Yesterday’s Golden State Warriors news was a doozy with the WNBA announcement, Steve Kerr getting Joel Embiid on his Team USA roster for next summer and the team practicing, and with the SplashBrothers taking the podium. Also, I woke up super-grateful that we recently added some paid subscribers 🙏
I guess my strategy of covering the team like a diary is the right call. The fact that all my daily writing has thus far been only lightly edited tells me that’s okay, too. Just get the writing information and commentary out sooner than later. I can also keep improving. For example, two observations: I’ve got to start writing these posts as soon as the news comes in, and I’ve figured out a way to incrementally improve the transcripts without investing a ton of time (80/20 rule, I suppose).
Transcripts still go at the bottom, but I’m going to order things by my favorite topics or urgent topics. These are all things that occurred yesterday with a leftover morsel here or there…
McGRUDER “BEEF” SQUASHED
As I’m editing this, Anthony Slater of The Athletic is tweeting that Rodney McGruder is in concussion protocol and will miss Saturdays game. Below was actually before yesterday, but I forgot to include it. One of the things I love about Connor Letourneau of the SF Chronicle is sometimes he’ll take a rather viral “hot take” and do a follow-up. He is very helpful in dispelling rumors. And so there was that speculation that McGruder — essentially competing for the 14th spot (the last spot until Mike Dunleavy, Jr.’s hand is forced, which if everything goes right means signing a 15th and final guy right before playoffs) this training camp vs Rudy Gay — could have locker room issues stemming from a confrontation with Juan Toscano-Anderson during the COVID season.
Letourneau has details, which were helpful for me to recall what happened, in his article, and below are the important quotes. McGruder actually sounds like a really nice guy, especially when you consider his proactive mentoring of James Wiseman:
Less than three years ago, after McGruder jawed with then-Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson late in a game at a crowd-less Chase Center, Draymond Green delivered a two-minute diatribe in which he famously asked: “When the f— did Rodney McGruder become the tough guy of the team?”
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“Draymond and I talked it out before I got here,” McGruder said. “It’s all love. It’s just the competitive nature of the game. You say things, you do things, then you move on.”
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Detroit’s young core raved about McGruder’s mentorship. Rookie Jaden Ivey would reportedly arrive at the practice facility hours early, only to find McGruder already getting up shots. During team flights, McGruder peppered Ivey, Cade Cunningham and James Wiseman with career advice.
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“We would just have conversations about life and basketball,” McGruder said. “I kept telling him, ‘The opportunity you have here is phenomenal. You can still achieve all your goals.’”
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Mere minutes before that infamous Green presser, Klay Thompson, serving as a guest analyst on the telecast as he recovered from an Achilles injury, saw McGruder bark at Toscano-Anderson and said: “This dude might be out of the league soon.”
At a recent workout, Thompson admitted to McGruder that his comment was unjustified. Thompson, who has known McGruder since college, should have known better than to doubt someone who has built a career on beating odds.
“Klay and I joke about it now,” McGruder said. “Where I come from, people in your neighborhood who are your best friends say crazier things than what he said. It’s nothing I’ve never heard before.”
PROOF THAT KUMINGA GREW?
Below (and the article’s photo) is a feeble attempt at a screenshot of yesterday's video. So does Jonathan Kuminga (listed at 6’7”) look not more than three inches shorter than Hilton Armstrong (6’11”), how about as Wiggs (6’7”) walks by? I mean, our minds will believe what it wants to believe but JK did tell Jason Dumas that he feels like he grew, as I wrote the day after Media Day 🤷♂️
Here’s a repost of the video. I believe it was originally filmed by Janie McCauley of the AP:
The fact that JK does not look that much smaller than Armstrong is actually pretty cool. Like, he can hold down the fort against an NBA 5-man for at least a few seconds, maybe.
OH HEY, LATRELL! 👋
On Instagram I follow Latrell Sprewell, my personal favorite player back in the Chris Cohan era, and he rarely reposts anything with him in a Warriors jersey, but he reposted this:
Just a few pics showcasing his amazing leaping ability, by “hardwoodfames”.
I went to every practice at the old Oakland Marriott facility from 2013 to 2019 (dang, seven years!) and they never had Sprewell up on the Blue Mile hallway, yet they put up a giant pic, for example, of Chris Webber. There was also Baron Davis and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd — like a mini-Warriors Hall of Fame. I love Webber and, as a matter of fact, his name came up during last night’s and LA Lakers preseason discussion (this will be added to Saturday morning’s post) with Sean Grice of the Lakers Fast Break podcast, when we reminisced the 2002 Sacramento Kings seven-game series. Those were the days when I poured my heart into the Kings and C-Webb because the Dubs were so awful.
There’s only one reason Webber is on the Blue Mile and Sprewell isn’t: the choke of then-coach PJ Carlesimo. Spree was an All-Star not once, not twice, but three times as a Warrior. He was All-Rookie, All-Defense Second Team, and All-NBA First Team in his first three seasons!
I get it. Carlesimo is still employed in the NBA and GSW needs to respect that. Heck, one time I, as a youngster, was actually choked at Club One in San Ramon during a pickup game with regulars when I yelled expletives at a new guy who was hogging the ball and ignoring his four teammates. But that’s in the past now. I was shook for a bit, no doubt, embarrassed and had even thought about going back and demanding security footage to arrest the dude for assault — that was decades ago and I’m sure neither him or I are the same human being as we were then.
So anyways, it was nice to Spree repost the above, despite the fact that the Warriors have never really honored his on-court achievements. We could go on and on about this, compare it to Draymond Green’s punch of Jordan Poole and probably bring up other examples. Alas, this is less a campaign for Sprewell than it is a simple hat tip to him, to know that he probably still cherishes those first three years in the blue and gold and based off of my gross speculation from just one IG repost, hopefully he knows that, man, he seriously derailed a would-be epic NBA career had he not snapped that one day at practice.
WNBA/LACOB
To summarize the wealth of content pertaining to the WNBA Golden State announcement, I’m going to just post my commentary and then the highlights as tweeted by beatwriters and then the article by Ramona Shelburne with exclusive quotes from Joe Lacob.
