Some FT numbers: Jimmy Butler’s “bad bet” that Steph Curry says “no chance” to 🔬

[“math”/interviews/videos/transcripts]

Jimmy Butler postgame Golden State Warriors at LA Lakers, when asked about his 16-for-16 from the line by Anthony Slater of ESPN:

What do I wanna shoot? I got a bet with, I think it’s a, I don’t think it’s a bad bet, but it’s kind of a bad bet with Dray that I gotta shoot a better percentage than Number 30 on our team. Yeah, right? Ooh, ooh, ooh. Yeah, so.

Slater had a follow-up of, “You think you can?” while another reporter — I think it was Ramona Shelburne, long-time LA-based ESPN reporter — simultaneously asked, “What do you get if you win?”

Unfortunately, Jimmy was zoned in on the original thread and the latter was not answered.

Of course, I think I can.

Slater: Score probably 91, 92 (percent, which is what one Wardell Stephen Curry roughly regularly ends up with at the end of every season)?

Butler: I’m gonna have to, but it’s a great start. But I shot double the amount that he did, too. But I think I could do it. If he go 8-for-8, I should be able to go 16-for-16 most nights, every night. All right. Appreciate y’all.

Oh, and Jimmy also added a, “I hate you Buddy,” into the mic as he proceeded to walk away from the podium. 🤣

If there ever was a time to go lookup some stats on our beloved bkref.com (aka “Basketball Reference”), it was now!

Step 1: Does Jimmy even have a puncher’s chance?

My barometer for free throws is — and this may sound odd, but — Michael Jordan. I don’t know, I just recall back in the day, he never missed a clutch free throw. Kobe Bryant was very similar, too.

I’ve always known Jordan was around 85% and perhaps not as near-robotically perfect as, say, Mark Price (.904 career, but also .952, .947, and .948 as he started getting All-Star nods) or Rick Barry (.893 career, but .947 and .935 in his last two years).

But to even have a puncher’s chance, you should at least pass the eye test of Michael, but from a stats standpoint, too.

Makes me wonder if anyone ever kept track of “clutch” free throws, using the same “clutch stats” that the NBA uses, even for its Jerry West Clutch Player of the Year Award, which Steph won last season, of course: last five minutes of Q4 or OT with teams within five points of each other. There’s a website called “inpredictable.com”, but to decipher its tables is kind of outside the scope of this piece. The answer is “kinda nah,” as clutch stats weren’t kept until 1996-97, with prime MJ retiring after his last title in 1997-98.

Anyways, Jordan at his FT peak with the most attempts per game was .857, his third year in the league. He finished his career at .835. Incidentally, Kobe was eerily nearly the same at .837, with his best years also coming when he shot the most free throws: .868.

Jimmy’s career average? .844.

To me, that’s wow. I had no idea he was up there with a great like MJ.

Granted, neither are really up, up there with greats like Steph, Barry or Price, or Steve Nash, or Damian Lillard, or Chauncey Billups.

So, yeah, I’ll say Jimmy has a 1% chance, a puncher’s chance.

Step 2: Give some examples with numbers of this puncher’s chance

Thanks to bkref.com, we can see that Jimmy hit .870 from the line, matching his season-high from 2021-22, in the 30 games he was a Warrior last season.

What would it take for him to go from that and match Curry, who led the league last year at .933?

Okay, wait, that’s just way too high a number. Let’s just go with Steph’s career number, .912.

I’m not a mathematician so I don’t know what to do with that except wildly guess, so what I did was pretended Butler went 100-for-his-next-100: Jimmy was 201-for-231 with Golden State, so what does 301-for-331 yield?

.90936556.

So let’s just say this: Jimmy would have had to go 100-for-his-next-100 to even be in the same conversation as Steph.

Well, he’s 16-for-16 so far. Keeping it simple, he really “only” needs to go 92-for-his-first-100 to be in the convo.

Therefore, we on the livestreams will keep a watch out for him going 76-for-his-next-84 (.904762).

Should be fun!

All postgame — Jimmy, Buddy, Jonathan Kuminga, Steph, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr — interview videos with captions plus transcripts below, including Kerr at practice from 10/19, two days before the season opener, below:

00:09 Are you aware Jimmy bet Draymond that he will have a better free throw percentage than you this year?

00:15 STEPH CURRY, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: That’s the first time I’m hearing it.

00:19 Do you think it’s plausible?

00:23 No chance. But I like a little, I like a little game within the game, so game on.

00:31 How big is it, 16 of 16 from the line? How big is it when he’s doing that type of night from the line?

00:37 It’s huge just because the way certain teams defend us, the way that we’re organizing, trying to create shots, he can settle a lot of possessions, if we’re not, the ball’s not moving. We got a lot of those off of second side action, which is always great when defense is shifted a little bit and he can take advantage of a good matchup or a driving angle. And then it allows us to set up our defense and it’s just good basketball when you can create those type of, it’s hard to create fouls outta nothing. It has to be off of good action that creates either a mismatch or an advantage and he takes advantage of those opportunities.

01:26 Steph, the sample size really isn’t small anymore. Jimmy fits. Why do you think he fits so well within what you guys have built?

01:37 He just plays good basketball. Whatever the possession calls for, he sees the floor so well. He’s composed when he has the ball in his hands. You can’t really speed him up and I think he understands, like, what it takes to win and he doesn’t care what it looks like. It’s just try to get the job done, so good basketball with guys that love sharing the ball, using each other, fits right in.

02:05 Steph, before your big 35 footer towards the end of the game, JK had that big offensive rebound to set it up. What did he bring on that play and to the game as a whole tonight?

