GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — The Golden State Warriors had just gotten back from Southern California with a three-game sweep, one against the Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center last Tuesday, another one at Staples on Thursday against the Los Angeles Lakers, and a coup de grace of the Lakers, at least in preseason, three days later on Sunday at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, CA.
When we entered the gym on Tuesday, members of the media were informed that Festus Ezeli had practiced with the team. Ezeli was doing sprints from endline to endline of the center of three courts at the practice facility. Fellow injured roster player Shuan Livingston (toe) was reported as “did not practice”, but was shooting around on the same middle court.
Meanwhile, Andrew Bogut continued practicing left-handed free throws with assistant coach Ron Adams rebounding for him. Jason Kapono did a shooting drill where he would shoot from about 17 feet, then step back and shoot a three-pointer (at 23’9″). Justin Holiday shot around where Stephen Curry normally would. As it turned out, Curry was busy taping a segment with the NBA on Sirius XM Radio at the far corner of the gym.
Head coach Steve Kerr gave the team the day off on Monday, Columbus Day, and took a seat in the interviewee’s chair. He said that Ezeli practiced, but only in non-contact drills, adding that Ezeli would not play in this Thursday’s or Friday’s preseason games.
“I get an update everyday from the trainer Johan (Wang) and he said they’re both coming along and making strides,” said Kerr.
Kerr also mentioned that practice had not gone particularly well.
“The guys earned the day off,” Kerr said, “The problem with the day off is, you come back the next day and you’re never as sharp. It’s like a hangover.”
The questions quickly turned to the next hot topic: that of Andre Iguodala coming off the bench, with Harrison Barnes starting in his place.
“We had more continuity with our rotations and I think Andre had everything to do with that,” Kerr said, “He’s kind of a facilitator and a settler out there. He settles the group down and it was fun to watch.”
“I don’t know that that’s the route I want to go,” Kerr said, “We’re going to look at (having Iguodala come off the bench) for sure. Shaun’s not back yet and Shaun can be that kind of facilitator and point guard that Andre was.”
And yet with the early success from three exhibition games, Kerr said that while the team was further along in the anticipated playbook than he had expected, “When you start talking about elite teams playing at a high level, it’s about execution all the time and we’re not close to that yet.”
It also wasn’t all about his new system, as Kerr revealed that the coaching staff has put in a couple plays that the Warriors ran last year under Mark Jackson.
Next up was Iguodala.
“Do I care?” Iguodala said when asked directly about the desire to start, “I don’t know, that’s a good question. I’m just playin’ ball.”
Instead, the topic turned towards Klay Thompson, especially in reference to a play against the Lakers Sunday night in which Iguodala seemingly gave up a layup in favor of a pass to Thompson at the three-point line.
“As long as I’m out there on the court with him, he’s gonna get paid,” joked Iguodala, adding that he should get some percentage of Thompson’s impending pay raise via contract extension.
As far as the play itself?
“All I saw was two guys. They were a little bit behind me, and I had mask on and I didn’t want to die,” Iguodala explained, instead opting for a “layup” from the three-point line from Thompson.
As for the mask itself, Iguodala said it didn’t bother him having it on and that his nose was bleeding even as late as an hour after the game had ended.
Next up was supposed to be Barnes, but by then some of the players had been washing up and getting ready to head on out to AT&T Park to catch Game 3 of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
Thompson strolled out of the practice facility with a to-go plastic lunch box, red t-shirt, silver shorts, and Nike sandals. He would later be seen in the same garb on TV from a corporate suite at the ballpark.
As Curry and David Lee walked out, Lee was asked by Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle if Lee, a St. Louis native, would be wearing any Cardinals paraphernalia.
“No, I’m not committing suicide,” said Lee.
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