How Steve Kerr's failure to adapt is hurting floundering Warriors

Under head coach Steve Kerr, the Golden State Warriors once boasted the best offense in basketball. Kerr's motion offense in 2016 was revolutionary, but while the league has since adapted to this style of play, the head coach has not evolved as a result.

Heading into Friday night's game at Oklahoma City, the Warriors are 14th in offensive rating at 114.9 and 17th in net rating at +1 this season, per Cleaning The Glass. Golden State (10-11) is 11th in the Western Conference, and Kerr is not doing them any favors. 

In Golden State's 124-123 loss to the Sacramento Kings last week, Kerr unexplainably subbed Moses Moody out in the fourth quarter for a struggling Klay Thompson. Up to that point, Moody had scored 11 of the team's 12 points in the quarter.

"I regretted it instantly and deserved every bit of heat that came my way afterward," Kerr said. "Taking Moses out was a terrible move."

Throughout the season, Kerr has consistently shown preferential treatment for his struggling veterans — namely Thompson and Andrew Wiggins — over younger players like Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, who have been more effective. 

In Wednesday's 110-106 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, Kerr didn't play Kuminga until late in the third quarter.

"He was really the reason we won," Kerr said of Kuminga, who scored 13 points.

That it took Kerr and his staff until late in the third quarter to put Kuminga in the game against a team that lacks rim protection is unconscionable. 

Other decisions by Kerr have also been eyebrow-raising.

Given the presence of Chris Paul and Stephen Curry — two of the greatest point guards to play the game — one would expect the Warriors to run a high volume of pick-and-rolls. However, Golden State is 24th in pick-and-roll percentage, at a frequency rate of 14.2 percent. 

Another issue is Kerr frequently playing lineups featuring three or four guards. This strategy, however, puts those players in positions to fail, especially defensively. He's asking them to execute in a way that is beyond their physical capabilities. Having small guards defend much larger, stronger players for possessions at a time is a tactic destined to fail. 

Indeed, a larger issue is the roster's overall lack of size. However, Kerr's lineup choices, compounded by his reluctance to use 6-foot-9 rookie big man Trayce Jackson-Davis in the rotation, exacerbate the issue. Jackson-Davis averages only 7.8 minutes per game.

"As it has become evident that the Warriors lack rim protection among their rotation players, the drumbeat for more frequent Jackson-Davis sightings is getting louder," NBC Sports Bay Area's Monte Poole wrote recently. "If the Warriors are serious about improving defense in the paint, [Jackson-Davis] needs to [play]."

Kerr must embrace adaptation. It is not 2016 anymore. 

The Warriors no longer possess the large margin for error that marked their dynasty seasons. To secure their fifth championship in this decade, Kerr must do a better job of putting his players in positions to succeed.