02:16 It was great energy, impactful plays. He, I know Luka got his numbers, but he took the challenge trying to make him work for everything. And it’s great to have a point of attack defender like that, that can, again, take the challenge. He’s gonna continue to get better at that. But those 50-50 balls, decisive plays, especially in the second half when we started to get the ball moving, if he didn’t have anything, he got off of it. The ball came back to him in the corner, he hit some big threes, he got to the lane and, like you said, the offensive rebound was huge. So was trying to be in the right place at the right time and continue to make impactful plays. Like, we all try to do that because that’s what helps you win and the more he can do that, the more he helps himself and it helps us.

03:03 Steph, another Opening Night game and you’re not at home while you are warm up shooting. We saw Riley, your daughter, giving you like an assist for your last shot. What does that mean, for you to share even these moments with your family?

03:19 Yeah, my wife and my daughter here. It’s weird because my, when my dad retired, I was the same age Riley is now, so it’s a full circle knowing the experiences I had as a kid watching and getting to relive that as a dad now. So it’s pretty special that me and Ayesha get to, she got spoiled, little solo trip, so it was fun.

03:41 Steph, Jimmy talked about how he was trying to be a mentor to JK helping him out and showing him things. He talked about the importance of veterans like Luol Deng and Derrick Rose in his career. I was wondering for you, were there any veterans early in your career that kind of helped you along your way?

03:59 A lot of guys. I think, just watching Monta (Ellis) play, understanding the killer instinct he had. I had, Anthony Morrow. He was young at the time, the Charlotte guy that looked out for me, early on. And then, Jarrett Jack, another guy who was a wily veteran that came in at a time and we were trying to take that next step. So it’s the way the game goes, you give back to it and it keeps you sharp, too, because J, I’m sure Jimmy’s getting to see the game and think about it in a way that he can explain it to JK in a way. It’s gonna help him and, like I said, help our team.

04:45 Steph, I know this is jumping ahead a little bit. You guys don’t practice tomorrow. How much of a test will Denver provide Thursday and beyond just them, the idea of how eager are you to see where you guys measure up with all the teams in the West? The West as usual is loaded. Tonight’s obviously the step you wanted to take, but starting with Denver and Jokic and then moving forward, how do you view the weeks ahead?

05:10 Not getting too ahead of ourselves is, we know how we started last year and know where it went from there. It’s just for us, every game’s an opportunity to get better. That’s not the greatest answer you wanted, in the sense of we’re just plotting our way through night after night. The way the preseason went this year, it was interesting because it was three totally different styles that we played in a row. Portland, LA, the Clippers this week, is the same vibe with Denver and Portland back to back. So just for us, it’s how can you switch the game plan quickly to understand how Denver plays, knowing their tendencies, knowing how great Jokic is, him and Murray. So and then some of the additions they have, but take it a game at a time and enjoy this process.

05:59 Two more, Ramona (Shelburne) and then over here. Steph, you guys played so many times against LeBron, especially against the Lakers, these big national TV games, Opening Night, Christmas, et cetera. How strange is it to see him sitting up on the throne there instead of in the game and it’s, I think, it’s like the first Opening Night he’s missed in 23 years.

06:17 I know it’s for whatever the injury really is, I’m sure he wanted to play and it is very different being here and him not out there. I’m sure for him at Year 23 is, I try to be there healthy for whatever the stretch run that he can be there, the meat of the season. So if he’s out, I’m sure there’s a legitimate reason.

06:43 Last one. Hey Steph, it’s your 16th season in the NBA and you have done it all, from MVP to championship. After seeing all other young player in China look up to you, after all that love and success, what keeps you hungry?

07:02 Just, I’m, I enjoy the game. I don’t know how else to say it. It brings the best outta me. I get to show my creativity. I love the work that goes into it. I love the competition and, for whatever reason, physically I’m still able to do it at a high level and I’m gonna try to get everything I can out of it. But other than that, the game is continuing to grow and, in order to keep trying to lead the pace, you have to dig deep and remember the reason that you’re out there. And I’ve been able to do that for a long time.

00:00 There’s been a lot of talk post game about the maturity in JK’s game that was shown tonight. One of the things Steve said is you’ve taken him aside in camp and had some conversations. I’m just curious what you’re seeing out of that dynamic and, what you are trying to do to maybe grow his game.

00:18 JIMMY BUTLER, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: I just want to help JK be great. He’s got so much, like, just raw talent and he’s so aggressive. He’s athletic, he’s super smart, and I’m trying to teach him a little bit of what I see throughout the game. And we’ve been kicking it, hanging out, watching film, and just working on our game together, after practice, before practice, during practice. I just, I know how great he wants to be and how great he can be, so it’s now my job to help him fulfill that.

00:47 What did you see tonight?

00:50 Making all the right plays, shooting the ball whenever you’re open, attacking, passing the ball, guarding. First and foremost, he’s got it. He’s got that thing that everybody else has. What you need me to do, I’ll do it if it’s gonna help us win.

01:06 Jimmy, to that point, why is it, why is it clicking the way that it’s clicking for you here right now?

01:14 For me?

01:15 Yep.

01:16 Because the game’s easy. Everybody pays attention to Steph. I got the easy job and when you don’t pass the ball to him, you pass it to the open man, you attack, you guard and you play basketball the right way, limit your turnovers. I got called for a travel today, as Buddy will tell you. I still don’t think that I traveled, but limit those turnovers and we have a really good chance to win.

01:40 Following up on Anthony’s question about JK, when he plays like that, how does it change the ceiling for you guys as a team?

01:46 He will play like that because he has every single individual on this roster in his corner, telling him to be aggressive, be who you are. And we’ll, like, fall in line behind you and make sure that you have any and every opportunity to be great. Don’t shy away from anything. You speak up. You’re one of us. If we can talk to you any type of way, then you can reciprocate that and talk to us.

