When De’Anthony Melton suffered his ACL injury late in the fourth-quarter of the Golden State Warriors’ first NBA Cup game against the Dallas Mavericks nearly a fortnight ago, Steve Kerr was again forced to make a starting lineup change he would have rather not had to make.
Melton was about to settle into the starting back court role next to Stephen Curry, so where was Kerr to turn to next? With a myriad of options on the table, the head coach went one of the most surprising directions in Lindy Waters III.
Waters had been a DNP in that Mavericks matchup and the one prior against his former team the Oklahoma City Thunder, yet has vaulted from out of the rotation to a starting role in the five games since.
One obvious statistic shows why Steve Kerr and the Warriors haven’t gone to Moses Moody in a starting role
Given he’d started three-straight games and four of five just prior to Melton’s injury, many assumed fourth-year wing Moses Moody would be the one to join Curry in the back court. Instead the 22-year-old remains relegated in a bit-part rotation role, with Saturday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs the first time in 11 games where he’s played more than 20 minutes.
As has been a common theme throughout Moody’s career to date, many have asked why Waters initially got the nod, and remains in the starting lineup over the former lottery pick? Well one obvious statistic is showing that the Warriors simply aren’t very good when Moody is on the floor.
Despite Saturday’s loss, Golden State remain equal top the Western Conference standings with a 12-4 record. They’re also fifth in net rating, leading most individual players on the team to having rather fruitful plus-minus numbers.
All except Moody. Through the first 16 games of the season, he is the only Warrior player who has a negative plus-mins — -11 to be exact in 271 minutes on the floor. The second-worst plus-minus of any rotation player is Kyle Anderson at +16 in 231 minutes, while veterans Stephen Curry (+122), Draymond Green (+107) and Andrew Wiggins (+77) unsurprisingly rank in the top three.
Waters is a +59 in 225 minutes, though that’s clearly aided by playing alongside Curry, Green and Wiggins. Even still, Moody being a negative plus-minus isn’t ideal for a team that’s been very impressive, and perhaps provides evidence behind the reasons why Kerr has chosen not to go back to him in a starting role.
