Jordan Bell is embracing the Warriors’ competition at center
By Wes Goldberg
Jordan Bell is one of three players spearheading the Golden State Warriors’ youth movement at center. And that’s before factoring in DeMarcus Cousins.
In the waning moments of the Warriors summer league opening win against the Heat, Jordan Bell took off on a fastbreak and, rather than make the easy play and extend a 75-68 lead, he collected his dribble and attempted an alley-oop to himself off the backboard.
The ball clanked off the rim and bounced out of bounds, and Bell was met with a round of boos from the Golden 1 Center crowd after the botched attempt at the dunk…and sportsmanship.
“I told him ‘This is summer league. You can get away with that,’” Warriors summer league coach Willie Green said after the game. “But if it’s one minute left in the game and we’re up six or seven points, just make the basket so we can win the game.’”
If Bell wasn’t taking summer league seriously, it’s hard to blame him. Just a few weeks ago, he was averaging 13.5 minutes per game against the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
“Basketball is basketball. You give respect to the opponent,” Bell said before adding: “Look, obviously LeBron ain’t out there.”
After averaging 5.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.5 blocks per game in the Finals, he emerged as Golden State’s best center behind JaVale McGee and figures to play a key role for the Warriors next season. Yet, here he is in Sacramento, playing mostly with and against guys without an NBA contract. The Warriors said participation for Bell was optional, but it kind of wasn’t. His Hennessey-fueled honeymoon is over and it’s time for the work to begin.
“We’re trying to prepare him to come in next year and be a big part of what we’re doing,” Green said. “He’s already proven that he can come in and play and have an impact on the NBA. We want his skills to continue to develop and continue to work on things that we’re going to do during the season. We want him to go out in summer league and be the best version of Jordan Bell he can be.”
A lot has changed for the Warriors already. For starters, McGee has gone South to join LeBron James and the Lakers, veterans Zaza Pachulia and David West aren’t expected back and the team re-signed Kevon Looney for the league minimum. The Warriors will be younger at center next season.
Whether it’s a one-year deal, qualifying offer or team option, Looney, Bell and third-year center Damian Jones are all essentially playing on expiring deals. Nearly half the Warriors roster last season was made up of centers, and they’ll pare the group down until they find an answer.
During the 2018-19 regular season, the Warriors had their second-highest net rating in minutes when Jordan Bell was on the floor (plus-11.9), behind only Steph Curry, per NBA.com’s stats. Golden State was plus-8.6 with Looney on the court and plus-2.2 with Jones. In the playoffs, Looney led the group at plus-10.8 with Bell at 8.4, while Jones hardly played.
Bell, who played more than Jones or Looney in the finals, may have the inside track at being the last one standing. The Warriors control his rights after this season, and he provides more versatility than either Looney or Jones. The team drafted him because of his ability to switch on defense and, over the summer, he’s been working with the Warriors shooting coaches and Kevin Durant to extend his jumper.
And then there’s DeMarcus Cousins.
On the first day of the California Classic summer league in Sacramento, the Warriors signed Cousins to a one-year, $5.5 million deal. Bell said he was shocked when he heard the news, but believes Cousins can add an element last season’s NBA champions lacked.
“He’s obviously a great player, an All Star,” Bell said. “I’m very excited to have him on the team. I think he can help us out a lot being that scoring center that we really needed.”
Cousins, coming off a torn achilles, is expected to miss the first few months of the season. That means the incumbent group of youngsters will be battling it out for minutes for the rest of the calendar year.
It’s unclear what sort of shape Cousins will be in when he returns, whenever that may be. Even then he’ll be working on a one-year contract and is unlikely to return to the Warriors for the 2019-20 season. Bell, Jones and Looney will play important roles next season. How they play will determine where they’ll play after that.
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If there’s any paranoia of a position battle, however, Bell is doing a good job of hiding it. The relationship among the other centers is more collaborative than competitive. Bell said he was excited about the Cousins signing. When a reporter broke the news to him that the team re-signed Looney, he could hardly contain his excitement. After winning the NBA Finals in a sweep, there just isn’t a lot to complain about. Except for maybe running out of cognac.
After being asked what he thinks of the rotation of big men this season, Bell responded simply.
“I think it’s great.”