In my video essay from the other day (embedded below), something I had wanted to do ever since the Lauri Markkanen pursuit came up short, I said that Andrew Wiggins has to be the No. 1 Priority heading into the preseason. He needs to be performing to his $26 million dollar contract by the February trade deadline.
In my opinion, that was the deal-breaker much more so than what I speculated was the next domino to fall, with rumors from credible sources such as The Monty Show (link below) saying that Danny Ainge wanted Brandin Podziemski and Joe Lacob and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. reportedly were unwilling to part with Podz. But see, my guess is this was determined only after Lacob and Dunleavy found out Wiggs couldn’t fetch a first-rounder as part of what Ainge wanted.
I just kind of look at things mathematically. While the Mikal Bridges comparable (four unprotected first-round picks plus matching salaries) certainly didn’t help, the Warriors were really hampered by the Stepien Rule with the Wizards owning Golden State’s 2030 first-rounder (albeit protected) in the Jordan Poole-for-Chris Paul trade.
Let’s say three first-rounders, not the super-premium four to create the “Nova Knicks”, was indeed the vanilla way of getting an All-Star-level player like Markkanen. So with the Stepien Rule, the best Golden State could do was only two first-round picks in succession: 2025, 2027, but not 2029. Or 2026, 2028, but not 2030 because they traded away 2030 even though it is protected.
Simple logic tells me — and sometimes the NBA isn’t simple logic, so maybe I could be wrong about this — Wiggins would need to be traded for a first-round pick that would replace that missing 2030 one. Then Dunleavy could send out the typical three in a row: 2025, 2027, 2029 or 2026, 2028, 2030.
So, if you were GM of one of the remaining 28 teams, would you have traded for Wiggins and given up your 2030 first-rounder? Let alone making the Warriors instant title-contenders, I think most GMs would look at the 2023-24 season that just ended, and make a hard pass.
The fact that a lot of teams seemed to get a lot of value for players during this off-season — Tyus Jones for a minimum, Lonnie Walker IV for a training camp invite, Kevin Knox the same, the Warriors ‘ own Buddy Hield signing at about half Klay Thompson’s annual salary and Kyle Anderson taking a pay cut despite being a key cog on a title contender last year, Pat Beverley leaving the NBA altogether for Europe, Klay getting a $17M/year contract when Lacob had offered $24M at the start of last season, the list goes on and on — it just wasn’t the climate to be on the hook to pay a guy like Wiggs who didn’t even come close to performing at his All-Star year $26 million, then also be on the hook for $28M next season and $30M after that.
Bobby Marks of ESPN estimates there will be twenty-eight starter-level free agents next summer and that might have something to do with the tight money purse-strings this off-season, too. That’s nearly one starter per team in the NBA!
Btw all due respect and condolences for Andrew’s leave of absences the last two years on his father’s behalf, not to mention the recent eventual passing of Mitchell Wiggins, of course. 🙏 That’s why we never threw Wiggs under the bus throughout his struggles. The basis of LetsGoWarriors is to be more behind-the-scenes and really feel what this team is going through on a day-by-day basis — but more on this later.
There is literally fear out among front offices of being in the first apron, which does have quite punitive consequences such as not being able to aggregate salaries, let alone the second apron. Keith Smith of SpoTrac recently tweeted, “We’ve either gone too far with things CBA-wise or teams are being FAR too cautious.”
Another guess of mine is that the incoming 2025 and 2026 Drafts have a lot of potential franchise-level players — Eric Guilleminault of NBADraft.net told me recently there are as many as ten in next summer’s Draft — and long, athletic guys, so your average GM is really just kind of distracted by shiny objects right around the corner, which is perfectly fine.
Whatever really happened, Wiggs was playing well below what you pay for his contract. His contract did not give Dunleavy any optionality.
Therefore, the team must do everything it can to reinvigorate value into that contract. And in my video embedded above, I said Andrew would need to be a starter with heavy minutes. Now, unless you’re benching Jonathan Kuminga, who deserves to start just based on the types of buckets he gets, that suggests Wiggs would need to play the 2-guard if you’re also starting Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis as GSW did the close out the season.
Wiggins can’t be coming off the bench if you draw line on a graph from where he is now to the desired higher point to the right of the paper you’re drawing on, by February.
And so it was very comforting when Steve Kerr answered (the probably similarly thinking) Anthony Slater of The Athletic in the press conference yesterday:
…number one, he looks physically really fit. I think he also looks, just speaking with him, he sounds very motivated… [several more sentences of accolades, see full transcript below] …And I think there’s also a void that is left by Klay’s absence that we need to fill. That’s a lot of points to score. But it also means we have to rethink how we’re doing things. And Wiggs will be featured for sure. He’s a guy who’s proven he’s a 20-point-a-night guy and we’re going to be relying on him heavily.
The rest of this article contains the videos and entire timestamped transcript of the Kerr and Dunleavy pre-Media Day availabilities from yesterday. That’s right, #GSWMediaDay is fast approaching on Monday!
