Steve Kerr spent fifteen minutes on the podium yesterday on topics covering Draymond Green, see entire transcript below the paywall — will be publicly accessible at the next post, previous paywalled article now opened.
But one huge takeaway is that you can probably rip up all those trade scenarios involving Draymond’s contract.
This is reinforced by Mike Dunleavy, Jr. hopping on the pregame show on NBC Sports Bay Area before the Orlando game and telling viewers not to expect any major changes, that the team can be improved from within, especially the turnovers. I’ve post some excerpts of that interview behind the paywall as well.
That still doesn’t rule out that rumor for a rim-running center or our suggestion that maybe Jonathan Kuminga should be dealt for Draft capital, but it certainly helps taking Dray’s sizable $25 million contract out of trade machine stuff. I’m glad I didn’t do my livestream/video for that! I had a few family things come up this past week.
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DUNLEAVY QUOTES from pregame ORL-GSW on NBCSBA: https://www.nbcsportsbayarea.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/mike-dunleavy-improving-roster/1901765
“We’ll look to do stuff that makes our team better,” Dunleavy said. “But I wouldn’t bank on that type of move. To get a guy like Jimmy Butler, to have the improvement that we did … that’d be pretty unrealistic.”
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“I think the key, frankly, with this team right now is improving it from within, Dunleavy continued. “The biggest area we know is turnovers.”
The Warriors currently have the fifth-most turnovers per game at 16.2. Only the Trail Blazers, Rockets, Clippers, and Hornets average more.
“We’ve got to start taking care of the ball, Dunleavy stated. “We’re doing some really good stuff defensively. People talk a lot about our size, between Quinten and Draymond, when those two are in the game our rim protection is fantastic. When Steph’s off the court, and Jimmy’s on with the group. Our offense is pretty good.”
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“This has become a possession game in the NBA with the rebounding, the steals, taking care of the ball,” Dunleavy concluded. “I think we’re all frustrated, we know what the issue is, and we’ve just got to go solve it.”
STEVE KERR FROM PRACTICE:
00:00 STEVE KERR, PRACTICE, DAY BEFORE DAL-GSW: Hey guys. Who’s starting? Danny (Emerman), you got the mic. Oh, Sam (Gordon), you got one too.
00:10 How you doing, Steve? I’m good. How are you, Sam? Good, good. how have the last couple of days been?
00:14 Have you, did you talk with Draymond? Were you able to talk with him after what happened on Monday?
00:19 Yeah, we talked today. We had a great chat and, frankly, what night is it? What day? What day is it today? Monday morning. So, Monday night. Yeah, Monday night was not my finest hour and that was a time I needed to be calm in the huddle and so I regret my actions in that exchange and I apologized to Dray. He apologized to me. We both apologized to the team. These things, they happen especially when you get two incredibly competitive people like Dray and me. So over the 12 years we’ve been together, this has happened occasionally and I’m not proud of it. We had a great chat. I care so much about Draymond and the relationship we have is like family. We’ve been — and like family, you go through ups and downs and my number one goal, honestly, is for him to finish his career as a Warrior with us, fighting — metaphorically, not literally — fighting and competing together until we’re both gone. And I believe that’s going to happen because I believe in Draymond and I believe in myself and I believe in everything we’ve built for 12 years. And so we had a great chat. I’m not gonna share the details, but I can tell you this. I’m expecting the very best version of Draymond tomorrow. I know exactly who he is. He’s a winner. He’s a champion. He’s the most passionate, competitive person I’ve ever met and that can get the best of him. And it can get the best of me. And that’s what happened the other night.
02:27 And was there any — with at practice today — was there any discussion with the group or about what happened or just keep pushing?
02:32 I talked to the team. Draymond also talked to the team. We both apologized for what transpired. It was not a good look, as I said. It was on me as the coach to recognize the circumstances and I did not do that. I let my emotions get the best of me and it was not my, like I said, not my finest hour, but I also know exactly who Draymond is and who exactly who I am. We want the exact same thing and that’s a good thing. And I think we’re gonna be fine. We’re gonna move forward from here and I’m excited about what’s ahead in wanting him to finish his career, fighting as a Warrior.