• I remember the San Jose Lasers. I remember Jennifer Azzi. And I had no idea until early in Lacob’s tenure as owner of the Warriors that he had owned the Lasers. So yeah, it’s full circle and McCauley probably has a piece from the AP coming out that hits on the emotional points for Lacob. You can hear her in the presser yesterday (video below) for Stephen Curry that Joe had a post-conference scrum with reporters and may have teared up a bit talking about the old ABL, which had 11 of the 12 Olympians from Atlanta 1996 playing in it. I remember Sheryl Swoopes. I actually met her at a WNBA All-Star Game at the Mohegan Sun resort when my colleague at the San Francisco Women’s Pro-Am Summer League, Graham McPhail, inquired with the NBA (via the now-retired Harvey Benjamin, behind-the-scenes consigliere to David Stern) about purchasing a Bay Area WNBA franchise. My guess, based on some limited financials we were privy to, is it would have cost $8-10 million back in those days, if that helps you guess how much Joe paid. My research revealed that McPhail was probably worth around $30 million at the time, so it was an easy veto by Graham’s wife. I have a whole story I could tell someday — I’m not a writer, though, and Kerr will probably take the podium back in the present day after practice in about an hour from me thumb-typing this. It was a good experience. I’m gonna email Benjamin after this post and joke to him that it took them long enough 😂 I’ll let you know if I get a response. Anyways, back in the day I came this close 🤏 to buying the Air Swoopes because we had to have a hoop shoe every year and that year was slim pickens, but I would’ve been ridiculed by the boys on the hardwood for wearing a women’s shoe! That’s right, Nike had a stretch where they sucked. Salut Sabrina Ionescu for the Sabrina 1; it is now cool for a guy to rock a women’s signature baller shoe. Never thought the day would come. Despite the negativity I saw in some of the comments when I posted the WNBA news on our YouTube Community page, I think it’s quite loud and clear that now is the perfect time to introduce the WNBA Golden State expansion team.
• The fact that Steph had a promo video ready to go with him dressed in a full Warriors uniform and the high probability it was filmed on Media Day is merely one example of the marketing machine Lacob has created. And so, yeah, he’ll definitely lead the league in revenues and he’ll probably win a title. It’s probably easier to do that in the WNBA than it was in the NBA, so it could be less than that magical five years. Casey Pratt of ABC7 tweeted that they’d already sold 2,000 season tickets, so there you go.
• I don’t think they’ll be named the Warriors because there’s more problems from confusion with the NBA team by overseas markets, that than there are revenue-generating solutions in doing so. After all, if you had some Warriors gear lying around and you had a ticket to the WNBA game and the team was named Warriors, would you go out of your way to buy another piece of merch that still says, “Warriors”? But I could be wrong, we’ll see. Retaining the name Golden State, however, does make sense.
• Klay’s dad Mychal Thompson has a suggestion for the name: “Hmmmm so the Warriors are buying a WNBA team and cant figure out the teams nic name? Geez,aint it obvious wat it shud be? Stay with me,now…How about…The Warri-Hers? Huh?” 😂
• Genius of them to run a girls-only basketball camp at Thrive City right after the announcement. Again: marketing machine.
• Malika Andrews of ESPN got an exclusive with Curry and its set to air today:
Shelburne’s article:
"We're coming in here, number one, to win," Warriors chairman Joe Lacob told ESPN. "Number two, we want to see this league and women's basketball grow, and we hope to be a big part of it.
"We think it's a watershed event for us to come in and commit to it in a big way. We're going to bring all of our resources. We can put this machine to work, and we're going to do that."
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"I believe we'll have the No. 1 revenue of any WNBA team," he said. "And I think we can do very, very well as a business because we know how to do this. We have all the facilities, and we can bring sponsor dollars to the team and ultimately to the league that will help the league in a big way."
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[On his previous failed women’s basketball venture, the San Jose Lasers and the ABL:] "We were rocking and rolling, playing during basketball season, which I still believe is the right way to do it," he said. "We were selling out, doing really well. But we just couldn't get the TV contract. That was the killer. And I lost personally, I can tell you, over $10 million -- which was a lot of money at the time."
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"Both my boys and my girls played basketball," Lacob said. "And I was very much into Stanford basketball, men's and women's. So that was one of the reasons I did the ABL [and the Lasers].
"So this is a big full-circle thing for me. The only reason it took all these years, 25 years or so, is that when I bought the Warriors [in 2010], we had to turn around the team. That was a few years. Then we had a seven-year process to build the arena, which was a massive investment of time and money. And then finally when I was ready to go, the pandemic hit. So years go by, and here we are now."
• WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert on the Bay Area: “This is a hub for women's sports.” (Dalton Johnson)
• I see Sheryl Swoopes and Seimone Augustus. (Marcus Thompson)
• “The right time, the right moment, is now.” (CJ Holmes)
• Having a major presence and the WNBA team headquartered in Oakland, with all the city has gone through losing its teams, meant a lot to both WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and the Warriors brass. (Janie McCauley)
• Engelbert mentioned Philadelphia as one of the cities that have pushed to become the 14th expansion city to come to the W in 2025. She said the league hopes to add another expansion team by the 2025 season (same year that Golden State’s team joins) which would put the league at 14 teams. (Jason Dumas, Connor Letourneau, Kendra Andrews)
• Lacob on why the timing is right: “The league is ready... It's gone through some tough times already, I think the league is ready for this expansion. Women's basketball in general is taking off. Women’s sports in general, is taking off in a bigger way.” (Madeline Kenney, Kendra Andrews)
• Lacob: “I’m telling you right now. We WILL win a WNBA championship in the first five years of this franchise.” (Zena Keita, CJ Holmes)
• San Francisco Mayor London Breed: “I don't know if anyone in this room is more excited than I am that we're finally getting a WNBA team to play in San Francisco, to practice in Oakland.” (Janie McCauley)
• Lacob on team name: “We don't have one yet, but we will shortly. And I'm getting a lot of suggestions. The name game is ongoing, and we're gonna try to come up with something that makes sense.” No 100% confirmation on “Golden State” being used in the team name, though that's how it is being used right now. Peter Guber notes the importance of a name in any entertainment business. It sounds like the goal will be having the team name represent the entire Bay Area. (Myles Erlich, Dalton Johnson, Janie McCauley)
• Lacob on how much was shelled out for the expansion fee: “That’s for Cathy (Englebert) to address, to be honest, but I’ll just say it was a lot.” (Shayna Rubin)
• Cathy Engelbert declined to name the expansion fee Joe Lacob and Co. paid, but she called it "record-breaking" and "significant." (Connor Letourneau)
• Lacob would like to have female executives running the new WNBA franchise. While some positions will likely be filled from within -- and while Lacob says the Warriors could use all internal folks to build the team it is expected to be a "mix." Lacob says he’s already gotten a pile of applications for leadership positions for the new WNBA team. (Janie McCauley, Kendra Andrews)
• Lacob, a bit emotional, so appreciated Stanford WBB coach Tara VanDerveer being here for WNBA news. “I wouldn't care as much about women's basketball if it weren't for her. She's the goddess of women's basketball.” He began to love women's game with 1996 US Olympic gold medal team. (Janie McCauley)
• Warriors COO Brandon Schneider to 95.7 The Game: “Steph was at a WNBA game in Las Vegas a month ago, so Steph & Ayesha are very excited. All of our guys, and organization, have been huge advocates for women's basketball. I expect to see our guys sitting courtside at games.”
