Here are the remaining notes & quotes from Warriors practice in Miami, the day before facing the Heat. We had Draymond Green and Steve Kerr, but I’ve ordered the notes with Kerr first because he dives into injury status reports right away. Also, this report does not include Green’s in-depth responses to Tony Allen and retired players, or the back-and-forth with Kerith Burke on Women’s Empowerment issues, which were both posted in separate articles for subscribers only.
This article is obviously free for everyone, as a lot of the topics are already being covered by beatwriters and are a bit commoditized by now. Please check our YouTube channel for all the visuals, but the clickable video at the top of this post is on the James Wiseman pick & roll details, and the one below is a status report on Stephen Curry and Eric Paschall:
KERR:
– Steph? “Steph did practice. Eric did not.”
– status? “Eric is doubtful for tomorrow and Steph should be good to go.”
– rough patch for EP? “This is part of being a young NBA player…I’ve talked to Eric and he’s in good spirits…staying ready, staying alert.”
– Wiggs defense: “one of the most impressive things is he just never misses a game…like a baseball team that has a pitcher that eats tough innings…big minutes…so valuable…on ball defense has been really good this year, he’s shooting the ball very efficiently…what’s really exciting is that he’s getting more and more comfortable playing alongside Steph and Draymond…feeling good about his surroundings…style of play.”
– anything more? “We’ve talked about off ball defense…like a lot of players…better on the ball…show film…once his guy gives up the ball he’s gotta be vigilant…boxing out…so receptive to coaching.”
– high screens: “yeah definitely we want to continue to run plenty of pick and rolls, a big part of it is James is really starting to get comfortable with the timing of his drags…step ups…sometimes it’s not even called…now he’s recognizing anytime there’s a broken play to go set a high screen. That’s the growth that we’ve been looking for from James…excited about his play in the pick and roll and his awareness of when to hold the screen and when to dive.”
– keeping up Wiseman’s spirits? “Yeah we talk to him about it, I talked to him during the game…shoulders up and chin high, don’t ever let your opponent know that you’re down…expectations, no matter how you slice it, James just needs to play…see the pictures, feel the speed. Everyone is in such a rush…he sees all of that…the amount of scrutiny and coverage…as a young person especially that’s hard…Mike Dunleavy has a great quote that I like to use: Everybody runs his own race…look at Jordan last year, he looked lost and now all of a sudden…great confidence…James has to run his race, he can’t run anybody else’s race…great thing is, we’re seeing it…the detail that we see on film…good chance to have a good run here the last 25 games.”
– birthday: “yeah we had a birthday video for him…I can’t even remember twenty, so lucky guy.”
– Steph on court: “he just infuses us with confidence and swagger…hopefully he stays healthy and we make a good push.”
– Steph surprises? “nothing ever surprises me with Steph.”
– Ginobili, Sixth Man: “Sixth Man has to change the game when he enters…usually scoring…Andre changed the game with his brain…the best Sixth Men just make an impact that everybody on the court can feel.”
– Poole? “Way too early for that…doing a good job…playing with a lot of confidence and that would be the hope…be our Sixth Man scorer off the bench.”
Warriors PR says no shootaround tomorrow.
DRAYMOND:
– more PNR? “also seen Kelly’s ability to play high screen and roll…really good weapon for us…will we lean more on that? It’s not really my decision…a way to continue to use Wise because he’s a tough cover rolling to the rim.”
– Wiggs defense: “you could kinda see it then (2019-20)…this season he’s taken another step up…he’s been all over the place.”
– Wiggs with Klay defense: “having another guy to put in screen and roll…he can play make out of that…you got Klay and Steph on the wing…spacing…open a lot of other things as well.”
– mentor young guys: “I’m not sure I’ll ever get into coaching…this hasn’t really changed…more so just from the standpoint of being able to help someone else…I like to help people.”
– Steph being more vocal? “He’s been getting more and more vocal each year. There’s more to be said this year…there just wasn’t as much to say (before).”
/end
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