We’ll go live on our YouTube channel to discuss it as it’s happening and we’ll have a couple guests hop on as well, at least one of them will have feet on the ground, on the scene from Chase Center.
I’m also pleased to announce that on Sunday night, we’ll have Kent Culuko, the shot doctor for Slowmo (aka Kyle Anderson), as well as Anthony “Ant” Wells, Kuminga’s trainer, on a special pre-Media Day live!!
We usually go live at 6:00PM Pacific time due to our biggest fans residing in the Far East. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and click on the bell 🛎️ to be notified automagically!
As I mentioned in the previous article, the posts here on the Substack will start to feature more “Daily Digests” on a daily or near-daily basis — a huge improvement over last season when I was getting my bearings straight.
And then for all the paid $5/mo subscribers will be exclusive access to our Discord channel which has not only curated content, but also for the VIPs aka “Founding Members” ($99/year which is only about $8/mo), they’ll have access to the actual feeds as they’re happening. The curated content will lag breaking news by an hour or two, but the feeds on Discord are automated and near-real-time! 👀 🙌 🥳
Also, I have yet to announce just what LGW is all about and how we’ll differentiate ourselves out there. That is forthcoming and my hope is that it’ll be posted tomorrow or Sunday, but I’m a terrible predictor of future events, so…
Chronologically from yesterday, below is Mike then Steve. From a behind-the-scenes aspect, looks like it was Dunleavy’s idea to go to Hawaii, with a hint from Kerr that the Clippers may have also been part of that genesis.
Another favorite part of mine was the question about “Warriors basketball”. Steve doubled down on “ball movement”, reiterating what Golden State is known for, and pointed to getting the ball out in transition, which they should be able to do more frequently with more two-way players like De’Anthony Melton and Slowmo at his disposal.
MDJ recalled the last time he was there as an NBA player: when he was with the Warriors and so were PR head Raymond Ridder and long-time equipment manager Eric Housen (ftr and all due respect, both deservedly have the words Vice President in their titles now, I just don’t know what the formal titles are, off the top of my head). And with that, for those of you that have made it this far, I’ll tease out my “what will LGW be doing” article for this weekend 😉
Finally, there were some reporters chiming in on Zoom (I improved the audio quality of their questions in the video below) from Hawaii, and one Lakers beat reporter was actually pursuing questions for Kerr in a forthcoming story about new LA head coach J.J. Redick.
The transcripts include my personally notable stuff marked with a pin emoji 📌 in case you’re in TLDR mode and just skim-scrolling…
00:00:00 MIKE DUNLEAVY, JR., MEDIA AVAILABILITY, FOUR DAYS BEFORE MEDIA DAY: alright good to see everybody hope everybody’s doing well getting ready to go here I think everybody will stand up and say our team’s in good shape we love what we did this offseason excited for the new year yeah we feel the same way I guess from our standpoint we get to go to Hawaii for training camp so adding that in the mix which will be good but on the whole looking forward to the season keep it simple here. I know you guys have a lot of questions, so I’m happy to answer those.
00:00:30 How is the team looking, injury-wise?
No, we’re in great health. I mean, knock on wood, between now and Tuesday, hopefully, you know, nobody does anything silly, but no, we’re in good shape health-wise. Everybody’s healthy, no issues. You know, obviously you got to monitor different players’ ages and experience levels and all that as you go through camp. But we feel good with where we’re at.
00:00:51 With everything that transpired over the offseason with additions and maybe stuff that didn’t transpire, how close would you say that you got to like your plan A for the offseason?
Well, I think we feel great about the team in the sense of we improved the team. Coming off a season last year, we didn’t make the playoffs. Even though we won 46 games, we knew we had to get better. And I think we certainly have done that. I think for me, the unknown or the exciting part of the year is we know we’re going to have a good team, I believe, but at the same time, we don’t know how that’s going to be in terms of we’ve got a lot of good players, got an opportunity for guys to step up and merge all that. So I think how it’s all going to play out is uncertain. But I think at its core, we’ve got a good team. And as far as the other stuff goes and rumored to be in deals and things like that, we’re probably as impatient as a franchise as you can be right now, given our time horizon and all that. But there’s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined. And I think I feel good about the discipline that we held this summer and the roster we built and the growth from when that we’re going to have. And so we’re in a good spot heading this year. And I know everybody’s always looking for big headline breaking news and all that, but I really like this team.
00:02:03 Yeah, I think we got to see what this team is. It’s a really talented team. I think there’s a lot of ways we can be good, which is exciting. And, you know, we have a generational talent in Steph Curry. We’ve got Draymond Green, who’s just one of the more unique all-around players in the NBA. And then after that, we’ve just got a ton of different pieces and depth and youth and experience and just all the things you want in a team. We’ll take a look at it. We’ll see where we’re at. The good news is we’ve got plenty of ways to get better from the outside, but right now we’re fully behind this team and we think they’re going to have a great year.
00:03:00 As far as Hawaii goes, whose idea was that? Why Hawaii? And like, when did you guys first decide on doing this?
