GP2 five-hour naps, Iguodala the VC, Saric, Kuminga, Kerr, TJD, CP3, Steph Andre Klay ⛳️, Javonte Green, GRIII

[digest/video/notes/quotes/transcripts SAC-GSW]

The Golden State Warriors had their annual (actually they skipped 2017, I think it was) Open Practice last night. We went live on YouTube during it, but the Open Practice coverage from the usual suspects was a tad sparse, so I used that opportunity to pivot and invite Aaron “Showtime” Taylor on — he’s the play-by-play announcer, formerly incarcerated at San Quentin for 26 years-plus, mentioned in The Athletic’s excellent piece about Chris Paul and Klay Thompson’s visit to San Quentin last month, by Marcus Thompson which we covered approximately two articles ago. Check the timestamps of the livestream in the Comments for notes:

The Open Practice actually drew 14,000 fans. At five bucks a pop, that’s roughly $70k for the Warriors Community Foundation. Not a bad haul. Now if you want to support my work, the best ways to do this are to visit the LGW YouTube and subscribe, then also “like” and comment there as frequently as possible. Secondly, you can donate at $5/month by being a paid subscriber to this website.

And the third new way to do this is purchase all your Warriors merch through our affiliate link: https://warriorsshop.83ckgt.net/MGzn3

Back to the coverage: Earlier on Thursday, Brandin Podziemski chimed in to say, “Dub Nation pull up to fan fest tonight Chase Center to hear me sing Sweet Caroline!!!!! Bring the energy from last night!!!!” https://x.com/brandinpodziem2/status/1715059282113360307?s=46

Some big news dropped this morning which I felt was more important to lead with — remember each article on this Substack is an email — and I actually have ranked the “Gary Payton II takes 6-hour naps” is an item above the Andre Iguodala retirement announcement, see below.

Incidentally, the retirement was expertly timed, with Iguodala appearing on First Take (see below) as well as the fact that the Warriors didn’t have formal morning shootaround today because of the evening Open Practice. So, wide and clear of any Warriors stuff for Andre to dominate the morning, and with the prepared tweets posted by the Warriors, this was definitely planned carefully. But you also wonder if they’ll do the Jumbotron appreciation video tonight, because for all we know, Opening Night pregame is sure to be occupied by the Kevin Durant welcome back and appreciation ceremonies.

In this post beyond the Top Two of GP2 and Andre is the rest of the digest since the previous article a couple days ago, as well as transcripts from pregame and postgame Sacramento Kings with Steve Kerr, Trayce Jackson-Davis, Dario Saric and Jonathan Kuminga. Scroll all the way down for those. Note that GP2 was from Wednesday morning shootaround (no video, just transcript), so I’ve split that whole podium session up and put the rest at the bottom with the remainder of the transcripts.

As far as SAC-GSW postgame, it may have been the first time ever that Stephen Curry didn’t speak on the podium after hitting a game-winner. Maybe it was because Bob McKillop was in town for “Davidson grad” bobblehead night and Warriors PR probably wanted to save them an extra half hour or so to enjoy time together, maybe there was a meet up. Of course, I’m grossly speculating, so I could be wrong about why Steph didn’t do postgame, but he did go on live TV for the on-court spot with NBC Sports Bay Area.

GP2 IS DOING RESEARCH ON NAPS

After any morning shootaround, there’s usually one or two players only at the podium after the short walk from the main court at Chase Center to the Bill King interview room — coaches aren’t mandated by the NBA to make themselves available to media at morning shootarounds, just at practices and pregame and postgame.

On Wednesday morning, it was just GP2 and a funny little exchange between him and Shayna Rubin of the SJ Mercury occurred right off the bat. Note that morning shootarounds typically end at 10:45AM, with interviews sauntering to the interview room by about 11:00AM:

Shayna: “So are you planning to take a nap?”

GP: “I'm going to go take one, roughly in 15 minutes if I can get out of here in time.”

Shayna: “How important are naps?”

GP: “I think naps are huge. I've been learning. We're doing research on naps. I wanna say like, 45 is good, 30 to 45 minutes. It's like a power nap, like a good power nap. No, yeah, like for real, like 45 minutes is like the max for a nap.”

Shayna: “What if it's an hour?”

GP: “You tend to go into your deep REM sleep. So anything after that, it's just kind of messing up your flow.”

Shayna: “You guys are doing research?”

GP: “I am, because I usually take naps and take a nap at like one (o’clock) and don’t usually wake up until like six, so I don't think that's a nap.”

Shayna: “From one to six?”

GP: “Yeah.”

Shayna: “Is this on a game day? Or is this just life?”

GP: “Just life.”

Shayna: “That's like the whole day!”

GP: “I know. Sometimes I'm just tired. So I gotta fix my nap. So cut the six hours to 45 minutes.”

Shayna: “One to six is like prime socializing hours.”

GP: “Nah, it depends. It depends on the timing.”

[90 seconds later after two questions about practices and BPodz are answered…]

Shayna: “What time do you have to take a nap today?”

GP: “Scheduled for 1130, in about 25 minutes, so you got any more questions?”

[Almost four minutes later after a few more questions…]

GP: “You guys are great. I got 20 minutes, exactly. Thanks, guys!”

ANDRE RETIRES

Like I said, I’m going to skip ahead chronologically from Wednesday to what popped up this morning because this is such big news, but there’s still more stuff that happened that I’ll post either later today before tipoff or tomorrow, as well as video clips from Open Practice probably uploading to YouTube at some point. Kudos to Marc Spears of Andscape/ESPN for getting the sports world scoop — see below as to who actually reported it first. There’s a lengthy Q&A at the end of Spears’ article: https://andscape.com/features/golden-state-warriors-forward-andre-iguodala-retires-its-just-the-right-time/

“It’s just the right time,” Iguodala, 39, told Andscape in a phone interview. “Time started to get limited for me and I didn’t want to put anything in the back seat. I didn’t want to have to try to delegate time anymore. Especially with on the court, off the court with family. A lot.

