De'Anthony Melton
Melton is expected to be Golden State's top bench guard this season, and camp and preseason evidence shows he is healthy, though his shooting was poor in preseason.
Role
Coverage describes him as the top rotational guard off the bench behind starters Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski (RotoWire and ESPN fantasy blurbs, seen in searches on Oct 19). Per RotoWire, he has worked with the second unit during training camp. Last season he averaged 23.0 minutes and 12.3 points over 49 games, and he started 24 of them per Blue Man Hoop. The Blue Man Hoop piece, which I read as a search excerpt dated about Oct 14, says Podziemski got the starting edge over him. It also says Melton has said starting doesn't matter to him. A Fox Sports blurb says he is competing with Gui Santos and Yaxel Lendeborg for a starting role, but that page is flagged as months old, so I would not rely on it. In the Saturday, Oct 10 exhibition against the Kings he played 18 minutes. Preseason minutes are not a season role. I found no minutes or usage targets for the regular season.
He is expected to open the season with no physical restrictions for the first time in a while, after back, knee and thumb problems over the last three seasons and thumb surgeries this offseason (Blue Man Hoop; RotoWire, Oct 1). He wants to play both ends of back-to-backs. Fox notes he averaged at least 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1 steal and 1.5 threes in five straight seasons. On Oct 10 he had three blocks and a steal in 18 minutes. Blue Man Hoop calls his fit with the team a no-brainer. If he stays healthy, he is a defensive and versatile bench guard on a deep roster.
Last season he shot 40.7% from the field and 29.4% from three, and one writeup said his ball-handling and shooting lacked efficiency at the end of the year. In preseason he went 3-for-17 from the field and 1-for-7 from three over his first three games (Blue Man Hoop, about Oct 14). That includes 0-for-6 with zero points in the Oct 10 game against the Kings. He has a long injury history and has played both ends of a back-to-back only seven times in three seasons. He was also held out of the Wednesday preseason game against Portland as one of several rotation players rested on the second night of a back-to-back. A bench role behind Curry and Podziemski also caps his minutes.
Where analysts split
The disagreement is about efficiency and health rather than role. Optimists say a healed body, with thumb surgeries behind him, brings back the shooting. Skeptics point to the 29.4% three-point mark last season and a cold preseason, and to an injury record that makes a full 82-game workload uncertain. The one other role question, whether Santos or Lendeborg could push into the starting group, comes only from an older Fox blurb and nothing current backs it up.
Research confidence: reported. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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