© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
OAKLAND – With a week of the preseason gone, Steve Kerr has two minor headaches. But his back feels good and he’s still the coach of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
The first headache is the odd contract situation with Patrick McCaw that’s persisted this whole preseason. As of last night, McCaw is officially a free agent after declining to accept the one-year, $1.71 million qualifying offer extended to him by the Warriors. He reportedly also turned down a two-year, $5.2 million offer from the Warriors with a non-guaranteed second year. He is currently a restricted free agent, meaning the Warriors will have the opportunity to match any potential offer he receives.
McCaw’s situation has confounded some in the Warriors front office, but has been more or less held steady for the duration of the summer. What is new is Draymond Green being absent from practice today. According to head coach Steve Kerr, Green woke up this morning with the knee soreness. Kerr said the team “scrimmaged pretty hard yesterday.”
Both situations are a reminder of the fragility of standards in the NBA. While the Warriors have won three of the last four NBA championships, Kerr said the factors that brought it together and the team’s sustained success mean it’s unlikely to be repeated.
Kerr on Warriors’ sustained success: “I just feel like we’re lucky to be in this spot. It’s probably not going to happen again.” pic.twitter.com/tB7HzROSXg
— KNBR (@KNBR) October 2, 2018
“I think you realize that what’s happening right now is going to be really hard to replicate for anybody and just the idea that we were able to win in 2015,” Kerr said. “We had our younger core… Steph on a smaller contract… and then (we signed) Kevin (Durant). That ain’t happening.”
At the beginning of his daily post-practice talk, Kerr was blunt about where the McCaw situation stands.
“I’m not going to answer this every day,” Kerr said. “He’s not here. You can ask Bob (Myers), maybe Bob will give you something. We’re not going to have this give-and-take every day because I honestly have no idea what’s going on.”
While Kerr is understandably unenthused about McCaw’s lingering contract situation, he was open about where the Warriors have an open roster spot and who might take McCaw’s place should he sign with another team.
“Yeah,” Kerr said. “If there’s an opening right now, it would be on the wing.” He then broke down the five young options the Warriors brought to camp on non-guaranteed contracts: Danuel House, Alfonzo McKinney, Kendrick Nunn, Tyler Ulis and Marcus Derrickson.
“I like them all,” Kerr said. “And I’m not just saying that.” Kerr said the following about each of those players:
Danuel House (6’6″ SF, age 25) and Alfonzo McKinney (6’8″ SF/PF, age 26):
“I think House and McKinney have very good size on the perimeter and can both step out and make a three. They’re both very good players. Both have NBA experience, I like that.”
Kendrick Nunn (6’3″ SG, age 23):
“Kendrick Nunn is a natural scorer. Not great size for a two guard, but somebody who could come off the bench and provide instant offense.”
Tyler Ulis (5’9″ PG, age 22):
“Tyler Ulis is a really good basketball player, knows how to play, gets you set up in your offense.”
Marcus Derrickson (6’7″ SF, age 22):
“Marcus Derrickson is really a good pick-and-pop.”
Steve Kerr on the alternative roster choice if Patrick McCaw doesn’t return to the Warriors: “If there’s an opening, it’d be on the wing.” pic.twitter.com/n6ukfFB3Kx
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 2, 2018
With the departures of Zaza Pachulia, David West and Javale McGee, the Warriors are left with a much larger group of younger players. Kerr said it gives the team an opportunity to focus on player development, a focus point that Kerr had wanted to work on last year, but struggled with due to so few young players. Kerr said younger players are coming in an hour before practice actually begins to work with Chris DeMarco, the Warriors’ player development coach.
“After last season, when we realized we were going to get younger and David and Zaza moved on and Javale, it was something we talked about,” Kerr said. “It was hard to do last year because we had so many veterans, we were kind of left with about three young guys who we could workout. It was more individual workout stuff, but now we have a pretty clear five, six, seven young guys who need work and I like the format we have.”
Those offseason changes don’t change the Warriors goalposts by any means. It’s still championship or bust for a team with four All-Stars to start the season and five when DeMarcus Cousins makes his debut with the lineup. But there is a change in attitude for the team Kerr said.
Kerr is well-known for his introspective mindset and his ability to look outside of the sport of basketball. It should come as no surprise that he’s shifted the attention from last year’s hard climb mentality to one of appreciation.
“We sort of addressed it the night before camp,” Kerr said. “Last year, I took the approach of we’re going to stare right in the eyes of the beast. I kind of shared my experience as a player as, “Hey, I know this is going to be hard, we all know this is going to be hard.” But I don’t want that to be our theme this year. You can only go with that for so long before it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
In his now fifth year as the Warriors’ head coach, Kerr wants his players to enjoy what they have going.
“This is not about fatigue and trying to get to the finals five years in a row,” Kerr said. “People are going to be mentioning all that stuff, who the last team was to do it and who has won four out of five and history and how are we going to summon the energy for it. We’re not talking about that at all. What we’re trying to do is embrace who we are in this moment in time. Time and space where man, we’ve got a pretty good thing going. Let’s enjoy every day, let’s enjoy the process. You never know how long anything’s going to last.”
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