Make California Post a Preferred Source SAN FRANCISCO — There were two things Steve Kerr omitted from his usual preseason address to the Golden State Warriors to set the tone for the season ahead.
For one, there will be no more special treatment for Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
“Our team was built in such a way that I literally told everybody, all of you guys have to take care of the ball, they’re allowed to turn it over six times,” Kerr said. “We’ve got to tighten things up.”
The crackdown on playing cleaner, crisper basketball is part of a broader makeover that was desperately needed after finishing fourth from the bottom in giveaways last season.
It’s also part of what Kerr described as a way to “reimagine” Warriors basketball heading into his 14th season with an aging roster that’s been lapped by teams both younger and better.
That goes as far as their own expectations for this season and however many Curry has left with Golden State after taking a discount to sign a two-year extension.
For the first time in a while, the Warriors didn’t spend media day talking about championships.
“Last year I think I told the team in our first meeting, ‘we’re trying to win the championship,’” Kerr said. “What’s our goal? They all said, ‘championship.’ I think I even told them, we want a home court advantage in the playoffs.”
This season, after contemplating walking away, “I am 100% locked in on the process on how we’re teaching every single day,” Kerr continued. “I firmly believe that if we do that from the beginning without even mentioning anything about expectations, then we’re going to have a good season, and that’s how I’m approaching things.”
After watching Giannis Antetokounmpo take his talents to South Beach, losing out on Kawhi Leonard to Toronto and getting snubbed by LeBron James for the 76ers, maybe the Warriors are just being realistic. According to DraftKings, there are 14 teams with better NBA title odds.
They’re certainly not speaking with the swagger that we’ve come to know from the dynasty that dominated the league for the better part of a decade, culminating in 2022 with its fourth title.
Kerr touted Golden State’s “under the radar” signings — Brandon Williams, Georges Niang — as “guys who can really play and who have helped winning teams.” General manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. had his tail between his legs after every other pursuit came up short.
He wasn’t able to give a full-throated endorsement of the roster without couching it first.
“First and foremost,” he said, “we’re humbly optimistic about the prospect for this team.”
Teams that compete for championships don’t tend to be humble.
The Warriors don’t really have any other choice, not when their top two wings — Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody — won’t be ready until at least midway through the season. They got another reminder of the challenge that lays ahead when Dunleavy’s phone rang the night before.
It was Kristaps Porzingis, calling to tell him his “health issues” had sprung up again. Their starting center won’t join them in Hawaii for training camp and is out indefinitely.
Curry, bless his soul, signed up to run it back, anyway. He could have used his leverage and refused to sign an extension unless the Warriors upgraded the roster around him, a la other superstars. Instead, he never even threatened to leave and even took less money than the Warriors offered him — about $10 million this season — to give them more flexibility.
So far, all that’s resulted in is a hit to Curry’s bank account.
“Without knowing the answers to the test, it was my best way to study for it, if that makes sense,” Curry said. “This is home. This is what we’ve built. This is a community that I’ve played in front of my entire career, and being able to finish the story the right way is a big part of I think what I can control.”
Curry was about the only one who didn’t seem to be infected by the dour mood outside the building. He was so flabbergasted when one reporter said “nobody” expected them to make the playoffs, let alone compete for a championship, that all he could muster was, “Damn!”
“That’s how bad it is?” Curry questioned of the outside expectations.
Kerr, on the other hand, seemed to be looking forward to getting to play the underdog for once.
“I don’t mind the fact that everyone is picking us to miss the playoffs. You know, that’s not a bad spot to be in as a team, as a coach,” he said, returning to a familiar theme. “For me what it means is we get to focus on the process.”
Even before the season-ending injuries to Butler and Moody, the Warriors weren’t living up to their championship aspirations. When Butler went down on Jan. 19, they were 25-19, eighth in the Western Conference.
Absent any significant personnel changes from last season — besides intense defensive assistant Frank Vogel, whose addition Kerr described as a “coup” — the Warriors seem to be content with re-evaluating how they use the players in the building.
“We lost too many close games. We gave too many games away in the margins,” Kerr said. “So the vision for this year is to clean that stuff up and build some momentum and then we get those guys back.”
Green is being asked to reimagine his role, too. He’s going to spend more time on the perimeter, and Kerr wants him to shoot more of the open looks he gets from 3. “Shooting, crashing, you know, spreading the floor for other people, dribble hand-off stuff,” Kerr said.
Green pushed back on the notion that championship expectations precedes championships.
“I hate to be cliche, but in 2022 nobody walked into that season like, ‘Hey, here’s the beginning of a championship year.’ Our process was great, which then allowed us to grow over the season and become a championship team.”
Process. It may be the only thing the Warriors will be able to control this season.
“Put together a great process and then you get to the end,” Green said, “and you let the cards fall where they may.”