03:18 In your conversations with him, do you get the sense that he wants that, too?
03:21 Hell, yeah. Yeah, he’s — one of the things I love about Draymond is his loyalty. I talk to Tom Izzo a lot. I’ve talked to him in the last couple of days and Draymond’s loyalty for Tom and his affection for his alma mater is one of my favorite things about him. I’ve been on — we’ve been on the plane before where Michigan State is on Draymond’s phone, playing a game. And I know that they just lost because I hear Draymond like screaming or I know that they just won and I love that about him. He’s a loyal guy. He’s loyal to the Warriors. He’s loyal to me, loyal to Steph, so he wants to be here his whole career. I want nothing more than that. I love Draymond and I love everything he’s meant to me and to the organization and to the Bay and he’s a complicated guy. He will be the first to admit that he’s very complex, but he is undyingly loyal and passionate and I will go to bat for him as long as I’m coaching him here and, honestly, for — I would go to bat for him 20 years from now when we haven’t been together because that’s how strongly I feel about him and that’s how I want this thing to end with us, whenever that is.
04:58 Talking about you guys are on the same page about wanting to win, wanting the same things, how do you turn moments of frustration like these into things that are positive versus letting it spiral?
05:09 There’s a long history of that here because we understand each other and I understand his power. We have four banners out there and obviously a lot of people played important roles in that, but I’ve said this before and I truly believe it. I don’t think we have any without Draymond. That’s how much he impacts winning, so his ability to channel that passion, that emotion, that raw rage that he has is a key component to what makes us successful. And what I said about the other night, I didn’t channel my own raw emotion and rage of which there is plenty. We are far more alike than anyone would ever realize, so yeah we — this is not totally uncommon. I would say this hasn’t happened in a few years. This kind of a divide and a blow up, but in our 12 years together, it’s not the first time and we’ve always, found a way to not only bounce back, but to make strides as a result.
06:37 Steve, to your point and to everything you’re saying and, it’s broader than just you and Draymond obviously, do you feel like the air within the team is clear now?
06:45 I do. I do. I think there’s always going to be dynamics within a team, within every team that exists all season long. And it’s the coach’s job and it’s the leaders of the team on the roster’s job, to help guys through those circumstances. We have issues. Every other team has issues, but we have to work through them and I believe that this was a major step in that happening. And I feel really good about where our team is on the floor, about where we’re heading. I see the potential to do exactly what we did last year to really go on a run and give ourselves a chance and where we are as a team, as an organization. Most important thing for me is for guys to recognize that there’s beauty in the struggle. There’s beauty in what we’re trying to accomplish right now. We are no longer the ‘17 Warriors, dominating the league. We are a fading dynasty. We know that. Everybody knows that. So what is up to us? How do we carry ourselves night to night? How connected are we and can we give ourselves another swing at the plate? We did that last year. I was really proud of the team last year, despite the loss against Minnesota. The injury to Steph, who knows how far we would’ve gone, but we gave ourselves a chance. And that’s the goal here. We know where we are. We’ve gotta know who we are, we’ve gotta know what’s possible and we have to take pride in the struggle because this is part of life.
08:41 You mentioned it earlier, but you and Draymond have been together for 12 years now, 11, 12 years. Like you said, you’ve had your blows before, you’ve had confrontations with a player like Draymond, who is so intense and has that fire. Is it almost necessary sometimes to have those conflicts? Is that something that you have to have with him or just as a coach?
09:04 I suppose you could make that theory and we could probably hash that out. It’s not really what I want to talk about. No matter what happens, we have to deal with the circumstances at play and, like I said, I wish I had handled myself better the other night, but I also know that with 12 years behind us, we have a strong enough bond where we’ll get past this. We have gotten through stuff in the past.
