Host Danny Leroux (@DannyLeroux) and Ethan Sherwood Strauss of The Athletic (@SherwoodStrauss) discuss the Warriors, Strauss vs. The House and the NBA at large.
They discuss how teams are defending Draymond Green, Golden State’s possible expiration dates, how predicting games affects watching basketball and much more.
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Patrick McCaw has agreed to sign a two-year, $6 million offer sheet with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
McCaw has been holding out this season as a restricted free agent with the Golden State Warriors.
Draymond Green reflected on his current slump and admitted he hasn't been playing to his typical standards.
Green said he will be more aggressive on offense.
“My defender is going to have to pay,” Green said. “Whatever action I’m in, I’m going to start lighting their a— up. And that don’t just mean scoring, by the way. I ain’t been doing me. I ain’t been playmaking like I can. I ain’t been scoring when I get the opportunity. I ain’t been rebounding like I can. I ain’t been defending like I can. I just haven’t really been myself.
“Everyone’s looking at the scoring, and I don’t really look at that. Yeah, I got to be more aggressive on the offensive end, but I just got to be me all-around. I haven’t really been that.”
Green is shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 22.4 percent (11-for-49) from three-point range.
In discussing his impending free agency, Kevin Durant said he's beyond the bells and whistles of a recruiting pitch and would rather see how teams operate on a day-to-day basis.
"Nobody can recruit me no more...I want to dictate the environment that I want to be in," said Durant.
Durant added that he wants to choose an atmosphere where he'd enjoy coming to work every day.
"Doing extra [stuff] just for me? Like nah, I just want to see if you are a real person. If you are going to hold people accountable every day. Are we all going to come to work and enjoy basketball every day? That's exactly what I'm getting here".
Draymond Green said he and Kevin Durant patched up their relationship following their late-game argument last month against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The public confrontation lead to speculation that Durant would leave the Warriors this summer. Green was suspended for the next game.
Warriors teammates and coaches, including Steph Curry, made sure to stay in close contact with both Green and Durant in the aftermath of the game and subsequent suspension.
"I know the hope is that [incident] will make us fall off, but it ain't. It'll never happen like that. We good," said Green. He added that he and Durant "sat down and rapped. And that's it. It ain't really about re-creating the wheel. Brothers get into it all the time. Y'all sit down and y'all figure it out, ain't nobody else going to figure it out for you. Can't nobody else figure it out for you. We sit down as men, we figure it out and we move forward".
Turning to his inner circle for support, Durant added that his reaction to the fallout from the argument made him more confident in his ability to filter out noise in the future.
"I'm just building great relationships with people and having real talks with people that I love. Just having an understanding of what's most important to me, especially during the season. And just having a great support system around you that understands exactly what you do, and how important it is to you...you got to have people around that hold you accountable for every single thing that you do in your life. That's key. We all need a great team behind us if we want to continue to grow and flourish," said Durant.
The Golden State Warriors remain prepared to match any offer sheet signed by Patrick McCaw in restricted free agency.
McCaw has held out in an attempt to secure a better contract with the Warriors, or to have them renounce him.
Alfonzo McKinnie has played well on the wing in the absence of McCaw.
McCaw has received interest but teams are hesitant to submit an offer sheet.
According to sources, McCaw remains in good shape working out in his hometown of St. Louis.
Stephen Curry believes the Golden State Warriors need to find their "edge" again.
The Warriors are 21-11 and have lost two of their past four games. The Warriors, however, play their next four games at home.
"A lot of it's just getting our edge and a chip on our shoulder," Curry said. "Having that vibe when you walk on the floor like we know what we're about to do. Right now, we're still thinking a little bit and trying to figure it out, but we're close.
"We're close, and obviously you want to stay healthy, and that's the biggest part of trying to continue to build momentum, night in, night out, what we can expect when we're out there on the floor."
Kevin Durant said Zion Williamson is a "once in a generation athlete" and that he's "never seen anyone like that before" on The Bill Simmons Podcast.
Durant described Williamson's impressive leaping ability, saying he's never seen a left-handed player "who can dunk like that with his right hand, and cock the ball back so far, and jump so high off two feet".
"I've seen people jump high, but not that way", Durant added about the Duke forward.
Durant went on, saying that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the rookie that's impressed him the most this season.
Of Gilgeous-Alexander, Durant said "he's got the mid-range down. His mid-range is so good. He shoots it with a high release so it's hard to block at 6'6" with a point guard on him, so you gotta put a two-guard on him. And he's still shooting over two-guards...Once you learn how to shoot the mid-range, I feel like the three-ball is going to be easier for you to shoot".
Durant also shouted out Ja Morant of Murray State and Bol Bol of Oregon.
Kevin Durant said he thinks about the significance and historical impact of the Warriors' legacy if they three-peat this season.
Speaking on Chris Haynes' podcast, Durant said "I know for a fact that we'll all get our jerseys retired. We'll probably all get statues here in front of the Chase Center. We'll be Bay Area legends forever, meaning that people will recognize this team and this run forever in this area. I think about 50 years from now when they have our whole team on the Chase Center floor, or wherever the arena is at that point, all the fans will be cheering for us and reminiscing on those days."
A free agent at the end of this season, Durant is averaging 28.8 points per game, his highest average since 2013.
The Golden State Warriors realized they needed to give Kevin Durant some space following his Nov. 12 altercation with Draymond Green.
“I just try to stay focused on ball and lose myself in the game,” Durant told The Athletic. “There were times where I don’t shoot the ball well, times where the game doesn’t go my way, but I try to get lost in the game to get through a time like that. Adversity happens everywhere, happens to teams, and we rallied around it. It happens, and you lean on your love for the game.
“Over the course of the year, sometimes it’s tough to go to practice, tough stretches on long road trips. You run into obstacles and you just get through it.”
Durant's old coaches and friends told him to focus on his work.
“People I lean on told me to stay centerfield with my thoughts and my feelings,” Durant explained. “I received so many people reaching out; my former coaches saying to stay centered, stay measured, stay pushing forward and keeping my foot on the gas. At that time, we were losing games, and people were banged up, so it’s easy to go the other way when you’re searching for answers. It was about staying positive and going to work.
“As players, we’re artists. How we express ourselves is on the basketball court. When you’ve played ball so long for so much, it’s about continuing to find ways to express myself verbally instead of always using the basketball court. Every ballplayer speaks and tells you what they’ve been through through how they play on the basketball court. That’s the beauty of the game, what I’m in love with.
“I like basketball 100 percent. The other (expletive) is aight.”
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