National Basketball Association

Steve Kerr issues a warning about the Warriors' defense for next season

Published Nov. 15, 2016 3:08 p.m. ET

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The Warriors may have added Kevin Durant to the team that set the NBA record for most wins in a single regular season, but they had to part ways with some key players in order to do so. And head coach Steve Kerr is well aware that it may take some time before the new pieces fit.

Gone are starters Andrew Bogut and Harrison Barnes, as are reserves Festus Ezeli, Leandro Barbosa and Marreese Speights. Zaza Pachulia was signed to fill out the front court rotation, and so was David West. But neither are as good as Bogut was for the Warriors at protecting the rim -- and Kerr knows it.

“The thing that’s different will be a lack of rim protection,” Kerr told CSNBayArea.com. “We had great rim protection from Bogut and Ezeli, and both those guys are gone. Zaza’s a very good defender, but he’s more of a positional guy than a shot blocker.

“So there’s definitely adjustments we’ll have to make, even schematically. We’ll have some growing pains, especially on defense, as we try to make sure we get everything right and comfortable.”

There will certainly be a period of adjustment with so many players gone from Golden State's regular rotation. But the Warriors added arguably the third-best player in the league (and one of its most lethal scorers) to what was last season's most efficient offense . Defensive concerns or not, in all likelihood, things will (eventually) be just fine.