“You want to play at a high level. But then family is a lot. My son is 16 and then two girls. So, [I’m] looking forward to seeing them grow up in those important years.”

—

“We won four championships, that’s kind of unheard of,” Iguodala said. “There are only a handful to teams that can say that. You got the [Chicago] Bulls, the [Los Angeles] Lakers, [Boston]Celtics, us, and that’s it. No organization has been run like this. And I think it’s a testament to us believing in each other, playing the right way. The game was played beautifully and had perfect timing for me right there in my prime. And things just happen the way they were supposed to happen when they happened, and it makes you actually strengthen your faith. You just give it all the way up to someone else to say, ‘let me play to my maximum ability based on the work that I put in and the focus that what I have put into the game has paid off.’ ”

—

“(Winning Finals MVP) was pretty cool,” Iguodala said. “It was funny. [Then-Warriors general manager] Bob Myers was the one that gave me the news. That was one of those moments you’ll never forget. I remember every moment when that happened. But it’s always safe to say if you just go out and do your job and what you’re supposed to do, things will happen the way they’re supposed to happen. You just got to have faith that things will work out favorably as long as you have that faith.

“You see a lot in sports like guys going out, making sure they get it, and that sometimes that gets in the way of the team success. It always does.”

—

[From the Q&A portion of the article…]

I know I can still play, but the body can only take so much of what the body can take… I’ve got so many deals that we’ve been getting done over the last couple of years. We just got one to date done today and we’re superexcited about that. And that timing as a player, there are certain lanes you can’t get in as a player and I can’t be who I want to be on the court. I want to be, even though I can make an impact, but I’m more so falling in love with everything that I learned while I was playing to take advantage of it.

—

I gained a real friend through that process (during the Bubble) and Chris Paul, because we were competitors and he’s a psycho competitor. He’s on that Michael Jordan level. He’ll do anything to win and it could rub people the wrong way and you may not understand. But working with him through the union, I was able to see how focused he was with everything that he did. And he took everything very seriously and he held it preciously. And the union was like a duty that he served to his utmost ability. I think others were able to see that. I approached it the same way and we knew how important it was for us to have action in the climate that we were in. And it was more than just playing basketball. And some people might’ve seen it the wrong way as like, oh, you’re going to play with all this going on. And we were trying to explain to people it’s bigger than that.

—

But on the business side, started our firm Mosaic General Partnership, and we’re investing in early-stage startup companies, Pre-C, series A, series B, we closed our first one May 1, and so we’re full steam ahead there. Have invested in 10 companies across fintech, health tech, proptech software and sports and media properties. And so, we found some unique unlocks with tech and sports that we’re going to try to take advantage of and kind of be the first movers in that space.

—

I’m in the Bay Area for sure. For the future. I just joined the UCSF Foundation Board, one of the larger hospital networks doing some of the best work. They have the Benioff Hospital in Oakland. We’re putting a ton of money into that. I don’t know if I can talk about the new hospital they plan on building, but that’s a philanthropic endeavor that I’m really excited about being a part of…

More on Iguodala’s retirement:

• Shaun Livingston chimed in on Andre’s announcement: “Helluva Run Brodie! Next chapter even better. 🫡 💐”

• Andre on his podcast: “Like, I need a new hip. I need 2 new knees. I need a new wrist now. I just thought it was time.”

• I’ve said a million times on our LGW livestreams that Andre would retire and focus on venture capital because the VC space demands full-time attention. Sure enough, I was right, although it wasn’t hard to guess. Michael de la Merced of The NY Times has the scoop on that, which was technically before Spears’ article, if you’re able to read NYT (subscription required): https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/business/dealbook/middle-east-israel-economy.html

• The Max Kellerman “I want Iguodala” (to take the last shot over Steph Curry) infamous clip:

• Andre went on First Take this morning with Stephen A. Smith and chimed in on the Warriors’ title chances: “When you got Steph Curry on your team, you always have a chance.”

• Raymond Ridder, Warriors head PR guy, also reminisced: “I loved working with this man, Andre. Kept me on my toes. True champion. And, GSW fans, never forget two underrated plays: steals in the last minute of Game 3 in Cleveland in both 2017 and 2018. Helped seal both wins and 3-0 leads....”

• Nice mural-like graphic from the Warriors:

• The Warriors had a prepared statement from Steve: “Congratulations to Andre on concluding a spectacular Hall of Fame career. He was one of the most unique players I have ever been around, combining incredible instincts at both ends with elite athleticism and IQ. Just an absolute winner. I was lucky to coach him.”

• Joe Lacob also had a prepared statement: “Andre Iguodala was a huge part of four NBA championship teams with the Warriors and will forever be remembered for his many contributions to our franchise, both on and off the court. His team-first approach, which we witnessed immediately upon his arrival in Golden State, helped set the tone for much of our success, as did the impact he had on the defensive end of the floor. We look forward to raising #9 to the rafters in Chase Center at some point in the future, and we wish him well in what will assuredly be a very successful post-playing career venture into the business world.”

CP3 AIR JORDAN 1 LOW RELEASE 👀

CP will debut his release of “Give Them Flowers” Air Jordan 1 Low on Opening Night. They are 🔥 especially up-close with all the detail and, as CP put it, “Easter eggs” and will sell for $140 which seems like a fair price.

brkicks

A post shared by @brkicks

The full four-minute interview can be seen on YouTube:

STEPH ANDRE KLAY ⛳️ INVESTMENT

• Eben Novy-Williams, sports business writer for Sportico: “NEWS: The 5th of the first 6 TGL team has sold. It's San Francisco, led by former Bucks owner Marc Lasry and NBA star Stephen Curry. It's one of the first (maybe the first) investments for Lasry's Avenue Sports Fund. LPs include Curry teammates Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala.”

• Steph followed that up by tweeting: “Back on the same team again let’s go 👌🏽” in quote-tweeting Andre’s “!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

• More from Novy-Williams: “Here are the first five TGL franchises: New York, Boston, LA, SF, Atlanta.” There are some prominent names as investors of these franchises.

