The Golden State Warriors are off to an 0-3 start, and many players have disappointed.
There's no doubt that the Warriors need more from their role players, but when things are this bad, my focus on the negative will mostly be on the stars.
There have been a couple of role players who have performed better than expected, though, so they get some much-deserved shine here.
Below, we go over the three biggest winners and three biggest losers of the first week of the season.
Not often does a player on a two-way contract start two of their first three NBA games, but that's what happened with Ike.
And for the most part, he's held his own.
The 24-year-old is fifth on the team in points and fourth in effective field-goal percentage. He's not expected to shoot many threes, but it's an added bonus that he's made all three of attempts from downtown.
Offensively, he's looked pretty comfortable setting screens and working in dribble-handoff actions. He's also running the floor harder than any other Warrior. It's getting him in position for putbacks in transition-a simple play the Dubs need more of.
He's made just 40 percent of his two-pointers, which shows that he's adjusting to the length and speed of NBA defenders in the paint.
Outside of that, it's all positives for the undrafted center so far.
The Warriors got blasted in the Stephen Curry-Draymond Green minutes against the Lakers, but the Dubs got a better performance from their two healthy Hall of Famers in the first 3.5 quarters against the Grizzlies.
Then, it all fell apart.
Green tried a patented sneak-attack drive, but he missed the layup.
Curry tried two threes off Green screens, but he missed them both, the second getting blocked by Zach Edey.
Another Green screen got Curry in a one-on-one with Edey, which allowed Curry to drive the basket. But he missed the layup short.
Green batted a missed Brandin Podziemski three to Curry for another attempt from downtown, which the two-time MVP missed.
Finally, Green was called for a moving screen with 12.8 seconds to go. The turnover effectively ended the game, as the Grizzlies won 111-108 with a game-ending 17-2 run.
Kerr will have to consider changing the offense in crunch time. Green is a great screener, but he isn't much of a threat as a roller or shooter.
In fairness to Green, he's done a nice job getting Curry open shots-particularly on back cuts-in their two games together.
But the Warriors' clutch-time offensive woes have been prevalent for years. And with the Curry-Green clutch-time two-man game off to a bad start, it doesn't make much sense to keep forcing it much longer.
The Warriors need more players who can provide value on both ends of the floor.
In the first three games, Richard was the clear standout in that department.
On offense, his role is simple, but he's playing it well. Essentially, he either spaces the floor or cuts to the basket when the defense has lost sight of him. The results have been promising: 8-of-15 shooting and 3-of-6 from three.
Defensively, Richard has been one of the Warriors' best players. He has four steals, which has helped him post the second-best plus-minus on the team.
In contrast, Gary Payton II is 1-of-7 from three with no steals and third-worst plus-minus on the team.
The Warriors are so depleted with injuries/health issues that Richard and Payton will both play most games. But Richard has clearly shown more in the first three games, which should lead to him getting a bigger role than Payton for the immediate future.
Georges Niang missed all of last season with a foot injury, so it's understandable that he's off to a slow start.
With that said, the fact that Niang is 0-of-12 from three has been a killer for the Warriors.
He's never been a great defender, so his value is mostly tied to shooting, with some high-IQ passing and cutting usually mixed in.
Overall, Niang has six turnovers and is shooting 31.8 percent.
The Warriors are so depleted that they can't afford to bench anyone on their roster. Niang will have chances to get on track.
But if his struggles continue, they'll have to look into forward depth options, whether it's playing two-way forward Malevy Leons over him or making a trade for forward depth.
Yaxel Lendeborg has had a wild week with his on-court talking and postgame comments , and his defense has been a source of some praise and criticism.
There are lots of opinions to be had about all of those things, but the one obvious takeaway from the first week is his offense looks great.
He's averaged 18.7 points on 44.4 percent from three. He has 13 assists to eight turnovers, which is pretty good for a rookie tasked with so much scoring and ball-handling responsibility.
His biggest issue so far has been challenging shot-blockers when he should either use a floater or pump fake to try to get fouled. That feels correctable.
The next step is for Lendeborg to be more of a focal point in clutch games. It will be fascinating to see how he performs in two-man actions with Curry.
The Warriors knew they were coming into this season with Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody out for months. They needed everyone else on their roster to be available consistently.
But they didn't prioritize availability with some of their roster decisions, and they are getting burned for it.
They could have let Kristaps Porzingis walk and re-sign Quinten Post instead. But they went for the talent-over-availability play.
Al Horford had a player option for this season before signing his new contract, so the Warriors couldn't have just let him loose. But they could have traded him to open up a roster spot for a center who can play back-to-backs.
That Charles Bassey has already missed a game with knee tendinitis is not a good sign for a team so thin on playable centers.
The bottom line is it's borderline embarrassing that the Warriors had just eight active players on standard contracts for their third game of the season.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/warriors/onsi as Biggest Warriors Winners and Losers From Week 1: Steph-Dray Duo Struggling .