Well, I did training camp there 20 years ago. And so Raymond Ritter was there, Eric Housen. The three of us got together. I’m like, we need to go back to Hawaii. And so, no, it’s kind of been in the works for a few years. I think especially with Steph and Draymond, those guys have always wanted to do it. It’s kind of being on the West Coast. You’re accessible to it. It’s not an easy trip. It’s not cheap, but it’ll be a good bonding experience. It’ll be a good experience. It’ll be good, you know, for guys to get away. You get off that plane, the warm breeze blows in your face, and it’s just, it’s a good place to have training camp and get better. So I’m glad we’re doing it. Not sure it’s going to be a regular thing, but on the whole, I think we’re all pleased to be going.
00:04:00 There’s obviously time with the deadline on these rookie extensions for Kuminga and Moody. Where are you though right now, and would you be disappointed if you didn’t get extensions with both of those done by October 31?
Yeah, we’re working through that with them and the representation right now. We’ve got a few more weeks, good, positive conversations without getting into too much detail. I think regardless of whether we get something done or not, we want those guys here. Just because you don’t get an extension done doesn’t mean they’re not going to be here for a long time. We’ll still have their rights and free agency if we can’t come to an agreement by the 21st. And I think for them, the most important thing is, you know, we’ll get through these next few weeks with a deal or not a deal. But all that matters is they have great seasons and whether they sign an extension or not. So I think we’re all operating in the same, you know, that same thought process, and, you know, we’ll see how it goes.
00:04:30 With Jordan (Poole), it was the last one you had a decision on, and he obviously had played more, he’d started a bunch of games. Is there a little lack of clarity, even with both Kuminga and Moody, maybe, that then you’ve had with Jordan? Or obviously there’s been some previous players who have re-upped pretty quickly or, you know, tells it easily.
Yeah, I mean, fair question. I think the last time around with Jordan, you know, coming off an NBA championship, I think probably your mindset and your feelings about things are maybe skewed in some ways. But in the sense of Moses and JK, we feel good about those guys. Like, they’ve been here. We know what’s under the hood. We know those guys well. So yeah, the jump you usually take from your third year to the fourth year, we want to sort of see what that is, but I don’t think we have to see what it is in order to get a deal done.
00:04:56 When it comes to the improvements
you’re seeing with the team, could you share a little bit more about that? What do the analytics tell you? What’s on paper for you? And what is also just feel for this roster?
Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest areas that we need to improve, I mean, we gotta get back to defending at a high level. We got to be in the top five, six, seven in the league in defense at least. That’s really been the recipe here all along. You talk about the championship years, certainly back to ‘22, I think we were second in the league in defense. We got off to a good start. We defended. So I think we look at this roster, I go down the list. Everybody, I think, can guard their position. I think guys can guard multiple positions. I don’t see a lot of holes defensively in one-on-one individual matchups, which is a good place to start. And then from there, I think Steve will probably touch on it more too, but we got to be better in transition both ways. But really offensively, we want to improve our offense. One of the ways to do that is just to get out and run more. But when we do, we’ve got to be efficient in finishing and scoring, getting fouled, whatever it is. We’ve been pretty poor the last couple of years in not only the volume we’ve gotten out and ran, but also how effective we’ve done it. Those are the two areas I think we’d like to hone in on. I know Steve can dive into that more.
00:06:06 Who do you see as this team’s number two scorer?
Well, I think the positive of that is it’s a little bit unknown. And so going out every night and if you’re an opponent, you say, who do we got to stop besides Steph Curry? The good news is maybe they don’t know either. But I think for us, whether it’s Wiggs, whether it’s JK, Brandin can score the I ball. I think we’ve got a lot of ways to do it. And some nights it’s going to be different guys. But as I alluded to earlier, I think a little bit of the uncertainty and the unknown is exciting in the sense that we’ve got some things to find out.
00:06:45 So as you go into training camp, what is the floor and the ceiling for this team as you see it?
Great question. I mean, I think it probably leads into the fact that the West is so deep. The league itself is so deep. I mean, you’re probably talking 13, 14 teams in every conference that think they can be in the play-in or play-off. So it’s hard to predict sort of a floor and ceiling off that stuff. I mean, obviously taking injury out of it. I just think this team can be really good. Hard to put a number on how good we can be. Also hard, hard to say how bad, I mean, look, in ’21, we came out, I would never have thought we would have won 15 games. I know it was a lockout year, but you just don’t know stuff happens. So it’s probably a wide range of outcomes, but if things don’t go well, the good news is we’ve got a deep team, we’ve got other ways to pivot, and we’ve got optionality.
00:07:33 What’s your sense of where Andrew Wiggins is at entering this year? Obviously, kind of a big season for him, and I know obviously he had a personal tragedy recently. Just what’s your sense on where he’s at?
I think he’s highly motivated coming off of last year. I think he’d be the first to admit, didn’t have his best season. And we’ve been in the gym all summer. Can just sense a little bit different vibe from him this time of year. Body looks great. He’s in good shape, ready to go. And yeah, he’s been through a lot personally, but as far as the basketball part of it, I think he’s in a good spot and we’re optimistic he’s going to have a great season.