02:11 But what does that do for the team? How much better will can you be if he plays?

02:15 Only time will tell, but if he keep playing the way he’s playing, being aggressive, shooting the ball at a clip like he did right there, he has six, see, this is what I’m talking about. Six assists is wild. Wow. Yeah. I think we’re gonna be really good if he can pull off 17, nine and six, making free throws, he have 18, nine and six.

02:37 Jimmy, you mentioned how everyone is so fearful of Steph, the gravity that he brings to the court. What is him being a screener, like he was in a handful of times, for JK? What does that unlock?

02:48 Everything I, you always have to be aware of where Steph is on the floor anyways, whether he’s a screener, off the ball, on the ball, two people are going to be guarding him at some point, maybe even three at some point in time, in any possession. So you just, if he’s screening for you, you just gotta make the right read. You pass it when you’re not open, give it to him or go and score.

03:14 Jimmy, when you were coming up in this league, did you have any vets in your ear or in your corner trying to will that potential out of you, like you are with JK?

03:23 Luol Deng, first and foremost. Like, he’s done the most for me. Ronnie Brewer, Kirk Heinrich, D. Rose was super in my corner as well, even though I think he’s a little bit older than me. But I had guys telling me how to get a stop, get out in transition, offensive rebound, get to the free throw line. Those are gonna be easy ways to make sure you score your 15. But what’s always gonna make the biggest impact for myself at a young age, same thing with JK, is if you can guard the opposing team’s best player.

04:01 Jimmy, what do you think was the importance of getting guys together in San Diego before camp, and what was the highlight of it?

04:08 Highlight, highlight, highlight. I think the highlight for me was watching Steph and myself beat up on everybody in dominoes. It’s funny, but he caught on real quick and he got mad whenever we lost and then we just started whooping everybody butt, which is good. But I think it was more so just to get everybody together, have some fun, because this season’s not gonna be all high. It’s not gonna be all lows either, but whenever we do hit a low moment, we’re like, “Yo. it’s not all bad. Let’s take it back to when we wasn’t San Diego, kicking it, drinking some wine, hooping, having a good time. Let’s get back to that.” And so when somebody’s having a down night, it’s always gonna be, let’s get back to that when there was no stress, no cares. It’s around each other having fun. That’s what it’s gonna be like, whenever it’s good, whenever it’s bad or somewhere in the middle.

04:58 Just, this is not my question, but just for your information, Draymond said that he beats you in dominoes.

05:03 Who?

05:03 Draymond said that.

05:05 He has beaten me in dominoes, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Steph misses shots. That don’t mean you’re not the greatest shooter ever. Come on now, don’t do that.

05:18 This, I was just asking about JK and, yeah, obviously his contract stuff was pretty loud all summer. He wasn’t at the thing in San Diego. And when a young player goes through that, obviously, you get good press, bad press, whatever it is, but how do you guys as players take that? Obviously, you went through that last year In Miami and coming here.

05:35 You just let people talk. Let your game speak for itself, which it has, and everybody will forget about it sooner or later. You weren’t in the wrong, you were doing what was best for you. We’re not mad at that. I’ve been in that before, along with countless other people, probably on this roster and around the league. It’s behind everybody now, so now he’s part of that. I got one goal in mind and that’s to win a championship.

06:02 Do you think like him just agreeing to that, kind of getting that settled actually has empowered him to take this next step here?

06:09 Yeah, but I mean he was gonna be empowered to do it anyways because we all want JK to be great. I’m not lying. I’m not kidding. So whether it got figured out or not, he was gonna be here and we was gonna make sure that he was great.

06:22 16 of 16 at the line. What do you wanna shoot percentage wise?

06:27 What do I wanna shoot? I got a bet with, I think it’s a, I don’t think it’s a bad bet, but it’s kind of a bad bet with Dray that I gotta shoot a better percentage than Number 30 on our team. Yeah, right? Ooh, ooh, ooh. Yeah, so.

06:49 What do you get if you win? You think you can?

06:51 Of course, I think I can.

06:52 Score probably 91, 92.

06:55 I’m gonna have to, but it’s a great start. But I shot double the amount that he did, too. But I think I could do it. If he go 8-for-8, I should be able to go 16-for-16 most nights, every night. All right. Appreciate y’all.

07:10 Thank you.

07:11 I hate you, Buddy.

00:09 Buddy, I think you guys opened the second half on an 18 to four run. What was the message from the coaching staff at halftime?

00:18 BUDDY HIELD, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: We just know we let the game get away from us. We let gas off the, we take off. We didn’t apply more pressure. We just didn’t play with force at the end of the second quarter. And I think the guys know if we just applied the pressure we are doing earlier, we can break this thing open. When JK was able to use Steph as a weapon and be able to get a couple back doors, made some wide open threes, get us going, and then Jimmy was going downhill and getting to the free throw line and setting our defense. And once we were able to set our defense, I feel like we were better. And Draymond quarterbacking, Steph being Steph and we were getting stops, man. That’s what we did mostly, is get stops.

01:01 You mentioned a little right there, but what does, when Jimmy gets to the line 16 times in the game, what does that do beyond just the points?

01:08 It sets our defense, of course, so I think that no NBA team wants to go against the set defense because everybody know what you’re doing, basically. It just comes down to making or missing and the pressure were applying, but he does that 16 times is very impressive. But also put points on the board for us and, hopefully, slows down the Lakers, slows down Luka, Austin. You don’t, even though he had 43 points, you make him have to work hard all night and keep those other guys out of rhythm.

01:36 Buddy, the preseason was one thing, but what does it say about Steve trusting Will Richard this much in his regular Season Opener as a rookie.

