“To be Klay” and more from Warriors practice

[free article, notes/quotes/transcriptions]

Because of the John Mayer concert tonight at Chase Center, the Golden State Warriors held their post-practice interviews in a smaller area (the usual backup of the 9th-floor Skybar was apparently unavailable; kudos to Mayer if he decided to check it out).

Steve Kerr, Andrew Wiggins and — surprise! — Klay Thompson spoke to media. Full transcripts are below. I’m also working on the “quotables” videos so please stay tuned for those by subscribing to our YouTube channel and hitting that notification bell! 🛎

As you know, I’m a huge fan of Klay interviews, although today it looked like he didn’t want to be there, often answering questions with his head down. Still, he delivered. He went third-person today for perhaps the first time that I can ever remember. Not quite, “I’m Kevin Durant,” but it’s Klay, so I’ll take it.

Kerr was asked about Klay pressing — Thompson’s hurried shots have been the subject of some scrutiny lately to the point where sects of WarriorsTwitter have actually astonishingly called for his benching. [Note: We laugh about that and the “Fire Kerr” Brigade regularly on our positivity-laced second screen live chat during games, so come check that out some time on our YouTube channel, if you’re more the “erudite” and not the “Chicken Little” or “Debbie Downer” type.]

An old Kerr adage popped up today. “We talk to the team about it all the time, the concept of good to great, trying to great great shots,” Kerr said.

Steve added that Klay is “trying too hard to make a home run on every play and he’s just gotta relax and let it come.”

For Klay, it’s quite simple when it comes to what he needs to do, to not press anymore.

“For me, to be Klay. That’s all that matters. I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. I just wanna be myself,” said Thompson.

And then he ended the Q&A in his trademark abrupt fashion, answering a follow-up, on if he ever gets frustrated when he’s inconsistent, with the predictable one-word reply: “No.”

STEVE

• Initial reaction of Steph diagnosis: “Relieved that it’s not worse. 🚨 So that was the fear going in that it could’ve been worse but we’re hoping that he’s back for the playoffs and maybe even back for a couple games before the playoffs…mood of the team is really strong. We had a good practice today and we have a chance to really finish on a high note the last twelve games and get Steph back for the playoffs…”

• No Klay then no Draymond then no Steph: “Yeah that’s just part of it…you hope for perfect health and you rarely get it and so you just adapt as you go…deep roster…there’s no reason why we can’t continue that trend.”

• Surgery has been ruled out? “Nobody has said anything about surgery to me. 🚨 You said that word, I didn’t say that word.”

• No continuity: “Well, there’s nothing we can do about that. I’m not gonna sit here and worry about it. We’re gonna lock in…becoming the defensive team that we were the first two and a half months of the season…rediscover our defensive identity…we were gonna need to do that anyway so that becomes the focus for these last twelve games. Offensively other guys will step in…we can score plenty with the guys we have 🚨 …I have no doubt we can get on a really good run.”

• Draymond minutes restriction? “I haven’t talked to Rick about that yet but I’m anticipating that it’ll continue to go up. 🚨 He’s responded really well to both games that he’d played. As that goes up he’s for sure going back to the starting lineup.”

• Moody: “Did not practice today. He’s day to day with the shoulder but no structural damage.”

• Gary: “Gary practiced so there’s a chance he could play Sunday.”

• Wiggs and Beli: “Wiggins practiced. Bjelica practiced. They both scrimmaged and look good…”

• Andre: “will not play Sunday. He continues to work with the training staff and (is) day-to-day.” 🚨

• Guys filling Steph’s shoes: “It’s a group effort…execute as a group. Nobody’s gonna actually fill the shoes but we can do some things execution-wise. We want Wiggs to be more aggressive…play good defense, we’re gonna generate good offense put off that.”

• Steph go on road trip? “I doubt it…the first part of his recovery is just getting off his feet, but I haven’t talked to the training staff about that yet.”

• Klay and Poole in the back court? “Safe to assume yeah.”

• Klay pressing, balancing shooting: “…we talk to the team about it all the time, the concept of good to great, trying to great great shots…balances out our transition defense. Klay has wrestled with that a little bit. He’s trying so hard to be back to his old self that he’s forcing some shots. 🚨 …trying too hard to make a home run on every play and he’s just gotta relax and let it come.”

• Wiseman: “James has been great. It’s good to see him get action after almost a year and start to build some rhythm and conditioning. I’m really anxious for him to just stay on this path. It’s so frustrating for such a young guy to have to deal with a long-term injury like this…”

• Will Wiseman join you on road trip? “I don’t know.”