• WNBA Golden State already had over 2,000 season ticket deposits in 5 hours. Their first WNBA season isn’t even until 2025. (Casey Pratt)
LeBRON AND THE LAKERS, PRESEASON
The bevy of Laker preseason game preview will, as I said, be tomorrow with all of the things Sean of Lakers Fast Break talked about, but first off, LeBron James said he would not play tomorrow. He also had a lot of fun at practice, including a thunderous dunk off the bounce — they’re both at the very end of the Training Camp Day 3 video embedded above (as is Klay Thompson riding on his bike to the pier, probably to get in his boat back to the Tiburon area!). This occurred about the same time as the end of the WNBA announcement:
• LeBron on not playing this Saturday: “Six of them, six preseason games, so hopefully I can get to at least half of them. But we’ll see. I think every game will dictate it. I will not be playing in Saturday’s game, that’s for sure, in the Bay. But we’ll see after that.” (Jovan Buha)
• Lakers coach Darvin Ham: “We definitely know who we’re going to start,” but he declines to say who it is. For now. (Dan Woike)
• Rui Hachimura on trying to attack the rim more this season: “I know I've got mid-range, but I'm trying to be more aggressive on the rim. I've been working out a lot. ... My body got stronger. I got more footwork. I'm just trying to get more easy points.” (Jovan Buha)
EMBIID, TEAM USA
Shams Charania broke the news of Joel Embiid committing to Team USA, passing on France and Cameroon, the very busy Shelburne gave more details and said on ESPN: https://x.com/clutchpoints/status/1710026523351327120?s=46:
“If Cameroon were qualified for the [2024] Olympics, he'd be playing for Cameroon... It's like an Avengers team that's gonna go to Paris. You want to be a part of that.”
The ESPN social media team then made a meme referencing “Avengers Assemble” and it was cool that Steph got to be Spider-Man, which is ironic because he actually appeared in the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse https://x.com/sportscenter/status/1710032113506881931?s=46
I don’t think there’s a pundit in the world that now thinks USA won’t win gold, now that we have secured the 2022-23 NBA MVP and the fact that he’s a traditionally built center, a position where we’ve had trouble defending in the post. It is pretty clear as it has always been: players are more important than the coach but the coach is part of the ecosystem for success, too.
When Shams tweeted about Joel, where did the naysayers on Twitter suddenly go, who were blaming Steve for the fourth-place finish, the same ones who kept silent as the revered Gregg Popovich finished seventh two years prior? I go back to the same thing. Social media is by and large bullyism. They pick on Steve because he doesn’t snap back at reporters like Pop does. Don’t get me wrong, Pop is great. But nice guys who are gracious with their time shouldn’t be beat up just because they look a certain way. Anyways, anyone who’s been a bully and wants to stop being addicted to that feeling, let me know and I’ll try to help because we’ve all been there; meantime, let’s get this back on the positivity train…
MISTAH FAB AND MENTAL HEALTH
Perennial GSW season-ticket holder Mistah FAB has started “Thug Therapy” to tackle mental health issues in the ‘hood. Fabby recently went on TV and revealed that sometimes he has trouble getting out of bed and fights bouts of depression (please check his IG feed as I don’t have the link for that spot). Steph helped out the other day by posting and amplifying Fabby’s efforts:
Now, back in the day when I was covering games at Oracle Arena, Fabby would always show up to his seat behind the scorer’s table, where it still is now at Chase. Of course, I was a behind-the-scenes filming fiend and would step up into his empty seat to catch a lot of the pre-tipoff vibes. When he eventually did show up closer and closer to tipoff, he would always give me my space and let me finish my recording, never made a fuss about it. I really appreciated him for that. He had this sense that what I was doing was ultimately for the fans.
PINNIES
After Day 1, we found out in the comments that Steve said the Red Team was wearing “pinnies”. You can see them here at the 0:35 mark.
AFTER-TIMEOUT PLAYS(ATOs)
Someone categorized 700 ATOs: https://x.com/grizzliesfilm/status/1701945071493689361?s=46. I’m sure Steve uses a bunch of them. He often says the NBA just steals plays from one another. I once stole a baseline inbound from the infamous Alpine Striders in an Asian tournament in South Lake Tahoe to win a championship, winning bucket scored by Sunny Margate, against the still-thriving East Bay Cardinals. You start in front of the inbounder, with the other four guys in a box, you criss-cross screens (probably parallel to the baseline, I can’t remember and don’t have enough the brain cells left), but the key is, Margate turns and seals his man after he sets the pick, boom, inbound to him, bucket. Happens in a flash and you make sure your guy is like Kevon Looney and can finish in traffic within two feet.
Of course, in the 700-ATO spreadsheet I’m sure most of them are side-inbounds because the NBA has those more in its rule book. Kerr actually talked about how FIBA (and college and high school) are different and there are more baseline inbound plays, during one of the early Team USA articles this summer — I wanna say it was written by Joe Vardon of The Athletic but I’m not sure. Either him or Ben Golliver of the Washington Post and you’ve got your USA scribes covered for the most part.
USF ATTRACTING RECRUITS
The University of San Francisco Dons already got 6’8” point guard transfer Mike Sharavjamts aka “Mongolian Mike”, who surprisingly turned down a two-way contact with the Milwaukee Bucks, as reported by Letourneau recently but now they have another guy who is on DraftExpress’ radar: Australian big man James O'Donnell. Idk what it is about USF, but Warriors opponents usually have practices there (or the Olympic Club) when they’re in town.
TRAINING CAMP DAY 3 PODIUM: STEVE
I’m going to rush through these podium commentaries, but the top three things I remember from Kerr is:
He wishes there were ten days before the first preseason game
Chris Paul realizing on this team he needs to run the wing on the break and not hang back for an outlet especially if Draymond gets the rebound.