01:43 When you come to the Warriors, everybody’s gonna get a chance, for sure. Like, Steve, Steve lets them play. And Will’s seasoned. He’s a national championship. He’s national champion. He’s played a, he’s 22 years old. He understands how to play, he understands how to win. And we all trust him. Steve trusts him, of course, and that’s all that matters. And, when you are there, we all, a group, we gonna teach him is as vets, and he’s gonna learn. He’s gonna mess up sometimes, but with rookies, perfect. And we’re happy for him. I tell him to go there, have fun. And he actually made a big three in the corner for us. And that was able to seal the deal for us.

02:17 Buddy, back here. You mentioned playing with force and it seems like Jonathan brings a unique kind of force that maybe no one else on the team has. So how much difference do you see in him this year? Because not just that force getting into the hoop, but creating passes, getting rebounds, doing other things.

02:35 JK is one of those guys that, he’s, what, probably one of the best in the world. LeBron, Anthony Edwards. He’s one of the best all world in transition, especially when the ball going downhill. And this summer I think he had an initiative just making reads. And he have his group that he has with him. And I watch his Instagram all the time and he’s making reads and it translates to practice. And he had a great training camp and great preseason and this is gonna keep translating. He’s been working with Jimmy and Jimmy’s been helping him and it’s perfect for him because idolize this game after something like Jimmy and we just, it’s a long season. We can keep getting better. Some halves are gonna look bad, but he deliver in the second half and that’s all we ask him to do, be him.

03:16 How do you see Jimmy helping him?

03:17 Being that Big Brother mentality that’s taking him down after practice, and them two down on his, on the court together, just going, working out. And he’s learned from Jimmy. Jimmy’s talking to him, what read he’s making, what read not to make and it’s helping. And they have a two great relationship that they’ve been working on. And it’s good for our team.

03:37 Buddy, can you describe your relationship with Jimmy?

03:40 You can’t figure it out already?

03:43 Can you, is there’s anything that we don’t already know about?

03:45 I just don’t like him. Simple as that. Nah, Jimmy’s cool, man. You know that, as you see in there. Jimmy’s cool. Like I said, he’s been that spark for this team. And like I said, he just brings the vibe, unique vibe that every team needs and we can’t ask much for that.

04:02 Buddy, being on the team with such veterans, you talk about legendary type guys, Hall of Famer type guys with a Hall of Fame coach, playing and coaching career with all the rings, Steve Kerr. Where do you fit at this point in your career? What mentally, where are you at as far as being a integral piece to hopefully getting this franchise there at fifth Larry O’Brien and this run they’ve had?

04:22 Okay with just being myself, actually. You can’t be like those guys. You just know that when you come to a place like this, you can’t be the head honcho. He was already the head honcho. You just gotta be yourself and find your way and be a sponge, too. Learn from those guys because what they’ve done in the past 10 years is, was, is phenomenal. It’s his league and everybody been watching him and, like, all I can do is be a sponge and learn. And now when I’m on the court, just learn my spots and every day I’m learning something different and just be that guy to help them get to the next championship. Be the floor spacer, elite floor spacer I need to be and when opportunities come, just be fishing and try to be successful in those moments. Yes sir.

05:04 Great. Thank you.

05:06 Yes, sir. Have a good night. Get home safe.

—

05:08 Jonathan, Jimmy, a couple people have talked about how much Jimmy’s helped you after practice, taking you aside and played one-on-one and giving you guidance. Can you describe his influence on you and why it’s helped, do you think?

05:24 JONATHAN KUMINGA, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: I would say I just, just being a sponge, going to him every single day, not just after practice, just anytime I interact with him, just trying to pick his brain up. And I feel like in this league, he’s one of the people that actually, being in my shoes, throughout their career, like, know what I’ve been going through or what I’ve been through. And I would say just similarity of the game and just his knowledge of the game, just as much as he knows, and that’s why it’s Jimmy. And just trying to pick his brain as much as I can.

06:04 How do you feel like you played tonight? How do you feel like you played tonight?\

06:10 I’ll say not bad. Just good to help the team win this game, but it was just decent. I was just trying to pick up the speed, learning how to play with Jimmy and Steph and Draymond on the same floor, yeah.

06:31 Nine rebounds and six assists has been some of the talk postgame. How lasered are you in on rebounding? And how much do you believe you’re assisting has improved over the summer?

06:43 I would say just the rebound part, it’s just been a goal. I’ve been speaking to my people, just myself, AV (Anthony Vereen), always trying to set the goal and just be a rebounder as much as I can, no matter how my game is going on offense, on defense, just making sure, just impacting on that side of the game, just being a great rebounder. And I’ll say assist-wise, it’s just the game has slowed down so much. It’s just things I’m reading way better compared to before or my past. So just letting the game come to me easily and not trying to force a lot of things and just reading how people playing against me or how we moving on the court with different people on the floor with Steph, with Jimmy, Draymond, with Buddy, just pretty much everybody on the team and just learning how to moving. And I think it’s one of the things I went through over summertime watching a lot of films, just working on, just working on playing without the ball, with the ball, using certain people as Jimmy, Steph, just focusing on how to play with those people and just working on my own basketball pace. And I think that’s gonna help me throughout the summer. That’s what helping me out there, to just seeing the game even better.

08:17 Your defensive assignment tonight was Luka. It seemed like you were pretty focused on defending him without fouling, keeping your arms at your sides. What were some of the challenges to that matchup and, I guess, how would you describe how you fared in it?

08:32 I think for my past four years I’ve been here, they’ll just give me those type of assignments, just going out there, guarding the best players and Luka being one of them. I just try to go out there and just defend without fouling, just trying to make his life a little bit harder. He’s still one of the best player in this league. I’m not gonna stop him every single time. Just going out there, try to bother him. He’s a great player. Just focusing on that assignment and trying to do my best. And I think just going forward, that’s pretty much my assignment, doing those type of things, just making sure I don’t foul and that’s it.

