Lol the left-hand side of this article’s photo — a YouTube auto-generated thumbnail from the Steve Kerr interview from practice on Monday before the Charlotte game — has Kerr grinning like Buddha.
That’s fitting because he, with the help of the usual beatwriters, basically gave a masterclass on Jimmy Butler’s effect on the new Warriors identity.
From effective field goal percentage to the “seven-year rule”, this one has everything you need to know to catapult your basketball IQ above that of social media app zombie-dom (zombie-dumb?). Here’s a taste:
…one of the things I’m really kind of excited about is the last ten games, I believe we’re Top Six in offensive execution, like 25th in effective field goal percentage. So we haven’t even shot it well the last ten, but we’re executing well. And so that bodes well for when the ball does start going in at a high level. So the execution is the key to it all. And what the offensive execution does is, it sets you up for a good defensive game because you’re not bleeding points in transition off of turnovers and not fouling and giving up free throws. So all those numbers point to the connecting of the game.
Don’t get me wrong, most of the Q&A speaks in “eye test” words with not as many analytics references, so don’t get discouraged by the above dip into some hoops science.
But, I mean, just freakin’ read or watch the whole 17 minutes, below. Like, do it now while we’re winning, so that if and when our squad hits some adversity and you hear the kids on #WarriorsTwitter whining again — and they’re literally making up shit again to distort the truth — you can steer clear of that with confidence and tap that well of gratitude for this team, knowing what you know after digesting all of what Steve had to say about Jimmy.
Do eet! For your own good. Read/watch! 🔬🧐👇
00:00 How was practice today?
00:01 STEVE KERR, PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE CHA-GSW: It was good. Yeah everybody’s in good spirits coming off a good win and seeing Andre’s jersey retired and getting healthy.
00:12 JK scrimmage today?
00:15 Before practice. We didn’t do much with the core group. We didn’t do anything live, but pre-practice JK scrimmaged for the first time full court, which was good. So yeah, a lot of good stuff.
00:30 Going back to yesterday, just what pleased you the most about that? It was a pretty dominant two-way effort. What jumped out going through the film?
00:39 Well, we’re connecting the game and we’re taking care of the ball and that’s helping our defense. I think over the last ten (games), we’re Top Five in the league defensively, but it’s really become apparent, since Jimmy’s arrival, how much more settled the game feels and we’re able to connect the offense to the defense and vice-versa. And we seem to be in control of games, more so now. And so I think that’s helping our confidence and our belief. And it’s fun to watch unfold.
01:21 Obviously, getting some guys back and healthy has been a factor with Podziemski, but how has having Jimmy in the mix helped you in terms of figuring out roles for guys and maybe having a more concrete understanding of what they need to do on a night in, night out basis as opposed to before when Jimmy was not?
01:37 Well, I mean, from a numbers standpoint, it was a 4-for-1 trade, so it really clarified roles. But I think more importantly — and I was a role player, obviously, when I played — it’s always way easier to be a role player when you’re playing with great players than it is when you’re trying to mix and match different combinations. And I think Jimmy, Jimmy is a great player. He’s one of the great players in the league and so people play off of him and the game is simplified. And so that’s what I’m seeing with Moses, with with BP, even with our stars, even with Steph and Draymond. The game has gotten easier because we can play through Jimmy and it’s just easier to make sense of everything when you got a guy like him out on the floor who is just so good at reading possessions and making the right play over and over again.
02:38 How rewarding is it to bring in a player who can, at least from the outside, so easily adapt to a system that not a lot of guys can easily adapt, right?
02:48 Yeah. I think that’s one of the reasons Jimmy made so much sense for us because of his basketball IQ, his passing, the way he connects the game at both ends. I mean, he’s a brilliant player and we’ve always been at our best — and we’ve talked about it for years — but we’ve always been at our best when we can put a lot of IQ next to Steph and Dray so that we complement the chaos that they create with a measured approach and a thoughtful approach that sort of gives us an all-around attack.
03:30 You knew, obviously, knew a lot about Jimmy Butler before he got here, but what in the short time he’s been here have you learned about him on the court and all?
03:37 I learned that he’s opened up coffee shops in Dubai over the All-Star Break. So yeah, yeah not many NBA players can claim that. He’s a very interesting guy. The reason he is wearing No. 10 is he’s a football — he’s a soccer guy. He loves Neymar. I think the soccer background is displayed in his basketball game. But he’s a very worldly guy. He’s a very thoughtful guy. And he happens to have a superstar body. I mean, 6’8, strong, incredible hands. And then a great feel for the game. And so you throw all that together, he’s a really dynamic person in our locker room and clearly a dynamic player on the court.
04:40 Is he the new babysitter?
