Core dump copy/paste is below from our private Discord server — access to which is free for paid subscribers — from yesterday. Obligatory button:
These are notes & quotes from the practice in Dallas, where Klay Thompson and Draymond Green flew in to have their first full practice this season with James Wiseman, including 3-on-3 scrimmage per Steve Kerr. There’s footage in the clickable video above.
The Golden State Warriors will face the Dallas Mavs tonight at 5:30PM PST. Please join me on the second screen live chat before for pregame analysis, while it’s happening, and after for postgame interviews, all on our YouTube channel (usually a 5-hour marathon). Full of positivity, too. Our community is full of diehard fans who appreciate how we got here!
Steve
• *Draymond and Klay:* “Both practiced today and looked really good … Klay will be questionable [see below for Klay’s response on that] for tomorrow but Draymond is really making strides …”
• *What was Draymond able to do?* “So he went through the full practice. He played some 3-on-3 afterwards with James, with Klay, some of our younger guys. Very productive day.”
• *Felt importance of Draymond just from one practice?* “Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you feel Draymond’s presence the minute he walks into the room and frankly we need it … to me he impacts winning as dramatically as just about any player I’ve been around and is hard to quantify. It’s really easy to quantify it with Steph, Klay, Michael Jordan and Tim Duncan … with Draymond, he’s such a unique individual. So it goes beyond how smart he is, his defensive prowess, his passing. It’s his presence. It’s his dominance in the room. It’s his energy, his competitiveness. All that stuff is needed and missed but just getting him back in the building, even without him playing in the game tomorrow night, is really helpful.”
• *Does that includes being on the bench tomorrow?* “Yeah I don’t know. It’s really about whatever he’s most comfortable with. The fact that he’s moving around and playing , 3-on-3, doing some sprints, obviously his back is feeling better. Now, should he be sitting in a chair for two hours? I don’t know if that’s what he’s supposed to do or not, but I’m hoping as soon as he’s able to do that, he’ll do that.”
2:29 • *Steph:* “… he’s had to take on so much responsibility over the last few weeks — actually longer than that. How long has Draymond been out, six weeks or so? … the responsibility on Steph’s shoulders is just immense and he’s played so well, as good as I’ve ever seen him in terms of managing the game and just getting the ball out to open people, taking care of the ball. His assist to turnover ratio during that span is really really good. His awareness of what’s needed. But it’s a lot to ask. On a night like last night when we didn’t make much of a stand defensively and then our next guys who need to score, we didn’t get anything really collectively from group — when we’re shorthanded we’re just gonna need more collective defense and toughness and energy and we’re gonna have to find a couple guys who are making shots … Steph can’t do it by himself.”
3:56 • *How does James look to you?* “Really good, really good. Yeah, James, his movement, his conditioning, is all really coming around. From a health standpoint, it’s really going smoothly and that’s the biggest thing. What I will always keep circling back to is, this guy needs reps. He needs a thousand reps and he needs a summer league, he needs a training camp. So let’s temper the expectations but be excited about his future because as he gets those reps, he’s got the potential to be a tremendous player.”
4:41 • * Any plans for Wiseman or Draymond with scrimmaging?* “Not yet. Is literally day-to-day. The fact that they both played today for the first time in the floor together was really exciting and fun to see. The more games and days that James strings together, the better. So it’s been a really good three to four week stretch now, so it’s all heading in a really positive direction but not enough to where I can say he’s gonna play on such and such date.”
5:15 • *How is Moses’ eye?* “It’s still swollen. He’s got a black eye. But he practiced today. He’ll be questionable for tomorrow. He’s tough. One of the things I love about Moses is he’s a physical player. He’s unafraid of contact. The play that he got hurt on, he was the Help defender and he got elbowed really hard right in the eye and bounced up and ran back on offense and then I didn’t even realized it has happened until I saw him holding it. We had to take him out of the game obviously but he’s got a lot of grit, a lot of toughness, that young guy.”
6:00 • *Wiseman so far has been about reps or conditioning?* “All-inclusive. We try to wrap that into his individual time on the court so he’s getting conditioning but he’s also getting reps out of different looks so maybe it’s a high screen and roll and a dive, or maybe it’s a DHO into a dive. Different things he’s gonna have to see both offensively and defensively. We try to put him in those spots in the scrimmages so that we can accomplish both.”
Jordan Poole
• *What needs to happen to get you going?* “Continue to keep playing.”
• *How has Draymond’s absence impacted things you have to do?* “Draymond a big part of our team. It’s different not having him so we’re just can’t wait till he gets back.”
• *Does your role fluctuating have an impact on your performance?* “You just kinda gotta find a way to play through it.”
• *Do you care about starting or coming off the bench?* “As long as I’m out there playing, it feels good.”
• *Lack of connectedness:* “One of the vets mentioned it in the locker room. It’s something that we gotta fix internally and get back to playing winning basketball.”
• *What are the defensive issues team-wide?* “We’re know how good of a defensive team we are. We’re just gotta get back to playing our type of style.”
Klay
•*(inaudible)* “…Happy to be back on the court.”
• *How are you feeling?* “I feel pretty good (shrugs after checking phone).”
• *Did your sickness just pop up Sunday?* “After the game Thursday night. Had a raging headache and just got really sick. It sucks. You guys might wanna keep your distance, to be honest. Like, this stuff sucks.”
0:29 • *Do you have any doubt you’ll play tomorrow?* “Oh, I’m playing. Didn’t come all the way to Dallas to watch.”
• *Did you watch the games?* “Yeah. I watched the games. You think I’m just gonna — yeah, I watched it. It’s sucks when you watch, man. It’s a lot of watching the last few years and you just feel helpless so I hate that feeling (shakes head).”
0:55 • *What did you see?* “I saw us lose to the Mavericks and the Timberwolves. I saw guys play hard and (shakes head) — it’s hard. The NBA season’s hard, man. It really is (coughs in towel).”
1:14 • *How does the body feel in practice, do you need to get your legs back under you?* “I feel — I feel great, especially compared to where I was five days ago. I really do feel really good. That was not fun (shakes head). Just very very lucky to be healthy (nods head).”
1:36 • *How much pressure is there on Steph with Draymond and you out?* “I mean, he’s gonna see a lot of double-teams, a lot of attention. I hate that feeling because, you know, you wanna be able to help the team. We still haven’t seen our team whole yet so there’s a silver lining there.”
/end