09:17 How good does your three point shot feel?

09:20 It feel great. I miss couple. it’s something that I have so much confidence in doing it, especially if I’m gonna be out there playing with Jimmy and Steph and Draymond, just try to create more, as much space as I can. And it’s something I’ve been working on all summer. It feel great and I’m not afraid of shooting it because I know how much I, how much time I put working on that three point shot and it feel good. So I don’t have any problem shooting and they actually want me to shoot, so I could give certain people space. But I’m so confident about my shot going through this season.

10:01 Cool. Great. Thank you.

00:00 Draymond, what kind of tone does this wind set for the rest of the season?

00:15 DRAYMOND GREEN, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: None. It’s good to get a win to start the season off, but it don’t really mean much. We got a lot of things we can improve up on. And we will. I think we left so many opportunities out there, especially in transition offensively in the first half, in particular, the second quarter we were a wreck and so just, we can correct some of that stuff. But it is good to get off to a good start. We fighting upstream most of last year. You don’t want to do that this year. It’s important to get off to a good start, so that’s about it, but other than that, it’s just one game

01:03 Seemed like you made it a point to find Kuminga late at the free throw line. It was after his offensive rebound. Was that about that rebound, or was it maybe even about his grander performance?

01:15 His performance was great. That rebound is what everyone in the world’s been waiting to see. You got that athleticism, you go make big plays like that. You got superstar potential, you go make big plays. That’s, those are game winning plays. What did we get, two free throws outta that? Those are game winning plays and so, we all can ask for opportunity. When you ask for opportunity, you must deliver. And I think he’s been very vocal about his opportunity and he delivered. And when you see a guy that’s willing to put their neck on the line and be vocal and then they deliver, you also must reward them. Because if they don’t, you tear them down. That’s just naturally what happens if you vocal and you don’t deliver, you get torn down. So when you’re vocal and you go deliver the way he did all night, he was guarding Luka all night and Luka, what he finished with 39, 40, something like that?

02:27 43.

02:27 But it, it was like we didn’t have to commit two guys, So you get 43, which you always tell these guys, you’re not stopping a great scorer. That’s just not the way this league is set up for you to stop great scorers, but you do make it tough on him. And I think all night he made it tough on him, his body on body all night. And so you live with the results and over the course of 48 minutes, you just wanna wear him down. And I think JK was all over him, but then he stayed so patient offensively. Wasn’t going well for him offensively early and he just stayed patient. And as he stayed patient, the game just flipped in his direction and it was about the rebound, but the overall of what we’ve seen since the day he showed up to camp, the force he’s playing with, the force he’s running with, the force he’s rebounding with, the passes he’s making, the drop off to Al was crazy. He couldn’t make that play two years ago and so he was incredible tonight and I wanna make sure he know that.

03:42 Draymond, I know you guys have played the Lakers so many times over the years. This is always like one of those marquee NBA matchups and national TV matchups, but it was a little different tonight, like, Luka out there and there’s no LeBron. Like, he’s up on his highchair that he’s gotta sit on right now. And is it weird? It’s the first Opening Night he’s missed in 23 years.

04:03 Yeah, Bron old ass was over there in his Phil Jackson chair. No, it’s always different when he’s not out there. I think, obviously, we’ve had battles with Luka as well. Luka’s an incredible player, but LeBron is Bron, and the battles that we’ve had over the years, you look forward to those. And so it’s very odd. Yeah, he don’t miss many games, let alone a Season Opener, and so it was really odd not seeing him out there. You look over and he’s sitting in street clothes. That’s also why you go and get a Luka Doncic, because he’s a 1A, too, and he showed that tonight. But I’ve dealt with what LeBron is dealing with, so I don’t wish that on my worst enemy. It’s, you’ve lived that all day. Every day you sit down and your leg and your glutes start jumping. You just standing there talking to someone, you get pain shooting down your leg and cramps and so I’ve lived that. Wishing him a speedy recovery and the thing about it is. It’s not like there’s no real timetable. You just gotta go and see how far you can push it and then see how much further you can push it. It’s just, it’s a crappy injury. So definitely wishing him a speedy recovery. I think young fella in Charlotte was dealing with it last, like, that thing is no, Tre Mann, that yeah, that that thing is no joke. So wishing him a speedy recovery. We enjoy them battles against him and we’re all not sure how many of them we have left, so definitely want to embrace him and have the opportunity to have a few more of them for sure.

06:04 Hey Draymond, Jimmy’s play speaks for itself, but what has he been like as a leader, whether it’s the San Diego get together, training camp practices?

06:13 He’s been a great leader since the day he showed up. You’ve, we all heard all the talk about him last year and that’s not the guy who showed up to San Francisco. The guy who showed up to San Francisco is the guy we saw tonight, great leader, encouraging teammates. Telling guys what he see and making corrections, settling our team down and getting us good shots. I had one turnover, he came over to me like, “Yo man, we just gotta get the ball, get shots on goal. Don’t turn the ball, get shots on goal.” It’s just that leadership. And then he’s just a constant reminder. He don’t let you sulk, he don’t let you drop your shoulders. He’s gonna be right there. “Nah man, this is what we doing. We’re not doing that.” And it’s been amazing having him here and continue to build. He’ll be an All Star Game this year. It’s good to see him back being Jimmy Butler that this league has grown to know.

07:12 Hey Dray, at least from the outside there appeared to be a perception over whether you and Jimmy would get along personality wise and whether you guys would, chemistry wise, be good together. It seems like you guys have absolutely silenced all of those doubts. If anything, Steve said it’s two of the ultimate competitors there are in this league. What’s it been like with you two and why has this worked so well?

