The Warriors traded away Andrew Bogut in the offseason and it took the team some time to learn how to play without its former starting center, Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com writes.
“You lose a guy like Bogut who, you almost can funnel stuff to Bogut,” Draymond Green said “You funnel someone to him, you know he’s there and he can kind of erase any mistake that someone makes, and then you lose that, you have to get used to not having that there. When you had it there for the last four years, it takes a little while to adjust to that. However, I think we adjusted to it.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Luol Deng signed with the Lakers during the offseason in part because he was intrigued with Luke Walton‘s system as well as the team’s young, up-and-coming roster, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. The small forward struggled earlier in the season, but he is beginning to feel more comfortable in his new role. “When you’re with a new group, guys start to realize what you can do and what you can’t do,” Deng said. “A lot of times at the beginning of the year, guys were just standing still. The way I play, I’m always moving.”
- The Clippers know how to play without Blake Griffin, something they did for 47 games last season, and their offense remains effective without the five-time All-Star in the line-up, Jesse Dougherty of the Los Angeles Times writes. “The thing is, by playing small and playing [Paul Pierce] at the four, it allows us to spread the floor a little bit more,” J.J. Redick said. The shooting guard added that Griffin’s loss with likely hurt more on the defensive end.