00:08:06 One of the reasons that you guys finished where you did last year was Draymond’s availability during the season. Have you seen him taking strides this offseason to maybe give you confidence that that won’t be an issue this year?
00:08:19 Yeah, I mean, I think he’s taken strides since last season, the incidents that occurred to remedy that. And so I don’t have any doubt or hesitation as far as Draymond being available for those reasons. You know, certainly other stuff comes up. There’s injuries, things like that. You know, he’s not getting any younger, but he’s in a good mindset. He’s in a good place physically. And, you know, he’s a leader of our team and we’ll be relying on him a lot. And at the same time, I think there’s a reasonable expectation to take some load off of him with some of the guys we’ve signed this offseason with the depth we have. Hopefully we’re not putting too much on his plate. It’s a long season and, you know, all these guys, you know, you go through a lot. But I think from Draymond’s standpoint, having the depth to be able to afford it if he’s playing less minutes one night or missing a game or whatever, I think we can withstand that.
00:09:00 I don’t think we’ve talked to you since Steph did sign the one-year extension. I’m sure there’s various negotiations going on with that one. Just how comforting is it to know that he did want to go another year, that he does believe in what he’s seeing. Were there conversations about that? Which was the way that all worked?
I think anytime you have an opportunity to sign, extend Steph Curry and have him here longer with our organization, it’s a no-brainer. And so we’ve done and I think it comes with an agreement that we’ll continue to push the envelope and try to win at the highest level. And, you know, honestly, that’s probably not going to change whether Steph’s here or not. That’s just the makeup of Joe (Lacob) and our ownership group and the entire organization. So, you know, he’s probably the, or he is the greatest, face of the franchise, really in all sports. And so to have him here and, you know, you saw what he did in Paris. You’ve seen different moments in this building. I think for all of us to appreciate it, come out, view it, watch it, enjoy it, because you don’t know how long these things last, but we’re thrilled and excited to have him here for at least three more years.
00:10:18 Mike, you mentioned just depth and optionality and all of those things. A lot of that, do you feel you guys, though, need to have a little bit more of an urgency? Sometimes those things have a tendency to take time through a season to figure out. Do you feel you need to have more urgency to win games early in the year to not find yourself in a position where it’s say March, and then you’re scrambling to get in the play-in tournament or avoid a play-in tournament?
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, make no mistake about it. We want to get off to a good start. You know, do we have some things to figure out in terms of lineups and roles and all that? Sure. But coming out of the gates, we got to come out good. That worked really well for us in ‘22. And you just don’t want to get behind the eight ball, especially in this league with the depth and giving other teams confidence and all that. So getting off to a good start is a really, really high priority for us.
00:11:00 What’s it like to not be in an apron? I know I guess you edged back into the tax by a little bit, but do you feel a little different knowing that you’re not as stuck as you’ve been maybe the last few years?
Yeah, I mean, I think overall we do. I mean, when I look at the payroll spend and our revenue and all that, like, yeah, we feel better about that. That’s good. We do have this first apron, though, that is a little bit inhibitive in terms of our roster spots. So I don’t want to say we’re clean and free, but it does impact us a little bit still. So these new rules we’re all kind of getting used to and adjusted to. But yeah, it’s nice not to be super deep in the tax and just out of control.
00:11:45 How flexible do you feel to make an in-season trade? And I guess the apron that you talked about, how much of an inhibit do you feel that will be? And then, I mean, do you plan to be aggressive?
Yeah, I mean, that’s the deal here. You know, you’re always looking to get better, improve your team. I think we’ve got a lot of ways to do that. We’ve got a lot of good basketball players. And then on top of it, we’ve got a lot, most of our assets. So we’ve got ways to improve. We’ll be aggressive. That’s kind of always been the deal here, at least as long as I’ve been here. So does that mean we’re definitely going to do something? No. I mean, we were super aggressive last year around the deadline, didn’t do a whole lot. So you’ve got to have a partner. Making deals in this league can be tough, but the effort, the urgency will always be there.
00:12:30 So there’s the narrative out there that you guys need to do everything possible to maximize Steph’s remaining years to play for championships. How much conversation do you have or you have had to have with him to sort of share the vision of what you’re trying to do and make him and everybody comfortable with the idea that you’re actually trying to do that?
Yeah, I mean, we have a lot of dialogue about it. I mean, we unequivocally are trying to, you know, maximize his greatness, Draymond’s greatness, and all the resources that we have. So those conversations are really positive, productive. They know that and we’ll keep pursuing that drill. But as I said before, there’s a level of discipline that you have to have. There’s no point in going all-in to be slightly above average. When you go all-in, you got to feel like you’re all-in. So that’s how we’ll kind of judge and evaluate things and, you know, we’ll see what’s there.
00:13:30 So I guess that’s the part I should have said is with the reality of the cap and a lot of the new rules, like there’s what you’d like to do and then what you’re able to do in a sensible way. How much do you have to get into the details, or have you gotten into the details to explain that to Steph or anybody else who wants to know exactly how hard are you going?