• Resiliency: “A lot of teams have dealt with that this year. Tons of injuries…COVID, just stuff happening. We’re not unique in that regard and in some ways these playoffs are gonna be about who is the most resilient team? Who can handle the adversity the best…we have championship players on the team. We have some young guys on the team who are great learners and listeners. The experience…will be great for them…just gotta keep going.”

• Is there a silver lining with Steph? “…he’s gonna be rejuvenated and recharged…remember last year he missed eight or nine games with the tailbone, had an amazing stretch the next month or two partly because he was able to recharge his batteries…get a break before the playoffs…he’ll be ready to roll…learn how to execute without him which could be handy during those minutes in the playoffs when he’s off the floor…”

• High pressure situations for inexperienced guys: “…with so many teams clumped together in the standings. These games will all feel big…”

ANDREW

• How have you been feeling? “Feeling better.”

• What have you been dealing with? “This congestion, sore throat, cough. It sucks. I feel better though. I had a good practice today, sweated everything out.”

• How are you guys dealing with at least two weeks without Steph: “It’s gonna be different on the court…we’re gonna do it collectively…play for each other…we have the talent to still compete at a high level and beat anybody…”

• What stepping up look like defensively? “Helping each other out. I feel like we can score against anybody…those first two or three months we were the number one defensive team in the league. We have to get back to that.”

• Without Steph: “…just Steph being on the court, everything he attracts…he makes the game easier for everybody…everyone just has to step up and do their part, do more than their part.”

• Mood and energy today: “…great energy. We were moving…ready…”

• Defense: “We just slipped. We were in a funk…getting back to our normal selves.”

• Loss of focus: “…we make some little mistakes. I’m guilty of that too, falling asleep sometimes…as we get closer to the playoffs we got to straighten all the little things out…”

• Next few weeks is like playoffs: “I’m looking forward to it…”

KLAY

• Digesting the news about Steph: “(long pause) Umm. Well. We’ll just have to pick up the slack and let Steph get healthy. That’s what’s most important is having him when the games are on the line come playoff time.”

• How do you fill the void? “Mmm. Well, he averages a whole lot of points 🚨 so we all just collectively have to pitch in and, um, just, uhh, be a team, you know? No one’s gonna do what he can do individually. So, collective effort is the way to go.”

• What changes defensively for you guys? “Umm, I’m not sure. I mean, we just gotta get back to guarding and being a prideful defensive team and I know we will.”

• Describe the energy at today’s practice: “Awesome. It was awesome.”

• Was that good to see? I know you love to see GP2 do his thing: “That I do.”

• What was it like to have those two guys back (Wiggins)? “Oh, incredibly important. I’m happy for Gary. I know he doesn’t like sitting out and same with Andrew especially on the defensive end. They’re gonna help us so much. The energy was great and it was just fun to play basketball and get up and down.”

• How important is it to maintain a top two or three seed? “I mean, we want the number one seed, just didn’t happen. It would be ideal to be in the two seed or even the three seed. To solidify one of those would be nice…we want to develop an identity of great defense 🚨 and ball movement before we head into the playoffs and I know we will.”

• Opportunities for Jordan? “More minutes. More field goal attempts and just an opportunity for Jordan to keep growing his game.”

• What kind of shots are you gonna start to look for? “Open ones.” 🚨

• What’s your approach, have you had to change your approach if you were pressing? “For me, to be Klay. 🚨 That’s all that matters. I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. I just wanna be myself.”

• In what ways has Jordan grown this season? “Jordan has gotten so much better in every aspect of being a basketball player. For him to take that leap from sophomore to third year starter, that’s really awesome and it’s a testament to his hard work that I’ve seen every day.”

• What’s this time of the schedule feel like? “Feels like the best time of the year as far as just the weather being great and the playoffs approaching. So it’s a time of the year that we just gotta stay present and enjoy every night of great hoops. 🚨 Don’t wanna look too far ahead because then you forget what’s going on in front of you.”

• What do these next few games mean to the young kids? “We’ve all been there before early in our careers. Every game is important even for me, being out as long as I was. It’s just fun to play every night. So as the playoffs approach, you just gotta simplify things and realize it’s just the game of basketball, something we’ve all been doing since we were kids. No matter if the stakes are higher it’s still a game we’re all familiar with and do it very well. So, don’t need any extra pressure on yourselves because if you just believe in yourself and your abilities, the greatness will reveal itself 🚨 especially come playoff time.”

• After the talk of being ready for the playoffs by April, do you feel yourself reaching peak Klay? “I don’t know what a peak is, to be honest. I just wanna play at, like — I just wanna just freaking umm, just be consistent 🚨 and be great and that’s not a linear trajectory. That might be up and down some games but I’m gonna work my hardest to get there.”

• Do you ever find yourself frustrated when you are inconsistent? “No.”

👍👍💛💙