Barber: Jonas Jerebko, Alfonzo McKinnie making things easier for Warriors All-Stars

OAKLAND - Have you noticed that the Warriors look good this year? Like, really good? Like, 130-points-while-hardly-breaking-a-sweat good?

They added to the early-season highlight reel Wednesday night with a 131-121 win against the New Orleans Pelicans at Oracle Arena. The Pelicans brought some fire to the game. They were a threat, but not a match for the home team.

The contrast between this season and the last is stark. The Warriors would be perfectly happy for 2018-19 to end exactly as 2017-18 did. They would also be happy for the early chapters to be quite different. As chronicled here and many other places, last year was a slog for the Warriors. They were tired from the moment the season began, and didn't really get into a prolonged groove until the postseason.

In comparison, this year's squad looks like a stable full of spring foals. The Warriors are not only 8-1 after downing New Orleans, they are clearly having a ball as they break scoring records and their opponents' will.

Coach Steve Kerr has frequently been asked about his team's rejuvenation, and he tends to offer the same answer. He chalks it up to mental relaxation. He says this year's Warriors are intent on enjoying what they have and recognizing the historic precedents they are setting.

I don't think Kerr is wrong, but there is another key to Golden State's blistering start in 2018-19. It's the new blood. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the other All-Stars will ultimately define the season, but the new guys are making things easier for them.

It's funny, because the new blood was supposed to be a big factor last year, but it didn't materialize as expected. Rookie Jordan Bell was a breath of fresh air, yes, but he excelled in spurts. Quinn Cook would ultimately become a key substitute, but didn't really take hold until March.

The free agents who were supposed to spark the Warriors in 2017-18 were Nick Young and Omri Casspi. Finally, some scoring off the bench! General manager Bob Myers got a hero's accolades for signing them. They were duds, though. Young was fun to have around, but he was a defensive liability who had become a minor role player by the time the playoffs rolled around. The Warriors didn't consider re-signing him this offseason. Casspi never found his place on the team, never seemed to understand his role, and was gone by early April.

Small surprise, then, that the reaction to this year's newcomers was more muted. There was fascination over rookie Jacob Evans and center Damian Jones, but Evans is a project and Jones isn't really new; the man owns two NBA championship rings.

This year's arrivals are Jonas Jerebko and Alfonzo McKinnie. And apparently they're pretty good.

McKinnie has been a minor delight. He didn't sign with the Warriors until Sept. 5, and didn't get a regular NBA contract until Oct. 12. That was only three weeks ago, but McKinnie has proved he belongs. In his first eight games with the Warriors, he averaged nearly 12 minutes, 6 points and almost 4 rebounds. Those aren't MVP numbers, but he's no mascot, either. McKinnie has contributed. Against the Bulls on Monday, he had 19 points and 10 rebounds in about 27 minutes - all career highs.

It was fitting that McKinnie's breakout performance came in Chicago, his hometown. The day of the game, he bought his mother a house. On the night Klay Thompson set an NBA record for 3-pointers, McKinnie was the feel-good side story. It was a nice moment for a guy who went up and down between the Toronto Raptors and their G League team in Mississauga, Ontario, 17 times last year.

“I love the Alfonzo McKinnie story,” Kerr said on KNBR on Tuesday. “Coming in here and earning his way. … He's earned every bit of it. He's a good modern-day player – 6-7, athletic, plays multiple spots.”

McKinnie's numbers were modest against the Pelicans: five points on 2-of-3 shooting. But he's a tenacious rebounder who plays bigger than his 215 pounds. He pulled down another five boards Wednesday night.

Jerebko was even better. He may never dominate a game in the way that Curry routinely does, but he always seems to be making the right play.

“He's a unique player, because he's a big, physical guy who can step out and shoot a three,” Kerr said. “But he has a good feel as a passer, can put it on the floor a couple times and find somebody on the weak side. And he's not afraid of contact. So he's really been a nice fit.”

Kerr wasn't always sure it would develop like this.

“The first week of camp he was brilliant, and we were so excited,” the coach said of Jerebko. “And the next week, I think he hit a wall and he was kind of running in mud a little bit. I think it more just the physical toll of training camp and traveling and playing games. So his last week of camp was not that impressive. The game that really kind of seemed to catapult him was the Utah game.”

That was the night Jerebko had the game-winning tip-in at Salt Lake City.

Against New Orleans, Jerebko entered the game at the 7:32 mark of the first quarter and fairly soon thereafter drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. He can do that. The Swede got another 3 later in the quarter, plus a steal that he converted into a bucket.

Jerebko's highlight play came in the third quarter, when he plucked a steal from the Pelicans in the frontcourt and threw a behind-the-back outlet pass to Durant, who finished with fast-break points. Even when Jerebko messed up, he made up for it - like when he threw a bad pass in the first quarter but swatted E'Twaun Moore's shot out of bounds at the other end. “It's just the system that coach Kerr is playing, it's a very open system,” Jerebko said afterward. “Gives me a lot of freedom to get back to my game. I feel like I've been just a screen-and-run-to-the-corner shooter the last few years. So it's nice to be able to take a dribble or two and have some confidence.”

In other words, the Warriors system allows Jerebko to be a complete player.

“Definitely,” he said. “I work on my game every summer, so it's good that you get to showcase more than just shooting threes.”

Jerebko added: “It's fun out there. That makes basketball a lot easier.”

He was talking about playing alongside Curry and Durant et al, and how that simplifies the game for him. But the reverse is true. Role players like Jerebko and McKinnie are making things easier for the All-Stars.