Warrior Wonder: Point McCaw rises to the occasion

First and foremost, before we dive in, let me get a few things out of the way.

1. That loss sucked and we had every chance to close that game.
2. Give it up for Matt Barnes and his kids getting their championship rings. Seeing them each get a championship ring warmed my heart.
3. Please come back Stephen Curry & Kevin Durant.
4. WE LOST TO THE SACRAMENTO KINGS AT HOME?!

Now back to your regularly schedule program...

Without arguably the Golden State Warriors two best players, Steve Kerr gave Patrick McCaw and Omri Casspi the start for last night’s game. This meant the Warriors would have to flex their strength in numbers mantra and put together a collective team effort.

There were some players that had nice games and stepped up, but there was one in particular that rose to the occasion...

It’s a bird, it’s a plane...It’s Patrick McCaw!

Patrick McCaw has not received a ton of playing time this year, which has been confusing and slightly disappointing given Kerr was playing McCaw in crunch time minutes in last season’s NBA Finals.

Tonight, McCaw got his first start of the year and not just any start, he was the de facto point guard replacing Stephen Curry in the starting lineup. McCaw was responsible for playing on ball and without our two leading scorers, that makes it a bit more challenging to find premium opportunities for your teammates.

Here was one of McCaw’s team-high four steals on the night. He led the fast break and found his man Omri Casspi in stride who finished with a beautiful layup at the other end. Who needs Curry & Durant when you have the tandem of McCaw and Casspi? Ok, I am slightly kidding but these guys are really nice and need more playing time.

McCaw had his hands in many passing lanes, breaking up plays and challenging the Kings on defense. McCaw’s defense makes him so versatile as a wing defender, one of his clear strengths which was on display tonight.

McCaw was dishing out assists all night finding guys cutting to the basket and out on the wings. In a role that he has not seen yet, McCaw came up aces playing at the point guard position.

Here is another play where McCaw takes a swipe at DeAron Fox which leads to a wide open break for a one handed jam at the other end.

Fun fact for the day: Patrick McCaw is 6-foot-7 inches but possesses an incredible 6-foot-10 inch wingspan. Longer wingspans generally equate to better defensive close outs and steals. Throw McCaw on an opposing point guard, he will likely have a longer reach and a good chance to break up passes and slap the ball away as he is a bit taller than the average point guard.

Patrick McCaw is last night’s Warrior Wonder. He logged maybe his best stat line as a pro to date: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 1 block and was 5-for-8 from the field. With his success tonight, that begs another question...

Can Patrick McCaw be the Warriors back-up point guard behind Curry?

On the depth chart, Shaun Livingston is the back-up point guard but should McCaw get more opportunity in the future? If tonight was any indication of what sort of production we could see from McCaw in the future, this could be his chance to carve our a larger role in Kerr’s rotations. Imagine him dishing out to Durant and even having Curry play off ball while Klay Thompson is sitting.

At the end of the day, nearly everyone on the team is a great passer and plays on or off the ball so positions are really just formalities to put in box scores. However, for the sake of argument and evolution of this offense, McCaw should get more shots to backup up Curry at point guard off the bench and when he rests.

We now go to the people to ask their opinion on this matter:

Yes, we agree coach. Tonight Patrick was McCawesome and then some.