Amidst the ceaseless Kevin Love extravaganza, the Golden State Warriors have quietly bolstered their backcourt with two unheralded additions.
General manager Bob Myers has inked point guard Shaun Livingston and former Warriors shooting guard Brandon Rush to three and two-year deals, respectively.
After helping secure the five-man corps of assistants under first-year head coach Steve Kerr, Myers turned his attention to one of the team’s greatest weaknesses—the bench. He replaced the surprisingly, but nevertheless failed experiments of Steve Blake and Jordan Crawford with two underrated assets.
Livingston, 28, logged a career-high 76 games, including 54 starts with the Brooklyn Nets last year. He set a personal-best 1.2 steals and produced top-two marks of 8.3 points and 3.2 rebounds. The backup floor general also notched 3.2 assists and shattered his previous high with 4.4 win shares.
Yet there are two things that make Livingston an integral piece for Golden State.
He brings 6’7” length as a very good perimeter defender and offensive tenacity when driving inside to the basket. The former ability gives the Warriors a Klay Thompson-like defensive weapon off the bench, while his interior proficiency complements Stephen Curry’s outside prowess. That skill set will indeed make him effective both alongside and behind this team’s starting backcourt.
Furthermore, Livingston’s total non-ego and generally humble demeanor will facilitate his compatibility with those two superstar teammates. Losing a year of his basketball life to a devastating knee injury and coming back from a first-round-bust label played a fairly substantial role in his newfound identity.
And to those who say he can only score close to the rim and lacks a reliable jumper, well, okay. Then again, when you have arguably the best-shooting guard tandem in NBA history, sometimes a change of pace isn’t so bad.
Rush, for his part, is a completely different hardwood entity. While he does share a similar height, age, injury history and high-round draft status with Livingston, their on-court repertoires are totally distinct.
The 6’6”, big-bodied former Jayhawk is a shooter—plain and simple. He averaged 4.3 three-pointers and a 43.5 percentage from distance at Kansas, and has compiled 3.3 and 41.3, respectively, in four NBA campaigns (we’re omitting his injury-plagued 40 games over the past two seasons).
During his one full season with Golden State in 2011-2012, Rush established shooting career-highs across the board. He compiled 9.8 PPG on 50.1 percent from the floor, 79.3 from the line and an incredible 45.2 from downtown. All but one of his 65 appearances came from off the bench as well.
The Warriors can take great solace in what Rush brings to the table. He is nothing like the erratic, unreliable and defensive no-show that was Crawford last year. He is consistent, tough-minded and can actually play a little D at both shooting guard and small forward with his strong overall frame.
If Livingston can maintain his 2013-2014 effectiveness and if Rush can resurrect his career post-ACL tear, the Warriors bench unit will become an asset—and not liability—for Coach Kerr in 2014-2015.
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