SAN FRANCISCO – The Warriors are 9-2 through their first 11 games, just as they were 9-2 over their last 11 games last season. The records are identical, but there are several notable differences, the most visible being an offseason roster makeover.
Slightly less visible, perhaps, is the usage of Trayce Jackson-Davis. Though the 6-foot-9 center started all 22 of those games, the splits tell a story of a shifting role.
Jackson-Davis as a rookie finished with a flourish, averaging 10.5 points per game, on 66.2 percent shooting, as well as 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks. Spectacle was common, and he averaged 25.4 minutes as the Warriors squeaked into Play-In Tournament.
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Jackson in Year 2? Aside from a slight rise in field-goal percentage (68.4), TJD’s numbers are down across the board: 7.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, .5 blocks and 16.5 minutes – roughly equal to the 16.1 minutes of backup center Kevon Looney.
No less notable is that the kind of “wow” moments that announced TJD’s arrival last season have been scarce.
So, I asked coach Steve Kerr for an assessment of Jackson-Davis’ first 11 games, and the coach was quick to respond. What is the big man’s role?
“It’s pace, pace, pace with Trayce,” Kerr said Thursday. “The way he played the other night, the force in transition, the buckets he got early in the third by running the floor, protecting the rim, rebounding. When he really sprints the floor, you feel it. And we feel it.”
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Jackson-Davis played only 14 minutes Tuesday night, delivering eight points and nine rebounds in Golden State’s 120-117 win over the Dallas Mavericks. He made 3-of-5 from the field, only 2-of-6 from the line. He added two assists and two steals but had zero blocks.
“He's settled into a role now where he's going to play a little bit like the Zaza (Pachulia) role, or JaVale McGee,” Kerr said. “He’ll play the first six or seven minutes of each half and then see where it goes.”
TJD is being asked to set strong screens and pass as effectively as Pachulia did a few years ago. He also is being asked, urged and told to sprint from rim to rim, protecting the rim on one end and smashing lobs on the other, as McGee did when subbing for Pachulia.
Jackson-Davis is trying to make the adjustment, and it’s not always smooth.
“Defensively, I think there's sometimes where I'm still a little hesitant on when to go and when not to go,” he said. “Those are things I just continue to need to watch film on. Offensively, I’m just continuing to work on my screening, continuing to run to the rim. Doing stuff of that nature. That's all coaches ask of me is to be a rim runner because if I put pressure on the rim, it opens guys for shots and or I get easy dunks. Those are the main things.
“But coach is saying I’m doing a great job, so I just need to continue to improve at those things and keep working.”
This is a slight tweak to TJD’s duties as outlined last season with the Warriors. With greater minutes, he produced nine games with at least 15 points, nine games with double-digit rebounding and nine games with at least three blocks. There were numerous occasions when he simply times dazzled.
“Last year, that was kind of my specialty, really,” Jackson-Davis said. “I would come in and be an energy guy.”
With the rotation expanded to unprecedented levels this season, Jackson-Davis is spending less time on the floor and still is seeking his comfort zone. Though his role is slightly different than last season, it’s appreciably altered from his role as a four-year starter at Indiana University, where the offense generally ran through him on the block.
“Which I still do here,” Jackson-Davis said. “We'll do split-action (plays) sometimes, and I'll try to make a read or take my guy off the dribble if I need to.
“But in college, it was very one-dimensional in the sense that the ball went through me, and I had to do stuff of that nature. Being here is a lot different. And I actually like it a lot more because I feel like I get to play more freely, getting lobs, getting dunks and stuff of that nature.”
Jackson-Davis still leads the team in dunks with 26, more than twice the total of second-place Jonathan Kuminga. TJD’s 3.5 rebounds per minute is second behind Kevon Looney, who is grabbing one every 1.9 minutes.
Though Jackson-Davis as the starter, he’s only the first of Golden State’s three-center rotation. With the team playing well, he’ll continue to share with Draymond Green and Looney.
“We may play Loon. We may go small with Draymond,” Kerr said, referring to options beyond Jackson-Davis opening the first and third quarters. “Those might be the only 12 to 14 minutes he gets.
“But regardless, he should be flying out on the floor. When we see that, we feel good about his impact.”
Through 11 games, the system is working. But there is little doubt that Kerr and his staff believe Jackson-Davis can do everything they are asking. It all begins with him sprinting the floor, for that’s the launchpad to all they wish to see.