Warriors have young star bummed after being squeezed out of rotation

Moses Moody was supposed to be a key part of the Warriors’ young core. Instead, he’s on the outside of the rotation looking in.

There was a lot of optimism coming into this season about the Golden State Warriors’ young core but so far, struggles have been the norm. James Wiseman played just 11 games before heading to the G League for an extended run. Jonathan Kuminga has seen his numbers drop across the board and fell out of the rotation for a while as well, as questions swirled about his energy level and attention to detail.

And then there is Moses Moody, the kind of young versatile shooter who should be able to thrive in the Warriors system. His shooting percentages are down from last season as well and he’s played double-digit minutes in just three games since the middle of November. Speaking with reporters this weekend, he expressed frustration at not getting more opportunities.

What did Moses Moody say about his lack of minutes with the Warriors?

The minutes that would have otherwise been available to Moody seem to have mostly gone to Anthony Lamb and at first glance, Lamb has been shooting much better. However, because of small sample size, the difference between their catch-and-shoot 3-points percentages (39.1 percent to 35.7 percent) is really just two or three makes over roughly the same number of attempts.

But Lamb has, at first pass, been much more effective as a defender, rated by FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR metric as a net positive on that end of the floor while Moody has been a significant negative. You can understand Moody’s frustration but he’s also 20 years old and on a team with championship aspirations. The Warriors simply aren’t in position to use purely developmental minutes on him. He’ll have to do more with the chances he does get to prove he can be a winning player.