March 2016 Golden State Warriors Wiretap

Stephen Curry Suggests Warriors Play To Strengths On Offense

Dec 29, 2016 3:28 PM

Stephen Curry suggested a different approach on offense for the Warriors three days after he took only 11 shots against the Cavaliers.

"I definitely want to be in more pick-and-roll situations," he said at Golden State's practice facility when asked whether the ball is in his hand enough this season. "Whether I'm getting shots or whether we're manufacturing ball movement, that's a strength of ours, regardless of how teams play us."

On what happened in the game Sunday, Curry said, "There were certain sets we were really good at, whether it's drags, pick-and-rolls, whether it's utilizing our post splits and things like that where we can get more space. Didn't really go to those sets as much."

With the introduction of Kevin Durant, Curry has seen a reduction in offensive involvement, scoring six fewer points a game than last season and getting more than three fewer shots per game.

"I think Steph has probably had the biggest adjustment of all of our players from [Durant]'s arrival," Steve Kerr said after Tuesday's practice. "I think if you look at it from a practical standpoint, he's doing great. His numbers are still fantastic. Forty percent from 3, 24 points per game. But he also happens to be coming off the greatest shooting season in the history of mankind last year. He has set the bar so high for himself that it's going to be a point of discussion."

Ethan Sherwood Strauss/ESPN

Tags: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors, NBA

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Draymond Green Won't Change Approach As Techs Accumulate

Dec 28, 2016 11:08 AM

Draymond Green has seven technical fouls so far this season but he said it is up to the NBA and the referees "to figure it out."

Three of Green's technical fouls have been for celebrating plays. Green received a technical foul against the Cavs for expressing his displeasure for a foul call without saying anything to the referee.

"I don't know what else I can watch," Green told reporters Tuesday. "I don't really talk to them [referees] much anymore. So no. I don't know what else to watch at this point. Just continue to be me. If I get the tech, so be it. Continue to be me."

NBA players automatically are suspended for one game once they reach 16 technicals in a season. After that, a player will be suspended for another game for every two additional technicals.

"Change my approach from what?" Green said. "I don't know what other approach to take than walking toward the bench. Like, there's no other approach to take than that. I'm going to continue to be the only person I know how to be. And that's me. There's a lot of guys who get home at night and they're exhausted from acting all day.

"I only know how to be Draymond. That's who I've been my entire life, that's who I'll continue to be. I won't be exhausted from acting when I get home. That ain't going to work for me. I won't change my approach for anything. There's no point."

ESPN

Tags: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, NBA

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NBA: Jefferson Fouled Durant; Tech Should Have Been Called On LeBron

Dec 26, 2016 8:55 PM

The NBA said Richard Jefferson should have been called for a foul on the final play of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 109-108 win over the Golden State Warriors when he made "foot contact" with Kevin Durant. It was determined to have affected Durant's SQBR (speed, quickness, balance, rhythm) on the play.

The game ended with Durant missing a 34-foot 3-point attempt from the floor as time expired.

"I fell," Durant said. "And I didn't fall on my own."

The league also determined that LeBron James' dunk with 1:43 remaining, which put the Cavs up 105-103 and gave them their first lead since the first quarter, should have resulted in a technical foul for "deliberately hanging on the rim" after the dunk was completed.

Dave McMenamin/ESPN

Tags: Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, NBA

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Kerr Concerned With Curry's Decision-Making, Not Shooting

Dec 26, 2016 12:50 AM

Stephen Curry scored 15 points on 4-for-11 shooting to go with three turnovers in the Warriors' 109-108 loss to the Cavaliers.

Steve Kerr said he wasn't focused on Curry's shooting woes. His issues were with his floor general's carelessness with the ball.

"I think he can be a little smarter, I think he can make better decisions, and that'll help against anybody," Kerr said. "But I'm not worried about him missing shots; I'm more worried about just decision-making and making sure that we're where we need to be as a group."

The Warriors had 20 turnovers and blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter.

"A lot of [the turnovers] early was not even due to the pressure," Kerr said in general of his team. "It was more just decision-making. Around-the-back passes in the paint, silly plays. We just have to make simple plays, and we talk about that all the time, but we've got to make it more of a habit."

It was clear who Kerr was addressing in that quote as this has been an ongoing issue.

