Dennis Schroder, family man, should fit like a glove into DubNation culture

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Dennis Schroder actually has a YouTube channel! Dennis has a new series called The Schroders, which is an incredibly well-edited reality-show-ish look inside his home life, with extensive interviews with his wife, a true behind-the-scenes treasure that makes you think they’ll get along just fine with the Currys. Here’s some Season 1, Episode 1, released just in the past week. It’s in German, but thank you, YT subtitles!

If you look back at Warriors Culture, a huge facet of it is family, particularly the trail blazed by the Currys, especially when you consider we watched Riley Curry grow up before our eyes, plus the additions of Ryan and Canon, of course.

Enter Dennis Schroder, Jr., who seems about the right age and a similar passion for basketball to have a few hang outs with Draymond Green, Jr. at pregames. Speaking of which, Andrew Wiggins’ daughter Alayah was spotted courtside in this video we just posted;

Here are Dennis Sr.’s mentions of his family from the video and full transcript below, on his recent move into a new house in Brooklyn, where Episode One takes place:

…when (the trade) got announced, when my agent called me, I was shocked. I liked the situation in Brooklyn. We just got settled in the house, shipped everything over, unpacked everything, and then we got the car. At the end of the day, me and my family, like, we happy now. We just gotta move them over, hopefully before Christmas. But I think it's better now than the trade deadline. So hopefully my family can come down and then we get all settled and we all together again.

On Schroder’s multi-year pursuit of one Wardell Stephen Curry’s jersey for his son:

Yeah, with Steph, it was funny because I was — my son always asked me for his jersey and I tried it for like three years, four years. I was like, "Yo Steph, can I get your jersey?" I didn't say it was for my son, but he was like, "Oh damn, I gave it to Lonnie (Walker IV) 2022 and I couldn't get it. And then this last game when we played here with Brooklyn, we came back and won that game. It wasn't my luck and I was happy. I gave it to my son.

On how proud he is of his family, from the context of representing Germany at the Olympics:

…to carry that flag in the Olympics was probably the biggest thing I ever done besides my family, for my kids and my wife. But I think sports-related, I think that's the biggest thing I've done in my career, especially doing it for Germany. Winning the World Cup, of course, was one of the biggest ones, but carrying the flag was on top for sure.

On his son who loves Steph:

…my wife told him we got traded and he asked where we going. And we said Golden State. He was like, "Oh, we're lucky. Now it's a good team, at least." And that was the first thing. And I had to laugh and I was in a bad mood. So he's a, of course, Steph Curry fan. And we battled in London as well, with our national team, for the NBA Showcase and he got to see him there and then of course in Paris. He's a big fan. He watches every game. All he does is basketball and he's gonna be, yeah, thrilled to see him. Even yesterday when I came in and shot, he was like, "Is Steph Curry there?" I was like, "You're not gonna ask me how I'm doing?" So, yeah, he's very, very happy to be here right now.

On a long-term possibility with the Warriors:

I just want to be in one spot where I really appreciate it, where people know my value, what I bring to the table every single night, every single day. Having my beautiful family here, if that works out. Of course, I want to end my career here. But I know the business side of it. I've been here 12 years. I don't have no problem if they have other visions. But right now I'm here and I'm going to be the most professional, most competitive guy every single night and try to go after it, but it would obviously be nice if you stay at one location. But you gotta be realistic, too, sometimes. And you just gotta know that's a business as well.

And as I’m copying these quotes over, I’m just realizing Dennis really talked a lot about his family. Of course, you may know by know, he’s chosen to wear No. 71 because of his father’s affinity towards the number 17 (which is also already retired by our franchise for the great Chris Mullin, so Dennis reversed it).

Some final notes: Schroder said he wasn’t in a good mood at first and I would guess that’s because they literally just got settled in the new house in Brooklyn, his kids are all being homeschooled by his wife who, interestingly, spells her name Ellen Schroeder as her handle on IG, his son’s birthday is February 11, 2019, and from his YouTube episode, his big brother plays an important and present role in his life.

Finally, Schroder is apparently pronounced “Schroeder” — you know, like the Peanuts kid with the piano — as evidenced by the hello tweet on the Warriors official account.

Idk, the thought of Ayesha welcoming Ellen into the Warriors family and their kids hanging out, we probably won’t see any footage of that anytime soon, but envisioning that creates a warm and fuzzy feeling. 🤗

I do have a sense and hope that, come July, there will be a mutual goal of keeping Dennis a Warrior. One thing that doesn’t get talked about enough is the Warriors’ toughness, or rather the lack thereof. That torch has always been carried by Draymond Green and on various livestreams, you’ve heard me dream of drafting the next fiery-yet-talented pick that can bridge that energy to the next era. What if it’s Dennis Schroder himself?

