ORACLE ARENA, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors will play against the San Antonio Spurs (preview). Here are the sights and sounds from this morning’s shootaround at the Warriors’ practice facility, as well as pre-game at #Roaracle.
MORNING SHOOTAROUND
Upon entering the gym, the first order of business was to check on Klay Thompson‘s condition, considering he missed the game in Phoenix.
We found him shooting around in a grey, long-sleeved shirt, giving no indication of whether or not he ran through some light scrimmages or walk-throughs with the first team (usually wearing blue) or the second team (usually wearing white).
“He took part in everything and he’s just testing out his hand,” head coach Steve Kerr said, “I would say he’s questionable, but we’ll see how he responds after shootaround.”
We also saw Stephen Curry running some pick-and-roll drills with backup center Festus Ezeli:
Reporters pressed Kerr on the turnover issue, and he was open and honest about it.
“We’re making six to eight plays of insane lunacy,” Kerr said, noting that David Lee had come up with the term ‘lunacy’, “We’ll go with that one. Those are inexcusable and are from bad habits that we have to break.”
Curry also was candid about the turnover problem.
“We have to take ownership of that and get better, but we also have to stay aggressive, let the offense work, move the ball, move bodies and just value the ball more. We’re 5-1 while leading the league in turnovers, and we could be a lot better,” Curry said, “It’s a far-fetched goal to lead the league in fewest turnovers based on how we play. But if we have 26 turnovers that (Kerr is) OK with – trying to make the right play or trying to set good screens and it doesn’t go our way – that’s different than the ones that we’re having.”
San Francisco Chronicle writer Rusty Simmons had more in his shootaround post.
PRE-GAME
Prior to the pre-game, the Warriors announced backup point guard and former first-round draft pick Nemanja Nedovic had been waived. Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group had the report and also the impact to Golden State’s salary situation:
The Warriors could recover some of the $1.1 million salary owed to Nedovic this season if they buy out his contract and the Serbia native lands with one of the European teams reportedly interested in him.
At the pre-game press conference, Kerr announced Thompson’s status as “probable.”
“He felt pretty good after shootaround,” Kerr said, “He’ll test it out again pregame tonight. He’s probable,” also noting that there would not be a minutes restriction.
Leung would get the official confirmation from Thompson himself that Thompson would, indeed, be playing.
Kerr also reflected back to his retreat with Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich, after Kerr’s old team, the Phoenix Suns, which he was general manager of, had swept the Spurs in the playoffs. Kerr stated that that was when Popovich decided the Spurs needed to become a faster-pace team:
Popovich also reflected on his relationship with Kerr and said that it was a lot of fun seeing former Spurs still in the NBA in management roles:
Back on the court, Curry, Thompson, Harrison Barnes — along with Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area — and Andre Iguodala got ready on the opposite side of the court than usual, a small piece of strategy Popovich likes to throw on the Warriors. The visiting team in the NBA gets to choose which side to be on first.
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