• Nothing from Klay on this, predictably. Stay tuned for the Discord server access for paid subscribers of this Substack newsletter, because there’s an extra tidbit to add about him, somewhat related to this.

• You also wonder if Michelle Wie West had a hand in attracting Steph, Klay and Andre, as she’s also an owner in this press release from TGL: https://tglgolf.com/articles/2023/10/san-francisco-confirmed-as-latest-team-to-join-tgl

Five down, one to go. San Francisco is confirmed as the latest addition ahead of the first season of TGL presented by SoFi, set to tee off on Tuesday, January 9th on ESPN and ESPN+. San Francisco's ownership group is led by Marc Lasry's Avenue Sports Fund and Stephen Curry. Also part of the ownership group will be fellow Golden State Warriors stars Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson.

“Avenue is thrilled to be working with Stephen Curry, in partnership with TMRW Sports as a founding TGL team,” Mr. Lasry said. “Our ownership group is excited to become stewards of TGL San Francisco and to represent Northern California, which is the center of tech innovation and is a perfect location for a TGL team in this extraordinary new sports league.

“As we move towards the launch of TGL’s inaugural season in January 2024, TGL San Francisco will be focused on developing an extraordinary team of talented players and we are excited to have Andre and Klay as part of our amazing ownership group.”

Lasry, co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital, was the co-owner of the Championship-winning Milwaukee Bucks franchise in the NBA. His investment in TGL San Francisco is one of the first to be made by Avenue Sports Fund, in a strategic partnership with Curry.

TGL San Francisco is the second Californian club in TGL, setting up a potential budding rivalry with Los Angeles Golf Club, owned by Alexis Ohanian, Serena Williams, and Venus Williams, as well as limited partners the Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex Morgan, Servando Carrasco, and Michelle Wie West.

• Andre explains further in his retirement interview with Spears as mentioned above:

The TGL league has started up and it is going to be a great atmosphere for Monday night prime-time sports. You only see that in football, but when football season is over, there’s really no prime-time spot. In most cities in America — East Coast, Midwest — you got Top Golf, you got Five Iron Golf, you got all these different ways to participate in the game coming out of the pandemic where golf just exploded in participation in America.

The technology is there now where we can have some fun Monday night golf with the top players in the world, starting with Rory [McIlroy] and Tiger [Woods]. And we’re starting with six teams and we just announced that we are the Bay Area-San Francisco golf team. We haven’t come up with a name yet, but myself, Klay and Steph will be heavily involved with decision-making and marketing. We’ll be active participants in the building of an organization. We we’re going be very active and I’m really looking forward to this one.

GSW & NBA NEWS

• Steph continued his Fortnite tease (e previous article). I’m not familiar with Fortnite, but I’m sure it’ll come to light to the general public in due time: https://x.com/stephencurry30/status/1715136618816999830?s=46

• Warriors PR: Warriors waive forward Javonte Green. [HoopsRumors noticed that Green’s contract was an Exhibit 9 (same as Rudy Gay’s), not the G League-tied Exhibit 10 — which I previously incorrectly wrote the commitment was one month to get the usual $50-75k bonus; it’s two months — so the 30-year-old Green will probably not head to Santa Cruz. The reason for the quick sign and waive could be that he just wasn’t good enough to surpass Gay for that 14th spot or maybe there was some other reason. I could be wrong, but I do believe Green got paid for his few days officially on the training camp roster.]

• New “The Land” jerseys for the Cleveland Cavs might just be karma for the “Blew a 3-1 lead” quips seven years ago. They are so bad, their own fans are embarrassed!

• Glenn Robinson III lands in Milwaukee, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic, then confirmed by the RealGM transactions log https://basketball.realgm.com/nba/transactions. HoopsRumors with detail: https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2023/10/glenn-robinson-iii-to-sign-exhibit-10-deal-with-bucks.html

…he will likely be waived in the coming days and start 2023/24 with the Wisconsin Herd, Milwaukee’s G League affiliate. The Exhibit 10 clause in his contract would entitle him to a bonus worth up to $75K if he’s released and spends at least 60 days with the Herd.

I posted the following on our Instagram Stories and GRIII replied: “🙏🏾🫡 thank you!”

…and then someone in Jordan Poole’s inner circle hmu to say, “Love this for the OG of Jordan. Milwaukee & Michigan University connection 🔥” …come to think of it, Oakland to Milwaukee in Damian Lillard is such a perfect fit for that city — you can’t script that!

• From Chris Haynes of BR/TNT: Los Angeles Lakers are signing guard Quinndary Weatherspoon, his agent Daniel Hazan tells NBAonTNT, BleacherReport. Weatherspoon averaged 15.5 points, shot 52 percent and 40 percent from distance in two NBA preseason games while playing for Israeli club Maccabi Ra’anana.

• “Did he lose a bet?” Mike Breen was perplexed by Kyle Kuzma's new hairstyle.

• In that game at MSG Wednesday night before the Warriors took the floor, Poole ended up scored 41 in a preseason game [Wizards Twitter account celebrates], tied with Michael Jordan for the most points scored by a Washington Wizards player in a preseason game in franchise history. Poole had 29 at the half.

• Nice pro-JP Twitter take: “everyone saw how poole fit with gsw, punch never happens i believe it’s still all good. it happened and it’s not, move on.” But I disagree, partially. What if Poole got traded anyways? What would’ve changed, when he made a mistake, he’d listen to Draymond instead of walk by him and push his hand aside? The only difference is perhaps Poole would’ve been higher-valued and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. wouldn’t have had to send a second-rounder along with Poole for Chris Paul, imo. But yeah, let’s move on, finally, from this.

• “Following today’s practice (they mean Wednesday shootaround), Warriors players and coaches met with the families of victims of the tragic school shooting that occurred on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas.” https://x.com/warriors/status/1714731959598150082?s=46

• Steph postgame SAC-GSW at 12:13AM congratulating the Las Vegas Aces: “Champs!!!!!! Let em know 🙌🏽

[tags A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum]”

DRAY & CP3’s IN-SEASON TOURNEY QUIP

During the SAC-GSW game, Warriors COO Brandon Schneider went on-air from the TV booth with Bob Fitzgerald and Kelenna Azubuike. He revealed that he asked Dunleavy about the in-season tournament. Dunleavy answered, “Well, Draymond Green and Chris Paul told me we're going to win it.”