Admittedly, the thought of accumulating more of that “dawg” mentality on this team, which Steph himself mentioned about Dennis here…

…didn’t become apparent to me until my co-host Dean “of Positivity” Chambers openly campaigned for a trade for Jimmy Butler with that “toughness” banner.

That’s probably the topic of my next article, although we talked about it at length on the “Every Trade Dissected” livestream…

…but it would be super-interesting to see if Golden State acquires Jimmy and instantly becomes one of the toughest-minded teams in the league because of him, Dennis and Draymond.

Now, of course, I loathe trading away Jonathan Kuminga, as I’ve said he’s a “keeper” many times on YouTube and if you simply searched this website on his name and read all my praise, but Dean has me leaning — especially if someone like Nikola Jovic is included in the deal.

Anyways, I can’t wait for Episode 2 from The Schroders which, hopefully, will have some footage from the Bay!

I’ve noticed that I just don’t have the wherewithal to post every transcript on here, as I had envisioned at the start of this season, but they’ll all still remain on YouTube in each video’s Comments section. And I’m eagerly anticipating the unveiling of our revamped Discord server, which has a lot of daily micro-blogging on it. I plan to have tiers of entry points on Discord, with the free portion available for subscribers here and the premium “VIP” sections available to paid subscribers here, as well.

Full Schroder transcript and, aw heck why not, Mike Dunleavy, Jr. then Steve Kerr, as well, below:

00:00 Dennis, Dalton Johnson, NBC Sports Bay Area. Welcome to the Bay. And I just want to say, how was your first initial reaction to the trade? And how does it feel to be a Warrior?

00:10 DENNIS SCHRODER: Thanks. First one, when it got announced, when my agent called me, I was shocked. I liked the situation in Brooklyn. We just got settled in the house, shipped everything over, unpacked everything, and then we got the car. At the end of the day, me and my family, like, we happy now. We just gotta move them over, hopefully before Christmas. But I think it's better now than the trade deadline. So hopefully my family can come down and then we get all settled and we all together again.

00:53 You've said in the past that you really like San Francisco as a city, in general. What makes you like this area so much?

01:01 I mean, I was in the Four Seasons every time we came down with the team. But then when you walked out, it kind of looked like Europe, kind of looked like Berlin, with the train right on the street. That's what we have and had one store with German candy in it, I remember. So I loved San Francisco from the start. It was always great being here, playing here, seeing the fan base. When they went on the crazy run, how loud it got and just really happy to be a part of this organization. And first practice, treated me like we've been here together since training camp. Everybody was real chill, cool. Chemistry, I see it's like on a high level. You just see it as a winning organization.

01:56 Hi, Dennis. Chris Alvarez from ABC7 here. Welcome to the Bay. I know Steve revealed the call that you guys had and he basically said you've kicked his butt on three different continents. What was your reaction to that? Because that kind of went viral here locally, it was kind of a fun sound bite.

02:12 I mean, yeah, national team. National team, we played really well. 2023, played them in the semifinals, I mean, with the Lakers. Obviously 2022, great second round of a playoff round, how we was battling, how competitive it was. And I mean, you always got respect for, or we had, I mean, I have respect for Golden State's just organization, what they done so far, in this league. Obviously, Steve Kerr is a legend, playing-wise and coaching-wise. And just to be able to be around them now, especially Steph, seeing him — I mean, he's one of the, if not the best, point guard ever, the best shooter, of course. Just how to see — how he works. And just excited to be a part of it. I've played with a lot of people, a lot of future Hall-of-Famers the last couple of years and him and Draymond gonna make it kind of complete now. And, yeah, really excited to be here.

03:26 From afar, what have you admired about Steph's game? Now you're going to get to see it up close and personal, but just playing against him and over the years, what do you admire most about Steph?

03:35 I mean, every time when I see Golden State when you go on the NBA app and you see Golden State plays, like, you get excited because just how he plays. He plays it like a video game. He's just having fun, laughing, making the right reads every single time. I mean, he's one of the superstars who I've got a lot of respect for because he don't care if he scores 10, 20, 30, or 40, when he gets double-teamed, he's making the right play. And, yeah, I mean, I'm really excited — I can't say it enough — to be here, to be a part of something special, to be around him, obviously around everybody else in that locker room, coaching staff, organization, you guys. It's new beginnings, so we want to make it special.

04:27 Kerr said that you're probably starting, so you're getting a lot of minutes with Steph, obviously, many minutes when Steph's out, too, but basketball-wise with a guy that creates so much space and Buddy Hield creates space, how do you fit in that? How do you think that's all going to work?

04:45 Yeah, we're gonna figure it out. I think, for me, it's just like I said before, I played with a lot of Hall-of-Famers in the last couple of years and I always find my ways. But the first thing what they said is just play your game, kind of just be yourself and we want you to push the ball. If you don't have it, just run with Steph. He gonna make the play because they, I mean, 80, 90, 95 percent they're gonna blitz the pick-and-roll. So it's going to be wide open shots on the weak side and we all ready for it and I just try to get used to that playing style a little bit. And I got better. I think I shot like 6 to 7 threes this year and that's my career high. So playing with him, obviously, is going to be a lot of shots. So I gotta be ready for that as well.