07:33 It’s worked so well because he can’t beat me in dominoes and he has the best wine cellar in the world. And I really like having rich friends and he’s one of my rich friends. No, but, like Steve said, he, he’s, I have the utmost respect for, ultimate competitor and I had the utmost respect for alphas. He’s an alpha. There was this misconception of, “Ah, man, Draymond’s an alpha. Him and Jimmy are going to clash,” but I’ve never really seen two alphas clash because there’s a respect for knowing how you are and what you are and how you go about things. And yeah, I don’t, I think everybody just think I’m a complete idiot and I’m gonna get into it with everybody and that’s fine. But one of, one of the better teammates I’ve had, no question. He’s the ultimate team guy. You look at those Miami teams and why were, why they were able to win, the way they were, he was uplifting so many guys that may not necessarily be exactly who they looked like in the position next to him, but when you got a leader like that, that’s capable of creating any shot for you and uplifting you and making you believe you can do more than you can, that’s the result of it. So it’s been fun having him as a teammate. The chemistry’s great. Everybody can stop worrying about me and Jimmy. They should worry about Buddy and Jimmy, it’s not me.

09:14 One more for Ron (Kroichick).

09:16 Hey Draymond. you’ve been pretty vocal in the past about Jonathan. “He’s gonna be a star. We don’t trade stars tonight,” as you said. He delivered. How does that change this team when he plays the way he did tonight?

09:31 It just adds a totally different dimension that I don’t think any other guy on this team can add for us. We’ve all believed he’s a star, all along. I still believe that. And I think he’s going to continue to show that more and more as this year go on. We’ve been running different stuff and so you’re still finding your way and all preseason, I can see him just you get a little frustrated because you really don’t know where to go. You really don’t know how to pick and choose your spots. And he looked like that in the first half. He’ll get it and it’s, like, he should attack, but you’re second guessing a little bit because you’re still feeling it out. And then the second half, it just started going for him. Like, it all fell into place and so he’ll get better and better. He’ll get better. That group that we had out there to start the game hasn’t played much at all. Jimmy had been out, so it’s gonna take a little time to figure it out and figure the pieces out. But I think what you saw tonight is what you’re gonna see all year from JK. And it’s only gonna get better, like I said, because he’ll get more familiar with where he should go, when he should go, when not to go. Yeah, people be, people like to throw stuff back in my face. I don’t say things that I don’t necessarily mean, but I’ve told you all along, I think he’s a star. And I think he’ll continue to show that the impact he had in the game. He took 11 shots. Looked like he took way more shots than that to me, but that’s just because you had an overall impact on everything. And yeah, I think he’ll continue to get better and better. Six assists. That gotta be a career high, also.

11:15 On one try.

11:16 Oh, definitely a career high and meaningful game, so it’s nice.

11:24 Alright. Jimmy’s on his way in.

00:09 16 to 16 from the free throw line is up there with best Warriors performance ever. How many, how big was that aspect of tonight, what he did at the line?

00:18 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-LAL: Oh, huge and it was the reason we became a good team last year. As soon as we got him, he provides that stability, the ability to get fouled and go to the line and settle the game down. He never turns the ball over, so he’s, he just controls the game out there for us and we need that. We’ve always been at our best when we can provide the support for Draymond and Steph’s chaos with some stability. It’s, that’s what Andre (Iguodala) did, Shaun Livingston. Because the chaos is really powerful, but it can also get away from us. And Jimmy just settles us down and thought he did a great job of that tonight.

01:04 Hey Steve, obviously Jimmy’s perception took a hit last season and then as soon as he got here, he said his joy returned. He said he felt at home. Why do you think he has been such a good fit with this team?

01:17 Really because he compliments Steph and Draymond. The, what I just mentioned, the, not only the free throws, but the ball security, we’re, we’ve been a high turnover team for a long time. And so we need that, his ability to settle down. And when you can get to the line like that, it puts a ton of pressure on your opponent and on the nights when you maybe don’t have the offensive flow to be able to rely on that is huge.

01:50 Steve, you went to the Steph and Jimmy pick and roll, except where Jimmy’s the ball handler and Steph screener. What made that so effective, especially late in the game?

01:58 Steph Curry and Jimmy Butler made that effective. Two of the best players in the league and, yeah, you do that because you just don’t, you don’t want to turn it over. You want to run some clock and you want to get a good shot. So you put your two best players in the play and both guys made big shots, big plays, and I thought Jonathan’s offensive rebound was the play of the night for me. Just sealing the game with that extra possession that we scored on.

02:32 Steve, you’ve been pleased with Jonathan’s play for a few weeks now. What do you think has gotten him into such a solid rhythm early here.

02:41 I think he’s really matured. He’s had a great camp. We’ve had some really good conversations. I think he has a better understanding of what we need. He saw in the first half, he took a couple tough mid-range fadeaways that we don’t want. He immediately held up his hand. He realized that was not the shot. He had a couple turnovers where he drove into traffic. And second half starts and the whole talk at halftime was, let’s use Steph Curry. Let’s use his movement and put pressure on the defense because we didn’t do that in the first half. And Jonathan, the first few plays of the third quarter, it was beautiful. He screened for Steph, slipped to the rim. Draymond got him a bucket. We ran our split cut stuff. They both went with Steph. He hit the wide open three. I think he just has a better sense of what’s needed now, compared to past years. And I think Jimmy has really helped him, too. Jimmy has really talked to him a lot during camp. He’s taken him aside after practices and I think Jonathan is, you gotta remember he just turned 23, so I talk about this a lot, but he’s basically, he played what, eight games in the G League Bubble then came to us, basically, as like a freshman in college. That’s how I looked at it. And so a lot of the players today just don’t get the same experience, reps that they did years ago. And for him, it hasn’t been easy to find minutes on our team and I’m really proud of him for staying with it and really maturing and it’s a great start for him and for us.