Yeah, I don’t think any of the decisions lately have been related to being inhibited by spend or cap or apron or any of that stuff. So fortunately, it’s not a lot of salary cap mechanics discussions with those guys. It’s just straight up, does this player or players make us better if we’re losing these players? And what does this do with our assets and all that? So they’re good conversations in the sense they’re mostly about basketball and improving our team. I don’t have to cover too much on limitations as it relates to Joe won’t spend this amount of money because I’ve never heard him say that.
00:14:31 Could you just really quick, could you walk us through the decision-making process with signing Plowden to a two-way deal and then waiving him?
Yeah, he was part of our program this summer, Summer League. Really liked what we saw out of him. Our G League scouted him pretty well throughout the prior couple of years. Knew him in college, brought him in, had a really good summer league. And was part of our player development program this offseason. And when it came time to figure out a roster spot, whether it was a two-way or a full 15-man roster spot for Quinten (Post), we came up a little short and had to make room for that. And he was the guy we decided to waive. Doesn’t mean there’s a possibility that we wouldn’t bring him back along those terms or something. But right now, because you’re only allowed to have three two-ways, we had to make a decision.
00:15:17 Just in terms of the player development, how pleased are you with the way the young guys came along this summer so far from what you’ve seen?
Well, we like what they’ve done. We like the commitment they made. And then obviously you got to see how it translates on the court. So, you know, ask me in a few months or a couple of years, but on the whole, I think the effort’s been there. The organization has been great, you know, through pre-draft, summer league, up and through. We do a lot of stuff here in August and September, and it’s been really well-run. Our player development crew has done a great job. And I think that’s one of the main things that leads to long-term sustainability, which is what we’re looking for. But I think hopefully you’ll have some young players that are going to be out there this year that have taken some big jumps and can really impact winning.
00:15:55 Sorry, one more, if that’s okay. Jonathan Kuminga looks different physically just via pictures that he’s posted online. Have you seen him? Have you seen some of those gains? And how do you feel like he’s coming into camp?
Maybe it’s the hair?
That too.
Yeah, no, I mean, JK is a guy that puts a lot of time in, loves the game and really, really works at it. So no surprise to see him showing up in September, ready for camp, ready to go and all that. That’s probably one of the last things you worry about with a guy like that is just his commitment to the game. I think we’ll see as it plays out with our roster and our team, but his progress over the first few years of his career has been terrific. We’re really pleased with that. Last year, he had a really nice jump and if he can take another one this year, it’ll be great. So we’re pleased with his growth, his progress and happy to see and excited to see what he can do this year.
00:00:00 How are you doing, Steve? Good to see you.
STEVE KERR PRESS CONFERENCE, FOUR DAYS BEFORE MEDIA DAY: How are you, Sam (Gordon, SF Chronicle)?
Good to see you. Just what are your early impressions so far of this group? I know training camp is next week and whatnot, but seeing you guys here in the summer, what are your early impressions of what this group can be?
I’m really excited. I just feel good about the energy in the building, the talent. We’ve added some good players. Our younger players are making big strides. Our older players are excited. 📌 Wiggs looks fantastic. You know, Steph and Draymond are here and ready to roll, and there’s a good vibe for sure. And I think what we’re going to have to figure out is combinations. You know, we’ve got a lot of good players, and I think you could make the argument we’ve got 12 or 13 guys that could all be in the rotation. So we’ve got to figure out how to put those groups together, but I’m confident we’ll be able to do so.
00:01:00 Steve, Andrew was the first guy I was going to ask you about. I mean, you just brought up he looks fantastic. Mike (Dunleavy, Jr.) was saying that he can almost sense his hunger. Where are you seeing that specifically from Andrew?
Well, I mean, I’ve only seen him the last couple of days since he got back in town, but number one, he looks physically really fit. I think he also looks, just speaking with him, he sounds very motivated. He’s very much at peace. I think he’s in a place where he knows the last couple of years have been tough for a lot of reasons. And I think he’s primed to get back to where he was a couple of years ago. He’s at the age where he’s right in his physical prime. And we’ve seen him do it. He helped us win a championship. So I’m expecting a big year from Wiggs. And I think there’s also a void that is left by Klay’s absence that we need to fill. That’s a lot of points to score. But it also means we have to rethink how we’re doing things. And Wiggs will be featured for sure. He’s a guy who’s proven he’s a 20-point-a-night guy and we’re going to be relying on him heavily.
00:02:11 Steve, just to follow up over here on Sam’s question about the depth in your answer about 12 or 13 players in the past, you’ve been pretty open about the fact that you felt that way about some of your prior teams. And it’s been a struggle at times for you to get everybody involved, keep everybody happy, and also find the right combinations quickly enough in season to basically have the record you guys want to have. How much urgency do you put on having that ready to go much quicker than maybe it was able to be done in the last couple of years?
