ORACLE AND WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY, OAKLAND, CA — Last time we left off, we were talking game planning in preparation for the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’ll start off this segment with a little behind-the-scenes from Oracle Thursday night.
THURSDAY NIGHT, ORACLE ARENA 11/14/2013
Before I do that, I should say that it was a thrill to wait for Chauncey Billups and get an opportunity for his insights on Andre Iguodala‘s fit with the Warriors, which I reported here. That same night, I noticed how chummy the Detroit Pistons‘ Brandon Jennings was with Yahoo’s Marc Spears. Spears would soon thereafter have his report on Jennings’s fresh start in Detroit.
So fast-forward to Warriors shootaround Thursday morning. I left the shootaround with Stephen Curry Thursday morning hoping to go with the thread of the potential excitement of having him and Kevin Durant on the same 2014 World Championships team. I was careful to point out that I knew he wasn’t thinking about this during the season, but Curry only gave the vanilla answer that he’s already expressed an interest to play on the team and he looks forward to the possible opportunity.
So that night, I set out to ask either KD or Russell Westbrook about that, but when I entered the OKC locker room, there was already a throng of reporters interviewing KD, especially with the 6’7″ Spears leading the way. When Spears does an interview, you don’t interrupt!
KD talked about Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, as well as how social media and YouTube have made it easier for youngsters to copy superstars’ moves. Spears had the whole story here.
Pretty soon, the OKC PR shushed the reporters away and I never got a chance to approach KD or Russ with my question. This would be the case after the game, as well, as KD was focused on discussing the game, getting it overwith, and heading to out of the locker room. However, I did get a chance to ask Steven Adams after the game about the rivalry between Kiwis and Aussies, first reported by our Anthony Mitchell. I’m hoping to still get some quotes from Andrew Bogut to finish that story off.
FRIDAY, WARRIORS PRACTICE FACILITY 11/15/2013
On Friday afternoon, Draymond Green could be found doing post-up moves on assistant coach Brian Scalabrine. Scalabrine would literally put his hands on Draymond almost like a football blocking play, but it was needed in light of the drills they were doing and the physical punishment one can expect from live NBA action.
I wondered what was more fun, watching Curry take jump shots all day or hearing Draymond’s grunts and yells whenever he drew contact or took a shot. You can even hear a lot of it during Iguodala’s interviews.
Iguodala talked about those slow-motion moments before hitting the game-winner. He also mentioned that he talked to assistant coach Pete Myers about Oracle. “I was like, ‘Yo, this doesn’t even feel like a basketball game. It feels like a show, like a concert or something. The energy. It’s crazy playing in there,” Iguodala said.
Sam Amick of USA Today had the story on Iguodala’s moments.
Head coach Mark Jackson came out and said it was “sad” how moments in basketball like last night’s game-winning shot could have an effect on how an entire team is perceived. That was only the beginning of some very “Zen” comments he would later make.
Marcus Thompson had his own summary of what Jackson talked about.
Of course, the talk about Iguodala was very praiseworthy. In fact, Jackson said Iguodala was the best passer at his position “not named LeBron James“.
But even the talk of Klay Thompson made you think some deep thoughts. He said that sometimes great players need to “not care” and Klay is very much like that. Not that he actually doesn’t care what the consequences are for his actions, but that he is not afraid of the big moment.
It was as if we were just sitting by the campfire and making philosophical statements about the game of basketball. I felt that it was a step towards Jackson establishing a pantheon of sorts where in this house, you as a Warriors fan or a Warriors follower need not waver. The foundation of “Just Us” had famously already been poured with concrete. Now it was a matter of the pillars to the house going up, and the people having no hesitation in believing this coach that whatever actions he takes or moves he makes will more than likely result in a win. I summarized it here.
SATURDAY MORNING SHOOTAROUND
I missed Saturday morning shootaround due to illness but on the SoundCloud for the Warriors, at the 1:27 mark I noticed that Green had called Andre by the nickname Andre does not prefer: “Iggy”.
The rest of the audio was about Green’s commitment to defense and how most people don’t notice the things he brings to the table, which can’t always be tracked by stats.
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