04:43 Yeah, Andre told me years ago that he didn’t like being referred to as a babysitter and that was my mistake. But I think I need to think of a different metaphor, for sure. Designated driver, maybe. Yeah, Jimmy’s our designated driver, now. I just, I see a lot of the same qualities from Jimmy that I saw in Andre. And they’re different players, but the feel, the IQ, the understanding of each possession, the importance of each possession, but also recognizing what’s happening, what’s unfolding and then just constantly being in the right spot, very similar to Andre and and that has a calming effect on our team and we needed that, clearly.
05:38 When you say Jimmy’s a great player, is it inherent that all great players make everybody better? Or is it something unique to the qualities that he has?
05:46 I mean, I think by definition, great players should make other people better. But it’s not always the case. I mean, I’m sure you could find players, you’d say, “Man, that guy’s great, but maybe he doesn’t make everyone better.” Jimmy clearly makes everybody better. I think he’s a hard player to kind of quantify or even put an analytical model on because he doesn’t shoot a lot of threes. But what I see is this old school game. I see the fundamental footwork, the simple passing, the simple decision-making and what that does, what it translates to, is really powerful and kind of a lost art. To be honest, the game has sped up. Everyone’s playing fast, everyone’s launching threes. So when you see a guy like this, who’s that thoughtful in his motion and in his decision-making and that fundamentally sound in his footwork and his passing, it’s a reminder that the game is still grounded in fundamentals, even in 2025. And he’s helped us immediately with wihose fundamentals and that IQ.
07:09 I was listening to Draymond’s podcast on the way in — I’m not sure what that says about me —
07:13 Why?
07:13 Yeah, I was gonna say, I’m not sure what that says about me, but he was talking about a moment in Sacramento when Jimmy was designing a play, or not designing a play, but showing something to Podz and Draymond, I believe.
07:27 And Draymond said, and this was rich, Draymond said, Jimmy can be over-communicative. He talks too much. And I had — I almost stopped the car and thought, “Who’s saying this?” But his point was that Jimmy’s very much into the X’s and O’s like Draymond is and isn’t afraid to share his opinion and I’m just curious, it’s only been six games, how much that shows and how much that helps the young — because beyond Draymond, Steph and Jimmy, you got a pretty young — a lot of young players.
07:57 Yeah. No, I love that. I love when players come to me and suggest something that they see, especially guys who are experienced and have been around. And the internal leadership that he provides in that regard is important. He’s on the bench talking when he’s not in the game, he’s talking to the guys on the bench, explaining what’s happening. He, yeah, he suggested something last night. He said, “Hey, can we flip this play around to the other side so I can get that spot instead of that?” Hell yeah, we can do whatever you want, but he has a great feel for the chessboard, what’s happening, where he can attack, where other guys can attack. And it’s fun to hear him talk.
08:42 How much did you know that before the trade? I mean, when you make a trade like this, obviously you have very thorough scouting reports about someone’s health or the issues he dealt with in Miami. But do you have something about his strategic acumen?
08:57 We didn’t play him a whole lot over the years since he’s been in the East most of his career. And so you don’t really appreciate someone until you see them a lot and up close and I knew that he was a great playoff performer. That’s been obvious. But the nuance in his game is something you see up close in practice and in games. And you see it night after night and you see the impact. That’s not something that’s easy to pick out if you just watch a game once in a while. So it’s really been fun to see the impact on the whole team with this stuff that he does.
09:36 It appears that Jimmy and Podz have a really good on-court chemistry. What is it about each other’s games that seems to play well off of each other?
09:44 I think just the the IQ that each possesses. It plays well together because they see the angles. They see the passes, they see the cuts and you put them together, especially with Steph and Draymond out there, there’s just a lot of possibilities for them. And they tend to, they both tend to pick those things up quickly and the quicker you can pick them up, you beat the defense to the spot and the play is made. And that’s what I’m seeing with those two.
10:22 It does look like the offense is a little crisper, a little more movement with the ball, a little bit more movement with the player. Are the numbers that you guys have behind-the-scenes backing that up? Obviously, I think the eye test, we’re all seeing the same thing, but the numbers are backing that up?
10:34 Oh, numbers back it up. I mean, I think we’re Top Five or Six in offense points per possession since Jimmy has gotten here. Big reason for that is our turnovers are down. When we lost to Sacramento a month ago, had an 18-point lead at halftime, I think. And they ended up scoring 28 points off our turnovers. And the other night they scored five points off our turnovers. So because we’re taking care of the ball, we’re getting more possessions, more shots at the rim. We’re giving up fewer easy buckets, which helps your offense because now you’re not having to take the ball out of the net and attack a set defense. So it’s the connection of the game that we talk about. We’re not running any different plays. We haven’t, maybe one, maybe we added something for Jimmy yesterday, but not exactly different from other stuff we’ve run. It’s just the game. It’s just playing basketball.
