Former Warriors big man Marreese Speights will play in China this season with the Guangzhou Long-Lions, but the 31-year-old got it done against NBA competition this preseason. He scored 41 points (on 27 shots) in nearly 40 minutes against the Washington Wizards on Friday, and caught the attention of his former head coach and one of his old teammates.
ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson, who coached Speights in 2013-14, joked on Speights' Instagram post about the game that he held Speights back.
Then, as the Warriors subreddit's Twitter account pointed out, Draymond Green chimed in.
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Jackson and Green were kidding, but they may (kind of) have a point!
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In Speights' one season under Jackson, he averaged 6.4 points per game -- the second-lowest mark of his career. Speights' usage rate under Jackson (25.4 percent), was lower than his two seasons under current Warriors head coach Steve Kerr (29.3 percent).
The center also took a lot more 3-pointers under Kerr, making 38.7 percent of his triples in 2015-16. Last year, Speights credited his uptick to Kerr's advice telling him to take a step back rather than settle for a long 2-point shot.
“I was just so scared to shoot 3s that if I shoot and miss I’m going to come out of the game,” Speights told the Orlando Sentinel last fall. “But he gave me confidence. [He said,] ‘Take one step back and shoot it.’ ”
Speights' minutes went up with the Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando Magic, respectively, over the next two seasons, but he also shot 3-pointers at the two-highest rates of his career. On Friday, Speights took 17 shots from beyond the arc, while the rest of Guangzhou took 24. He took 31 total in one season under Jackson.
Like we said, the coach and Green may have a point.
H/T @GSWReddit