05:43 Hi Dennis, Janie McCauley from Associated Press. Draymond was saying it's up to them to also adjust a little bit to your style. How much pride do you take in being such a reliable two-way guy? And do you look forward to seeing the way Draymond plays defense alongside him?

06:04 I always — I'm a realistic, guy. So Steph Curry is like a guy who can score 40, 50, 60s and, for me, I always relied on my defense. At the end of the day, I'm always trying to impact the game on both ends. Obviously, you can't control if the ball goes in, but I can always rely on my effort every single night, on my energy, the leadership I bring and so that's the reason why I feel really, really excited playing with Draymond because, I mean, 2022, like you guys seen, like we was going at it. And I knew him before people were saying how it's gonna work, but we pretty — got a good relationship even before that. So I'm really looking forward to playing with another Hall-of-Famer on the court who was always hell when he was on the other side of it. And who was talking smack, trash, just being competitive and try to go out there with a win. And to combine that now, I think it's pretty unique and special.

07:21 Hi Dennis, Tristi Rodriguez, NBC Sports Bay Area. Welcome to the Bay. You kind of just talked about it, but the mutual respect between you and Draymond is well-documented. We saw Steph welcome you to the team on his Instagram story. So what's your relationship like with those two? Did they reach out to you after the trade and just how excited are you to team up with them?

07:40 Yeah, with Steph, it was funny because I was — my son always asked me for his jersey and I tried it for like three years, four years. I was like, "Yo Steph, can I get your jersey?" I didn't say it was for my son, but he was like, "Oh damn, I gave it to Lonnie (Walker IV) 2022 and I couldn't get it. And then this last game when we played here with Brooklyn, we came back and won that game. It wasn't my luck and I was happy. I gave it to my son. So with Draymond, before we was playing cards, before we played in the playoffs and Ty Jerome introduced me to him. And everything you see when you don't know him on the court, it's not really Draymond. Really, really cool off the court, try to help his young guys, whoever plays on his team. He's a great leader, vocal, and we had fun and when it gets to those lines and you don't play on the same team, then you just compete on the highest level. But after that, it's always friendship or you're always cool after that. And that's what I liked about Draymond. And yeah, I can't wait, like I said, on Thursday to get after it with these guys. And I think it's gonna be pretty special.

09:12 Hi, Dennis. Ron Kroichick from the San Francisco Chronicle. How do you reflect on the significance of carrying the German flag at the Olympics? And, sort of related question of that, you've been pretty forthright in the past about the challenges growing up in Germany, dealing with some racism and how that maybe shaped your mental toughness. Sort of how much did that shape who you are today? And in light of that, what did it mean to carry the flag?

09:38 Yeah, I mean. Yeah, mental — I mean, I'm 6'1. To be in this league for 12 years, you gotta find a way to be mental toughness. You gotta come out with effort. You gotta play on the defensive end. You just gotta find a way to impact the game without scoring sometimes, as well. So growing up in Germany was tough, but it helped me, the man I am today, the father, the brother, son, husband. I learned a lot just growing up in Germany. And, yeah, to carry that flag in the Olympics was probably the biggest thing I ever done besides my family, for my kids and my wife. But I think sports-related, I think that's the biggest thing I've done in my career, especially doing it for Germany. Winning the World Cup, of course, was one of the biggest ones, but carrying the flag was on top for sure.

10:53 And one quick follow up, what memories do you have of your dad playing basketball? I know he was a player and how much did that get you into the game when you were younger?

11:02 I mean, he was more of a supporter. I mean, he didn't really play, but he was a bigger supporter every time when I had practice. Every time when I had a game, he came and we always talked about basketball and he always said this is what you can do for a living and you can help your whole family with it, carry the load for your family, making sure everybody's good. And yeah, he was right. He passed away after that conversation, seven days later, I think, or six days. And then everything switched for me. The goal was to play in the NBA and I'm still doing it. My 12th season now and more than grateful to be here. And I don't take it for granted. Every single day, every single game, I'm gonna go out and treat it like it's my last. So yeah, it's great to do that for him.

12:11 I'm curious what your son's reaction was when he got the Steph Curry jersey.

12:16 The more, the most funniest thing though was when we got traded, I was kind of shocked. And my wife told him we got traded and he asked where we going. And we said Golden State. He was like, "Oh, we're lucky. Now it's a good team, at least." And that was the first thing. And I had to laugh and I was in a bad mood. So he's a, of course, Steph Curry fan. And we battled in London as well, with our national team, for the NBA Showcase and he got to see him there and then of course in Paris. He's a big fan. He watches every game. All he does is basketball and he's gonna be, yeah, thrilled to see him. Even yesterday when I came in and shot, he was like, "Is Steph Curry there?" I was like, "You're not gonna ask me how I'm doing?" So, yeah, he's very, very happy to be here right now.