04:34 Hey Steve, over here to your right. First game out of the box. You may not be exactly sure what it’s gonna look like. How close did this come to what you had hoped to see?

04:46 Second half is what we’re hoping for, six turnovers, really good flow offensively, ball movement to force the defense to react. That’s the team we’re looking for. Defense, I thought, was great in the first half, other than a few fouls, but Draymond was just a monster, guarding the whole court in that first half. It was amazing to watch, but second half, that’s how it has to look for us with the ball security and the movement and Jimmy and Steph playing through those guys and everybody else filling their roles.

05:26 Steve, following up on Nick’s question about Jonathan. It seemed like you mentioned the tip rebound late in the game, but also seemed like a few times he used his speed and strength to make a pass that maybe he wouldn’t have made. And it seems like he’s making quicker decisions, which is something you’re always agreed harping on.

05:43 Yeah.

05:43 How much is that part of his game essential to what you need?

05:48 Yeah, it’s a big deal. It’s a decision making sport and all five guys are gonna touch the ball and they all have to make decisions and, as I said, our decision making in the first half was poor. And second half, it was much better. Our spacing was better. And JK made some really big plays and took care of the ball and was in the right spots and it was an impressive performance.

06:13 Hey Steve, back to Jimmy. What are the things he does that puts him in the position to make the right play, whether it’s finishing or getting the foul line in the past?

06:22 Just incredible strength, physical strength, and an incredible fundamental base. Four years at Marquette, I think it was, maybe. I know he was a, he played four years at college. I think it was all at Marquette, but fundamentally sound and then crafty. You saw Luka drawing fouls left and right. Jimmy’s out there doing the same. When you’re that strong and that fundamentally sound and you have that big of a brain like Luka and Jimmy do, you just constantly are finding angles and creating contact where it’s a foul on the defense. And not many guys can do that in the league, but both those guys tonight did it, beautifully.

07:09 We know you’ve been a fan of Will Richard this preseason and training camp, but at what point did you know that you could trust him to play real rotation minutes?

07:19 I think it was after the first couple of exhibition games that he played in, the first week of camp. We’re just installing stuff. We didn’t really get a great look and then a couple of exhibition games, you just see him constantly making the right cut, being in the right place at the right time. Like, he was on that late clock offensive rebound that he scored on. Was that his first NBA hoop? I don’t know. Maybe it was, but we gave him the game ball afterwards for his first hoop. And I told him that, and I think it was his first NBA hoop, but I told the guys that usually I know when it’s somebody’s first hoop and I make sure we get the ball from the officials right away. I completely forgot tonight and I told the guys the reason I forgot is because Will looks like he’s in his seventh year. He doesn’t look like a rookie out there. And we eventually tracked the ball down and he got it. Great night for Will. It was fun.

08:22 Steve, what made the spacing between Jimmy, Jonathan and Draymond so much more effective tonight compared to some of the issues last season with that?

08:30 I’m gonna have to look at the tape. I didn’t think the spacing was good at all in the first half. Second half was much better. I think we have our spots that we have to get to when Jimmy is in isolation. And I think we did a better job of that in the second half, but, and the ball movement. If you don’t have spacing, if you can execute and get the ball moving side to side, that opens up possibilities, too.

08:58 Steve, at least from the outside looking in, I think there were some questions when Jimmy came here, whether Jimmy and Draymond would mesh personality wise. It seems like that has not been an issue at all. If anything, the opposite has happened. What have you seen behind the scenes from their chemistry and their relationship?

09:13 Yeah, two of the great competitors in the league being on the same team. I think they love competing together. It’s just impressive to watch just how competitive, how physically tough, how smart they are, just making the right reads at both ends, over and over. Yeah, they’re loving playing together for sure.

09:44 Just how’d you think just in general the starters looked and then to follow on that, totally different look on Thursday with Denver. Do you anticipate going with this look again or maybe Al in the starting lineup, just how do?

09:55 Yeah, possibly. Al, it’s, you know what I’ve told you guys the last week is I don’t want Draymond starting at the 5, 82 nights. There will be nights where we start bigger and we’ll figure that out. Thanks.

00:00 Got any update on Moses or Jimmy, just how they looked and practice?

00:03 STEVE KERR, WARRIORS PRACTICE, TWO DAYS BEFOEE GSW-LAL: Moses didn’t practice, but he’s getting a lot of work in. He got an individual session in and time in the weight room and he’ll be out Tuesday. Jimmy scrimmaged, JK scrimmaged, so everything went well. We’ll list them as questionable for Tuesday, but see how they come out of the scrimmage today.

00:31 What were your just biggest takeaways from the preseason, from the five game slate and just focal points that you want to emphasize going into the regular season here?

00:38 We, we got a lot accomplished in terms of schemes, what we’re trying to do at both ends. I think we’re in decent shape, not where we need to be. Rarely are you on Opening Night in the kind of condition that you need to be in, but I don’t have any problem with that because it’s an 82 game season and I would say in a week or so, the guys who play big minutes are gonna be just fine. But I think we have to lean into the bench a little bit Tuesday night and, obviously, we gotta do two things better right out of the gate, and that’s take care of the ball and defend without fouling. Those are my focus points.

01:25 When you look back at the turnovers, was there a common thread or is there anything, a common theme, among them when you look back at just this?

