The Golden State Warriors had an amazing offseason by adding Kevin Durant, but their players have still expressed why they’ll miss Marreese Speights after he joined the LA Clippers.
The Golden State Warriors had the best offseason in the NBA. What a hot take, right? After signing Kevin Durant to give themselves an unbelievable jolt of talent after winning 73 games but losing a 3-1 lead in the Finals to LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s safe to say that Warriors fans can be pretty happy with their summer. Yet, despite adding Durant, signing Zaza Pachulia for an absurdly cheap $2.9 million deal and David West for the minimum in the new market, there is one player heading to the LA Clippers that they’ll miss.
Marreese Speights, as a fan favorite who averaged 21.6 points per 36 minutes during his three-year career with the Warriors, will be missed. Both by those fans and his teammates.
Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com has reported some comments from the Warriors players themselves, with Harrison Barnes praising Speights’ energy and how happy the Clippers can be with the spacing he provides:
"“Love Mo. He was right next to my locker every day at Golden State. He’s a great guy. I love the energy that he brings to the game.He’s a sneaky offensive rebounder, now a great 3-point shooter…He stretches the defense. There’s not a lot of fives used to guarding a guy like him on the perimeter who’s just going to knock down that shot. They’ll be very happy to have him.”"
Klay Thompson also praised how Speights’ improved his three-point game. After hardly attempting many threes prior to mid January last season and only making one, Speights got the green light from that point on.
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His feet shifted back from his favorite spot around 18 feet, he launched threes, and made them at a terrific rate. From January 20 until the end of the regular season, Speights shot 44.2 percent from deep and made 23 threes.
In the payoffs, he was even better. Shooting 41.9 percent from beyond the arc, he finished the post season with 18 made threes in a hurry (3.2 per 36 minutes).
Thompson acknowledged Speights’ jump shot, saying he’ll miss playing the pick-and-roll with him as well:
"“Mo genuinely loves the game of basketball. I’m going to miss playing the pick-and-roll with him. He’s so easy to get an assist; just throw it to Mo. He’s got such a great jumper. There’s not many 6-11 guys who’ve got a shooting touch like he does who shoot it 40 percent from deep.He’s true to his roots. He’s never going to change who he is, and that’s what makes him so special. I’m going to miss his personality, and I’m going to miss being out there on the court (with him). He’s such a great player. The Clippers got a good one.”"
It’s not that the Warriors are much worse off for losing Speights. They’ll miss the spacing he can provide from center, and losing starting center Andrew Bogut in particular to create enough cap space for Durant was a tough loss to their rim protection.
However, when you add a transcendent scorer like Durant and have the “Mega Death Lineup” of Stephen Curry, Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Durant and Draymond Green to use, you worry a little less.
Next: How will the Clippers' defense compare to last season?
As for the LA Clippers, they also lost some key rim protection this summer after Cole Aldrich signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a three-year, $22 million deal. In Speights, the Clippers will hope improved spacing and offensive firepower helps balance out the defensive loss.