13:20 You mentioned how hard it is to get traded. Obviously, it's tough to be traded in the middle of the season at any time. You've been moved around a little bit. How much are you hoping that this is a place you can stay for a while? How confident are you that this could be a place that you could be for several years?

13:36 For me, it don't really matter if I — in Europe, how I grew up, you don't — one year you play with Braunschweig, then the next year you play with Munich. Then next year you play with — I don't really care if I stay in one spot. I just want to be in one spot where I really appreciate it, where people know my value, what I bring to the table every single night, every single day. Having my beautiful family here, if that works out. Of course, I want to end my career here. But I know the business side of it. I've been here 12 years. I don't have no problem if they have other visions. But right now I'm here and I'm going to be the most professional, most competitive guy every single night and try to go after it, but it would obviously be nice if you stay at one location. But you gotta be realistic, too, sometimes. And you just gotta know that's a business as well.

14:44 What's your son's name and how old is he?

14:47 I mean, he's a junior. So Dennis. He turned six February 11th. So he turned six last February.

14:55 This coming?

14:56 This upcoming, upcoming. No, he doing homeschooling. Yeah, so he can come over. We got the teacher and then my little baby girl. She's four and the youngest one is two.

15:13 And you mentioned your son sort of unprompted a couple of times. What is being a dad? And obviously you have three. What is being a dad sort of mean? How has that, again, sort of shaped you, changed you in recent years?

15:25 I mean, that's everything. A lot of people just talk about it, but I try to live it every single day, being on the phone if they're not here, 24 hours being with my family. I think that's the most important. They there and the greatest times when we won the World Cup, a day there when people was talking, I turned down 84 million and the whole world was on my — talking about me, so it wasn't true, but they was there in my corner every single day just being happy, putting a smile on my face and that's how I treat it every single day when I come to work. That's for my family, for my kids, for my wife. And, yeah, it's great when I have them here to give — get the power again. It's always a different feeling when you're away from them. But, yeah, it's gonna be in a couple of days they're gonna come over.

16:27 What jersey number will you be wearing?

16:29 Here?

16:30 Yeah.

16:31 71.

16:34 Is that just because of the reverse of 17?

16:36 Yeah, I wanted — yeah, I gotta stay true to them, I think. That was my dad's favorite number. 17 is emotional for me. To wear it every single night and I was the 17th pick also. So just, yeah, I just gotta stick with it. So I just reversed them.

17:00 Closing out games has been a struggle for this team as of late. Not too long ago, you actually lit up this team and, specifically, in that fourth quarter. Is that an area where you feel like you can help this team out?

17:13 Yeah, I mean, we got one of the best closer in the whole world. It's Steph Curry. I think I just be — just to help for him, just taking the pressure off of him, making sure that everybody's in the right spots, I'm in the right spot, whenever he plays pick-and-roll. When they blitz into pick-and-roll, it's, two on the ball. So on the back side, it's automatic three against two, four against three. And we gotta take that advantage and try to score and get a great shot every single possession. And, yeah, I mean Steph Curry gives me the ball and he trusts me and I just try to make the right play every single time. I feel comfortable with it. I think we all gotta just come together get the right shots. Everybody have to the mindset of winning the game, whatever, three, four, five minutes in crunch time and get W's. I mean, they did done it for so long. They did it before we beat them here, as well. I mean, that was the number one seed in the West. So we just gotta get back to the little things, chemistry, just making sure we helping one another, body language, just making sure everybody's in a great place and being happy for each other. And, yeah, yeah, we starting on — we started today, got a practice tomorrow, but then we want to start on Thursday against Memphis.

00:00 MIKE DUNLEAVY, JR.: Thanks Raymond. Appreciate you guys doing this, tricky schedule. I'm traveling next couple of days for scouting and then we'll be with the team in Memphis. So I know everybody wants comments and thoughts before then. So we'll get it knocked out now, but, no, we're excited about the trade. First and foremost, appreciate Reece and De'Anthony. Their contributions, although short, I think they were worthwhile. And we really liked having those guys around. But in this business, you gotta give something up to get something and we feel good about what we've acquired with Dennis. I think at this time it's a much-needed addition after evaluating the team, kind of, the first 24, 25 games of the season. And clearly with the De'Anthony injury, it became apparent that we need to shore up our backcourt and Dennis is one of the guys and probably the best guy out there that's available, to some degree. And so, really, really fortunate to be able to get him. We're excited about it. We think it complements our team both offensively and defensively, his ball-handling. I think he's gonna help Steph, Brandin, and particularly when Steph's not on the court, we think his ability to play pick-and-roll, create offense, get us into stuff, just that added dimension offensively, will give us a boost which is just something we need. And then we feel on the defensive end, his ability to pressure the ball, he's pretty good off the ball as well for a guard-size player, fits in with everything we're trying to do. So this became a pretty clear target for us over the last week or so, as players freed up to be traded and we were able to get something done with Brooklyn over this past weekend, finalized. So, feel great about it and excited to hit the ground running here with Dennis.