01:34 It’s, they were, there were a variety of themes, but fundamental play, one hand passes, one hand catches. You have to be solid with the ball and every time you can make a pass with two hands, you should make a pass with two hands. Every time you can catch with two hands, catch it with two hands. You gotta be sure of yourself. This game is so fast. These are the best athletes in the world. If you’re careless, people will make you pay. They’re scoring at the other end and there’s nothing you can do about it. Then the other thing is spacing. Sometimes we’re driving into a crowd because we don’t have our spacing right. But all in all, I thought in camp we had good spacing in transition, but we were trying to do too much and drive into a crowd and that caused a lot of the turnovers.

02:28 Steve, Steph obviously played 30 minutes in your guys’ final game in the preseason. Just how would you describe his intentionality in Year 17, going into the season right now?

02:37 His what?

02:38 His, like, intentionality of his focus, like, how he still takes his day to day so seriously,

02:43 He’s got his whole year mapped out. He doesn’t end the season and then just wing it for a while and then try to get back in shape. Like, he knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s incredible to watch, obviously an amazing player and a world class athlete, but a big part of that is how intentional He’s, how focused He’s, how curious He’s. He’s constantly adapting his training regimen, adding things that can help, adapting to his body, to his age. It’s brilliant, his approach and watching it.

03:26 What do you think some of the younger guys can continue to take from that?

03:31 We always ask our young guys to watch Steph. I was really encouraged the first two days of training camp. Will Richard just was, without being asked, he just went down and just sat in a chair and watched Steph’s individual workout. And, so yeah, there’s no better player to learn from on and off the court than Steph.

03:57 This opening week, you’re playing three pretty distinct teams. Lakers are on the smaller side, denver has Jokic, Portland’s bigger on a back to back. How much, with your starting lineup choices, are you looking at it as matchup based?

04:13 It very well could be matchup based. I’ve told you guys I don’t want Draymond guarding huge centers for 82 games, but there are a lot of teams that play small where we could absolutely start him at the 5. Al is most likely gonna play 50, 60 games, somewhere in there. We don’t know, but we know he’s not playing back to back. So that’s 13 games right there. Usually guys get knocked around a little bit, take a night off because they’re injured or some bumps and bruises, so that automatically puts Al and, in that equation of he might start, he might not be available. He also is probably playing 20, 24 minutes max, somewhere in there. So I think I’ve told you guys this, but you start a guy who’s playing 20 minutes, it’s hard to space out the minutes over 48. He ends up sitting for a long time. I honestly have not decided yet who’s gonna start on Tuesday. There’s a lot of factors, some that I mentioned, some that I didn’t, and we’ll just figure it out.

05:24 Steve, who do you know will start on Tuesday?

05:27 Ah, smart. Can’t fool Monte (Poole). I feel pretty confident that Steph Curry will be in the starting lineup. Yeah, I’ve given it a lot of thought and, yeah, it took me a while, but I got there last night. Resolve. Resolve.

05:48 He’s earned it.

05:49 Well, it’s not so much that he’s earned it because I don’t believe in rewarding guys for just being one of the greatest players of all time and stuff like that. I don’t know, it’s a more what his score on the computer was from Science Dave (Taylor) to see if he passed the conditioning test.

06:10 That’s as far as you’re going?

06:11 That’s as far as I’m going. Draymond will be out there if Jimmy plays, Jimmy will be out there. I think that goes without saying and with Moses out, that’s the question, is, so BP will be out there. So the fifth spot could be Al. God, I’m being way too generous. I guess I’m just, we’re undefeated. I’m feeling good.

06:45 It’s not Al, but...

06:47 It’s not Al. It could be JK. It could be any one of a number of players, honestly, but what we have to think about is what it, what that does to the rotation and what that means coming off the bench. And, but honestly, we have not decided yet. And I’ve gotta talk to guys as well.

07:07 After Friday’s game, you mentioned that you planned on going to the No Kings rally on Saturday. I was wondering, did you end up going and if you did, then what was your experience like?

07:15 I did go, I went to the one at Embarcadero Square. It was beautiful. There was some people out there and it was a love fest, music playing, everybody marching peacefully. And everyone I saw 100% loves their country and, as is our country’s custom, if you don’t agree with what your government is doing, then you peacefully protest and that’s how it should be. We are the democracy. We, the people. And I think it’s been proven that there’s a lot of sway out there right now, whether it’s from the media or political pressure. And we have to be the ones who can push things forward and the way to do that is to peacefully protest, make your voice heard. That’s what I saw yesterday was a beautiful day.

08:21 So if with Moses, if Brandin starts, who runs the second unit?

08:27 I love going from democracy to second unit questions. It just flows. So yeah, you remember last year, Jimmy and BP played together a lot in that second unit, so if Jimmy’s playing, you can expect those two guys to be out there together. They were an incredible combination. I won’t hesitate to put Pat in the game. He’s had a really good camp, great playoff run last year. Tough, competitive, smart. So we’ve got options, but this is all about combinations. For me, BP’s just a basketball player. He’s not necessarily, a backup point guard. He’s a guy who’s at his best when the combinations are really good for him and good for the rest of the group. And that’s where he found his groove last year.

09:22 Steve, you mentioned Pat. Just how much of a luxury is it to have him on a two-way as someone who’s so experienced, especially early in the year, not having, De’Anthony Melton, Seth Curry, and so on and so forth, for him to be able to run the second unit, like you’ve already mentioned?

09:38 So in terms of just my comfort level?

09:40 Yeah, exactly. Just the way that your comfort level has grown with Pat.

09:43 With Pat? Yeah, yeah. I thought the playoff run last year brought out the best in Pat and it shows the kind of competitor he is. He really shined when we needed him the most. And he loves the pressure, he loves the competition. He brings so much to our team, whether he’s playing or not, because of that locker room presence, that fire, that competitive spirit. Every scrimmage he will fight for everything and he’s become a player now who I have a hundred percent trust in. And we’re lucky to have Pat.

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