Rick Celebrini, I call him Head Trainer because his actual official title is so long, tells Steve when to practice hard and when not to. On Thursday, they took it easier than the first two days. I wonder how hard they’ll go considering the game tomorrow plus no morning shootaround due to the early tipoff of 5:30PM. I’m thinking they might go hard again because Steve mentioned a lot of guys will play Saturday. Incidentally, the second preseason game is not until six days later on October 13th, in LA against the Lakers again. Darvin Ham might be thinking he would like ten days before their first game, too, as James isn’t playing and as I wrote this article, Laker beatwriters said Ham also said after practice Friday that Austin Reaves won’t play as well.
The fact that CP3 is an all-time great is starting to seep through. Steve was asked if he pinches himself, referencing when Kevin Durant joined the team and there was a buzz in the aforementioned old Oakland facility. Ironically, Marcus Thompson of The Athletic was on the air on KNBR and said, “The Warriors fans in the arena are not the same as the Warriors fans on social media… I think they're going to try and create a moment for him where he loves it.” https://x.com/knbr/status/1710054347944460417?s=46 …this is precisely the reason why I do the things the way I do with LetsGoWarriors.
• Steve Kerr: “The Warriors’ fortunes changed the second Joe (Lacob) bought the team … He delivered every resource to strengthen the organization… so the commitment he’s going to make with the WNBA team… he’s going to make sure it’s a first class organization.” On the podium in front of the WNBA backdrop, Kerr touches on how great it will be having an expansion franchise and the chance to learn from fresh perspectives, has no doubt Joe Lacob will make the Bay’s WNBA team a “first-class operation”. Kendra Andrews, Janie McCauley, NBCSBA)
• Kerr says he “couldn’t be more excited” about Joel Embiid’s decision to play for Team USA in the 2024 Olympics. He met with Embiid before both Sixers games last year, pitched him on Team USA and “couldn’t be happier” after Grant Hill delivered him the news that Embiid committed to for the Olympics next summer. (Kendra Andrews, Anthony Slater)
• Kerr doesn't anticipate guys playing heavy minutes Saturday in the preseason opener and says he'll ease the guys along. Kerr's preference would be 10 days before the first game. (Dalton Johnson)
• Kerr on how the Warriors split up point guard duties when Chris Paul, Steph Curry and Draymond Green are all on the floor, calling it a key thing to “observe and help develop… Chris has already talked about pushing the ball and he's he's talking about, ‘I gotta run the wings. I can't lag back and and ask for the outlet.” (Anthony Slater, Shayna Rubin)
TRAINING CAMP DAY 3 PODIUM: KLAY
Loved how Klay channeled his inner dad Mychal and reminisced on Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan and Amare Stoudemire (although these guys all came well after Mychal, but you get the point). There was also a Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan mention as well as WNBA players like Sabrina and his favorite, apparently, Maya Moore.
Klay also mentioned attending WNBA games via his boat, citing “many crossings of the Bay.” Does that mean he’ll start to spend more time up here than in SoCal during the off-season?
And speaking of Klay defending at the 4, someone posted four clips of Klay guarding LeBron in the post.
• Klay Thompson on Kerr’s comments about him guarding the 4 more: doesn't seem too concerned about it, mentioned how positionless the game is now and that power forwards from the past like Kevin Garnett, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tim Duncan are long gone: “The power forward position is so different than it was when I was watching the game as a kid.” (Dalton Johnson, Shayna Rubin)
• Klay said he is shooting to play 82 games this season but if he is somewhere in the 70s that’s viewed as a “win for me.” (Jason Dumas)
• On the state of the Pac-12 and the WSU Cougars. (Jamie McCauley)
• On the WNBA: “Summers just got a lot more fun… a lot of bay crossings on boat.” (Michelle Smith, Ann Killion, CJ Holmes)
• Which WNBA player resembles Klay Thompson’s game the most? “Gosh, I mean, I would say Sabrina but she does much more than I do.” (Dalton Johnson)
• On playing with CP3: “It’s just an honor to be on the court with him. I watched him as a kid… First three days of camp have been great.” (John Dickinson)
TRAINING CAMP DAY 3 PODIUM: STEPH
Wouldn’t it be great if current Stanford senior Cameron Brink ends up on the WNBA Golden State team? The timing doesn’t seem right, though, with Golden State expected to play its first game in Summer 2025. Maybe Lacob, who has Stanford in his heart and lives nearby, can do some wheeling and dealing? Brink, who is the daughter of Steph’s mom Sonya Curry’s college roommate on the West Virginia volleyball team, is currently in a NIL deal with New Balance, appearing in a recent commercial with Jamal Murray and others. Steph was asked about this…
• Steph Curry on the WNBA coming to the Bay Area: "There's no better time for growing women's basketball, women's sports in general." (Dalton Johnson)
• On Lacob guaranteeing WNBA Golden State will win a championship in the franchise’s first five years: “Of course he did… He’s got a good track record.” (John Dickinson)
• Curry played “a lot” of pickup with Chris Paul this summer: “The summary is it’s mad fun…. In certain runs this summer, he was calling out stuff he had been scouting against for years. It kinda became the joke of different looks that he knew that were coming. It’s pretty seamless, to be honest.” It’s very clear that Curry isn’t worried at all about the offensive fit next to Paul (“seamless”). The question is the defensive end. (Anthony Slater, John Dickinson)
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT: STEVE
These aren’t great in present form but as I mentioned at the top, I should be able to improve them a little bit going forward…
Unknown 0:00
See the big behind you WNBA team officially coming to the Bay Area in 2025. Just how big is that both for women's basketball and also the Bay Area?
Steve Kerr 0:11
Yeah, it's great news. I know. It's been something as we've talked about internally here for a few years and this is such a basketball hotbed already. And and a place that really is going to embrace you know, women's basketball so great idea. I'm so happy that it's it's happening and excited to see where where it goes from here.
Unknown 0:47
I Steve Michelle Smith, the league How much have you paid attention to the WNBA through the years and the growth of the league? The you know, the quality of the play.
