One of the benefits of being a not-terrible team is that, suddenly, we're getting a whole lot more love from the national media. These articles can sometimes have less depth than we would like, as they're often sharing stories that die-harders like GSOM readers are already familiar with.
Ethan Sherwood Strauss's article on Iguodala's shooting, however, goes beyond that and actually digs into shot mechanics:
Iguodala doesn't release the ball quickly. Instead, he ducks forward for a beat while dipping the ball below his waist. From there, he finally releases the ball nearly straight up, as though the shot is a fountain geyser. It’s a pretty shot when undisturbed. Problem is, it's hard to get undisturbed shots against NBA defenses. Or rather, it's hard for perimeter players to get those shots if they aren't playing alongside Curry.
Read the whole article here.
The article gets to the issue of why Iguodala-as-back-up point isn't a perfect solution as Sherwood Strauss points out:
Iguodala has made 20 of his 32 3-point attempts when Curry is on the floor. When Curry sits, Iguodala is 2-for-14 from beyond the arc.
In other words, part of the problem with running Iguodala as our backup point is that not only do we not have Curry on the floor, but we also have a lesser version of Iguodala. We saw some of this during the Memphis game as Iguodala really struggled to create, at times, in the half-court offense.
Sherwood Strauss also makes the point that this is almost certainly not a case of (or, at least, not just a case of) small sample sizes. The term "regression to the mean" applies to anomalous blips when nothing else has changed. If Iguodala is much more wide open for his threes with Curry on the floor, that suggests at least some of that incredible shooting could be sustainable.
That's important, because if the Warriors are going to challenge for the Western Conference title, they are going to need the best version of Iguodala. In other words: get well soon, Steph Curry!
Sherwood Strauss's whole article is worth a read. Do check it out.