Yeah, I think there’s always extenuating circumstances. You know, you’ve got, sometimes you have the age and inexperience of players. Sometimes you have health issues. Last year, Draymond missed all of camp, which was tough for us. I just think every year is a little different, and you have to figure out your circumstances and figure out your lineups. What I like about the guys we signed, De’Anthony, Kyle, and Buddy, I think they all fit a lot of lineups. They’re the kind of players that can thrive with different groups of players around them. So I think they were all really good signings and designed to help us get deeper, but also to help us be able to play more different combinations.
00:03:34 As you enter camp, how many starting spots do you feel like are securely, I guess, known at this point?
Yeah, great question. I’m leaving that kind of up in the air. I feel pretty confident I might start Steph probably, you know, if he earns it. What I love about this camp is that we do have spots available. We’ve got a lot of guys who have started a lot of games. You know, last year, Wiggs, JK, Draymond, Trayce, some combination of those. BP started some games. So, you know, De’Anthony, Kyle, these guys have all, Buddy’s been a starter most of his career. So the easiest thing for me to do is just to tell the guys we’ve got starting spots available. That doesn’t mean I’m going to say how many to you or to them. It’s, I think you just put it out there, compete, go play your best and may the best man win. Mike said top five, six defense is like the goal or almost like the requirement.
00:04:41 It seems like you kind of built the roster to try to boost that level on the floor. Is that, I mean, are you entering camp wanting to be a defense first?
Yeah, for sure. I mean, our transition defense fell off the map last year. A huge emphasis in camp will be to shore that up. We do have, I think, better personnel this year to become a better defensive team, barring injury and that kind of stuff. But I’m really excited about having Gary Payton healthy. I think he’s one of the most impactful defenders in the league. Kyle and De’Anthony in particular have been excellent two-way players. Trayce is a year older. You know, Draymond remains one of the best defenders in the league. So I agree with Mike. I think traditionally we’ve been a top 10 defense. I just want to get back to being really good at that and knowing we can count on our ability to get stops, whatever the ranking is.
00:05:44 Mike also mentioned transition offense, that this team has not been great. And you’ve had shooters, maybe not great finishers. Can you just say, hey, we just got to finish better? How do you become a better transition offense?
I think there’s a mentality that we have to reach, and it’s going to be a huge part of the trip to Hawaii and the next few weeks, is shifting our mentality, understanding the change of possession. You know, the first team, the first guy who moves wins. And we were often the second guy last year. 📌 We were a very reactionary transition team in both directions. And on offense, our problem was turnovers. We turn it over too often. We’ve got to improve our transition spacing. We’ll work on all that stuff in camp. We’ve got to improve our decision-making. Hopefully that comes with some maturity for our younger players, but also some high-IQ basketball from our newer players. And, you know, Steph and Draymond, they’ve got to lead the charge on that in that regard. 📌 So as a coaching staff, we have to lay that out there, exactly what this means to improve and transition both directions. There’ll be a lot of drill work that goes into that.
00:06:57 Hey, Steve, on that note, what’d you learn from coaching last year about kind of connecting with the young players and bringing them into the fold while you kind of mesh that with the vets who started this run nine years ago?
I mean, it’s all part of it, right? Every roster is different. Every year is different. And so you have to embrace everybody and help them get better and make sure everybody feels part of what you’re working on. And then it’s the player’s job to be all-in. And that’s not easy in an environment, in a business where you get traded and cut and all that stuff. So we try to provide a really good environment where players know they can get better and where they feel welcome and where the older players welcome the younger players and help them get up to speed. So it’s all part of the plan. Some years it works better than others, but as a coach, it’s my job to connect with every one of these guys for sure.
00:08:00 Steve, if all goes well, Andrew regains his form, you have reasonable health, what’s a realistic expectation for this team? How good can this team be?
You know, it’s a good question. It’s a hard one to answer because, you know, a year ago we won 46 games. We didn’t make the playoffs. A year before we won 44. We made the conference semis. So win total, I’m not sure you can even guess what it’s going to take. We do know the West is loaded. Memphis is going to be better. Houston’s going to be better. San Antonio, I mean, you can go up and down the line. Oklahoma City is loaded. Denver still is, you know, Denver. So, and there’s, you can go up and down the list of the teams in the West. Everyone’s going to be really good. So, I think we’re going to be really good. I believe in this team and I’m excited for our prospects, but we have to go play and it would be a disservice to our team if I said, we want to win X amount of games or I want to get this far. I mean, we just got to go out and be the best team we can be.
00:09:00 Part two, you’ve got a lot of new faces, obviously. And it felt like at times last year, you were playing different systems or different ways to kind of fit the personnel that you had on the floor. Is there any goal to get back to playing the style that you guys consistently played prior with some of the new pieces that you have?
I think what we never want to give up is our values as a team. 📌 We believe in ball movement. I mean, when you play the Warriors, you know the ball is going to move, and that’s not going to change. But we also have to adapt to our personnel. So I think where I can do better is simplifying some of the actions that we run so that the players know exactly what they’re doing and not have too many options for them. So finding that balance where we can maintain our identity but simplify things and make it a little cleaner, that’s the challenge.
00:10:00 That system of being a little more complex and an option, I think, was part of your success, right?
Yeah.