Steve Kerr 0:58
I've watched quite a bit. It's the quality of play has just dramatically improved over the last decade. And you know, there was a series two years ago between the mercury and the storm that was just every game was going down the stretch was incredible shot making so much talent on the floor and for me that was a series where I really kind of captured me and I started watching I know a lot of people in the WNBA and I've been watching the Liberty Sandi and I have become friends and and we've kind of compared notes from a coaching standpoint. I know a lot of the Phoenix people obviously Nikki ran now heading over there to run the operation. But even before that, and from my days in Phoenix, I got to know Diana Taurasi pretty well and Penny Taylor and so I've always kind of, you know, kept my eye on it, but the last few years, I really enjoyed the quality of play and so I'll be watching the finals you know, when it starts,
Unknown 2:06
as a quick follow up, does that track for you with the timing being right for the Warriors to take a team and just in terms of that, you know, quality of play and the increased visibility of the team?
Steve Kerr 2:20
Yeah, I mean, it's, I think it's great timing, given the level of interest in the sport here in the Bay, and then the level of play and the, you know, the quality of the women's game. I think the if I'm not mistaken, the Iowa LSU final was the highest rate I think 10 million viewers, you know, highest rated sporting event in our history and for women and so you know, the combination of the game getting so much better and more popular and then elite coming to the Bay Area. It's it's great timing.
Unknown 3:01
Joe, Joe got a little bit emotional after we talked to him kind of behind the scenes, about just his his love of tar Vanderveer and how his love of women's basketball kind of started maybe the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Did you did you kind of know this side of Joe. I haven't seen him emotional very, very many times. But we all love Tara but
Steve Kerr 3:30
I know that Joe is very passionate about Stanford sports and I know he's gone to to plenty of Torres games down there. And I know how excited he is to bring the WNBA here. We talked about it a couple times over the over the last couple of weeks. So it's great. I mean, you know, I also heard that he guaranteed a championship within five years so so it's, you know, Joe is passionate about the sport. I mean, he and you know what, what year did he buy the Warriors was oh, 908 Somewhere in there. 10 Yeah, he did deliver. That's right. So yeah. But, you know, you just think about the, I mean, the warriors fortunes changed the second Joe bought the team and said we're gonna win in five years. I mean, because he, he delivered every resource to to strengthen the organization at every level. And so the commitment he's going to make for the WNBA team will be, you know, obviously there there are guidelines as to how much you can spend on payroll, but he's gonna make sure this is a first class operation because that's what Joe does. And that's really exciting. It's, I think fans are gonna love it and I think we will enjoy it to being organizationally just having a new group of people coming in with, you know, similar goals, but maybe a different way of doing things. I think, a good learning opportunity, a good growth opportunity for our organization to
Unknown 5:20
receive the technology for cancer. How pleased are you to have that group headquartered over there?
Steve Kerr 5:29
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's great that there'll be practicing in Oakland. There'll be a true Bay Area team. You know that facilities fantastic. I wouldn't mind practicing over there once in a while myself with our team but it's great that it'll be used I know it's used for camps now and a few other things but it's great that it'll be used you know, all all season for them. As a true true Berra team.
CJ Holmes 5:59
Do you have any hopeful names as we see what the team name is going to be?
Steve Kerr 6:04
We've been Yeah, we've been discussing that downstairs what the name will be and I'm gonna, I'm gonna leave that to the experts. One on
CJ Holmes 6:12
One non WNBA question, you know, with Kavon we know that he's not, doesn't need to be always the loudest speaker with also being such a big leader for you guys. With somebody like Andre gone. Do you see him maybe being more vocal or does his role there kind of stay the same for Yvonne?
Steve Kerr 6:28
No, he's Loon is loon. He's not all of a sudden gonna start talking just because Andres gone remember dream on still here. So but I think what makes lun so respected in the locker room is it's his actions day in and day out. He's just I think I've said this he's a metronome you know, it's just every day it's just there's a there's a rhythm to his routine and it's so consistent and he's put in so much work over the years that the guys they love him and respect him and and every once in a while, he will say something but you know when he says something, it's it's very meaningful.
Unknown 7:13
Probably not top of mind. You're immersed in training camp stuff. But today, Joelle and bead gave his commitment to Team USA and then on media day around the league. You saw so many big name guys kind of give their commitment and desire to play for Team USA as the coach. How encouraging is that just to see these guys want to play in Paris next year?
Steve Kerr 7:33
Yeah, I mean, it couldn't be more excited about Joel's decision. You know, we, we talked last year, both meetings in Philadelphia and here were, you know, just, we're kind of recruiting him and I was hoping that he would decide to play for us and so, you know, Grant gave me the news and so hearing the news was, was great and I'm really, really thrilled to to have Joelle aboard and then you know, the rest of the team will will take shape as grant and Shawn Ford kind of lead that process and it's exciting to him to see where it where it all goes.
Anthony Slater 8:14
How much have you talked with with Rick so far already about how to attack, rest and you know, just management.
Steve Kerr 8:22
I mean, we follow the performance staffs recommendations on how hard to practice every day. There's, you know, they're monitoring everything with the players and there's, they work with a lot of data a lot. of research. So for example, the first two days were long, difficult practices today was much lighter, as all by design. So as coaches we're trying to figure out what we need to go through and the performance staff is figuring out how hard we're going to run the guys so it's all it's all in collaboration, but we really lean on their their knowledge, their expertise on managing the players output. you've commented
Anthony Slater 9:10
a few times, like how good a shape some of the guys are in how different is that maybe then then recent past years, I mean, I know last year, you're coming off the title, but it does seem like they really maybe everybody kind of ramped it up earlier this year.
Steve Kerr 9:25
Well, yeah, I mean, I think losing earlier means this is longer summer, it means you're also maybe a little more motivated. Human nature. Maybe last summer we let our guard down and this past summer, guys up and down the roster really came in in great shape and ready to go so it's it's great to see
Anthony Slater 9:49
I mean, does that allow you is even in the preseason, but but in the opener to get guys minute totals up quicker and I mean, the plan on Saturday that obviously you're not gonna have a full regular season rotation, but you know, guys play pretty decent minutes.
Steve Kerr 10:03
I don't anticipate guys playing heavy minutes. You know, you play in, play an exhibition game after five practices. To me it's it's too early, but this is what we do. So we'll we'll ease guys in I would much prefer to have 10 days of camp before we played a real game but it's fine. So we just adapt accordingly. And I don't anticipate any of our main guys playing heavy minutes
Unknown 10:39
Steve, how much fun is it just these early days seeing Chris Paul and Steph kind of go at it. I know it's not the same dynamic we were treated with, you know, watching Katy and stuff, but it's not. It's still pretty, pretty neat to see two veterans sort of,
Steve Kerr 10:55
it's actually really Yeah, it's very similar to watch. Yeah, Steph and Kevin just because you're looking at you know, these Hall of Famers. Some of the all time greats, literally working out together and collaborating on their workouts. And Chris is he's, he's such a Hooper. I mean, he loves the game so much. I mean, every film session, he's engaged, every drill he's got so much experience and knowledge from his own playing career and, you know, people who have influenced him and coached him so he's got great thoughts and when he and Steph are collaborating in their drill work, it's it's pretty special.
