WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — When we last left you, the Golden State Warriors were just about to play the Toronto Raptors that night.
So, please note: this was from last week.
WEDNESDAY PRACTICE, 12/4/2013
At the ensuing practice the next morning, Coach Mark Jackson‘s conversation topics ranged from the status of Toney Douglas and Andre Iguodala (both not available but ready to head on the roadtrip with the team) to what to make of the 27-point comeback to the Houston Rockets, to Dewayne Dedmon, Dwight Howard, and Andrew Bogut.
As the conversation threaded along, I noticed that Jackson takes time to properly pay homage to every player that gets talked about, even Andris Biedrins!
When asked about how the team would defend Howard, Jackson said, “You go back to last year whether it’d be Festus (Ezeli), Andris (Beidrins), now Bogues (Bogut), Jermaine (O’Neal). We believe in playing straight up from the center position. That being said, guys gotta get it going and gotta make adjustments in this league but overall we’re fortunate to have an elite defender (in Bogut) at that position because it can really affect your defense.”
The topic then turned to Dedmon, who was waived earlier in the day as a cost-cutting move for the Warriors, as 10-day contracts cannot be signed until January.
“We have a lot of belief in him. He’s a bright young basketball player who has a future in this league. It’s valuable to get him experience and we know where he is,” Jackson said, “We really believe in Dewayne, how he’s matured, how hard he works, does everything the right way. He’s an NBA player. Obviously I have no problem to put him in ball games. It just didn’t work out because when we got him when Jermaine was not playing but now he’s back.”
Jackson was asked if he knew about O’Neal when the free agent signing occurred.
“I knew him enough to be respectful in the whole conversation. Never played with him, obviously. I played against him, but you don’t know a guy until you get him in your locker room, on your team,” Jackson said, “The crazy thing in this league, people said things about Jarrett Jack, people said things about Carl Landry, people said things about Jermaine O’Neal. Some were right on and a lot of them or the majority of them were way off, which is — I mean, it’s hilarious to me. He’s a great leader with a great voice and he’s been tremendous for us.”
Jackson was then asked if he’d ever come across a veteran leader like J.O. in his career.
“I came into a league on a team that had no success. We began to win, so we really — Patrick Ewing was obviously our leader. I was point guard, so I was a leader but Pat Ewing, guys like that that did things the right way, he wasn’t as much a vocal leader but just by his example and spoke his mind, was powerful when he did say something, you know it was meaningful. I would lean to a guy like that,” Jackson said.
And at the same time, he made clear what his style was and exuded the confidence that he’s had since Day One with the Warriors: that his way works.
“A player’s gotta be comfortable enough to know that a coach is giving him the floor, players respect him. I’ve been on some teams where coach would say, ‘Go ahead,’ I’ve been on some teams where coach would say, ‘Shut up, this is my show,’ which is clownish.”
So it was another day in the life of Mark Jackson. He’ll hold his ground if he feels he’s being attacked, such as with the George Karl incident, but he’s confident in his ways and he’s a players’ coach. If you have the right attitude, work ethic, and approach, more than likely you will gain his respect, no matter how good or bad a player you are.
Bogut was also made available to media and Jackson obviously had some great things to say about him as well. Two other Warriors beatwriters wrote about Bogut and I’ll also have a third piece soon, which will link all of the Bogut-related quotes together.
The team would depart later in the afternoon for the roadtrip to Houston, Memphis, and Charlotte. As of today, the team had practice in the morning and we will have a report on that shortly.
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