01:44 How beneficial is it to get it done now with so much time still left in the season, so you can have them, but also until the trade deadline?

01:54 Yeah, it's huge. I mean, it's hard to get deals done in this late period, but then this early in the season is tough. You need two motivated parties. I think we had that with with us and Brooklyn. And, like I said, just evaluating the team and this loss of De'Anthony was huge. And so to be able to kind of shore that up and remedy that, to some degree, it's really important, felt like it was something we couldn't wait on til February. And, again, with Dennis being somewhat available — clearly us making the deal, he was — we wanted to go ahead and do that immediately.

02:28 This could kind of be seen as an indictment on what Brandin hasn't done so far in his second season. Where are you at on how this move impacts Brandin and also, just generally, how he's playing?

02:40 Yeah, I mean, I think this move, for both him and Steph, is something we view as additive and helps them. Brandin was really, really good last year. And I think part of it was having Steph and CP, two other handlers alongside him. And so I think this move enables Brandin and Steph to always be on the court with another handler, whether it's the two of them or Dennis and Brandin or Dennis and Steph. So I think it makes a lot of sense. And again, I think this is something that boosts and helps Brandin. So we feel good about it in that regard as well.

03:12 There was a lot of talk last night about how Dennis doesn't really play the style of basketball that the Warriors have typically played over the years. How much do you want your team to change the way they approach the game, with this addition?

03:29 Well, I mean that — the play style stuff, rotations, all that's on Steve. We've talked about it thoroughly, though. And I think he's open and aware to some of the strengths Dennis has and what he can bring to the table. It's no secret. We need to improve offensively and sometimes making some shifts and what you're doing and philosophically is the right way to go about things. So we'll see how that unfolds. But yeah, we know who Dennis is as a player. We know what we require and in order to play to his strengths, we may have to shift some things.

03:58 How aggressive do you still plan to be in the next, whatever, seven weeks prior to the deadline?

04:05 Yeah, I mean, I think we're always aggressive. You gotta be mindful of what you're giving up, what you're getting back, all those things, but anything to do to make the team better, we're going to do. We're in a time zone here of maximizing our window with Steph and Draymond and Steve as our coach. So as proven here on the first day, we could basically make trades with certain players, we did that and we'll continue to look at things. But for the most part, I feel good about this team, particularly on the defensive end. And now we have a player that we think can create and generate more offense for us. I want to evaluate and see, but we'll always be looking at stuff when it comes to evaluating guys.

04:44 And you just talked about Podziemski. What about Kuminga? I mean, it looks like you guys now are kind of willing to really take a longer look and see how he fits in, what he can do in the starting lineup. How do you view that as far as moving forward and evaluating this team?

05:01 Yeah, I think it's all part of it with our young players like Brandin and JK, as you mentioned, taking a look. A lot of it is just matchups, rotations, who they're playing with, what role they're in, those types of things. So we're looking at all those things, all the while trying to win every possible game. So that's the tricky thing. I think those guys are coming along well. There's certainly some areas that they can improve that, but on the whole, we're good with where they're at and we gotta — I think we have needed to see some improvement from everyone, not just those two guys.

05:36 The trade obviously opens up a two-way spot. Is there a timetable for when you guys are looking to fill that? I know the G League Showcase is coming up. Just where are you at with the two-way?

05:44 Yeah, we're working through that. Yeah, yeah, definitely a spot open that we'll look to fill and we can fill, so don't have any timing on it. But I think it'll be sooner than later.

05:55 (What have you heard from) Steph and Draymond, particularly Steph, getting this Schroder deal done this quick?

06:01 Well, to be clear, those guys are not banging down my door calling me, "Hey, we gotta make a trade. We need this guy. We need that guy." They never do that. Do I keep them in the loop on stuff? Yes. Are they double-thumbs up on this move? Yes. But I don't want it to seem like those guys are hemming and hawing over, "Hey, we need to add this guy or that guy." So it's a good clean process with them. They're on board. Steve's on board, coaches. I think organizationally, everybody felt really good about this deal and we went through with it.

06:30 Maybe a little early for this, but have you thought about how he might fit long-term? Obviously, part of the appeal of this is it's short term. It's a pretty clean deal, but you have his Early Bird Rights now.

06:41 Yeah, no doubt. I mean, anytime you're giving things up — in this case, we gave up some Draft capital — I don't think you intend it to be a short-term thing. At Dennis's age, we still think he's got a lot of good years left in him and we'll have his Bird Rights, ability to re-sign him after the season. And again, studying it, looking at it, we think he's a good fit for us on both sides of the court. And hopefully there's a relationship here longer than just a few months.