Unknown 11:39
I didn't want to compare them exactly. But do you ever still pinch yourself? I mean, I'm coaching some.
Steve Kerr 11:47
It's pretty mean. No, every day, I mean, to have you know, to come into the NBA and my first job coach, Steph Curry and then you know, clay and Andre and these guys, and then a couple years later, Kevin Durant shows up and it's like, I feel like that's all offset because I have to work with Raymond. So it's like a, you know, there's some give and take, like, you know, that life is a balance, you know, you can't have it all. Raymond. looked pretty
Unknown 12:17
good with the WNBA ball in his hands today if you want to, you know, train him up.
Anthony Slater 12:27
How do you I mean, you guys obviously play like a flowing style, but how do you envision point guard ball handling type duties being split up when you have lineups? That it's not just Steph Chris but Draymond out there too.
Steve Kerr 12:38
Yeah. I mean, I think that's one of the key things to observe and to help develop during the early part of the season. With right now without Dream on, you know, Chris and Steph are really easily joining together and sharing ball handling duties. Chris is such a smart player. You know, if Steph has it, he knows exactly what to do. And he's a great screen setter. And, you know, so I think those guys will, will fit together really easily. When Draymond is on the floor with them. You know, Chris has already talked about it. He's, he wants to aim on pushing the ball and he's talked about, I gotta run the wings. I can't lag back and ask for the outlet. I've got to run the wings and because one of the best things we do is is one dream on pushes the ball. He's got a speed advantage over his opponent. You get shooting on the perimeter. We one dream on pushing and Chris is well aware of that. But the main thing is Chris is such a smart player that he and he's played against us. A lot and he knows our idiosyncrasies and strengths and weaknesses and he's already examining all that and fitting in well.
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT: KLAY
Ann Killion 0:00
Hey Clay, big announcement this morning that the Warriors are getting a WNBA team and I'm just wondering what your thoughts are, if you're a WNBA fan,
Klay Thompson 0:10
how you feel about this huge WNBA fan. I mean, I grew up in Portland, we had the Portland fire. And I mean Jackie Stiles played there, she's great shooter. Move to Southern California and I was lucky enough to watch Lisa Leslie play and the sparks win championships. So hopefully now my adulthood I can see some WNBA championships brought to the bay but that's a special day for basketball lovers around the region. I know how well women's basketball supported up north especially, you know, when it comes to like Stanford Cardinal or Cal Bears, St. Mary's, so there's a lot of great. I mean, look at what Sabrina is doing. She's from the East Bay. So it's a hotbed for talent and it seems like it was a long time coming.
CJ Holmes 0:55
CLAY You just mentioned some great names there. But do you think there might be a WNBA player that best maybe resembles your game?
Klay Thompson 1:01
Oh, wow. That's a great question. Gosh, I mean, I would say Sabrina, but she does much more than I do. She has a triple double threat and every night. I mean, I love watching Caitlin Clark play because I know she's not in the league yet, but she's obviously going there just because of her ability to pull up from anywhere and score from anywhere. Ryan Howard referred for the Atlanta Dream. She's one of the better young players. Maya Moore was my favorite. I got to spend time with her at the Olympics, and she's one of the best basketball players that I've ever seen. So there's just so many I mean, I can keep going. And
CJ Holmes 1:44
if you can even team what might it be? If I can name the team Yeah.
Klay Thompson 1:47
I really got to think about that. So it's hard to just put me on the spot, but you got to do something that resembles the characteristics of the Bay Area. I'll think long and hard about that one. But yeah, let Joe know. Clay. Steve Kerr just said that having some fresh perspectives come in for a staff a WNBA staff could be a positive for him learning from new faces and new new ideas. I mean, what does that say about a coach who's as accomplished as Steve to say, Okay, I'm gonna go, you know, learn some more Yeah. Well, I mean, as Steve he's like, one of the most humble people I've ever been around. And I know he's a huge supporter of women's sports, especially with his daughter playing volleyball cow and I know it'd be a fixture games here. So well the rest of us and it's just really awesome that we have a team now and the summer's got a little more fun. And I will definitely be doing a lot of big crossings on the boat to come to these games as a fact. With all that this that Oakland has gone through losing the raiders and looks like the yeas and even with your teams move across the bay that this group is going to practice at your sparkling practice facility over there. That's still quite a gem is a gem. I was there last night? Yeah. Great time. Did you use the 360 technology or? Sometimes I do but I'll just go back there. I was there was on his children and we just so many great memories, obviously in Oakland and still going to Oakland all the time. I know it hurts losing three sports franchises, but we build memories that will last forever, especially in East Bay. So they saw the Raiders. But it's really cool that the future team will be there. Obviously it will help a lot. Do you imagine that'll do a lot for the fan bases maybe of not just the WNBA team, but you know, I think so. I think so. And I think it will. I mean, when was basketball so strong in the bay right now. Oakland Hye won back to back state championships. Like, that's incredibly hard to do. So. I got to spend time with those young women and they were just incredibly impressive people and great students and hopefully, with the WNBA team encourages more participation at the youth level. And obviously, the viewership would go up here in northern California and with our support, it's going to be a great thing.
CJ Holmes 4:30
Play one just quick, a non WNBA question. Steve was up here recently talking about with Draymond being out Chris starting this first preseason game that he envisioned you guarding for us a lot more this season. Just kind of want to ask about your comfortability defending in the post and how you how you envision your defensive role as well.
Klay Thompson 4:48
Well, nowadays it seems like the NBA is pretty positioned this and the power for position is so different than it was when I was watching the game as a kid you know, like, like big forwards like Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan and all those great power forwards of the 2000s with Amari Stoddard. There's so many those guys who have that ability nowadays kind of play the five position and they don't even guys like Embiid and young kids they play on the perimeter a ton. So I don't see it being the hardest transition for myself I am I pride myself and be able to switch and guard every position not for long periods but for short spurts and I'm just going to do whatever is asked to me we have such a cerebral, talented team. We can only lean on each other especially for our strengths, strengths and weaknesses.