Chris Haynes/ESPN

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA

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Supermax Contract Provision Were Triggered By Kevin Durant Leaving For Warriors

Dec 22, 2016 4:34 PM

When Adam Silver met with his Board of Governors in July, he admitted he was "no fan" of Kevin Durant's decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors "fearing its implications on competitive balance."

From that moment on, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement negotiations were colored by the league's desire to make it more difficult for super teams to assemble. 

They became motivated to give smaller market stars greater financial incentive and flexibility to sign long-term contracts with their existing teams.

Privately, there are still small market executives who believe the NBA didn't go far enough. 

Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA CBA

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Draymond Green: We've Finally Adjusted To Not Having Andrew Bogut On Defense

Dec 21, 2016 4:24 PM

The Golden State Warriors now rank second in the NBA in defensive efficiency after starting the season slowly on that end of the floor.

Draymond Green acknowledged the transition the defense had to make in losing Andrew Bogut, who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason to create cap space to sign Kevin Durant.

"You lose a guy like Bogut who, you almost can funnel stuff to Bogut," said Green. "You funnel someone to him, you know he's there and he can kind of erase any mistake that someone makes, and then you lose that, you have to get used to not having that there. When you had it there for the last four years, it takes a little while to adjust to that. However, I think we adjusted to it."

While Green has continued to play at a high level on defense, the Warriors have received a better than anticipated contribution on that end of the floor from Durant as well.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss/ESPN

Tags: Andrew Bogut, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA B-Ball IQ

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Draymond Green Concerned How New CBA Will Impact Lower Earning Players

Dec 16, 2016 11:30 AM

Draymond Green explained his Tweets expressing displeasure with the tentative deal on a new NBA collective bargaining agreement.

"I'm not [pleased], for several reasons," Green said. "It's not about me."

Green wrote "That's a heartbreaker" and "One day we will get it right... maybe," amongst other somewhat cryptic comments.

"It's not about me that I'm mad about," Green said. "When I look at these things I look at a guy like a Ian Clark or James Michael McAdoo, the other guys."

Green said he "was one of those guys nobody would stand up for." Green was a second round pick in 2012.

"It's not about where my status is at as an All-Star. You'll be taken care of. As a superstar in this league, you'll be taken care of. So it's not more so about us, it's more so about the guys who aren't on that level,'' Green said.

"When I look at my career, I didn't expect to be at this level I'm at now. I kind of identify more with those guys that have not made it to the level I've been fortunate enough to make it to. So when I think of contract negotiations in the CBA, I think of them and how can we help them. How can we help the guys that aren't making as much make more?''

Kevin Durant had a similar take to Green's on the new deal.

"I just more so look at it how it's going to affect the group as a whole, as far as all our players. From the top guys to the middle guys to the guys trying to fight their way up. It's about the whole group. It's not more so about myself or the big name guys. It's more about the whole group and how we can make this thing better for everybody."

Green declined to comment on specific CBA provisions, but said about the lowest earning NBA players, "There could be different structure to have not as many minimum players.

"Right now there's like a max and a minimum, a couple in-betweens. I think there can be different structures to help those minimum guys make more and not be a minimum player. But like I said, there's a lot of things that I'm still going over."

The minimum salary will increase by 50 percent under the new deal.

Ethan Sherwood Strauss/ESPN

Tags: Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA CBA

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Stephen Curry Could Sign Five-Year, $207M Deal Due To New CBA Rule

Dec 15, 2016 7:13 PM

The salary of Stephen Curry is set to increase from $12 million this season to $36 million next season as part of the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement.

Curry is on the final season of a four-year, $44 million extension signed in 2012.

Because of a new rule, Curry's new contract could be worth $207 million over five seasons with $47 million coming in 21-22.

The new rule enables a narrow selection of superstars who are willing to re-sign with their current team to receive up to 35 percent of the salary cap if certain benchmarks are met. As a two-time MVP who has played his entire career with the Warriors, Curry would meet the qualifications.

A player with Curry's experience level, under the previous CBA, would have been able to sign for only 30 percent of the cap.

If Curry were interested in changing teams, he could only sign a four-year deal worth approximately $135 million.

