The second leader, as the name implies, is the second-ranking player of the team, in other words, the second core player of the team, who contributes the second most value to the team. The leader of the Warriors is of course the team soul Stephen Curry, and the competition for the second leader is much more intense. Is it the former top 3D player in the league and Klay Thompson, who has played with Curry for more than 10 years, or is at his peak, and gradually transformed into an offense and defense. All-rounder Andrew Wiggins? Who is more valuable to the Warriors?
Before revealing the author’s choice, let’s take a look at the offensive and defensive value of the two of them in the Warriors, and then compare who has more value and is more suitable to be the second leader of the Warriors.
-Klay Thompson
Thompson came back with more ball possession than ever before, and his tactical status has hardly changed. Steve Kerr also offered a lot of play to pair him with Curry, and Thompson might be said to have unlimited firepower. Looking at the stats, Klay averaged 17.9 shots per game last season, the second-highest of his career and second only to the 2018-19 season. He is averaging a career-high 9.3 three-pointers per game, with 51.7 percent of his attempts per game being three-pointers. Kerr has been designing different plays for him to make him more comfortable, allowing him to increase his shot percentage from the perimeter to get him back to his pre-injury peak faster.
After his return, Thompson increased the percentage of singles with the ball and reduced the time he spent without the ball. His singles has changed from not being good at the beginning of his comeback to a concept that is not bad at the end of the season. There are signs of transformation in his style of play. Not only is he an off-ball shooter, but he has also begun to develop different skills.
After his comeback, Thompson is indeed weaker than before. He has been unable to make some three-pointers with large gaps. The two shooting percentages have dropped significantly. The shooting rate is only 42.6%, and the three-point shooting rate is even lower to 38.5%. Although these data are already good among NBA shooters, they belong to the middle and upper levels, but they are very low for Thompson. So far in his career, Thompson’s 3-point percentage has never been lower than 40%, and he has an exaggerated 44% at his peak. His shooting percentage was indeed worse than usual last season.
Thompson added more organizational work last season. He often made the right decisions in transitions and often saw him have fancy assists. 2.8 assists per game may seem low, but he also has an assist percentage (AST%) of 15.4%, and even if he’s not a traditional point guard, he’s also helpful in playmaking.
Thompson used to be the team’s big lock, taking on the second-best defense behind Green. He used to be the role model of the league’s 3-and-D player, one of the top players at his position. But when he returned, the Warriors’ coaching staff decided to reduce his defensive responsibilities in order not to burden him. Andrew Wiggins is gradually taking over the responsibility of defending opposing stars. Thompson’s defensive skills are still very good, and he can still do basic interference, but his defensive lateral movement speed is 10% or 20% slower than before. Now he will be swayed by players with high speed, and some dislocations begin to occur. , The speed degradation following a major injury is also inevitable, but it is also inevitable to feel sad.
-Andrew Wiggins
Although Wiggins’ offensive statistics are not much different from before, he still contributes steadily every game, becoming the most stable player on the team. Although his performance dropped significantly following the All-Star break, it’s been a successful season overall.
The most prominent statistic on the offensive end last season was his three-point shooting percentage, which accounted for more than 40% for a long time in the first half of the season, and 39.3% for the whole season. His output on the perimeter is also very sufficient, averaging 2.2 outside shots, and his contribution is very sufficient. Finally, an exaggerated statistic was announced. Wiggins’ three-point shooting percentage last season was the highest in the team, higher than Curry and Thompson. His three-point value last season was really the highest in his career.
In the playoffs, everyone’s impression of Wiggins is to be a rebounding madman. In the regular season, he averaged only 4.5 rebounds, but when he entered the playoffs, he worked hard and became a completely different person in terms of card slot competition and so on. , The number of rebounds has jumped geometrically, contributing 7.5 per game, and there is a terrible data of 2.5 offensive rebounds. These two numbers are second only to Kevon Looney, who is really another him in the playoffs.
In the first few years of his career, Wiggins has always given the impression of a player who only focuses on offense and constantly brushes stats. But following joining the Warriors, Wiggins got less of the ball, he became more efficient, and his shooting percentage started to improve. His value can no longer be seen in the data, and his contribution is greater than expected.
Another thing that has to be said is his defense. Since joining the Warriors, the Warriors coaching team has begun to focus on cultivating his defensive skills. After all, he has athletic ability and a tall wingspan, and he is fully equipped with defensive hardware. The Warriors also hope to successfully develop him into a player with both offense and defense, and Wiggins’ contribution on the defensive end is also increasing. He uses his physical hardware to make himself a good one-on-one defense. Successfully defended Tatum, Doncic (draining his stamina) and others in the playoffs. Although his awareness and decisiveness in assisting defense still need to be improved, and his overall defensive ability has not reached the top level, his DEFRTG is 105.4, which is also the lowest in his career, and the positive and negative values have gradually changed from negative to positive, with +3.6 Positive and negative values. All in all, his defensive ability is improving step by step.
