After a quiet stretch to open free agency, the Golden State Warriors suddenly started stacking bodies. They added former Dallas Mavericks guard Brandon Williams, veteran forward Georges Niang and former first-round pick Dalen Terry in recent days.
But the move that could matter most wasn’t one of those signings. It came more than six weeks ago, and it won’t show up in a box score. It’ll be sitting on Steve Kerr’s bench.
Frank Vogel may be the most important offseason addition the Warriors made.
Golden State brought in the former Los Angeles Lakers head coach as its lead assistant in early July, after moving on from Jerry Stackhouse and Terry Stotts at the end of last season. On paper, Williams, Niang and Terry are the names fans will naturally focus on. In reality, Vogel may end up having the biggest say in how the season actually goes.
The Warriors are giving him major influence over the team’s schemes, especially on defense, where he has built his reputation over more than 900 games as a head coach with the Indiana Pacers, Orlando Magic, Lakers and Phoenix Suns.
That matters because Golden State’s defense slipped badly last season, falling from seventh to 16th. The drop came in a year that ended without a playoff berth, one season after a second-round appearance. And with six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler and a 40% 3-point shooter in Moses Moody expected to begin the season on the sidelines, tightening things up on that end is not optional if the Warriors want to stay afloat until those wings return.
Vogel’s track record suggests he can help quickly. As a head coach, he has repeatedly lifted defenses right away. In his first season with the Lakers in 2019-20, he took them from 13th to third on defense and finished the year with a championship in the bubble behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Los Angeles then posted the league’s best defense the next season before sliding to 21st, which led to Vogel’s firing after three years. His lone season with the Suns in 2023-24 produced a 13th-ranked defense, though he was let go after a first-round sweep.
Williams and Niang could both be in the early-season rotation, but they were also the final two players Golden State added. Late free-agent additions rarely reshape a team in a major way, especially once the games matter most. Vogel, meanwhile, has a chance to influence the entire roster through his defensive approach, and that could wind up being the bigger swing.
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Yaxel Lendeborg Just Got The Perfect Rookie Year Motivation
ESPNs latest Rookie of the Year poll gave Cam Boozer the edge in a crowded first-year class, and it also left Golden State rookie Yaxel Lendeborg outside the top five. For a player who arrived as the 11th pick and has already looked like one of the Warriors more polished young pieces in Summer League, that kind of early omission can serve as fuel. Lendeborg has been part of a promising start in Golden State, helping push the roster to a Summer League championship and giving the franchise a glimpse of a rookie who seems eager to carve out a real role.
The added wrinkle is a budding competition with Boozer, who got the national nod and already met Lendeborg on the floor this summer. Lendeborg said the matchup gave him motivation to prove the projection wrong, and the Warriors will likely enjoy that edge if it travels beyond July. For a team always looking for young players who bring both production and a chip on their shoulder, this is the sort of under-the-radar rivalry worth watching as the season approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Warriors Dynasty Nearly Started With One Veterans Warning
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The warning mattered because the next step was not obvious at the time, and the temptation to rework the roster would have been easy to understand. Instead, the Warriors stayed the course, and the season that followed became the start of a championship run that changed the franchises history, with that veteran eventually stepping away as the dynasty was taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
Bob Myers Just Reminded Warriors Fans What Golden State Lost
Bob Myers spent years at the center of the Warriors rise, and even in a new chapter with the Philadelphia 76ers, he still sounds like someone looking back on a run that defined an era in Golden State. The former general manager was a key architect of four championships, helping draft foundational pieces and bringing in Steve Kerr to guide a team that became one of the NBAs modern standards.
In a recent interview, Myers talked about his tenure with the franchise and the part he says he misses most from those years, which is the part no front-office title can really replace. It is a reminder that for all the trophies and roster moves, the bond with Stephen Curry, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala was a big part of what made the whole thing work, and why the separation still carries some weight. [Read more 🡒]