07:07 KYLE ANDERSON: You mentioned the rough week-and-a-half. The fourth quarters have been particularly rough. What are you seeing, whether you're out there, whether you're on the bench, what are you seeing as changing in the fourth quarter that wasn't happening in the first three?

07:25 I would say a lack of pace. I think in the first three quarters of all these games, we're playing with a certain pace and it's a flow we're kind of comfortable with and it gives us a lot of success on the offensive end, all game. And then in the fourth quarter, just the nature of the game, we kind of slow it down. And it's kind of where we've struggled so far, especially closing games or the closing minutes of games. So maybe just try to keep that pace going in the fourth or in these tough moments. But naturally the flow of the game, it causes you to slow down at the end. So we gotta make shots. I think we had, watching that Houston game, we had chances to all create and make shots and sometimes the ball just doesn't go in. So I think keeping up that pace at the end of the game will help us big time.

08:10 Is it fair to say that you guys need to stay aggressive in the fourth quarter?

08:15 Yeah, I think that goes along with keeping the pace, keeping the pace, staying aggressive, keeping our foot on the gas and then just being smarter, maybe, than we have been in the past.

08:27 What does the pace open up for you guys? It feels like it opens up all kinds of things. Threes, looks at the basket, what do you feel like it opens up?

08:33 Yeah, exactly what you just said, good shots. Sometimes we get the lob, big-to-big lob or kickouts to our shooters or things like that. Steph's able to do his thing. JK is able to do his thing. So that's big time for our offense. But I think it starts on the defensive end, not fouling and trying not to take the ball out the basket.

08:57 Tomorrow is when most of the players in the league become trade-eligible. And rumors are starting to surface, but what would be your message to some of the younger players who might only been through trade season once or twice?

09:15 Yeah, I have no clue. I don't know. I've never been traded before, so I can't really speak to anyone on that situation. Just continue to do what you do and if you get traded, it's not the end of the world. Even if it's me, that's my mentality, too. If I was to get traded, it's not the end of the world. You go to a new situation, try to be the best of it. I don't really have anything special to tell anybody. That's about it.

09:42 Yeah. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Yeah, yeah. The first three weeks, things are going so well for this team and you guys were shooting, I think, 39 percent from three. The pace was pretty good. Defense was good. Defense has stayed pretty good, for the most part. But in addition to pace, the shooting has dropped, the three-point shooting. A lot of guys who were firing it up early are cooling off now, isn't it? Is that a slump thing or is that just a separate sort of vibe that some teams go through?

10:12 I mean, I think teams are getting better and smarter in this league. So credit to them, but Buddy hasn't gotten the same open looks that he's gotten early in the season. Guys are on him. They know how well he's playing and how much his offense means to us. So maybe they're kind of taking them away or they're on the catch for him. It's just things we gotta adjust, like, teams have adjusted to our success. So now the coaches will help us get in better situations to do what we do. Same for our shooters and shots will start falling again.

10:46 And early when Steve said that he was going to play everybody a long rotation and it worked pretty well for a while, everybody was getting minutes and energy was high. But now it seems like he's kind of pulling back a little bit from that. I mean, do you have an opinion on whether that — why that worked early and why it maybe didn't work — has worked less lately?

11:08 No. Yeah, I don't know. That's not really my department. Yeah, it's just, I think the competition has gone up and I don't think — I don't know. I don't know if we were going to play 13 all year or what we were going to do. But I think teams see how well we've played within the first month. And they're always coming ready to play when you play guys like Steph and Dray. And credit these other scouts and these other teams. They're doing a good job preparing for us. Now we just gotta make our adjustments.

11:38 Kyle, within that, how encouraging is it that these are close games for the most part? All these losses are coming down to crunch time and whatnot. Is that encouraging that you guys are close?

11:46 No. Like, no. I mean, not to us. We want to win the game. It's as simple as that. I don't, like, yeah, I don't — I know these guys don't do moral victories. I'm not one for moral victories. So we want to win the game.

12:00 What was today's practice like, or was it like? How would you describe it?

12:05 Can I tell that? Yeah, I don't know. No, it was very good, detailed, nothing out of the ordinary. Guys showed up we were away from the game for a little bit or the day off that we had flying back, but we came back hungry, ready to get to it, and ready for tomorrow.

12:22 What's got the defense — I guess the one consistent part during this little slump?

12:29 I think just effort, us being on the same page. Credit the coaches for that. You got Draymond out there. He's putting guys in right positions to succeed and he's always going to be in the best position. You got really good defenders out there, Gary, Tune (Looney), myself, like, it's a lot of good defenders out there, BP. So we gon' make things happen on the defensive end. Thank you guys.

