How to get Will Richard more minutes, short-term and long-term

[GSW-SAC videos/interviews/timestamps]

There hasn’t been enough discussion yet on just how the coaching staff will integrate Will Richard into the rotation some more.

Steve Kerr went on 95.7 The Game yesterday and basically said that Richard is ready to take your minutes if you turn the ball over too much. He mentioned Will as a “stabilizer” in the same breath of hallowed names like Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and David West — sounded like he started to mention Zaza Pachulia, but stopped after the first syllable. I played the segment in my video essay last night — timestamps are in the Description and Comments:

Along the way, Kerr used the words, “evolve or die” to describe the increased pace of the NBA and how turnovers can really hurt a team.

Ironically, last season we clamored for Steve to evolve or die in integrating Jonathan Kuminga back into the rotation, too:

But okay, looks like Kerr is adapting a lot quicker to the environment than in seasons’ past. There’s a line of thinking over the years that he’s been far too loyal to the vets, namely one Wardell Stephen Curry and his shared brain partner, Draymond Green, that change happens too slowly in his regime and could be his own downfall, eventually. Kerr himself has mentioned the younger coaches’ ideas as having more and more influence.

And Steve just a few days ago said he had a “collaboration” with the main guys, alluding to being too gung-ho playing the back-to-back in Portland after the Denver overtime win:

We shall see, though.

We as fans tend to want things to change on a dime, as if we had control over the situation as we do NBA2K. But remember, video games (as well as fans) typically don’t take into human factors into account. That’s why DubNation should be grateful that in our ecosystem, tension like the Memphis Grizzlies are feeling between Ja Morant and Tuomas Iisalo’s new EuroLeague-inspired quick-burst substitution patterns — that kind of stuff just doesn’t happen in the culture that Golden State has created behind closed doors.

So I get it, smoothing things over to tell the players that would be affected by increased Richard minutes, that’s no small task, just like it wasn’t for Iguodala or David Lee to come off the bench.

The only way I see Will Richard getting more responsibility on the court a la Andre/Shaun is if Buddy Hield’s minutes go down. You flip-flop their roles.

People have mentioned other names like Brandin Podziemski or Pat Spencer, but imo that’s comparing apples to oranges. Podz and Pat are point guards. They need to handle the ball, bring the rock up against pressure. They are 1s or 1-2s, if that. Expect to see more Pat in any game lacking Curry, like tonight at Denver.

Will Richard is a 2-3. The only players that occupy his role are Jimmy Butler (whose minutes should not be touched because, well, he’s Jimmy Butler) and Buddy.

Moses Moody? He’s more a 3-4, but as there’s some crossover at wing, especially with small ball, if Moses or Jonathan coughs the ball up a ton or even if BP does, Richard could slide over (or up to the 2 with Steph healthy at the 1 only), depending on the matchups and situation.

But largely, I would expect Richard to eventually overtake Hield’s spot.

It is only a matter of time before Buddy’s brain-fart turnovers or inability to stay in front of people at the point-of-attack or perhaps even an offensive slump — if and only if Richard is hitting his shots at the same time — that Steve pushes the Will Richard button.

I’m talking about the stuff like letting a normal inbound pass bounce off the fingers into the courtside seats late in the Sacramento game. Those whacky ones, those happen to certain guys on the team.

Also, it’s okay, this is not necessarily a knock on Hield. It’s just that Richard is special and he plays the right way, with the right amount of seriousness and intention. Even I would not have stretched it to the Iguodala/Livingston comparison, but Coach did. And that doesn’t mean Buddy can’t bust out for seven threes in a playoff game. It’s just that stabilizers are better for the 82-game grind than your veteran specialist.

If we were to embark on a seven-game series tomorrow, I’m afraid I’d go with Buddy over Will, for example. I would think Steve would do the same.

Kerr is, in fact, being kind of nice to Hield giving him one last chance via the radio, sort of indirectly though because he said he obviously already talked to the team about, as he wasn’t going to drop that revelation to the guys over the air instead of in the locker room.

So, in a way, DubNation again should just be patient. It’s not really about Steve. Looks like Steve has woken up. It’s up to Buddy and, to a lesser degree, anybody prone to turnovers.

There’s still a pecking order, but with the quotes and references to Warrior legends, there is no doubt in my mind that Richard will become a key rotation player by the end of the season. Knock on wood and let’s hope for clean bills of health coming up.

And if there’s any developmental part of this, if Will can add ball-handling to his list of strengths at some point in his career, he can literally start in place of Steph when Steph is out. But, not tonight and not against a former champion like Jamal Murray. Not for a while, probably. I think it took Podz a long time to be looked at as a 1-2, right?

Btw, the demeanor of Will is incredible, too. And I don’t mean just the, “No, we lost,” sound bite. He scored 30, but took the time to nitpick his own mistakes:

I feel with the more amount of minutes, you gotta stay locked in. I feel like I had some couple plays where I had defensive lapses, missed some box outs, let guys cut. And I feel like the more you play, the more you gotta focus in, just because of that fatigue factor. I’ll say that’s what I learned from it.

