Steve Kerr has ended the guessing game in Golden State’s backcourt.
Brandon Williams, who arrived on a one-year, $2.6 million deal in late August, is the Warriors’ backup point guard. That was the message Kerr delivered Monday, and he made it clear the job isn’t just about bringing juice off the bench. It comes with real responsibility.
“He is the backup point guard,” Kerr told reporters.
The non-guaranteed nature of Williams’ contract left at least some room for uncertainty when he signed. A piece of that deal - $1.4 million - becomes guaranteed on opening night, but Kerr’s comments removed any doubt about where Williams stands going into the season.
What will determine how much he plays? Ball security.
“The good news is, he can things that most people can't. His explosiveness in transition, his speed in transition, he can get us a lot of easy hoops.
But's he got to recognize, he is the backup point guard. He is the ball-handler coming off the bench, and there's a lot of responsibility that comes in that role, and a big part of that responsibility is ball security.”
Williams has flashed plenty in the preseason. Through four games, he’s averaging 14.3 points while shooting a scorching 61.8 percent from the field. But the turnover count has been hard to ignore: 14 giveaways against just nine assists in 57 minutes.
Kerr also went further, saying Williams is the fastest player the Warriors have had since Leandro Barbosa “in terms of just pure speed and the ability to get past people.”
That comparison matters in Kerr’s system. Barbosa fit neatly into Warriors teams that won the title in 2014-15 and reached the Finals in 2015-16.
But there’s a key difference between the two: Barbosa was a shooting guard and a career 38.7 percent three-point shooter, while Williams has hit 28.0 percent of his career threes. That could make the fit trickier, even if Williams has looked comfortable scoring in the half-court so far this preseason, as noted previously.
The minutes picture also looks fairly clear. Williams is projected to handle the stretches when Stephen Curry sits, which could put him anywhere from 12 to 19 minutes in a competitive game. He may also share the floor with Curry for a few minutes depending on the matchup and how he’s playing.
That points to a role in the high teens.
If that holds, it should not dramatically cut into Brandin Podziemski or De'Anthony Melton. Podziemski’s 28.5 minutes per game could tick up slightly, and Melton could wind up a bit above 23.0.
The Warriors also expect to use more three-guard lineups this season until Jimmy Butler and/or Moses Moody return, which helps explain why Williams won’t need to crowd out the other main guards. Instead, his minutes are more likely to come from the deeper reserve group, including Will Richard and LJ Cryer.
There are only so many possessions and so many minutes available. For now, Kerr has made it plain where Williams fits in.
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