DAVID WEST & RUDY GAY REACT TO 🚨

Here’s what David West posted on IG after Steph hit the game-winner: “Jab, one dribble step back… NBA players do the basics… Learn how to watch film…”

And Rudy Gay reposted a funny meme of his facial reaction:

Side note: I will only be reposting these other tidbit portrait-format things I find on our Discord channel, coming some time before Opening Night for paid subscribers of this Substack only!

And now, the videos with transcripts: Steve/TJD, Dario/JK and GP2 — ergo, not in any chronological order…

STEVE PREGAME + POSTGAME, TRAYCE

0:00 Steve Kerr pregame on the bench: “…thrilled with the depth of this team. I think we have a very deep team. I think you've seen that in the three preseason games, our bench has outplayed our opponents each time and that's exciting. We've got two rookies who are really wise beyond their years and then we've got some other young players who are really starting to figure things out and we got a lot of depth through the veteran additions. So I'm excited about the overall quality of the roster.”

0:34 on CP3 coming off the bench: “All we're doing is looking at different options, different combinations. Chris has been amazing every day of camp just asking great questions, trying to fit in. He just wants to win. He wants to be part of something special and he wants to win and I've told him where we need him to be himself. He’s trying to fit in. Sometimes we just need him to go take four mid-range jumpers in a row if the defense is playing a certain way. So that's what we're searching for. It's just the comfort zone for him and for us, and we're looking at different ways to get there.”

1:16 Kerr postgame going with the main guys down the stretch: “Yeah, I mean, we targeted this game as the one where we'd get our main guys up in the 30-minute range and Friday we won't play them as much, but this was a game we wanted to ramp it up and get their conditioning level up and guys obviously did a great job down the stretch. Fun having Chris Paul down the stretch to get us organized and was fun to watch Steph do what he does, so great, great finish. We’ve got to do things a lot better. We sent them to the foul line 22 times in the second half. We did a great job in the first half, everything we've been working on, defending without fouling and then we got away from that in the second, so it was not the ideal game but fun to win and great finish.”

2:19 on what it was like down the stretch with CP3 in there: “Like you said, yeah, it's fun to see Chris get us organized. He makes Steph’s off-ball stuff better because wherever he goes, Chris will get him the ball. And so they had a couple of plays where Steph was getting top-blocked and he had to make a back-cut and I think one of the threes on the left wing when he pumped faked, Chris got him the ball in perfect rhythm and Chris, he's been doing this forever. He thrives down the stretch. He hit some big shots for us, nine assists. I mean, that's who he is.”

3:07 on if he liked the frontcourt production: “Fun to see Trayce out there as a rookie, going against an All-Star center in (Domantas) Sabonis. What a great experience for him and he was terrific, just the rebounding, the scoring, rolling to the rim, giving us that lob threat. And then defensively he battled. They’re giving him the rookie treatment, the refs are. He’s picking up a lot of fouls that look a little questionable to me, but he's so coachable. He has a great foundation underneath him, understands just how to play basketball, played 125 college games. So he just comes to us (as) a much more finished product than most rookies these days. So fun to watch and then Dario, he's going to change our team with the threat that he provides as a shooter. DHO guy and he's just such a smart player.”

4:11 on what he likes about having CP3 organize the second unit and be the floor general: “Well, I mean, we're talking about one of the all-time greats at the point guard spot, so I like everything about it. He’s just smart and tough and understands the value of every possession and he makes everybody better just because he understands their strengths and how to play to them.”

4:48 on if he has a better idea of the second unit now with the performances of TJD and Saric: “Not quite, I mean, this helps for sure. But nothing is close to set in stone. No Draymond. No Loon. So the frontcourt was entirely different tonight. We’ll get a feel over the first few weeks of the season. But for now, we're just kind of giving everybody a chance to play, seeing what we have and trying to piece it together.”

5:35 on knowing he was sending his main guys back in: “Yeah, it's actually been great for us. Overtime last game, close game in LA the game before that, so to have three straight games where so many guys had to feel crunch time and have to execute during those moments and to come through. So those are really great experiences. Bigger-picture wise, like I said, too many fouls, too many turnovers and we'll look at the tape. We’ve got plenty to improve upon, but it's fun. Fun watching this team grow.

6:47 Trayce Jackson-Davis postgame on his duel versus Sabonis: “Um, it was a lot of fun being able to go against a talent like that, on the stage at home. I'm getting my first start, just soaking it all in, playing with the teammates that I have. It was a great experience and credit Sabonis. He's a great player. He's an All-Star. But I'm just being out there and competing.”

7:11 on what lessons he can take from tonight: “Um, the biggest lesson I take is just enjoying the process. I mean, I found out this morning that I was going to start, so I’m just always being ready to have your name called and just playing with my teammates. The vets, shout out to Rudy, Draymond, CP3, Steph, just helping me, even in shootaround earlier today. Being in the right spots, knowing what to do out on the floor, and I'm just gonna keep stacking and building off of those moments.”

7:49 on if there some type of conversation in that timeout or after the challenge that changed the momentum: “I just think that even from the playoffs watching it last year on TV, there's a little bit of a rivalry going on. And it's fun basketball, fun teams to play against each other and so I'm just seeing them. Once the fourth quarter started, it started get a little bit chippy. I started playing a little bit harder. But at the end of the day, we don't want to lose, even in preseason. Coach is talking about just stacking stuff and winning the margins and doing stuff of that nature and so that's what we did tonight and found a way at the end.”

8:45 on playing against former Big 10 opponent Keegan Murray: “Keegan's a great player. A moment that stands out to me: two years ago in the Big 10 tournament he had 30 and he was 8-for-10 from the three-point line and that's when I kind of knew that it was time for him to go. But just being able to play against him again, there at the free throw line he asked me how the transition was, how I was doing. So yeah, but it was great to compete against him. He had a really, really good game.”

