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Golden State Warriors Don’t Need To Worry About Andre Iguodala Just Yet

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Andre Iguodala Golden State Warriors

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Despite Golden State Warriors small forward Andre Iguodala only putting up three points in his past two games, ‘Dre is just fine. Just as coach Steve Kerr said, it’s not worth worrying about Iguodala’s lack of production in the box score “at all.”

Iguodala’s main contributions have always been in areas that aren’t well-represented in the box score, such as in team defense and ball handling. One attempt to measure a player’s contribution to team defense, Defensive Box Plus-Minus, ranks Iguodala’s as the 18th-best team defender in the league thus far, with a value of 2.8 defensive points per 100 possessions. While Box Plus-Minus does agree with the conventional wisdom that Iguodala’s offense has been down this year, ‘Dre’s team defense has continued to be elite.

Iguodala, however, has never been known as an offensive force. While he’s shown the capability to be a team’s No. 1 scoring option, his offensive production has always been rather up-and-down. As long as his defensive capability stays intact, he will continue to thrive in his desired role.

In addition, Iguodala is now coming off of the bench for the first time in his career – before this season, he had started every game he played in – and is expected to carry the bench’s offense. While Iguodala may have been capable of carrying an offense early in his career, he hasn’t been able to do so in many years. During his last season with the Philadelphia 76ers and his lone season with the Denver Nuggets, in which he was each team’s primary offensive option, he shot worse from two-point distance than he currently is shooting this season.

Maybe Iguodala is reaching an age at which he cannot be expected to be a two-way star. However, he can and will continue to be the defensive stopper that Golden State wanted when they brought him aboard.

Alex Moss covers the Golden State Warriors for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @Manus_BaldSpot or add him to your network on Google. You can also find his own blog at manusbaldspot.weebly.com.

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