00:00 RAYMOND RIDDER: (Dennis Schroder has) played well against us. We actually looked it up. He has more points against us than any team in the NBA in his career, 18 a game in his career against the Warriors.

00:08 STEVE KERR: Not a surprise. I've had enough of him.

00:14 He's got 14-and-a-half against Atlanta.

00:20 Ba dum bum.

00:27 How'd it go having Dennis in practice?

00:29 Good. Yeah, we scrimmaged and he went over a lot of our offense and out-of-bounds plays and just getting — that first day is always a lot. But he's a pro. He's been around, so he picks things up very quickly and good to get him involved in scrimmages and see him with our guys and he looked great.

00:51 What jumped out in particular, just about his game?

00:54 Just his control of the game. We did some late-game situational stuff and you just know that he's going to take care of the ball and get you into pick-and-roll spacing and feels like he's going to get you a good shot, whether it's him or one of his teammates.

01:13 You suggested the other day that looks like he would be starting or it would seem natural. You think that's the way that's headed right now?

01:21 I think so. We've got to sort it out and figure out what that means and go from there, but really good chance he'll start and then come — he will definitely play all of the non-Steph minutes, but I like the idea of them together as well. So, good chance that that's the way we go. But we gotta gotta make that decision and sort through some options.

01:51 Do you guys travel today or do you travel tomorrow?

01:55 Tomorrow.

01:55 So you'll get another practice?

01:56 Yeah, tomorrow practice here and then we fly out.

01:59 Okay. So will you play him Thursday?

02:02 Oh yeah. Yeah.

02:06 Dennis has been really good in the mid-range shooting and throughout his career, good at kind of getting to that spot, like, in the lane there. How much does that open up other things for your offense? I know you guys want to get to the bucket. You want to shoot a lot of threes, but how much is having somebody so effective in the mid-range help that?

02:24 Yeah, I like mid-range shots when good shooters are shooting them. So we've had plenty of success over the years with — whether it's Klay or Steph or Kevin Durant or Chris Paul shooting mid-range shots, especially in the playoffs. A lot of times those are the ones that are there. And what I like about Dennis is he knows what's a good shot and what's not. He understands time and score. He knows what the shot clock situation is. But he's got options. He can get to the rim, he can shoot the three, he can shoot the midrange, excellent passer. So we'll definitely lean into more pick-and-roll. That's going to happen naturally because he's a pick-and-roll player. And maybe it looks a little bit more like last year with Chris running the show at times, although I think Dennis isn't the exact same player as Chris. But there will be some similarities in that sometimes you need a guy to take care of the ball and take control of the game. And he's got that ability.

03:32 In the scrimmages, are you putting him opposed to Steph's team or are you putting him with Steph's team?

03:36 Today, I put him opposed because I wanted to get him with that second group. I thought that was more important than getting him with Steph in the first group. But there will be both, for sure.

03:50 You just look at, I mean, it's — obviously Brandin's been struggling a little bit with his shot, could be losing minutes, maybe, with Schroder. Do you have this conversation with him? Where do you see his role is going forward, now that you have Schroder?

04:05 I think this is going to be a good thing for Brandin. Ultimately, when you look at last year — we looked at it today — I think he played 90 percent of his minutes with either Steph or Chris last year. He's really ideally suited to be a secondary playmaker, not the primary shot creator. And I think we've put him in a tough spot this year, based on our roster and based on the combinations, that he's been put in a spot where he's had to create a lot and he's best when he's on the weak side, somebody else creates, the ball starts to move, now he's cutting and putting it on the floor and making a play for someone else. And I think we'll see more of that now that Dennis is here.

04:54 Steve, where do you hope that he can have the biggest impact for you?

05:00 I think, situationally, getting us organized, getting us under control. We've lost at least three games this year where we just did not handle late-game very well. We didn't get organized. We didn't get good shots, made poor decisions, including mine. So it's a group effort. But I said this the other day, I like the idea of two point guards. I think the modern NBA requires two point guards. The best offenses in the league tend to have at least two pick-and-roll players and so I love the idea that we can play Steph and Dennis together. He'll help us get organized. He can get Steph off the ball, which is important for us. We need to have both. We need to have Steph running pick-and-roll, but we need the threat of him coming off screens to loosen up the defense. And so I think all of that, I know from playing against him, coaching against him — I should say he's an excellent defender. So you put him on or off the ball, he's quick, smart, tough. So I think he's a two-way player and somebody who can help us close games.

06:12 And is this who you guys are now? I mean, take into consideration the salary cap and everything that you have, like, do you feel like, "This is our group going forward," or are you still thinking, "We're gonna keep our minds open in terms of the roster"?

06:30 I mean, I'm looking at it that this is our team going forward. We loved what we had in the beginning of the season with Melton in that spot. And I know Melt and Dennis aren't exactly the same player, but the dynamic was similar, two-way, on-ball defense, taking some of the pressure off Steph, handling the ball, running pick-and-roll. Very similar dynamic in that we felt like that was our team. So the idea is Dennis plugs that hole, everything falls into place, we start playing like we were a few weeks ago. To me, that's our team. The other stuff, it would be a question for Mike (Dunleavy).

