Livingston, I Presume!

I’ve been disparaging Shaun Livingston all year because he appears to fit so closely with the Warriors recent trend of acquiring touted yet underwhelming back-up point guards. Going back to Acie Law, the Warr have consistently plucked from free agency, drafted, or traded for PGs that are either past their prime or ineffective. The strategy’s always sound in theory (an insurance policy for either the eventual Steph Curry injury or to limit his minutes to avoid said ailment), but in practice the results have been frustratingly mixed.

 

Since the start of the Curry era in ’09-’10, there’s been the archetypes of the quintessential back-up PG (C.J. Watson), the defense-first PG (Raja Bell), and the caretaker PG (Law). Instead of sticking with Watson’s essentialism, they settled on caretakers (Law and the egregiously amnestied Charlie Bell) and gym-rats (Jeremy Lin) in ’10-’11. In ’11-’12, it was more concierges (Charles Jenkins and Ish Smith) and the ignitable yet inconsistent Krypto-Nate Robinson. Two years ago (’12-’13) they finally returned to the Watsonian consistency of a capable back-up in Jarrett Jack (ball-pounding, hoggish warts and all) as well as a budding archetype: the long-limbed defender (Kent Bazemore). And then there was last year (’13-’14)–the culmination of everything that’s gone wrong with the Warr’s back-up backcourt. Toney Douglas was brought in to provide undersized defense to a bench that needed the exact opposite; that mistake was compounded by the overreactive additions of two score-first PGs (Jordan Crawford and MarShon Brooks) who didn’t actually score consistently; and finally a return to the post-prime curator (Steve Blake), all the while with the Serbian Derrick Rose (Nemanja Nedovic) planted to the bench and Kent Bazemoring along side it.

Call it Elementary My Dear (C.J.) Watson, Murphy’s (Acie) Law, For Whom The (Raja/Charlie) Bell Tolls, or You Don’t Know (Jarrett) Jack–just forgive my apprehension when the Warr signed a hobbled, inconsistent PG with negligible handles and passing ability (who I always confused with Randy Livingston by name and Darius Miles by size and former team, and both by debilitating knee injuries!).

Well, despite an injury-delayed and rusty start, I’m happy to report my concerns were by majority unfounded, with Liv embodying a combination of Baze’s defensive length, 2 Jz’ necessary second unit offensive stubbornness, and CJ’s dual feel for stewardship mixed with scoring. I still get upset with the inconsistencies in his offensive game: dribbling the ball off his foot, setting illegal screens, traveling before starting his post-ups–unforced errors that PG caretakers simply should not make. But then there are the offensive rebounds and put-backs, indefensible by standard-sized PGs; the turn-around jumper that, while not exactly consistent and the antithesis of the Warr’s new ball- and player-movement mantra, does have it’s place on the shot-starved second unit and can keep defenses honest. And of course there’s the D, crouching and long-armed, an intelligent hidden dragon skilled at both sagging back on non-shooters to prevent drives and clog passing lanes, or bodying up to contest jumpers. Plus, his latest signs of aggressiveness and subsequent increased scoring are more than encouraging! Looks like Steve Kerr & Co. knew what they were doing the whole time–simply Livingston, they presumed!