Videos, interviews and transcripts below from postgame Sacramento, including Steve, Will and Moses, who revealed a little bit about a new shooting release adjustment which I’ll detail on this website in due time…

00:00 STEVE KERR, POSTGAME GSW-SAC: And we’re trying to do too much. We’re trying to create too much when there’s nothing there and, in the end, the story of the game was the turnovers. It’s 30 to 11, points off turnovers and it’s a great lesson for our young guys. It’s hard to win in this league. Every possession matters and especially with the pace and the three point shooting today, you turn the ball over with a careless play, it’s automatically a layup or a three at the other end and the whole momentum shifts. And so it takes a lot of discipline to play 48 minutes and keep making the right play over and over again. And so I love the effort tonight, but I thought we got a little too ambitious and that led to some turnovers that, that really hurt us.

00:47 I think you had 11 fouls--

00:49 I’m sorry?

00:49 I think you had 11 fouls in the third quarter. And that’s the quarter you lost by 12. How, and you say it often, but turnovers and fouls--?

00:56 Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it’s, defending without fouling is so important for a number of reasons and part of it is, obviously, you don’t want to give up cheap points, but it’s hard to play offense when you’re taking the ball out of the net over and over again. And so I think they shot like 15 free throws in the third and that was the other key, was turnovers and fouls. Like I said, amazing effort by our guys. Really proud of them and this should be a great learning experience for our group, in terms of what it takes to win a game, especially on the road. And we’ll learn from it.

01:36 What’d you think of Westbrook and what he’s--?

01:39 Russell was great. Yeah, I thought they got great effort and production from all their vets. DeRozan took over that third quarter, getting fouled. Russell was incredible all night. And then Dennis, down the stretch, making big plays.

01:56 Do you have any water, Raymond? Thank you. So I thought it was a vet game for them, where they, thank you. I just thought they, they made the plays. They used their savvy to, to get to the line, to beat us in certain spots, to beat us into some turnovers and our young guys got a lesson.

02:22 Speaking of vets, you said all along, you’re not worried about Al. When you have a player, especially a vet player, struggle in the way he is, what can you do to help get him back on (track)?

02:35 Just gotta keep playing. I thought Al played a great basketball game tonight. The ball didn’t go in. He took all the right shots. They all looked good. They’re gonna go in. He’s Al Horford. He, we know what kinda shooter he is, his presence defensively. He’s rebounding. He’s a hell of a player. It’s just slow start for him, to be expected, honestly, when you go to a new team and I’m not worried about Al at all.

03:11 Is it surprising at all to see Will [inaudible]?

03:14 Man, Will was amazing. This guy, from the beginning of camp, has shown he’s an NBA player. And the experience, the poise, he, he doesn’t turn it over. He makes the right play. He can handle the ball under pressure. He makes the right pass. This guy’s a hell of a player.

03:35 Coach, follow about Will and Kings player, Nique Clifford.

03:41 I’m sorry. I can’t hear you.

03:41 Will and, Will and the Kings player.

03:44 Can you speak into the microphone? Thanks.

03:46 Okay. Thank you. will and the Kings, player, Nique Clifford, they both rookie and they both have the four years college basketball experience. And you always mentioned about how important about those experience. I was wondering what’s your impression of those young player, have been able to fit in the NBA so quickly?

04:07 Yeah, the college experience is a big deal. Will played and won a national championship last year and all those big games, all that learning that comes from playing under pressure, understanding what wins, it all matters. And so most players in the league today come in with very little experience in playing big games. And it’s hard for them to suddenly be thrown into the deep end. And, and so the benefit of guys like Will and Quinten is, you get all those, all those reps at a high level in college, you’re just more ready for what you’re facing in the NBA.

04:55 Where are you seeing a growth from Moses?

04:58 Moses has just found his groove shooting the ball, obviously, and he’s found his conditioning. To miss two weeks of camp is really difficult, especially when camp is only three weeks and you start right into the season, so first few games of the year, he was behind and he’s clearly caught up. He is, he’s shooting the ball well, he’s defending at a high level. He’s competing every second. It’s fun watching Moses play. Thanks.

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05:31 Jonathan, what did you think the difference was tonight?

05:36 JONATHAN KUMINGA: I think we came out with a great energy. Just going towards third quarter, I think we just started turning the ball over, started fouling a couple shooters and I think that took the energy out of all of us, especially after every turnover we did, you know, including mines. They were, again, they were able to score after every turnover and I think just something we just gotta go through out there, especially around that time. A lot of people are tired or something like that, we just gotta find a way to execute certain plays when we’re tired or just especially in the third quarter.

06:19 You and Will and Moses. [inaudible] How were you able to [inaudible]?

06:34 First of all, Will is a great player and is somebody who listen and, as much as I can I be out there talking to him, no matter the circumstance, I’m always trying to talk to Will, especially as a rookie. There’s a lot of expectation. There’s a lot of eyes on you, especially with the coaches. You can’t do something wrong. You can’t turn the ball over. You can’t, you just gotta play hard every second you get. And I think the last couple games, we [inaudible] play and he got his chance to come out here. And I think it was perfect. It was all around, playing defense, crashing, rebounding and scoring. It’s just something I feel like you work hard every single day and you stay ready, so I think that’s what lead to that point.