Do you feel like you can have the same success even in a simple system? Like you can have the same success even in a simple system? Comparing the team now to the one from six years ago is not fair.
That was one of the all-time great rosters. You know, we were just loaded. And so we have to adapt. We have some very good players but we don’t have an all-time great roster like we did. So it’s up to us as a staff to figure out what that means. How can we get the most out of this group, and how can we best pair the values that we have in terms of ball movement and pace with the personnel that we have?
00:10:59 In terms of needing to find combinations and having 12, 13 guys who can play, that’s kind of like in a way what you dealt with with Team USA in some ways. Are there things that you learned or things that could be taken away from your experience in Paris that could be brought to this team?
Oh yeah, part of the experience with Team USA is you’re around the best coaches, players. So there’s lots of little stuff, drills that we ran that I’ll implement here, thoughts from players, but the competition is so different. It’s six weeks you’re together, versus eight months in the NBA. So it’s a very different endeavor. And so some things you can’t take anything from, but as far as learning from some of the best coaches and players out there, there’s definitely a lot to take from that.
00:012:00 Steve, we know the season that Draymond had last year. What’s the communication been like with him this off season and where’s your guys’ level of trust with him?
I just talked to him, just a few minutes ago, before I came up here, and it’s great to see him. I didn’t see much of him. I saw him in Paris, you know, briefly, but we always give Draymond a lot of space in the summer, and he’s excited for the season. I thought he had a good year last year when he was on the floor, but obviously we missed him during the suspension. And so we’ve got to do everything we can to help Draymond have another good year, but make sure this team is on the right path for all 82 games.
00:12:47 You mentioned Hawaii. I know this has kind of been the this has kind of been the works for a while. You didn’t say specifically Hawaii for this specific roster, but are there different things you can do when the camp’s in a win out solo out there? You have the beach, we have whatever. Can this be a different kind of training camp?
I really want to instill grit and toughness and nothing, nothing can define that more than Mai Tais and sunsets and Luaus. So no, I don’t even know how this came up. I know it’s been talked about in the past. I think the Clippers have been doing it for a while and they asked us if we’d be interested and I love it. I think it’s a great idea. I mean, the families will come, players will, we just to change the vibe from, we’ve done it so many years in a row here at Chase or at Oracle and sometimes going away for camp is really valuable because you bond, you’re isolated in the gym, you’re in a beautiful spot in Hawaii. So you’re also getting to enjoy yourself with your family, with your teammates. So I’m excited. I think it’s a great idea, and I think it’ll be really good for us. Will I surf? Probably not. Probably not, but I’d like to.
00:13:55 Basketball is obviously number one for Steph, but he does so much outside of the game, whether it’s TV or golf or business investments. What have you seen from him and the way he balances all those demands on his time?
Steph is, he loves life so much. 📌 He wakes up excited. He doesn’t sleep that much because I think he’s so excited to wake up and face the day. And you’ll notice that all of his endeavors are very creative and thoughtful and right up his alley, helping start the golf program at Howard. I don’t know if there’s anybody who’s done something more personally connected in terms of a project than that would be for Steph. Because it includes everything that he believes in. Not only the game, but the connection socially, the economic advantages that you have if you can play golf. I mean, he understands all this stuff, and then he puts it together, and then he makes it happen. It’s incredible to watch. And he does a million things because he genuinely cares, and he’s connected, and he loves doing them. 📌 It’s our job every March to tell him, all right, now you got to stop and it’s literally the same time every year where like, all right, no more photo shoots, no more — you got to give yourself some rest and some sleep. And he laughs and he agrees. And so he doesn’t plan anything from like March on. He’s found a way to make it work, obviously. He’s impacted so many people’s lives, both on and off the court. It’s pretty remarkable to watch.
00:15:45 We’ve got a couple of Hawaiian media folks on here since we’re going there for training camp. Kyle, go ahead if you’ve got a question.
Okay, Coach. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Okay, thank you. First of all, you lost first in play-in. Do you feel that in the eyes of others going into this season that a lot of people will be underestimating your team?
Yeah, I do think that we’ve been forgotten about a little bit. And, you know, it makes sense where we are. I mean, we didn’t make the playoffs last year. That’s how it works. But I’m excited. I think we were pretty good last year. And if you win 46, that means something. Normally, that’s a five or six seed in the playoffs. So I still think we’re really good. We’ll miss Chris (Paul) and Klay, but it also opens up an opportunity to maybe play a little bit differently. It opens up a void for other guys to fill in where they can lift their games up. And I don’t see any reason why we can’t improve on last year’s team and have a great season. And then you just roll the dice from there. You don’t know what happens with the rest of the league. But if we control our team and our destiny and be the best team we can be, I think good things can happen.
00:17:07 Anything else, Kyle, or anybody else from Hawaii have another question?
Coach, you’re the third longest tenured coach in the NBA. There are eight new coaches this year. Are you kind of disappointed as a coach how quickly your color parts are replaced even after a good season?
I’m sorry, you said how many?
You’re the third longest tenured.
