WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — After the Golden State Warriors demolished the Los Angeles Lakers, 136-97, in the final preseason game last Thursday, the Warriors took Friday off before resuming practice Saturday, Sunday, and Monday prior to Tuesday’s season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans.
[CLICK ON THE LEFT AND RIGHT ARROWS ABOVE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY SLIDESHOW]Saturday
Prior to practice, Ian Clark was told he made the 15-man roster.
Saturday was also “Family Day”, which meant we got a slight peek into a Warriors intra-squad scrimmage, as media and those not directly involved in basketball operations rarely get a glimpse.
Once the scrimmage ended, media were finally let in for availability. Andrew Bogut wore a mask to protect his broken nose suffered against the Houston Rockets, the 4th of 7 preseason games:
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Warriors general manager Bob Myers immediately addressed reporters and announced that Luke Walton would coach the team’s season opener in three days at Oracle Arena against the Pelicans.
“When he does come back, we want him to stay back,” said Myers of Kerr. “Like a player, get some practices in prior to stepping into a game.”
There was still no timetable. “Even if you ask Steve, he doesn’t know,” Myers added.
Because the team expects Kerr to be back at some point, Myers said there was no need to go out and hire additional coaching staff help.
“(Walton’s) not intimidated by the NBA,” said Myers. “This is the coaching staff. We do believe Steve will be back. He believes he’ll be back. So we have confidence in these guys and players will probably have to step up a little more.”
Kerr seems to be making improvement in his overall health.
“(He’s) hanging around practice more and more, hanging around the office a little more. Since he’s left, this is probably the most involvement he’s had being out,” Walton said on Saturday. “We put in a couple new plays at the end of practice.”
Walton said that while coaching the Warriors’ summer league team was helpful for him, “The NBA guys, they don’t need to impress you. For the most part, they’re established,” and so it will be a different dynamic being at the helm of an NBA bench.
He joked to reporters that he had found out through the media:
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Further resources:
- VIDEO: Warriors GM Bob Myers announces that Luke Walton will coach the 2015-16 season opener
- VIDEO: Warriors interim head coach Luke Walton won’t let ring ceremony distract his focus on Pelicans
- Luke Walton jokes that he just found out he was coaching the Warriors’ season opener
- Warriors GM Bob Myers On Steve Kerr: “When He Does Come Back, We Want Him To Stay Back” — LetsGoWarriors.com
Andrew Bogut was up next and discussed his recent nose surgery, all the while turning a question into whether or not he liked the results of the procedure into a playful joke about plastic surgery:
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Here’s the full video: Andrew Bogut shares jokes with reporters about his nose surgery
Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle filed this report:
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Bogut wore a clear mask as protection, the fourth time in his career he’s broken his nose and ended up with a mask. Doctors have told Bogut he should wear the mask for three to four weeks, though he sounded skeptical of the timetable.
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“You get used to it, just because you’ve worn it,” he said. “It’s a pain in the ass, to be quite honest. But that’s what you have to do to play.”
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Wrote Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
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“If I miss my first couple shots,” Bogut cracked, “it might go flying.”
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Curry got this reverse jam to go down after shooting free throws:
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Sunday
On Sunday, Curry and Clark (and Walton) were made available to media.
Poole filed this report:
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“If we play our A-plus game, we feel like we’re going to win every game we play,” Curry said. “But we expect that whoever is suiting up against us is going to have their A-plus night, whether it’s at home or on the road. They’re going to be hyped up and ready to go. We even saw that in the preseason.”
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From Kroichick:
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“Obviously it’s temporary, but you’re used to a certain flow in games and you’re used to hearing his voice,” Curry said. “He provides a lot for the coaching staff with adjustments, which buttons to press, plays to call.
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“All the way through, it’s different. But it doesn’t affect our effort on the court, our competitiveness, our execution. We just have to take that to another level and be mature about the process.”
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Monday
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“Preseason meant a lot more to me than it did the players,” said Walton, noting that it took some time to get used to the little things of coaching an NBA game such as timeouts.
Walton also said he thinks the Warriors players aren’t really bothered by the “lucky” slights, but that they will use it to their advantage to obtain an edge and that they play better when they have an edge.
It will be tougher to win games as they are now the hunted, but Walton, who played on two championship Laker teams, said, “Now we’re gonna have even more fans” at visiting arenas.
As for stepping up into the head coach’s chair, Walton said there isn’t much game-planning that really needs to be done. It will be up to the players to want to execute and play elite defense.
Green also addressed the media, but for the first time in a long time, didn’t really have anything quotable. Things tend to even out that way. Usually.
Curry and Shaun Livingston:
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Andre Iguodala:
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#SplashBrothers Stephen Curry And Klay Thompson Get Ready For Their New Orleans Pelicans Matchups
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @poormanscommish)
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