The Warriors' success in the past has never depended on a single player. It is the joint efforts of a team that have the current warriors. And these several championships of the Warriors are essentially the result of the joint efforts of the team. Some people say that the core of the Warriors is Curry, and if the scope is expanded a little, it is also a trio led by Curry. The role of others to the Warriors is actually just the icing on the cake. This is actually not true, because most of the Warriors' players have contributed their value in a certain part of the schedule. Just discussing the core trio is essentially disrespectful to the other players.
We're talking about what everyone calls a marginal role, but a player who is particularly important in the hearts of Warriors fans — Livingston. Most people may have only heard the player's name, but they know nothing about his influence and the warriors' role. Especially for new fans, this is very strange. Truth be told, Livingston is a very important combination of warriors on the offensive end. Until durant, Livingston had been the team's most effective game-breaker when it came to a stalemate.
He is a more traditional scorer, with the main offensive areas concentrated in the middle distance. The Warriors like to play positional warfare, and Livingston's role in positional warfare is to appear as an empty cut player. In the crossover run of the outside line, the final endpoint has a certain probability of appearing in Livingston. And his end is also very simple and efficient, basically using dry pull jumpers. He's a pure ball carrier, so most of the no-ball work is left to his teammates. Curry, Thompson, has a large share of the no-ball. If you look closely at Livingston on the offensive end, there are only three things to do: cut-outs, singles, and defensive conversion offense. These things, which are basically related to possession of the ball, are Livingston's main weapons. Of course, the Warriors prefer him to do what he does to continue to play the role of singles.
Why is it that a player who is unknown in the eyes of fans can be pinned high hopes on by the team? The reason is simple, he was born for singles. Everything he does has a very high singles efficiency, so he will be hand-picked by the team as a singles expert who breaks the game. In the area close to the basket, Livingston's shooting point is basically higher than that of the opposing defender line players, which also causes most players to have no way to directly interfere with Livingston's attack head-on. Some people may say that if the defender players can't defend themselves, then change the inside players and use high direct suppression. But in real-world games, there are very few No. 4 or No. 5 positions that can grasp Livingston's dynamics at the moment of his shot, so it is obviously a bit difficult for this.
Friends familiar with the Warriors should know that the Warriors' favorite development is the player's no-ball technology. Only when all the players start running can the Warriors' entire system be at their highest efficiency. But that's what limits Livingston, who can't fit in perfectly into this no-ball system. Livingston's no-ball efficiency is very low because his shots have to be done by holding the ball. Receiving a jump shot is a big test for Livingston, and he had a hard time adapting to this way of scoring. As a result, Livingston could not have appeared as a consistent scorer. Kerr positioned him as a strange move, the deadliest trick that can directly break the opponent's defense when the team is in trouble.
Another downside of holding too much of the ball is that Livingston can't give their teammates much help in space. His range is relatively short, so he can't create space for players on the inside like a traditional shooter, but will also fight for the few offensive areas. According to league statistics, more than 70% of Livingston's shots come from the inside and are mid-range shots near the basket. In the new era, this type of defender is indeed very rare. As a role player, if it is such a shot distribution, if too much shot power is given, in fact, it does not help much to the overall efficiency, but it will interfere with the normal play of other players to a certain extent. So the Warriors did a good job, and the main job for Livingston was to rest on the bench and wait for the opportunity.
In addition to offense, Livingston's contribution to the team is also reflected in defense. The body advantage ensures that Livingston can have a sufficient size advantage when it comes to positioning the Number One player. Many people think about Livingston's impression stream thinking that a thin defender has a hard time taking advantage of defense. In fact, a player with a size advantage, as long as the enthusiasm is enough, the defense is basically not too bad. It just so happens that Livingston is a relatively motivated player. Or, in the Warriors' system, with the help of Green, there are basically no players whose defensive enthusiasm will be low. As long as your defensive performance is not good, Green will inevitably shout from the side to urge you to do a good job. Just look at Wiggins, and the enthusiasm for coming to the Warriors has increased significantly.
If it had been developed according to the normal script, Livingston might have been on other teams right now, as a starting number one. In fact, this was also in line with his own expectations at the beginning. After all, before entering the league, Livingston was also the strongest high school student in the United States. It was only injuries early in his career that Made Livingston unable to catch up with his former self. Injuries have turned everything living in Livingston into a bubble, which is one of the main reasons why he will be part of the Warriors' bench. As everyone expects, a healthy Livingston should not be in this position.
However, because livingston may have injury risks, as long as there are too abnormal fluctuations in data and status, everyone will worry about whether his body will have problems again. Until his retirement, there were still fans who were worried about it. The reason why Livingston is called a character that can be called a warrior is simple. As an old fan, every time you see livingston good at it, you will feel that the Warriors are stable this round. Because Livingston's offense is known for being stable, you don't have to think too much about it, Kerr dared to put Livingston up in one of the rounds, that is, he felt that the time was ripe. In those years of the Warriors lineup, there were too many players of this type, Livingston, Nick Young, Iguodala, these are all. The Warriors' victory is not only based on a rich starting lineup, their rotation depth, the quality of the bench players, is not comparable to other teams.