11:37 I guess to follow on that, how much has your — I mean, connecting the game, right? How much has your offense informed the success on the defensive end of the floor, being able to score more consistently, play out of a set defense?
11:48 Yeah, again, it’s always connected. And if you’re making better decisions, even when you’re not making shots, if you’re — and we haven’t actually, that’s one of the things I’m really kind of excited about is the last ten games, I believe we’re Top Six in offensive execution, like 25th in effective field goal percentage. So we haven’t even shot it well the last ten, but we’re executing well. And so that bodes well for when the ball does start going in at a high level. So the execution is the key to it all. And what the offensive execution does is, it sets you up for a good defensive game because you’re not bleeding points in transition off of turnovers and not fouling and giving up free throws. So all those numbers point to the connecting of the game.
12:40 And then how has the anatomy of the defense shifted or changed these last six games or so?
12:46 We’re not doing anything differently schematically. It’s just, I think Jimmy behind the play is similar to Draymond as a 4-man. He’s anchoring the defense. He’s really good in zone. We’ve probably played a little bit more zone the last few games than we did before. And Jimmy and BP at the top of the zone have been really good together. So just all in all, the shift was something we needed. We felt it and Jimmy’s come in and performed and the guys are feeling very confident.
13:19 I think Buddy was something like plus-19 last night and he’s looked a little bit more comfortable of late. Has Jimmy unlocked anything with him or have you seen him turn the corner in another regard?
13:29 The game’s simpler. The game’s easier. We’re getting better shots. And I do think the lineup continuity now is helping. We’ve started this way the last three or four games. It puts Buddy in a Sixth Man role. And I think he’s comfortable with it. But yeah, we’re just playing better. We’re playing with more confidence.
13:53 Steve, when you guys drafted Quinten, the sense was that he’d probably spend the entire season down in Santa Cruz. Are you — at what point did you feel like he can actually contribute at this level?
14:04 Well, really, in training camp we saw the potential because of his five years of college basketball experience, his age, his European background, you could see all that stuff, the toughness, the passing, the skill that most 7-footers lack. So we saw it in camp, but we knew he needed some time and I think the front office really handled it the right way, sending him to Santa Cruz, letting him get two, three months of experience before we were ready to bring him up and they did a great job with him down there. He really worked hard and it felt like we brought him up at the right time. And I think that’s been borne out because he looks very confident, very comfortable out there.
14:54 Last couple of years, you guys drafted guys who had at least two years of college. BP had two, Trayce had four and now Quinten. Does that change the way you can, I guess, anticipate them giving you something sooner? Or how different is that from when you’re drafting 18-and 19-year-olds?
15:12 Yeah, I mean, I’ve seen — just kind of what I’ve seen over the years, coaching here, talking to Draymond, Steph, I see it as the seven-year rule, I think. And I kind of learned that when I asked Steph and Draymond when they felt like they impacted winning in the NBA. Steph said Year Four, Draymond said Year Three. And Steph played three years of college, Draymond played four. You add it up, you get to seven years. You start thinking about players around the league, seven years out of high school seems to be kind of a sweet spot, give or take, right? So when you get guys like JK or Moses who only have a year of experience, or in JK ‘s case, 10 games in the G League bubble, you just have to remind yourself, it takes time and we’re seeing it. JK’s best two weeks of the season came right before he got hurt. This is the best we’ve seen Moses look. This would be, what, year five out of high school for Moses same for JK. So the trajectory — I think there is a time frame of just the 10,000 hour rule, whatever it is. It’s like, you can’t shortcut it. So when you get a guy like Quinten, who played five years of college, it makes more sense. It makes a lot of sense that, alright, he’s more ready. Same with Trayce. Those guys are more prepared and ready than their counterparts who come straight out of high school.
16:53 So is there any truth to the rumor that you were banging on Mike (Dunleavy, Jr.)’s door saying, “Get me some guys with some experience?”
16:58 I didn’t say one word to Mike. I had never heard of Quinten Post after the Draft. He gave me his number and Mike gave me his number. He said, “Text this guy. We just drafted him.” I said, “Who is he?” I had no idea, but Mike’s crushing it. Mike is — he knows his stuff. And I think it’s been really fun to work with him and to watch him go through the process of drafting and trading and signing guys. He’s been amazing. And I told Bob (Myers) last night, I mean, if we had Mike during these last two, we probably would have won five championships instead of four, so.
17:41 In fairness, Monte (Poole) just asked that question to Mike about 20 minutes ago. So he may or may not have been outside my office.
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