Might as well get this out of the way: Yes, the title of this post is a Bryan Adams reference. No, I am not embarrassed.1
Think about Gary Payton II and you likely picture the bouncy guard making some poor ball handler’s life hell. I was at a game in the Chase Center earlier this season when LaMelo Ball and Ish Smith played hot potato because neither wanted to deal with GPII’s ball pressure. GPII averages 2.8 steals and 5.1 deflections per 36 minutes, both of which lead the league amongst players who have played at least 500 minutes per NBA stats. One can’t help but pity opposing players who have to be hounded end to end on a random weeknight game. Defense has never been a question with Young Glove (a nickname that he prefers in tribute to his father, even if it is less catchy than The Mitten).
With the Warriors, GPII has also found the perfect offensive environment in which to thrive. The Warriors offense hums when the ball doesn’t stick, players move, cut, and screen, and run when they force turnovers. It helps if players can make enough open shots to make defenses pay when they stay attached to Steph Curry.
GPII has a minuscule usage rate of 13%, in the 5th percentile of all combo guards, but that doesn’t pose a problem per se on this roster. The Warriors have enough quarterbacks to direct the offense with the ball in their hands. While he came into this season with a reputation as a shaky shooter, GPII has sunk a respectable 38% of his threes this season and 44% from the corners per Cleaning the Glass. He has shot over 40% on threes that NBA stats classify as “open” or “wide open”. Those are exactly the shots that the Warriors need him to be taking and making. They have numbers 30 and 11 for the tightly guarded, off balance threes.2
It would be a mistake, though, to paint Young Glove’s offense as driven entirely by sinking catch-and-shoot threes. Over half of GPII’s shot attempts come at the rim, where he is shooting a rub-my-eyes-and-do-a-double-take 81%. His eFG% of 70% and 1.4 points per shot attempt are both tops in the league amongst non-big men. *In Dos Equis Man voice* I may not take a lot of shots, but when I do, I make sure to score on them.
Readers of this space know how much I appreciate a well timed cut. In addition to transition rim runs - often off of turnovers he has forced through a steal or a deflection - GPII finds a lot of his dunks and layups by knowing when to cut in the half court. He is scoring 1.64 pointer per possession on cuts, behind only LeBron James per Synergy data.3 26% of possessions ended by GPII come on a cut, a mark on par with rim rolling bigs like Rudy Gobert. Put another way: GPII creates high value scoring opportunities on a high volume of cuts.
Case in point: When Rudy Gobert played up on Steph Curry-Kevon Looney high pick and rolls in the recent Warriors Jazz matchup, Steph found Looney for a couple of wide open rolls to the rim. Having been burned enough, Donovan Mitchell sinks in early off of GPII in the corner. With Mitchell cheating off of him and fully committed to helping on Looney’s roll, GPII is quick to cut to the rim and Looney finds him for the highlight.
The Warriors offense is on a string there; Otto Porter Jr. rises up to the hash mark on the right wing even as Steph comes off the pick. There is too much space for Porter’s man, Bojan Bogdanovic, to cover between GPII and Porter. Zone up too far off of Porter and Steph has a short pass to a 40% three point shooter. Bring the help on Looney’s roll from the other side and Looney has a 46% corner shooter in Andrew Wiggins one pass away. The Jazz would likely live with Looney passing to GPII in the weakside corner, an option that GPII converts into a much better look at the rim.
It isn’t just scoring cuts; GPII embodies the selfless attributes that the Warriors especially prize on offense. Noticing his man, Mitchell, in position to help on a possible Wiggins drive, GPII cuts through to the weakside and draws Mitchell with him. That opens a path to the basket once Wiggins takes Rudy Gay off the dribble. The timing of GPII’s cut also puts the Jazz in a muddle, with Bogdanovic realizing too late that he may need to stunt on Wiggins’ drive.
GPII may never be an offensive firehose, but he is the perfect fit for this Warriors offense.
Fun fact: Bryan Adams was the only non-South Asian to perform at the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup opening ceremony in Dhaka. There is a dissertation waiting to be written on the subcontinent’s singular obsession with Adams.
Curiously, Steph finds himself in a shooting slump right now driven largely by misses on open looks. Most of the misses in his recent 1/11 outing against Miami came with oodles of time and space. That the Warriors have still chalked up some impressive wins is a statement on the depth of this roster.
Amongst players with a minimum of 1 such possession per game.