who the Warriors hope can have a veteran’s impact. Lendeborg was just an All-American at Michigan, and won a national championship, and was drafted at No. 11 in June. He has no problem, though, with this. Green has been his vet, thus far. “Just gotta face the music,” Lendeborg says Sunday, cheerful.

And yet the dynamic role Golden State will place on his shoulders this season has only grown more obvious through a week of training camp in Hawaii and a preseason start against the Clippers.

“He’s very capable of being our lead offensive threat when Steph’s off the floor,” head coach Steve Kerr said postgame Sunday. “He connects the game beautifully. He just makes the easy play over and over again, and looks good shooting the ball.”

Such is a massive burden to carry, in a win-now situation, in Curry’s age-38 season. Especially as Lendeborg has been open about his struggles with confidence. The road here will involve many mistakes, and require off-court gestures that build on-court respect of veteran teammates, like carrying 10 cold Waiakea waters (for some reason).

The most important ingredient? There’s no hesitation, in Lendeborg’s eyes, when he’s asked Sunday if he feels he can be that guy when Curry’s not on the floor.

“I definitely believe that,” Lendeborg said. “And not in like, a scoring aspect. But more so, like, playmaking, get everybody involved, aspect. And then, if there’s a chance for me to score, like, wide-open or something like that, then obviously I’ll take that shot and stuff. 

“But just being able to control and handle the team and offense while he’s off the court, is something I was already trying to plan to do.”

It will be a slow process, if Sunday’s opener was any indication. Lendeborg drilled an open corner three within the first 30 seconds, off a Curry drive-and-kick. He thought that meant he was in for a “huge game,” he says later. Lendeborg scored one more point in 19 total minutes, and missed all of his other five shots.

Two points of major teach-tape will linger from his debut, as Kerr saw it. One: Lendeborg let Clippers forward Rui Hachimura shoot over the top of him on one jumper, en route to a 21-point night. A case of knowing personnel, Kerr explained. Lendeborg had to make Hachimura put the ball on the floor. 

The other major point: Lendeborg passed up a layup, as Kerr said, to try a dump-off pass to big Charles Bassey that led to a turnover. This is the major no-no for Lendeborg, in Golden State’s ecosystem. The Warriors cannot afford to have another offensive player who’s better as a connector than a play-finisher. 

Kerr is trying to get Lendeborg to be aggressive. Green is, too. De’Anthony Melton is, too. Curry is, too. 

“We don’t want anything passive,” Curry said postgame. “And I think he’s been answering that call early. Saw one of the first possessions, taking a shot when he was open, getting the offensive rebounds, driving. I know he wants a couple of those possessions back, but we want him applying pressure on both ends of the floor. 

“It’s not going to be perfect,” Curry continued. “He’s going to make mistakes. I think hopefully, he can thrive off the fact that he can play through those.”

Lendeborg passed up a few open threes by design Sunday.

“It’s more so like, ‘Ah, I don’t wanna shoot this shot so early in the shot clock,'” Lendeborg told the Chronicle. “Like, it’ll be considered a bad shot, I guess. If it was a little later, I probably would’ve shot it, maybe.”

The Warriors want him to shoot those. They might need him to. Lendeborg will have plenty of offensive agency, because Golden State has no real other choice given roster construction. 

And Lendeborg popped as an offensive engine on Sunday, with a couple beautiful feeds off ball screens. A Kevin Durant-sized man who can thrive as a passer off pick-and-roll action is a scary thing. Lendeborg looks more than capable.

“The way that he reads defenses and the way that he makes decisions, it’s setting him apart right away,” center Al Horford said. 

Lendeborg has a few weeks of preseason play to learn, and months to learn beyond that, before any potential playoff push. For the time, he is certainly not above asking questions. During one first-quarter timeout, Green was seen giving Lendeborg a long, animated explanation of one particular defensive rotation.  

This was not Green lighting into the rookie. Lendeborg asked him where Green wanted him to go.

“We just figured it out,” Lendeborg recalled. 

He and his new organization, clearly, feel he can keep doing so.

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This article originally published at Yaxel Lendeborg’s challenge? Run Warriors when Curry sits. But first, fetch waters, rookie.