Michelle Smith 5:50
Over here, Michelle Smith, I want to take you more more different direction. Do you have any thoughts about what you're hoping for for Washington State in this whole PAC 12 mess?
Klay Thompson 6:01
Shout out to our women's basketball team winning the PAC 12 championship last year. That was so incredible, but I have no idea what's about to happen. It's pretty disheartening seeing the pack, break up because I grew up on the West Coast and it was my dream to play in the Pac 10 conference. The amount of great athletes have come out of that conference is just insane when you think about it. I mean some of the greatest athletes to ever perform whether it be Jackie Robinson or Kareem, I mean, there's so many legendary names who've come through that conference. So it's pretty sad to see it dissolve. I know the Cougs will be supported wherever they go. But I have no idea what's in store for the future. I mean, I'm constantly in communication with patch on and I just try to be the best supporting alumni I can. Do you want to see him stay in power five. I would like to see them stay in the power five because we have an illustrious history of great athletes that come out of wazoo and I think we're deserving of that title. But at the same time we got to do what's best for the university. Thank you.
Anthony Slater 7:21
We're just kind of early days of this team coming together and obviously specifically the Chris Paul fit so far.
Klay Thompson 7:29
How's it doing? Yeah, it's going great. I mean, Chris is a great leader and it's just an honor to be on the court with him. I watched him as a kid whether it was at Wake Forest or with the pet with the Hornets. So I'm just trying to learn from him and first three days camping great very tiring, and we're just getting the fundamentals down. I really look forward to playing Saturday and you know, seeing how our schemes and other stuffs gonna work. It's gonna be a great preseason though. Probably the most important preseason I've had. since I can remember. Why do you say that? Just because we're integrating a lot of new pieces like Chris drain mods out so we really got to accelerate the learning curve on a lot of these young guys and I just think if we have a great preseason, we can springboard that into a great start to the year.
Dalton Johnson 8:21
Clay much is made about Chris's leadership. You know, it's talked about a lot but as someone who's playing with him for the first time, how does that show up on the court?
Klay Thompson 8:32
It shows up by him just having the knowledge to know what guys need to be at. He almost sees the play ahead of everybody else. He is really good at communicating out there on both sides of the ball. And lastly, he just hates to lose. I mean, he's still competitive. He always has been one of the best guys competing against and now I'm really happy he's on our side, because he's been a thorn in our side for the last decade. He's been such a great player and he's one of the best point guards to ever play some up.
Kendra Andrews 9:05
Close is more of a regular season game but for the past couple years you haven't been participating in one end of back to backs and stuff. So with the league's new rule on just trying to get participation up more and then they're obviously put the 65 game limited for words. Just what are your thoughts on that? Are you excited to have to play more?
Klay Thompson 9:26
I love to play before I went to these injuries. I was in the lineup every night and I look forward to getting get back to that point. Especially for the brand we've been able to build the Warriors and to see the fans we have on the road. It hurts them you can't give them a show. I mean, I know how hard people work, especially in other cities to come watch us play. So we take great pride in being available and my favorite players growing up like Kobe and Michael Jordan, they played 82 games routinely. I mean, I'm gonna shoot for that if I get somewhere in the 70s is a great year for me.
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT: STEPH
Kendra Andrews 0:00
You've been quite a champion for women's basketball. So how big is it? An impactful is it that a W team is going to come out here to the Bay Area?
Steph Curry 0:10
It's awesome. I remember being in Charlotte, back in the day, when the stain showed up for the first time and energy around the city was awesome. And so knowing the journey of the WNBA and the opportunity for expansion and the fact that you have a team here and the Bay is going to be it'd be fun. Obviously, paying attention to the finals are a couple of days and there's no better time for growing women's basketball, women's sports in general and the investment in the game. So it's exciting. I know there's a lot to kind of, you know, just figure out to be announced team named scheduled all that before summer 25. But just the fact that it is growing, it's expanding and it's here should be awesome. And with
Kendra Andrews 1:04
with Joe in particular, as an owner of that team, what does that do for a franchise? You know, obviously when Joe bought the Warriors you know, Steve was talking about how he guys he gave you guys all of the resources to become what you are now so as you're starting an expansion franchise, having a guy like Joe who's really willing to put put everything behind what he says what can that do for a young organization?
Steph Curry 1:29
Man, great learning experience from our last 12 years since they the Joe and Peter and the whole group took over the dedication to winning first and foremost and like you said, providing every opportunity to do that being able to spend around the franchise, from facilities to coaching to the resources we have behind the scenes, the way they treat players. And so, you know, there's obviously a different model with WNBA we're finding a way to be no top tier. I'm sure as how they want to approach it. So executing that and seeing the it kind of lived out with you know, how those ladies come in and experience playing for this franchise should be should be awesome.
Unknown 2:19
Definitely. Along those lines, you say top tier he guaranteed a title within five years. Yeah, of course. sound about right for Joe.
Steph Curry 2:28
Absolutely. Have you bowl with division, I guess and that's just a way to way to plant your flag. For sure. He's got a good track record right now.
Unknown 2:39
Did you did you realize his kind of passion and love for women's basketball? It goes back decades to being an original investor in ABL and starting to like the 90s You know, latch on to the 96 You know, Olympic championship team from from Atlanta. They
Steph Curry 2:59
didn't come up in our conversation when it makes a lot of sense in terms of I know he just loves sports, obviously in general and finding different ways to be a part of teams and I learned something today about his history. So it's a school is kind of a full circle opportunity to take that love and interest in the game and know be a part of the WNBA expansion.
Michelle Smith 3:25
Michelle Smith I've covered stand for for a long time. Is it time to lobby cam to ask her keeper to stay fit here and then come out in 2025?
Steph Curry 3:34
I would say that wouldn't be the first time she's been asked about that. And that plan. We'll see what happens but it is kind of surreal to just with the timing of knowing whether it's next summer or the summer after that. She'll be kind of making that transition to the league and haven't seen her from the town. She was almost a baby to now it's kind of kind of wild for her. The whole point is just to be locked in obviously on her season. You know, leading the Stanford women's team to hopefully another championship like she did her freshman year. But yeah, the the horizon looks pretty pretty solid no matter where she ends up in WB or when it is but that would be kind of cool to have her with the with this franchise. So we're talking about what I know in the name like this Golden State franchise. Say what? Don't give out the ideas for free.
Michelle Smith 4:39
stuff if you're gonna build just in a fantasy world if you were going to build an expansion team with two or three WNBA players, who would you choose right now?