9:29 on the dunks from Klay’s lobs: “I'm just trying to screen and get them open and then, obviously, Steph, Klay, CP3. They all draw help and just always being ready to jump and go get it and so he kind of threw it up. I didn't know if he was going to bounce pass or then he just threw it up at the rim and then just finishing through contact.”

9:54 on Draymond as a mentor: “He’s been great, especially just tonight, he gave me a lot of pointers before the game on how to guard Sabonis and what he does really well and what works against him and so I thought I did that in the first half pretty well. And then the second half, kind of got a little tired, lethargic, and did some things that he didn't tell me but at the end of the day, he's been great for me and helping me through this transition.”

10:32 on how he manages the rookie whistle: “I mean, at the end of the day, it is what it is. I remember against LA, I went out there, four fouls in like two minutes, probably got him twice. And the other two, I was just like, ‘Alright, this just what's happening.’ But Coach came up to me, kind of smiling and saying, ‘They’re just screwing the rookie,’ so you’ve just got to deal with it. But at the end of the day, just play through it, play hard.”

11:00 responding to Raymond Ridder joking that he already has two fouls going into Friday’s game: “Yeah, exactly. I probably do, honestly.”

DARIO and JK POSTGAME SAC-GSW

0:00 Dario Saric postgame on seeing Chris Paul and Steph Curry learn to play off each other, with tonight feeling like a regular season game: “Obviously they are two great — one of the two best players who have been in this league top 75. So, obviously they're going to figure it out on the court and play with them is just amazing, getting so easy. And with all these plays they make on a court … it's easy to get the win. You know what I mean? Like, I got feeling like Chris speed up a little bit, kind of like helping us with the two shots. After that Steph kind of goes in his moment and when you feel like those kinds of players who can play off each other, it’s just amazing. I think their combination on the court were amazing today, especially on the end, clutch time, every possession matters … everything matters. So I think execution of these two players were like amazing on the level, every time.”

1:34 on if he’s fully comfortable in the system at this point: “I feel confident. I feel great playing with these guys. I think not just me, I think a lot guys are new here. You know, we try to still figure it out. Maybe for a quarter, quarter-and-a-half, we were kind of like fighting each other, wasn't looking maybe that good. But in the end I think we find the kind of way how to play and we executed on the point. For me, I really enjoy playing here. It’s basketball, five guys are dangerous to get a bucket to score. So, for me, it's easy. I like it and especially when it's the clutch time, of course, Steph, Chris, Klay, those guys gonna take the most important shots, you’re gonna try to have a place for them. So, happy to be here enjoying and I think this team is going to just get better. I think we can play like through the whole game good, excellent. So I think that’s our next target. Obviously, our turnovers was bad today but I think they limit that on 10, maybe 12, is going to be great. I think we can do that.”

2:57 on getting back into rhythm with CP3: “He's great. We see (that) he understands basketball maybe the best in the league. He’s watching all the games, he's watching every play. He's watching every defense, what they do. So I'm kind of like just listening (to) him and he's that kind of voice and leader, what he sees on the court and I try to execute what he wants. I enjoy to play with him because he's not selfish. He's going to make the right play in the right moment. He doesn't scare his teammates, he always make the right play and it's just amazing (to) play with him. I was open a couple of times, just by myself, under the rim. So, just great to be part of it with him again, and great person, great player, so (he) help me here.”

4:00 on if he feels comfortable now in the Warriors defensive system, especially as a center: “Yeah, I feel confident. I think today we were like first half defensively okay. Second half, kind of like to the third quarter we kind of like were up and downs, but on the end up we were really good and I like it. I played five before. Obviously, I'm gonna have offensively advantage against some — sometimes guys are gonna try to put the guys who are tall and big, kind of athletic against me. I think if you have a good synergy on the court with defensively, if you have guys pull in, especially we have three guys on the side and one needs to be in the paint, especially not just with me, with everybody. So I think it'll be hard to score on us and it’s just the beginning. We to try to figure out how we fit defensively, offensively too. So, just gonna get better, if you ask me.”

5:03 on go into a matchup vs Victor Wenbanyama: “I mean, like, I didn't play against him yet. You know? Obviously he's like a sensation playing, 7-4, shooting, dribbling a ball like a guard. So it's going to be probably challenging for us. He’s still young, try to force him to make some mistakes. It’s gonna be hard but if we contain defensively, all five guys, I think we can do it. It’s just preseason game, we're gonna figure out how he is going to play against us, against faster teams. So, he's gonna be a challenge for us, it’s gonna be a challenge for him but, obviously, great talent. Amazing player for right now, but we're gonna try to contain him team-ly.”

6:16 Jonathan Kuminga postgame on the game having a big-time environment: “It felt like the regular season, to me. Kind of felt like the playoff, a little bit.”

6:43 on how deep this team is, probably deeper than last season and having a ton of guys who all can play: “As I see every day and being around the guys and just watching practice, being in practice, like Coach say, it’s way deeper compared to last year. So many talents on this team. And within the talent, I feel like everybody together and I feel like we have something special. We could do something special with that group of guys that we got.”

7:27 on what's the biggest difference he sees in his three-point shot: “There is not that much difference. I feel like I'm just more confident shooting.”

7:43 on if there’s anything he can learn from Saric as a vet who has a lot of chemistry already with CP3: “I mean, obviously he's watching Dario every day, seeing how he know how to position himself in a game and how he play with CP and obviously how he playing. And I'm just picking up his brain because he's a very smart player. Before I didn't know he was that smart like that, but just watching him every day in practice and now games, I feel like it's something that I could pick up from.”

8:30 on if CP3 has been initiating, organizing since practice from Day One with him: “I mean, just so far, he a very smart player. And just watching him, no matter the pressure, he always come and I feel that's how he control the game. And he sees the game way better than a lot of people, even in practice. He kind of helping me even read the game and watching, not just on offense, pretty much on defense and everything, just in a game. I don’t know if y’all saw, he always talking to me, telling me where I need to be, telling me if I do this and that, it's gonna be way easier than trying different things. So he a very smart person and it's somebody to really pick his brain and just learn, watching, and watch all the movement, all the steps.”