 

Brian Windhorst, Marc Stein/ESPN

Tags: Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA Signing Rumor, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA CBA

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Klay Thompson Sits In Crunch Time In Favor Of Ian Clark

Dec 9, 2016 11:08 AM

Klay Thompson did not play in crunch time of the Golden State Warriors' 106-99 win at the Utah Jazz.

Ian Clark remained in the game down the stretch as Thompson shot 5-for-13 over 28 minutes. Thompson scored 60 points in 29 minutes earlier in the week.

Clark had two big three-pointers in the final five minutes of the game.

“I just thought Ian was playing well,” Steve Kerr said of sticking with Clark over Thompson. “And he was really getting after it defensively and it made sense to keep him out there.”

The Warriors had a 25-point first half lead but were sluggish in the second half.

“A loss of focus,” Kerr assessed when asked what happened in the second half. “You know, our first quarter was great -- pushed the ball, our defensive intensity was fantastic -- and then I think we let down. We started turning it over.

"Some careless, purposeless plays where we didn’t really have an idea of what we were trying to accomplish.”

Ethan Sherwood Strauss/ESPN

Tags: Golden State Warriors, NBA

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Bob Myers: Andre Iguodala Was Really The GM Of His Sign-And-Trade In 2013

Dec 8, 2016 6:51 PM

The Golden State Warriors drafted well between 2009 and 2012 in adding Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes, but Bob Myers' bold sign-and-trade in 2013 for Andre Iguodala began to move the team in their current direction.

Iguodala had spent one season with the Denver Nuggets following his trade from the Philadelphia 76ers.

"There were a lot of particulars to that transaction," said Myers. "Like anything, there's a confluence of events. Andre wanting to play for us, that was big. We had just played [Denver] in the playoffs, and it's interesting. He saw something in us maybe that we didn't even see in ourselves. He saw a chance to be a part of something special. He intuitively was willing to wait. He forewent some other opportunities as far as money. But as far as I knew it wasn't going to happen. I knew he was going to sign somewhere, I just didn't think it would be with us. Joe [Lacob] was constantly supportive. Jerry West, as someone who has done a lot of big things, was always encouraging. All of us combined to do our part, but Andre, to be fair, he was the visionary in that area.

"Getting the deal done was extremely difficult. Moving $24 million in that era was even harder than it would be now because the salary cap wasn't what it is now. It represented more than a third of a team's entire salary. I'd only been GM for a year, and it taught me a lot about what can be done, what can be accomplished even if you didn't think it can happen, so it was a lesson. If it hadn't worked, we would've been OK in the fact that we would've given everything we had to get it done, but I kept thinking it wasn't going to work.

"What it showed people outside of our organization was, wow, somebody actually went to the Warriors on their own accord! Andre has a great reputation throughout the league as a player, as a person, so for him to take that step was big for us. It was somewhat transformative.

"He was really the GM of that move more than any of us. I told him, "Go take something else because we can't do it." He said, "Well, give me a little more time." I said, "Don't lose anything."

"If you would have heard the conversations, you would have thought Andre and Rob [Pelinka, Iguodala's agent] were being irrational by waiting. The last thing we wanted to do was mislead them and leave them hanging, so I kept telling them, "We can't do it, we can't do it, take whatever else you have." He kept saying he'll wait a little bit longer, one more day, one more hour."

Erik Malinowski/Bleacher Report

Tags: Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors, NBA, NBA Signing Rumor, NBA Misc Rumor

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DeAndre Jordan: Durant Took Aftermath Of Free Agency Decision Hard

Dan Woike/Orange County Register

Kevin Durant: I Value My Shots A Little More Now

Marc Stein/ESPN

Spurs, Warriors Tried To Trade Up In 2011 For Jonas Valanciunas

Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

Klay Thompson Scores 60 Points In 29 Minutes On 11 Dribbles

Tom Haberstroh/ESPN

Draymond Green Critical Of NBA's Interpretation Of 'Unnatural Act'

Chris Haynes/ESPN

Steve Kerr Admits Marijuana Use To Treat Chronic Back Pain

Monte Poole/Comcast

Tyronn Lue, Steve Kerr Named Coaches Of The Month

RealGM Staff Report

Kevin Durant Finding, Appreciating 'Small Things' With Warriors

Chris Haynes/ESPN