National Basketball Association

Breaking the Warriors Down by Play Type: Pick and Roll, Roll Man

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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In this series, we’ll break the Warriors down on offense by play type, and look at how they will change next year. This time, we look at shot attempts by the roll man out of a pick-and roll.

Kids learn the pick and roll before pretty much any play when they start playing basketball, and for good reason. The pick and roll works. It’s a fundamental part of the game that gave rise to more creative plays, pindowns, and new uses for screens.

However, every team uses it in its most basic form to this day. Along with post-ups and isolation, pick and roll play is a common fallback for simple buckets at every level of basketball. However, it can create a shot opportunity for two players: the roll man and the ball handler.

In this breakdown, the focus will be on the former. In most cases, this is a big man or a forward who screens for a guard, then dives towards the rim when his man collapses to defend the handler.

Whether the result is a double team on the handler or the roll man getting a step on the switched defender, the idea is that he gets a solid look at close range. Turnovers present a major danger here, since long defenders can get hands on the pass inside, but the restricted-area shots come at a premium.

So, how did the Warriors do last year shooting from the roll?

Dec 8, 2015; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12) goes up for the opening jump ball against Indiana Pacers center Ian Mahinmi (28) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

2015-16 Results

The short answer to how the Warriors roll men fared in shot attempts is: not good. At all. Their frequency was low to begin with at 5.1% of total possessions, good for 28th in the league (the Nets had the highest at (9.7%). They were relatively ineffective in those opportunities to boot. Golden State scored .99 points per possession from the roll man last year, 19th in the NBA. The Miami Heat led that category at 1.17. Their field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage clocked in at 47.0% and 51.6%, ranked 28th and 19th respectively. Those two were topped by the Heat (55.0%) and the Cleveland Cavaliers (60.0%).They scored on 47.5% of roll man attempts, 24th among all teams.

The longer answer comes when we ask “why”.

The Warriors, for all their scoring prowess, severely lacked frontcourt offensive talent last year in traditional roles. Since most roll men are big men, looking at their offensive possessions from that player exposes a major achilles’ heel in scoring. Three Warriors took a significant number of shots as the roll man in a pick and roll play: Marreese Speights, Festus Ezeli, and Andrew Bogut (21.8%, 16.0%, and 9.7% frequency respectively). None of those players were dependable offensive assets around the rim last season. Speights was objectively best, logging a PPP of 1.08 on 52.9% eFG%. Ezeli came in at 1.06 PPP, and Bogut at a dismal .89 PPP. For reference, DeAndre Jordan was best in the NBA at 1.40, considering volume. Speights was a bench player, and the other two’s lack of offensive touch explains the rest.

Ready for it to get worse? Let’s look at turnovers and foul generation.

Nov 14, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) reacts after committing a turnover against the Brooklyn Nets in the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Generating Fouls

The roll man for the Warriors coughed up a turnover on 8.9% of possessions last season, 24th in the league. The league leader was the Charlotte Hornets at 5.2%.

How about getting to the stripe? For once, the Warriors did great on getting to the line. They got free throws on 13.9% of roll man shots, sixth-most in the NBA. Those shots largely went to waste, however.

Nearly every player who took roll man shots in meaningful volume was horrid at the line. Marreese Speights, who went to the line 10.5% of the time, shot a fantastic 82.9% from the stripe last year. Festus Ezeli got free throws on a fantastic 23.1% of those shots,but made a miserable 53.0% of them. Bogut puts both to shame. He shot 48.0% from the line last year and only got to it on 2.7% of roll man shots.

If you’re not keeping score at home, none of that is a good thing. The Warriors’ big men had a rough year in fouls. Their best foul shooter was a defensive liability and a bench player. Their best guy at getting to the line was a backup and couldn’t make the shots anyway. Finally, their starter shot the worst of the bunch and almost never got opportunities.

Luckily, light appears at the end of this tunnel.

Jan 10, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Dallas Mavericks center Zaza Pachulia (27) goes up for a layup past Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Outlook and Predictions

While Golden State is going to miss Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut from a screening and defensive standpoint, they certainly won’t from an offensive point of view in the pick and roll.

Their new additions should add offense around the rim. In limited opportunities, Zaza Pachulia logged a decent .97 PPP on roll man shots, and drew fouls on 24.2% of attempts. He shot 76.8% from the stripe last season. Kevin Durant adds an interesting wrinkle here, since he could end up as a roll man in small lineups particularly given his height. In a very small sample size last year, he put up a PPP value of 1.05.

The really interesting thing here is that the most promising roll man in the new crop of players might be JaVale McGee. McGee shot as the roll man on 22.7% of his possessions last year. He also logged fantastic efficiency posting a FG% of 69.0% and drawing foul shots 15.4% of the time.

If he makes the team, his addition to the bench unit could make the pick and roll a much more dependable option when spacing is hard to come by. Generally speaking, there’s plenty of reasons to believe that the Warriors’ roll man offense should be improved this season both in usage rate and effectiveness.