07:11 Steve, what kind of — do you know Dennis's personality at all? How is he sort of going to fit in that sense? I mean, he's certainly got a reputation for being kind of feisty and —

07:19 I like feisty.

07:21 I mean, how much do you — obviously, the way he plays matters first, but culturally and — how do you think he'll fit in the locker room and mesh with what you, the players you have already?

07:30 I think he's going to fit really well. I've spent the last couple of days getting to know him a little bit and talking with him. We share the same agency, Priority Sports. I've talked to Mark Bartelstein, who represents him and who has represented me for 30 years, talked to him quite a bit. Dennis is, he's a gamer, he's a competitor and I love guys like that. I also like guys who have been through the ringer a little bit. He's played on about six, seven different teams. You have to go through the NBA to really feel it and to appreciate the ups and the downs. And everything that I've heard talking to Mark, talking to other people who have coached him — Darvin Ham and Ron Adams had a great conversation yesterday. Darwin was raving about him. We feel great about a guy who's a winner and a competitor, and we're getting him at the right time in his career and in our current situation.

08:33 And does it raise any flags when a guy's been on seven teams?

08:36 Yes. Sure it can. I played on six, so I guess I had a lot of flags. The way I always looked at it is, that those were six teams that wanted me. So Dennis has had seven who have wanted him. So — Eight. Sorry. Sorry. Eight.

08:55 Steve, I think this is Dennis's 12th season, but it might be his most efficient scoring season. What have you seen as far as him being such an efficient offensive player this season?

09:05 I've coached against him the last two summers in FIBA and he's a fantastic FIBA player. But the confidence that he has now in his shot is so obvious. I think he's around 40 percent from three this year, shooting both on and off the ball, off the dribble or catch-and-shoot. I just think he's at the point in his career where, at 31, his mind and body are kind of at the top of where they're connected and he's got a feel for the game. When we played them against Brooklyn a month ago, whatever — it was, three weeks ago — I knew exactly when he was going to shoot and when he wasn't. And it kind of pissed me off because it was the exact right time. He's trying to get everything organized and it's early in the shot clock and he's open, but he's looking for something else and then it's sort of later in the shot clock and he fakes like he's looking and then he pulls up and he shoots and he makes a three and it's like, "Yeah, that's the right shot." So I just feel like he's at his peak right now in terms of his awareness of what wins.

10:23 How much does he alleviate, specifically, some of the burden that's been put on Steph and the way teams have tried to take away Steph late in games and also Jonathan? I mean, you guys have really tried to go to Jonathan at different times. Seems like they would be a good tandem together, Dennis and Jonathan. How does that —

10:39 Just like Chris last year. One of the thoughts with Chris Paul was pick-and-roll with Jonathan and he'll get him the ball. Dennis is a great pocket passer, so plenty of ball screens with JK, get him the ball downhill to the rim. That'll be a big part of what we do. But we need to take some of the burden off Steph. He's had to take on, I think, an abnormal load this year, of responsibility, offensively. You guys know the numbers: 120 points per possession when he's on and 101, I think, when he's off. And that's what we've missed, is another pick-and-roll player who — so that Steph doesn't have to run so much pick-and-roll all game and wear himself down.

11:31 You've mentioned Chris a couple times as far as the ball handling, the pick-and-roll, but does this kind of quick explosive scorer remind you at all of what Jordan (Poole) brought to you guys in the 2022 championship season?

11:40 I mean, there is the speed element, the pick-and-roll, getting to the rim, rejecting a screen, getting a layup. Yeah, that's another way that Dennis attacks that can really help us for sure. Yeah.

11:53 Steve, did Moody practice today?

11:55 I'm sorry?

11:56 Moses?

11:56 He did not practice today. He got a good pre-practice shooting workout, but has not practiced yet. So he's doubtful for Thursday.

12:07 Steve, after the game the other night, Draymond talked about a defense needing to set a tone early. Didn't happen in that game, obviously. Can you set defensive tone early without Draymond, with him on the bench? Can you is that something that —

12:21 Great question. Great question. Yeah, these are the questions that we're having to answer and to figure out. We're trying to get the best out of JK which is at the 4, give him some space. Don't wanna start Draymond at the 5 for obvious reasons. So we've tried a little of everything. And the answer is it's gonna be a lot harder to set a defensive tone when you have the best defender in the world on the bench. So, but it's not like we didn't consider that beforehand. But we've worked purposely taking this early part of the season to look at different things and hopefully get to the place where we're most comfortable. And then we go from there.

13:08 So it's possible or probable that Draymond — ?

13:11 It is certainly possible, certainly possible. Thank you guys.

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