For the first time this preseason, the Golden State Warriors will start both Draymond Green and Charles Bassey.
Gui Santos had been starting at small forward, but he will come off the bench against the Trail Blazers on Friday.
The rest of the starters are not surprising—Stephen Curry at point guard, Brandin Podziemski at shooting guard and Yaxel Lendeborg at small forward.
Steve Kerr said the starters will play for 25-30 minutes.
This is the Warriors' final preseason game. They open their season against the Lakers on Wednesday.
Warriors Leave Doubt Over Opening Night Starting Lineup
Kerr had previously said he was "leaning toward" a starting lineup of Curry, Podz, Santos, Lendeborg and Green.
Kerr said before Friday's game that he went with Bassey over Santos because he wanted to get a look with Green next to a center other than Al Horford.
The positive to starting Bassey is having more rim protection and size. The negative is that Santos is much more versatile offensive player than Bassey.
My take is the Warriors should start Santos, as it allows Lendeborg to play power forward and will generally make the offense more lethal.
But Bassey has certainly earned consideration for the regular-season starting lineup.
He's second on the team in preseason field-goal percentage (65.4), second in rebounds per game (6.6) and first in blocks per game (1.8).
Warriors Defense Will Be Under the Spotlight
Three minutes into the third quarter against the Lakers on Tuesday, the Warriors had allowed 70 points.
That's too many against a team playing without its superstar, as Luka Doncic was resting.
It's clear the Warriors don't have the healthy personnel to play great on-ball defense. Lendeborg was among the Golden State players who struggled against the Lakers.
Steve Kerr has since said he thinks the Dubs can have a "very good" defense if they get more connected.
The Blazers will be a great test. They should have Deni Avdija, Ja Morant and Damian Lillard in their lineup on Friday.
It should be noted that Green was out against the Lakers. He typically cleans up many defensive mistakes.
Having him back in the lineup will help.
With that said, no one should expect the Warriors to fix their defensive issues overnight. But progress would be allowing fewer layups and easy drives into the paint.
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