07:23 You got in foul trouble, you all had 11 total fouls. How big is it [inaudible]?

07:32 I think it just missed up the momentum of certain things we had going. And I’m not gonna blame the referees or any of that, but there’s certain foul that sometimes I don’t think I was fouling, but I think just me fouling, it took the momentum out of the team and that’s my fault. But just, just gotta make sure we don’t foul because fouling just kinda stopping us from what we trying to accomplish and how we trying to play.

08:04 Without Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond going into tonight, was there a different mindset for you, knowing you’d have the opportunity to be more aggressive [inaudible]?

08:13 I think my mindset is always the same, no matter Steph, Jimmy or Draymond, and I think every time I play with them, they want me to, to be aggressive, every time. I think my mindset’s always the same, especially them not being here. It was just the same way, just come here, find a way to win. Obviously, we didn’t get, we didn’t get to win, but my mindset is always to just go out there, play as hard as I can, be aggressive and find a way to win.

08:41 What changes about the way that you get to your offense without those guys out there, when you’re more of a featured role?

08:50 I would just say those are the main guys. We, they get involved every action. You gotta know how to play with them. Usually when they’re not on the court, it’s just certain, you get a little more attaches. You get certain stuff drawn up for you. You just gotta seize those opportunity, but with those guys on the floor, just gotta learn how to play with them on the floor. Sometimes it’s not gonna be as many touches as you expect, but as long as you just know how to play around them, you know you gonna get as many touches as anybody, ‘cause they gonna find you and they’re gonna get you going.

09:27 Jonathan, Draymond was out tonight. But I saw him talk with you during the timeout. What message did he give to you?

09:36 I think I spoke to him a couple times. Let me remember, sorry. Oh no, I think, I had score over small guard and it’s one thing, ‘cause I had, they had called a travel on me and he told me, you just scored over a small guard based on playing off two feet. Don’t try to bully him or any of that, just find a way to get off two feet and you going to be able to raise over him. And just, he was just being out there, [inaudible] watching the game and trying to help us feel comfortable as much as we can out there and find a way to win.

10:19 What’s it like for you to see Moses play the way he did tonight?

10:22 I’m very happy for Moses. Moses is another guy who work hard and he get his chances. He go out there and show what he’s capable and, like I said, we didn’t get the win, so a lot of things don’t really matter. The one thing that matter is just, he went out there and, and he was playing hard. He was defending and he give it all the had, so.

—

10:50 [inaudible] real fast. Was that kind of the mindset earlier?

10:57 WILL RICHARD: Yeah. Yeah, just trying to keep it simple, but make an impact on the game, trying to do the little things, cutting, hitting open shots when I got the opportunity, just trying to make most of it.

11:05 What’s it like going from not playing to, not just starting, but playing the way you did?

11:12 It’s an adjustment, but you always gotta stay ready and I’m a big believer in controlling what you can control and whatever role I’m in, I wanna do whatever it takes up the team win. So whether or not playing, I’m, I just wanna see us win.

11:24 Steve says, you’re always in the right places, connector. How’s, how do you kinda learn how to be a connector and be in all the right places?

11:31 Yeah, I feel like it started during camp, just asking our vets a lot of questions, seeing what they like on the floor, how they think about the game. I feel like that’s helped me learn a lot quicker than most rookies because I’ve just been asking ‘em many questions, trying to get on the same page with them.

11:43 Steve talked a lot about the value of playing four years in college, [inaudible]?

11:51 I’d probably just say the experience. You go through a lot of different situations in college, being able to play in different environments, get adjusted to adversity and all that, so I definitely think those four years helped me a lot and helped me be more prepared for my professional career.

12:04 How was the offense different without the vets tonight that you had a more featured role? How did [inaudible]?

12:11 Yeah, I would probably just say we were a lot more in five out spacing, trying to get those ball screens early on and trying to play fast as possible, trying to get out in transition, get stops and make the game a lot easier on ourselves ‘cause they do a lot for us.

12:24 Did Sacramento change anything they were doing in the third quarter, or what do you feel like changed?

12:28 Yeah, I feel like we started to foul and it slowed the game down. It got us out of our pace that we were playing in the first half. Once we slowed it, once they slowed the game down, we got out of our element, started to turn the ball over, had some careless plays that affected us down the road.

12:43 Obviously, you came into this game knowing you had a bigger role. You scored 30 points and come away with the loss. Is there anything specific you might be taking away from this experience, with all this playing time?

12:55 Yeah, I feel with the more amount of minutes, you gotta stay locked in. I feel like I had some couple plays where I had defensive lapses, missed some box outs, let guys cut. And I feel like the more you play, the more you gotta focus in, just because of that fatigue factor. I’ll say that’s what I learned from it.

13:12 Is it exciting that you got 30 points? That’s pretty --?

13:15 No, we lost.

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