9:33 on if the game has started to slow down for him: “I will say my game always kind of slowed down, just being around this team and pretty much this year kind of slowing down even more. I'm really watching everything that's going on and, again, it's kind of coming. It’s coming to me way better compared to the past. So

10:08 on what the secrets are to playing with CP: “I feel like if you get Chris Paul wide open on the screen, you’re the one definitely gonna be open and it goes with anybody, any shooter on his team. And Chris so smart with that, once you set a good screen, you ain’t gonna — it’s gonna be open, but he gonna look for you. And with that, knowing the ball gonna get to you. So it's just a matter of time as we all together. Like I said, still learning how he plays, he's still learning how I play. I know that chemistry gonna come a long way. But like I said, CP is a smart player. And once you set that screen, you’re definitely gonna be open.”

GP2 MORNING SHOOTAROUND (NO VID)

0:00 Gary Payton II after morning shootaround on if he’s planning to take a nap: “I'm going to go take one, roughly 15 minutes if I can get out of here in time.”

0:09 on how important naps are: “I think naps are huge. I've been learning. We're doing research on naps. I wanna say like, 45 is good, 30 to 45 minutes. It's like a power nap, like a good power nap. No, yeah, like for real, like 45 minutes is like the max for a nap.”

0:29 What if it's an hour? “You tend to go into your deep REM sleep. So anything after that, it's just kind of messing up your flow.”

0:42 You guys are doing research? “I am, because I usually take naps and take a nap at like one (o’clock) and don’t usually wake up until like six, so I don't think that's a nap.

0:56 From one to six? “Yeah.” Is this on a game day? Or is this just life? “Just life.” That's like the whole day! “I know. Sometimes I'm just tired. So I gotta fix my nap. So cut the six hours to 45 minutes.” One to six is like prime socializing hours. “Nah, it depends. It depends on the timing.”

1:22 on the biggest difference between practices last year and this year: “Nothing, really. Like as they say when I came back, it was pretty much playoffs, so we were all trying to get locked in, everybody was getting locked in. But right now it's just (the) same mentality. Gotta lock in early. New guys are learning all the new terminology and the way we do things, so just trying to be crisp in practice and have young guys locked in, BP and Trayce. They’re doing a hell of a job being locked in every day, learning plays. They're pretty advanced for where they're at right now. So we got a good vibe, right now and everybody's connected, like we've been using connectivity all preseason, all offseason. So we're pretty well connected right now.”

2:32 on Podziemski as a point guard: “He's a playmaker. He can score when he needs to, play-make. He’s still learning reads and vision and pace of the game. But he's been doing great. He's gaining trust from Steve. So we'll see how that plays out, moving on this year.”

2:59 What time do you have to take a nap today? “Scheduled for 1130, in about 25 minutes, so you got any more questions?”

3:09 on what connectivity means: “Connectivity just as a unit, one unit, one band, one sound, basically, we’re moving together on the same page, we’re communicating on and off the court. And I think it’s just helping us more on the court. We do things off the court, team events, team dinners, stuff like that. So I love it. [inaudible] was a couple years ago, but we're gonna see. Keep going, keep being connected and keep that going.”

3:44 on how important the off the court stuff is: “It's huge. Just to continue to learn about new guys and we don't know a lot of these guys here. So learn about them, learn about their lives, their families, what they like to do, just get a little bit more deeper with each other. And that's going to help break up whatever we got to do on the court and communication. Just have that trust on and off the court for our team.

4:19 on if he and Steph were playing HORSE at morning shootaround: “Oh, no, we were discussing a play that happened in practice the other day, travel and non-travel. So it's an ongoing everyday thing that we do (laughs)… They call them (traveling), sometimes they don't.”

4:36 on what makes him confident that Kuminga has a big year in store: “Probably the 60 he had this summer. But nah, I always knew Jonathan had the firepower that he has offensively. Getting downhill is a problem (for opponents). Last three years is just him growing and him developing, him understanding when the time is to go and when it's time to just be locked in and play 0.5-basketball and play the right way. But he's doing a great job, especially with the unit. I've been with him for the last couple of preseason games and just trying to make his life easy, get him downhill. And on defense, he's been phenomenal. Continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to be more vocal and he's starting to be a leader. So I expected this from Jonathan. It was just gonna take time so as time goes on, he's going to continue to be a problem and be Jonathan.”

5:53 on Podziemski’s versatility: “Yeah, I didn’t really get to watch him. He was in Santa Clara. But what he’s showing now is just, he's advanced for where he is right now. Whatever he was doing at Santa Clara was clearly working and he's a playmaker, reads the court very well. He picks up a lot of things vey quickly… he just goes out there and plays freely. And I think that's the best way to learn. You’re gonna make mistakes but (the) coaching staff gives him and Trayce freedom to just be themselves and fix it as they go. You’ll make some mistakes, but they're learning and picking up well, so (it’s) exciting to see and I know they're gonna help for sure. (Pauses for the next question which doesn’t come.) You guys are great. I got 20 minutes, exactly. Thanks, guys!”

IN-GAME NOTES FROM LIVECHAT

0:00 on Jordan Poole's 47 points tonight!

2:00 Kevon Looney out, Trayce Jackson-Davis starting, which allows Dario Saric to remain with the second unit which includes Chris Paul for sure because he's not starting. Jonathan Kuminga will start in place of Draymond tonight.

5:30 on the new t-shirt CP3 was wearing on the bench Sunday, can't find it on Warriors Shop (see affiliate link above)

7:30 on Poole, do you agree: "everyone saw how poole fit with gsw, punch never happens i believe it’s still all good. it happened and it’s not, move on"

16:30 both Mike Brown and Kerr do not like their respective team defenses, expect Mike to order the Kings to be more physical than Sunday tonight

17:45 on Steph's story on the team plane with CP3: "basketball junkies"

19:15 Mike Brown: "not against us, JK!"

letsgowarriors

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21:00 tipoff!

