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In Tuesday’s season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors big man Andrew Bogut suffered a concussion, despite playing the entire game wearing a mask, a fallout from his prior broken nose. Bogut won’t see the court again until he is cleared under the NBA‘s concussion protocol.
Luckily for Golden State, its depth and ability to put out versatile frontcourt lineups will save it against the slew of premier frontcourts that it is set to face in the upcoming week. That includes Dwight Howard and the Houston Rockets, the Los Angeles Clippers led by Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, and a rematch with Anthony Davis, the consensus preseason MVP choice.
After missing 15 games in each of the last two seasons, Bogut’s current absence won’t be a new situation for the Warriors. This will allow interim coach Luke Walton to create unorthodox lineups, such as the lineup seen in the NBA Finals, with Draymond Green playing center. Giving more minutes to new signee Jason Thompson and the ever-improving Festus Ezeli is also a possibility.
Backup center Marreese Speights can also expect his minutes to go up, as was seen last season during another Bogut injury. Speights will be able to showcase a scoring prowess that fans had already gotten to see flashes of. 10.4 PPG last season doesn’t show the whole story, as Speights was able to top 24 points four different times, displaying a Stephen Curry-esque way of catching fire with his shooting on occasion.
Nobody knows just how long Bogut will be out, as concussions can be tricky and lingering. There is no player who can substitute for what he does on the defensive end, but the Warriors have the size and versatility to be just fine against a tough stretch of opponents.
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