Steph Curry 4:51
So great question. I mean, obviously Asia Asia Stewie, and I probably take Sabrina, those three solids you're gonna see all three of them next week or this weekend. So he's easy fix.
Anthony Slater 5:11
You've been working out with Chris post practice, I assume. Does that go beyond just this week? I mean, I know it's the first official practice but working out with Chris does it this week? Oh.
Steph Curry 5:28
I'm not sure I know. There's parts of it is like us getting into shape and building our chemistry and understand a little bit of the sets that we're going to run and different things that we can kind of stretch each other into. You know, he obviously plays a certain way I play a certain way and there's kind of a challenge there of I'll eat a certain part of workout he'll eat a certain part of workout and we can kind of sharpen a toolkit that way. Over time, I'm sure there'll be times when we do stuff individually just based off of what our needs are. But it's really good right now in terms of the pace that we're trying to go and the work we're trying to put in accountability to take advantage of training camp that we're doing it together so I've enjoyed it so far, for sure.
Anthony Slater 6:16
What have those conversations have been like? And kind of how different is you've had a lot of different pairings over the years but how different is this pairing considering you know how he's very traditional point guard coming in?
Steph Curry 6:30
Is different just in that respect, because he's proven over the course of his career. He's one of the greatest with the ball in his hands in terms of decision making and being able to, again, just organize and orchestrate an offense and play at his pace. So there's gonna be some give and take and it's still early to really kind of predict what it looks like but in terms of when we're out there together on the court, I know how to play off the ball is done plenty of times. We have certain sets that can highlight what we all do well, and then there's gonna be times when he's on the floor by himself and we can cater the offense to what he's traditionally used to doing. But I know he's been very adamant and intentional about figuring out the patterns and the ways that we create shots and create offense, kind of that motion offensive being a threat there too. And that's just going to take time to develop. Now we're only on day three, so excited about that challenge overall. But the ability for us to kind of adapt on the fly within games, no matter who the lineup is, is got to be our strength because that's what the scenario calls for. Did you play
Anthony Slater 7:49
much pickup with him this summer? Yeah, last name team. And then obviously you have these first three days, how much of has become more comfortable and just you know, what are your early impressions of those lineups where you're both in it?
Steph Curry 8:06
The biggest summary is it's mad fun. I get the rebound, I push. I can go ahead and transition though and he's pretty sure with the ball he makes the right decision. He's been really good cash in the chute and when he's open, moving out the basketball and we have made him a clay in certain runs this summer where he was calling out stuff that he had been scouting against for years and it kind of came kind of the joke of, you know, different looks that he knew were coming and I used to do this. I used to do that. So it's pretty seamless, really, to be honest. And there's challenges in terms of how we match up and making sure we're defensively sound and how we play on that end of the floor and how we adapt with the other three guys that are that are out there with us. Whoever that is, but offensively really seamless because we're just playing a good basketball and whether it's whatever kind of organization you band from from town where your kids was how you used to play so kind of remember that
Anthony Slater 9:22
what is I mean, you mentioned defense being the bigger question mark what are the key when you when it's you and him out there and you know even smaller down the lineup
Steph Curry 9:35
we've had that challenge for a while it just lives everything out there especially when dream was bad to five we played smaller. You guys have to rebound and there's an attention to detail on mechanics and reads that can help us do our work early so you're not just trying to get rebounds about around. Match it was like it depends on the game with the scout report is we'll be able to adapt to that. But that's the beauty and the challenge of what we have in terms of our organism or our roster because each five that you put out there is going to have a strength and they're going to have a weakness and you have to be able to adapt as we go through. So I think the best part about what we're doing is we're communicating every opportunity that we get practice locker room, film room, trying to talk it out and make sure we're getting ahead of it because there's gonna be some tough decisions along the way in terms of minutes. There's gonna be some rotations that come and go. You just got to figure out how to make the most of your time out there. And what's gonna put us in position to win.
Unknown 10:47
Steph, with everything that Andrew Wiggins went through last year, just not very much stability for him in the lineup being you know, being injured several times and sick and just are you eager to kind of see him get a fresh start for maybe an almost full 82 and just kind of get back into a groove with more continuity.
Steph Curry 11:13
Absolutely. I think we're all we're all athletes, obviously there's a job but we're all human beings too. And life throws a lot of things at you and sometimes it's hard sometimes it's you know, you find your kind of peace of mind for Him to come into a season with the right intentions. He's got already way he's been talking about, you know, his preparation and the way he's looked in the first three days of camp. I'm excited for him. It seems like he's having fun. He loves playing basketball. I think he's feels very comfortable here and with us after these last four, almost four years, so it's it's exciting for everybody to get a fresh start knowing that where we're trying to go we're trying to win a championship and so we need every single person that's gonna walk rock or uniform this year to be their best self, Andrew included.
Unknown 12:08
With Chris ball coming here, obviously he's drawn a lot of headlines. I feel like under the radar a little bit. You have Moses and Jonathan coming into their third year and a lot of people are expecting a big leap just I guess, what are your expectations of them as they come into the season and how has how what have you seen from them over your guys's summer workouts together and just in the early goings in camp?
Steph Curry 12:31
It was the soundbite sounds the same every year is like you wanted to take the next step but that's true, but it's all about the foundation of them understanding what again, they're going to be asked to do and their understanding of how we play and on both ends of the floor and trying to limit mistakes but not be afraid of making mistakes if that makes sense. Because when you're out there you got to play free you got to play aggressive, you got to be a dog that got you here. You got to have that healthy ego of you know, and you belong. But playing within the system and within you know what you're asked to do like that's the challenge. And so, for both of those guys, I'm excited. About their opportunity to do that. And I know coaches talked about it, they're gonna get an opportunity out there, they're gonna play they're gonna be in the rotation to start and they're gonna have we're gonna we're gonna need them to have our depths that we need to get through our 82 game schedule and they have the right options going into a playoff series. So all the same stuff. It's just, you know, continue to add a little bit of confidence and a little bit more experience to what they do. And they've been showing up pretty early in camp. I guess it's still early and we get out there on Saturdays another opportunity for them to build on that foundation and take it from there.
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Thanks for the "hat tip" to Latrell Sprewell.
I always liked him as a Warrior for his defensive intensity. Every team needs that from at least one player, and he provided that for GSW. As he started to score more he gained more general recognition, but IMO that usually leads to diminished defense, which often is more important to a team.