11m25 Q1 Keegan dunk past JK

10m32 good close out Wiggs in transition, Klay good box out

23:30 I was asked what I thought of JP's game today, made me think we should have Ralen, JP's buddy, on the show before 12/22 Washington vs GSW

9m55 JK stepped on line

9m35 JK Kawhi-like drive past Keegan two-hand soft dunk

9m51 JK brain-fart No. 2, throws ball away after steal, mad at himself

7m25 Steph 3 organized chaos!!!

6m55 Wiggs blocks Fox

6m20 CP3 and Steph consecutive turnovers (chemistry with Saric)

5m48 CP posts up Keegan, foul, that's the extra bonus and dimension we get this year

5m05 Dario steal, Steph look-away to corner, TJD dunk

4m29 GP2 block on great D by Saric vs Sabonis

4m15 Steph 3rd tov (again, why JP would've been traded anyways)

3m30 Saric 4th dreb then JK to GP2 dunk

3m03 Dario tov to Steph who thinks he was held, his protest to the ref is too comedic

1m54 another good closeout by JK on the left wing 3

1m33 bad D as JaVale dunks

1m10 Dario waltzes by JaVale (why we didn't get a big man)

0m44 Dario checks his feet then 3

0m28 Dario fouls Fox, GP tells him to keep his hands up on the FT attempt

0m07 good help JK on JaVale miss

10m50 Q2 Saric push shot!

10m20 Saric forces a tov by JaVale

9m50 GP2 turnover, CP maybe don't pass to him so close, before that was good O by Foxy etc

9m00 Klay bad shot, says my bad

8m45 TJC miss inside, from Google: "He can finish with both hands, but definitely prefers turning into a left-handed shot in the post." -- that elbow by Domas should've hurt, but TJD played on. good job.

7m22 CoJo help, late on close out of Davion

4m07 Wiggs late on the close of Davion, after Steph was late

2m55 Dario good cut

2m30 Davion POA forces around the horn (had beaten Moody on POA earlier)

1m40 Dario and-one

0m05.7 Kerr says run 22: CP3 hits corner 3 on the play

1:15:30 Jasmine: Other than Draymond being out, I think this is should be the standard team. Do you think they turned over too much of the roster and they have to learn to all play together? -- Every team, in the league is having chemistry issue right now. Mike Brown yesterday was pissed at their defense thru 3 games already for them.

1:16:30 Jasmine: Maybe it’s just a preseason thing because they are playing maybe a deeper rotation than they usually would? -- That's the thing about preseason is that your main guys just aren't gonna play as many minutes as usual

1:18:00 Blasian: If Curry and Klay aren’t playing seriously, then they get a pass because I know the stars overwork themselves too -- Don't forget, Kings are 0-3, they are more focused for a preseason than a normal team might be. Good thing this doesn't count (for us).

1:19:00 on Steph's turnovers and brain-farts, preseason and how JP was the Poor Man's Steph Curry so it's hard to co-exist when you have two of the same type of scorers

1:21:15 Jasmine: Do you think the team that wins the mid season tourney is going to be the team with least team turnover or the one that gels quickly? Tourney games start a week after season starts -- I'd rather not predict it, we'll just see how it unfolds, but it is fair to say that successful teams with more continuity tend to be more successful

1:23:30 Jasmine: I think JP’s play had more to do with him getting traded - now bad play was probably caused by bad team chemistry including aftermath of the punch -- agreed!

1:25:45 Las Vegas Aces did the night night after winning championship, on ESPN's IG

1:26:45 It's far from over. I hope to see the youngster lineup. They just seem more connected with one another, perhaps because of Summer League -- probably experimenting with combos w/o Podziemski

11m35 Q3 JK good help but still a split-second

10m48 JK 3 via screen

10m30 JK athleticism earns another whistle vs HB leaning

9m42 TJD and-one, has ability to finish around rim better than Loon rookie

9m00 JK nice attack but missed

8m24 JK step on line on long reb, stared a tad too long

7m42 Klay redemption pass to TJD

1:36:45 I don't like how some people in the media are spreading fear about not being able sign Klay or trading Draymond (?)

1:38:00 I actually wrote about what I think the Klay situation is: https://www.letsgowarriors.com/p/kuminga-free-throws-quinones-trust-kerr-cp3 "My take: after the Klay extension article by Anthony Slater of The Athletic, which basically swung the pendulum to the side of, “Oh, he’s a Warrior for life,” there had to be something to balance that out. I’m sure Klay’s agent Greg Lawrence didn’t think that piece was great for negotiations, but I’m just guessing.

The easiest way to think about this is Andrew Wiggins’ contract. He gave a discount, which then Draymond did similarly, and so we all expect Klay to accept a similar type of contract.

But here’s the problem: Klay has a better shot at making the All-Star team at shooting guard than Wiggs at a frontcourt spot; I’m basing this on the bevy of All-Star caliber wings in the West. Whatever the actual odds are, you can be sure that Klay thinks he can be an All-Star again. He’s said as much.

And so if he’s an All-Star again and Wiggs is not, then there’s some built-in bargaining power to squeeze a couple million or an extra year out of Joe Lacob. Betting on himself is the right thing for Klay to do, and without going into detail, I will say that includes consideration of injury (because he’s already been injured and got paid handsomely during which).

But I get it, if I were the ESPN producer of Bob’s debut, I would also conjure up some controversy, or call it “fear”, or call it “separation” on a topic that hits close to home for Myers. That is what you do at billion-dollar media companies of this era 🤷🏻‍♂️"

6m53 Saric blocks Fox!