Oh, third longest tenured, yeah. Yeah, I think I’m very lucky, obviously. I mean, the coaches that last the longest are the ones who get attached to Steph Curry or, you know, someone like that. It’s very rare in this business to stay longer than a few years. It’s kind of what we all sign up for. I tell our players all the time that, you know, they can get traded and cut and injured and all that stuff. And some of that applies to coaches too. You know, we’re in big business, there’s big money involved. Of course, every coach would like to see more stability in the profession, but it is what it is. This is what we’ve chosen.
00:18:20 Anything else from Hawaii?
Yeah, Coach, I was wondering when was the last time you were in Hawaii? And are you going to make this a business only kind of a trip? You kind of answered that, but I wanted to know when the last time you were here.
Great question. I’ve been to Hawaii many times over the years, and I love coming to the islands. I want to say two years ago. So I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be fun.
00:18:42 Yeah, what was the reason for that two years ago? Because I know the team wasn’t here, was it?
No, no. My family and I have frequently come to Hawaii for vacation.
00:18:56 Thank you. All right, anything else there?
Oh, Ray, I have a question.
Yep, go ahead.
Coach, thank you very much for doing this. Looking forward to having you in town next week. Do you see a trip to the islands, even though you are coming off the offseason, as a nice way to kind of ease into the year and to the grind?
I think the way I’m looking at it is we’re not trying to ease into the year so much. 📌 I mean, we want to get off to a good start. We want to have a great training camp. So the way I’m looking at it is more we are doing something different. We’re shaking up our routine. We’re having training camp in one of the most beautiful places on earth. And I believe in a good work-life balance. So we’re going to find that in Hawaii. We’re going to have a great time, but we are going to work really, really hard too, and probably no better place for it than Hawaii. So we’re excited about it.
00:19:52 Great. Okay. We did have one other gentleman, Khobe Price from LA is a Laker beatwriter, doing a story on JJ Redick being a first-time head coach. So go ahead, Khobe, with your questions.
Awesome. Appreciate you sending this up, Raymond (Ridder). Can you hear me okay?
Yes. Yep.
Well, thank you. Appreciate your time. As Raymond said, we’re going to the J.J. Redick story. First year as a coach, prior to this coaching experience, you were in a similar position about a decade ago. What did you learn, or I guess one of the biggest lessons you took away from that first season? And what advice would you give to someone in someone in that position like JJ?
Well, I think what I learned was you don’t have nearly as much time as you need. 📌 So, you know, you come in with a plan, you want to go over 10 things, and the players are ready to leave after four of them. And if you think you can keep them on the floor for six more, you’re wasting your time. So what I learned was, really to try to be efficient in practice and get the most important things in and, and really connect with the players, you know, just to, to just to get on the same page. I know JJ’s going to do a great job. He’s smart as hell. He’s played in the league. He knows what all these guys go through. He’s very, you know, close with his own playing career. It’s only been a couple of years. So he’ll do a great job of connecting with the group, and he’ll find his way in terms of planning practices and being efficient with them and all that. But, yeah, he’s got a lot of great qualities that a good coach needs.
00:21:36 Similar to you, I know you have experience on your staff with your assistants. He also did the same, especially with Scott Brooks. So how did that benefit you? I know there are probably more ways than you can say in a minute or so, but how did you feel like that benefits you the most? Especially, you know, your first year, your first training camp, your first couple of months.
Well, he can lean on those guys, just like I leaned on Ron Adams and, and Alvin Gentry for all the little details. You know, as a player, you just show up to practice. You do whatever the coaches say. A lot different when you become the coach and it’s your job to plan it out. But Nate (McMillan) and Scott have been doing this forever. They’ll help JJ with, you know, kind of the rhythm of it all and the routine of practice. And that’s the idea. You surround yourself with really smart people and learn from them and grow together. And it sounds to me like they’ve got a pretty good setup there.
00:22:30 And lastly for me, you guys also shared the broadcast experience before becoming the coach. I understand that you were an executive with Phoenix as well before coaching, but is there anything you did or you can take away from the broadcasting experience and apply it to coaching, even though they’re separate jobs?
Well, the benefit of the broadcasting gig is that you’re around all the different teams and coaches all the time, So you’re seeing different styles. You’re picking the brains of the coaches. I know I brought a lot of ideas that I learned from other coaches who I met through broadcasting games. So JJ is, as I said, he’s really smart guy. He’s a sponge. He’s been around the game at a lot of different levels. And the broadcasting level, it’s a big help. You really get the game at a lot of different levels, and the broadcasting level is a – I think it’s a big help. You really get a good glimpse into a lot of different teams and the way they go about their business.
00:23:32 I have a question for you, Coach. This is an ABC7, not really a basketball question, but as I’m sure you heard, the A’s are leaving Oakland. Tonight’s the last game. Any thoughts on that?
Well, I’ll miss having the A’s here in the Bay. We’ve got an amazing history here. I remember as a kid growing up in L.A. watching the A’s and the Dodgers in the World Series in 1974. So there’s so much history here and sad to see the A’s go and sad for the fans.
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