09:45 You mentioned the ‘17 Warriors. On that team, Draymond’s uniqueness was a crucial element in that team doing what was able to do and my question to you is, at this stage of his career, how often will you see that best Draymond out there, because he’s had some bumps this year?
10:04 Yeah, one of the things I love about Draymond is, he knows where he is right now. He’s told me, I know I’m not the same player I was eight years ago and two years from now I’m not gonna be the same guy I am now, so I know I have to play the role that is best for the team and best for me. Now, when I think of his words, when he says that, what comes to mind for me is where the rest of the league is, too. Compared to 2017, it’s not just we’re all older and we’ve all — we have a different set of circumstances within our own team. The league is dramatically different, faster, more threes, more athleticism. Young teams are more dangerous than ever because of the pace, so for me that means as a coach, I have to help the team play the way we need to play in those circumstances. That may me mean taking Draymond off the ball. If somebody’s gonna put their best wing young defender on him to get underneath the dribble, then I gotta get him in the corner and let Jimmy and Steph and others operate on the ball. And Dray has been working hard on his corner three-point shooting the last couple years and this is part of our collective ability or awareness that we have to adapt to the modern game, to our circumstances, to being older, to the way teams are playing against us. All of that stuff is in this pot that we’re mixing up, trying to figure this out.
11:51 We’ve seen in the past you’ve made moves that maybe turned a few — raised a few eyebrows. You moved Andre into the bench. You moved Klay to the bench. Is that even possible with Draymond?
12:03 He would do it.
12:04 You’d consider it?
12:04 He’s told me. He told me this year I’ll go to the bench if you need me to. I know what Draymond’s about. He’s about winning. That’s not even a consideration for me right now because I’m really excited about this starting lineup, Steph, Draymond, Moses, QP, Jimmy. I think it’s a great starting lineup for us because we get the size and shooting of Quinten next to Dray, which takes a pressure off of him and Dray is at his best next to Steph, so he should play most of his minutes with Steph. Those two guys are incredible together, so the idea of bringing him off the bench, I understand it in theory, maybe we could get this or get that. Trust me, that’s all we do as a staff, is think about this stuff all day long. And we’ve had every discussion about how to make our team the best. I’m convinced it’s with what we’re doing right now.
13:01 Is there a certain number of minutes you — I know you’ve said that you don’t want to, you want to keep, you want to limit Draymond’s minutes at the 5. Is there a way to — do you monitor the minutes he plays at the 5 and how do you, is there a number that you don’t want to go over or is it just game by game?
13:16 It’s game by game, but starting Quinten just allows us to set a tone. Quinten’s got the big guy. Draymond, you’re the 4. Teams are often putting their small guys on Quinten anyway, which puts Dray in the pick and roll on offense. And we saw this last year, our last 30 games, we found a really good combination of Jimmy and Steph and running our offense through each of them at different times, but what we did differently last year was we played Dray at the 5. As much as I would love to play that five-man group with BP and Moses, we can do that for a handful of minutes a night, but we’re trying to accomplish quite a few things all at once and it’s not easy, but it’s really important to me that Steph and Dray play together and that we start big next to Dray. And I think what you’re seeing the last couple games, we’re getting more consistent with our rotation pattern behind that group. And that’s where I think this thing is heading.
14:25 I know Draymond didn’t come back in the game the other night. Was there any possible follow up, a fine or anything like that?
14:31 No. No. I said I was very much at fault for what happened the other night, so there’s no need to even discuss anything like that.
14:43 Steve, health-wise everybody’s okay?
14:45 Yeah, Al’s likely to play tomorrow. Anything else?
14:50 Seth.
14:51 Yeah, Seth is still out. Yeah, I don’t know that we’ve put anything out on Seth, so I’m not gonna even say anything until we’re ready to give you guys more info on that.
15:04 Merry Christmas to you guys. Merry Christmas. Have a great night tonight. Alright.
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