1:41:45 starts turnovers: 11, bench: 4, total: 15 turnovers with half of Q3 to go

1:42:30 reading out the above on Klay extension, on Klay not being worried about getting injured again because he already got paid $80M while he was injured, so OF COURSE you bet on yourself this time around

5m02 Trayce nice deflection on the roll defense

4m12 on Steph in and out: amazing how he hardly ever airballs, there should be a stat for least number of airballs per season

1:50:45 for those predicting Klay should get X: Idk, the Klay situation has to run its course, just like Lacob said. Klay is gonna see how he's doing as he goes along. Unless Lacob decides to completely avoid Bosa-like situation (don't worry

1m50 Saric using his body on the roll vs JaVale

1m30 did Saric not look at the 3 because he noticed CP3 had a mismatch vs Keegan

1m00 non-brain-fart tov by JK (4th)

0m20 SAC attack, out of bounds, CP talks to GP about it, wrong spot?

0m12 CP reb, finagles a foul from JaVale; it's a HoF skill! Love it, but we hated it when he was on the other team

1:58:30 taking a look at what GP and CP might've talked about: for sure, CP wanted Klay guarding JaVale so the switch would happen and he'd end up vs Fox, CP didn't think GP should've helped and I believe he's right

11m35 Q4 love how CP argued with the ref on the bad screen

11m08 JK good help, disrupted attack

9m48 JK nice pass late to Dario who gets 3 blocked by JaVale

9m32 Dario again nice play, tipped JK missed 3 off Fox

9m20 baseline inbound double-screen for Klay, ends up a 3 for JK (open)

8m51 dead ball, Mike Brown challenge, goes over to shake GP's hand

2:14:00 my diatribe on Warriors charging $5 for Open Practice

7m30 JK decision to pass to GP -- HE'S IN A ZONE, Cholo says he was in the zone in college 22 years ago, I tell him, "Zone is timeless!"

6m35 Sabonis contact by Moody for TJD and-one was like old Batman series with the OOF!

2:19:45 Blasian: Usually if the Warriors have less that 15 or 10 TOs they win the game, am I the only one that’s noticed that ? (20+ tov)

4m45 Steph 3 fouled by Fox no call, what's up with that?

2m55 Wiggs Maple Jordan behind-the-back fade vs Keegan

2m05 during FT, Saric argues with the wrong ref (not Goble)

0m40 Fernandez wanted a Steph kickout call on his bank 3

0m20 Dario box out foul drawn on Sabonis: we have no business winning this game lol, missed both (83% FTP career)

0m13.3 JK has his arm around JRob

0m10.7 Steph diving save, no foul call on Keegan, Jacyn Goble (or Eric Dalen) again with the terrible call or non-call, on the challenge, 1) I would wear elbow pads and it's amazing that Steph was so dexterous such that he didn't get elbow burn

0m10.7 late during the challenge, you can see CP coaching up Wiggs (on how to guard Fox?)

2:40:30 Jasmine: "Just saw JK has his thumb taped up"

2:42:00 I was actually right on the call that there was not enough evidence to overturn

2:43:45 Jasmine: I thought NBA was experimenting with eagle eye they use in tennis 🎾 to tell if ball or person was out of bounds

2:44:45 we win, I hope we didn't use up all our sauce!!! Feels like a magical season, we're already winning games we're not supposed to be winning! Night night by Steph

2:48:00 Cholo: Kudos to coach steave for not giving up on this game.

2:49:00 jbcjay: I’m glad Kerr closed with that lineup so we could develop winning habits.

2:52:45 my GP2 quip to the commenters: "You guys are great!"

2:57:00 Blasian: Funny how the Ace Won the WNBA CHAMPIONSHIP and some players did the NIGHT NIGHT and the Warriors along with Curry close the game with ANOTHER NIGHT NIGHT

3:07:45 Blasian: The fact that Curry did this in front of his Legendary College Coach McKillop makes it that much more MEMORABLE !!!

3:12:45 Blasian: oxic fake fans : Warriors NEED a big, Warriors NEED a big…/ TJD : Hold my beer 🍺 lol

3:14:15 on going live tomorrow for Open Practice: Even if it's difficult tomorrow to actually follow the Open Practice if it's not televised, it might be an opportunity to get some guests I've been thinking of!

3:14:45 Klay is Klay, he'll have these 2/10 nights albeit 7 reb 4 ast was impressive, but then he's capable of getting 37 in a quarter and this is all part of it, so are Steph's careless tov, etc etc, Draymond's techs, the list goes on, the complainers/casuals have to start to understand that we approach following our squad like it's a family and that is the secret of LGW, we're an ecosystem, no leader, like a school of fish, this tangent all started with discussion of Klay's performance

3:22:30 more on IG from Steph after the shot on @__jsquared's IG page

3:26:00 actually looking at those pics

3:30:30 looking at Cameron Look's amazing IG post of Steph super-scoop 

3:31:15 DVDV: If JP hit 47, he would've beaten MJ for preseason at wizards. now he tied him

3:32:00 Dean Chambers back on!

3:35:00 Dean: Steph had 5 tov, then had 0 after that

3:36:15 in the chat, Blasian brings up Draymond's hat, I say that I'll try to get Dray to donate one for a giveaway

3:37:30 DEAN: WARRIORS ARE THE MOST VIBE-DEPENDENT TEAM IN THE NBA AND ALL OTHER SPORTS -- it's either joy or rallying around a teammate

3:42:15 MJ shot 50% FGP regularly AND in the clutch, Dean says that's his secret

3:50:00 Klay extension very much like Draymond situation all over again

3:57:45 Pop postgame Spurs on Becky Hammon

3:59:00 JK postgame on podium on CP3

4:06:30 on if CP3 is avoiding the bulldog mentality out of respect for Steph right now: they're both from Charlotte and I think they'll get along, never thought CP3 was confrontational with teammates

4:10:45 on Javonte Green having an Exhibit 9 per HoopsRumors, meaning no G League component, meaning he's here to compete for the 14th spot

4:15:30 Steph 15 years is 2 more than MJ or Magic

4:18:30 can we stop comparing everything this year to last year, Dean mentions it was relative and just how great this franchise is, good comparison to the Kings, let's compare this season to 2022!

Final poll tally:

Should we go live for the Open Practice?
Yes (85%)
No (14%)

Poll complete: 184 votes

👍👍💛💙