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Six takeaways from Warriors media day

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OAKLAND – They’re back. After winning their third championship in four years and their second straight, the Golden State Warriors stepped back onto their practice court in Oakland for the annual media day swarm of photos, interviews and endless promos.

The summer was highlighted by the shock signing of All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, who is rehabbing a full rupture of his left Achilles tendon. But there have been many other changes to receive significantly less national attention.

Patrick McCaw contract situation could continue into season

The biggest other piece of summer news outside the Cousins’ signing may be the contract standoff between the Warriors and Patrick McCaw, who has not accepted the $1.74 million offer sheet extended to him by the team. McCaw’s qualifying offer would expire October 1st. If it does, he’ll become a restricted free agent.

Bob Myers, the Warriors’ president of basketball operations, said there have been consistent talks throughout the summer between the Warriors and McCaw’s camp.

“We’re going to keep talking,” Myers said. “Hopefully we reach a resolution that works for him and us. We’d love to get him here and that’s the plan now, to keep working in that direction.”

The situation may cause the Warriors to start the season with 14 men on the roster.

“Historically we’ve carried 15,” Myers said. “We might carry 14 going into the season. (The) two-way (contract) allows us to utilize that… we haven’t had that kind of flexibility in the past.”

Contract expiration looms for Klay, Dray and KD

On a monumentally-larger scale of contract concern comes the pending free agency of Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant. Durant is on a 1+1 contract (one year with a player option next season) and Thompson will be a free agent next summer. Green has two years left on his deal.

Thompson, who will make nearly $19 million this season before becoming an unrestricted free agent, deferred to his agent.

“I’m not sure,” Thompson said. “That’s why I have my agent. He helps me with these things.”

Durant will make $30 million this year and $31.5 million if he takes his player option next year. He said the deal was a bet on himself.

“It’s one of those things where you’re confident in your skills and you want to take it year-by-year,” Durant said. “I could have easily signed a long-term deal, but I just wanted to take it season by season and see where it takes me… We’ll see what happens after this year.”

Much like Durant, Green said it’s not an issue he concerns himself with going into the year. He’ll make an average of roughly $18 million per year in this and next season.

“This is a business, you always have to explore those options,” Green said. “I’m very confident I’m going to be here for a long time. It’s not something I’m going into the season thinking about.”

Youth will start the season at center, not Draymond

Warriors fans will be ecstatic to see Demarcus Cousins on the court, whenever that may be. But with a long timeline for recovery for achilles injuries, the center position will have to rely on other options. Zaza Pachulia, David West and Javale McGee are all gone, leaving the team with Jordan Bell, Damian Jones and Kevon Looney as the starting center options.

Head coach Steve Kerr said that he’ll avoid the small-ball lineup that starts Green at center to open the year, and will instead opt to give that younger core playing time.

“Draymond will not be our starting center,” Kerr said. “Damion, Loon or Jordan Bell (will be). It could be by matchup, could be by how training camp goes… I think Jordan, Loon and Damian all represent a different style, a different size.”

Kerr said he was excited about all three and highlighted what he said was a “more steady” approach from Bell.

“I think his approach seems much more steady,” Kerr said. “Most rookies are kind of in shock when they get to understand how they have to prepare and it really is a daily routine. I think most guys make the biggest improvement between their first and second years.”

DeMarcus Cousins is still adapting to life after Achilles injury… and Bay Area traffic

No one knows injuries better – or worse – than Livingston, who recovered from one of the most horrific knee injuries of all time when he was with the Los Angeles Clippers in his third season in 2006. When asked if he could relate to Cousins’s injuries, Livingston was pensive.

“Yeah,” Livingston said while smiling and giving a long pause. “I can. It’s incredibly frustrating. As a player, we all want things right now. We want things to happen right way. We’re impatient… Especially when you’re young.”

Livingston said that Cousins’s season began well before anyone else’s and that his rehab has to be approached “like it’s an actual game.” Cousins said it’s been the most trying experience of his career.

“It’s been hard,” Cousins said. “I’d be lying if I told you anything different. It’s taken a lot of dedication, a lot of commitment. It’s been a grind. It’s been a real grind. It’s probably one of the most difficult things I’ve been through physically and mentally in my career so far. I’ve learned a lot through this process. I’ve learned a lot about myself.”

Cousins didn’t put a concrete date on when he expects to be back, but said he’s felt the improvement.

“I feel a lot stronger, getting my feet back under me,” Cousins said. “I’m starting to feel like an athlete again. I’m doing a little bit of everything. Post moves, shooting, I’m getting up and down the court in full-court drills. I’ve gotten some one-on-one, two-on-two sessions in. Everything is on track.”

When asked what he’s used to motivate himself through the rehab process, Cousins was blunt.

“The haters,” Cousins said. “That’s all I need. I feed off of it. I love it.”

While it seems he’s taken most of his offseason changes – the rehab and move to the Bay – in stride, there’s one thing that Cousins said he hasn’t gotten used to.

“I have to get used to this traffic,” Cousins said. “This traffic is crazy. 8 o’clock in the morning and it’s bumper-to-bumper. I’m still trying to find the right times to drive.”

Nostalgia coming in Seattle

While practice starts on Tuesday, the preseason schedule will kick off at Oracle Arena on Saturday, the Warriors will take on the Sacramento Kings in Seattle next Friday at the KeyArena. The prospect is a nostalgic and bittersweet one for Kevin Durant, who played his first season with the Supersonics there.

“It means a lot,” Durant said. “I spent a season there. The fans were amazing there to me my first year there. It was very devastating how we up and left in the middle of the night. I know those fans have been yearning for basketball for a long long time… I’m looking forward to going back and playing in front of that crowd again and I know that energy is going to be amazing.”

Shaun Livingston, who’s been in the NBA since 2004, said he too remembered Seattle fondly.

“Seattle’s a great city,” Livingston said. “I hope that they get a team again.”

Pressure? Kerr doesn’t think so

Kerr has received a seemingly endless amount of questions over the last four years about expectations and the pressure of coaching such a stacked team. But as he has always done, Kerr answered in a contemplative fashion that gives insight into why he and the Warriors have been so successful.

“We are playing with some house money,” Kerr said. “Our place in the history of the league is pretty secure. I don’t think our guys should feel a lot of pressure… We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

He encouraged the emphasis to remain on the here-and-now.

“I think the idea is to really focus on how lucky we are to be in this era, this time and place,” Kerr said. “We’re well aware it’s not going to last forever.”

Kerr, who had a notoriously difficult back surgery which sidelined him for much of the 2015-16 season, received a contract extension this summer and said there is no place he would rather be. His daughter goes to law school at Berkeley, and his son, Nick, was promoted to assistant video coordinator with the Warriors after spending last year with the Spurs this summer – leaving Kerr to joke about Nick, saying he, “stole all Pop’s secrets and brought all that back.”

“There’s no other job I would want in the world,” Kerr said. “This is my dream job. I’m incredibly blessed and feeling good.”