Kerr: Steph Curry helping guys heal; Baldwin “ready for it”
[notes/quotes/video from Warriors practice]
The Golden State Warriors has practice yesterday, a day after the loss to the LA Lakers and a day before the visiting Portland Trail Blazers take the floor for preseason game number four of five. Steve Kerr and Patrick Baldwin, Jr. were made available to the media, who were hoping for Jordan Poole, of course, especially after the Draymond Green Q&A on Saturday, the last team practice.
I haven’t left a lot of my opinions on this site, as usually I leave those on the YouTube channel in the form of livestreams and the occasional comment reply, but I do have to think that the sooner Poole is on the podium answering questions about the altercation, the better. From all aspects: team healing and, perhaps most importantly, sending a message to the talking heads that are atop the NBA media pyramid that the organization has taken a step towards reconciliation between these two of Kerr’s “foundational six.”
Alas, Poole needs his own time to heal, and I have my own strategic theory on how to best mend the rift and make the team stronger at the same time (already revealed on our livestreams and most likely to be touched on again and again, so hop on some time if you want to know what it is).
But one thing that is the sign of the times: a lot of fans who probably were on the fence or already in disagreement with how Draymond carries himself on the court with all that, let’s call it, negative energy (which mind you, has generated a Hall-of-Fame career with four rings) want him off the team, whether it’s being suspended or traded, as our YouTube comments on various posts — fyi not the livestreams where our audience is mostly about positivity.
Sadly, their hatred clouds their vision that without Draymond, the Warriors will not win a title in June 2023. That is pretty much indisputable. Their addiction to the easy way out of negativity prevents them from actually wanting two basketball comrades to reconcile. How many dads want to see two brothers remain adversarial to each other?
Even, per Kerr, Stephen Curry himself is “making sure things are going okay and people are healing” (see below). But social media commenting thrives on outrage, so it is what it is. That’s what my co-host Dean “Of Positivity” Chambers and I try to do on our livestream commentaries: help people rethink the automatic impulse to react with outrage. And I originally started out doing this because it embodies the culture set forth by none other than Joe Lacob, Bob Myers, Steve and Steph.
Below are videos from practice but also a leftover behind-the-scenes video from the Lakers preseason game which includes Canon Curry dancing, then below that are the notes and quotes from practice:
DISCLAIMER: These are all just notes for my main workflow of YouTube videos, tweeted by beatwriters, ALTHOUGH I TRANSCRIBED ALL OF THE BALDWIN QUOTES BELOW, THIS TIME. I used to transcribe every interview but it became too tedious and not worth the investment for the small amount of views we got on the soundbites on YouTube. The links to the tweets are not available because sometimes I don’t use the full tweet and just having a ton of tweets on this website imo isn’t aesthetically pleasing and gets away from the main goal: transferring information (not so much entertainment) to the brains of DubNation asap.
STEVE
• Steve Kerr opens his news conference with expressions of condolence to the family of Joe Roberts, the former Warriors assistant from the 1970s who passed away over the weekend. (Monte Poole)
• Kerr said today was a light day of practice. A lot of individual work. Younger guys were reviewing concepts. “We had a good day.” (Madeline Kenney)
• Still unclear when Draymond Green might return to the team, and he said they’re handling it internally. (Madeline Kenney, 95.7 The Game)
• On Les Quinones: “athletic…we’ll see” and Pat Spencer: “really intriguing prospect.” (me)
• On Kuminga: “still needs work on off-ball defense…being wary to help rather than late…JK has been great. He’s had an excellent training camp… His approach. His attitude. It’s been fantastic…the development continues…it’s about reps…just like James does…He’s starting to get a sense of what kind of player he needs to be to get on the floor for us…can’t be a ball-stopper…we need him to finish a play (not iso)…DHO and dive…fall into points and rebounds.” (me, 95.7 The Game)
• On PNR of Poole and Wiseman: “We haven’t seen a ton of reps…I anticipate that they’ll play quite a bit together this season.” (me, Dalton Johnson)
• On Wiseman being where he should be: “I think he’s further along than I expected him to be…great summer and has been healthy…this is how it’s supposed to look…delayed for a couple years with COVID and injuries…I told him better late than ever…he’s running his own race.” (me)
• On Looney: “first couple years he was a church mouse (but now very vocal)…he’s had his 10,000 hours of guarding pick and roll (and et al).” Monte Poole says Looney told him that he wants to be on an All-Defensive team. “Draymond is the wild card (on defense where Loon is less the free safety).” (me)
• On Steph being an extension of the coaching staff in the locker room: “He’s a communicator…been hard at work these last four or five days trying to make sure things are going okay and people are healing. Steph, he’s our guy.” (me)
• On structure of practices: “Golden Hour…vets are in the training room…young guys are on the floor…trying to get them a ton of reps.”
• On the Draymond altercation and having to counsel the youngsters more: “I told them this is not normal.”
PBJ
• Patrick Baldwin Jr.: “the 8yo kid in me would’ve dreamt to be here so everyday has been a blessing.”
• On the mixture of vets and youngsters: “it’s a cliche that iron sharpens iron…we’re sharing information…but competition always makes us better.”
• On his hot shooting and maybe getting more minutes: “If it is my time…I think I’ll be ready for it.”
• On Moody: “pretty well-documented how wise he is and how above his age he is…tidbits that he can give to me…Mo and JK just having played with them in the circuit…having them walk me through what the rookie season will look like will help me a lot.”
• On any surprises with training camp and workload: “just kinda going through college…learning some stuff I had no idea…every day Steph Curry is telling you a new thing…you watch Klay and he’s doing the same thing…”
• On Klay being a mentor: “I’ve heard he’s been hard on the rookies but from my experience he’s been good to me.”
• On the Draymond video and being right there and if it was jarring: “In the moment you kinda saw the first reaction. I had seen stuff similar to that…we just gotta take that and move forward…that is kind of a jarring image…in the moment your reaction can kinda be dictated by the situation.”
• On if PBJ Sr is still an influence: “He’s definitely taking me off the reins a bit but he’s still my father…a lot of connections/knowledge…he’s always gonna be there…more about me just kinda figuring out myself…we’ll watching (an NBA) game (they’ll text each other)…always been in my corner.”
• On when PBJ first beat Sr in one-on-one basketball: “about fifth grade, it was late night at my grandma’s house…by the time we finished it was pitch black…fouling me on game point…I get my layup to go…a Twitter post that’s on his page…I take his phone and kinda flaunting a bit…had to celebrate that one…haven’t played since…he took it as a coming off age publicly but personally I know it hurt…got my get-back.”
👍👍💛💙