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GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 30, 2019Steve KerrOakland, California Q. Given the talent and experience Steph and Draymond have together, what do you expect they can do to help transition everything both on the court and behind the scenes this year? STEVE KERR: Well, we'll rely on those guys along with Looney and Klay at some point, just to try to teach everybody, all the new people here what we're about. Not only plays and schemes and that kind of stuff, but just our culture and our feel. So those two in particular, Steph and Draymond, will play a huge role early on in camp as we're trying to establish kind of a sense of who we are. Q. We just got the news on Willie, that he's going to miss probably all of October. Does that already basically give Kevon Looney the starting center job, and how does that complicate your big man rotation? STEVE KERR: Well, it basically leaves us with just two, maybe three centers when you look at it, with Alen and Omari and Looney. So to answer your question, yeah, Looney probably starts. Looney is the starting center. Yeah, I've got bigger plans for Looney anyway. I think I've told you guys that. He's one of our best players. He's moved up the ladder considerably with all of the losses that we've had, and so not only is he one of our best players but he's one of the guys who has the most experience and the feel that we need with this group to try to incorporate the young guys. So yeah, I'd like to play Looney as many minutes as possible, and we'll wait on Willie, obviously, and it's a long season, and it's a tough way for him to start. But that's just the reality, so we'll see how it goes. Q. How different would you describe the vibe in training camp this year as opposed to just your past few years with this team? STEVE KERR: I would compare this training camp to the first one that our staff had in 2014, so five years ago, when we were really brand new to each other and getting used to one another and getting the system kind of to the point where we felt comfortable with what we were doing. We were experiencing with a lot of different things before we kind of settled on a rotation and how we were going to play, what our defense would look like exactly. I think that'll be a similar feel this year. We have a lot to experiment with, a lot of combination possibilities, so it's a really, really important camp, and I would say we will have to work much harder than we have had to the last four seasons because of the number of new players. We've got a lot of work to do. Q. Along those lines, how does this feel for you? Is there a certain excitement? Is there a certain challenge that maybe hasn't been there for the last couple years, just on a personal level from a coaching standpoint? How are you approaching this year? STEVE KERR: Well, I'm excited about it. It's different. It's a very different season. Every year is a different challenge, and the circumstances are unique. This is such a dramatic change from where we've been over the last four years that I think it allows for more change, more internal evaluation, what can we do better. You know, the new building is almost a metaphor for how we can approach the season. We've got a chance to reset some things, anything we feel like could improve our team, it's a great opportunity to start fresh on some things. And yet as I was saying to Mark, we'll rely heavily on our veteran players, Steph and Draymond and Looney, Klay, to kind of pave the way for the younger players. We want to maintain the culture that we've built, but we want to make sure our players are put in the best position to succeed, and the last four years we pretty much knew exactly what that meant. We don't really know what it means this year. That's why we have a lot of work ahead, but it's exciting. I'm looking forward to it. Q. Talk about D'Angelo Russell. Have you even had a chance to get to know him at all? And also, have you thought about creative ways of using Steph and otherwise? STEVE KERR: So D'Angelo and I tried to get together this summer, but it didn't work out because of my travel schedule going to China and being gone for six weeks, so we've had a chance to visit briefly the last couple weeks. I think that the next couple weeks with practice and training camp, I'm going to make a point of really trying to get to know him better, and we'll get an opportunity to spend some time together off the floor, as well. And that's an ongoing thing, building a relationship, obviously. I'm really excited about having D'Angelo. With all the losses that we had, it was just so important for us to have somebody who can put the ball in the basket. He averaged 20 points a game last year as an All-Star, so I've been thinking a lot about how we'll play him, watching a lot of tape, what's he best at, how can we use him, and yeah, how can we use him with Steph. We'll probably end up staggering them because they'll be our two top scorers, and we'll figure all that stuff out as we go. Q. You said last year throughout the time -- sometimes during the regular season you guys couldn't find the competitive juice just with the malaise of the season. How do you feel this team will have that considering that maybe the end result isn't as promised? It's a completely set of circumstances. We've been the last four years have been so different, we knew what we had, and most dynamics we were working towards the Playoffs. We were working to be ready for the Playoffs and be healthy and peaking during the Playoffs. This is an entirely new group, and so we're trying to figure out who we are, what we are, and I will for sure monitor Steph and Draymond and Looney, the guys who played heavy minutes last year, so I'm not going to overwork them. On the other hand, we have a lot of work to do with the group itself, as I've mentioned several times. There should be plenty of intensity, plenty of motivation. We've got jobs on the line. We've got playing time at stake. We've got so much up in the air, and there's great opportunity for a lot of players to grab it, and you can only do that by competing. Q. With so many young players on the roster, are there any past experiences you draw off when it comes to coaching young players or any advice you consulted from other coaches when it comes to coaching younger players? STEVE KERR: I generally check in with coaches of our players who -- coaches in their past who might be able to give me some insight. That's I think the best thing is to watch tape and to check in with maybe a teammate or a coach to see if you can get any more insight. But you're really kind of starting with a blank canvas, which is the exciting part, and you've got to get to know the person to be able to coach him. So a big part of the early season for me is really getting to know these guys. Q. It was such a whirlwind with free agency and your team changed so quickly, and then you go into Summer League, then you go into Team USA. I'm curious how you processed your team's turnover and when you got a chance to sit back and think about what you were going to do with this new roster? STEVE KERR: Well, I think we all knew this was inevitable at some point. It doesn't make it any easier when you lose guys who you've counted on, become close with, and so so much change in the off-season was really -- even though we knew it was coming at some point, it's still jarring. It's still -- we've gone to battle with these guys for so many years, and so you just -- you look back with great memories, and you make sure you don't forget those relationships, but you move forward with a new sense of beginning and possibility, so it's just an entirely different feel, different vibe, just like it is sitting in this room for the first time for all of us. Everything is new this year, and that comes with a lot of opportunity and a lot of thought and a lot of creativity, and I think we're all excited about all of it. Q. So much of this team's success has been built on defense in recent years; how different just given the losses you've had will you be defensively, and how good are you going to be defensively this season? STEVE KERR: Well, we have to figure out exactly what we're going to do. Again, I've said this many times, but when I arrived four years, five years ago, this team, the defense was already built. It was already a top 5 defense in the league. We tweaked a few things, but mainly kept the same style, and then Draymond emerged, and we started doing more switching. This team, we could just plug and play. This is different. When you look at the number of wing defenders we've lost, between Klay, Andre, Kevin, Shaun, it's most of our wing defensive core. So it's just a dramatically different roster. So we have to take that into account, and my guess is we're going to experiment with a lot of different coverages and schemes, and that it will look different. I don't think we can just play the way we've played because we don't have the personnel to do so. So that means we've got to be imaginative and we can't be afraid to try some new things, but how good can we be? We'll see. It's impossible to say before we've had a single practice. Q. For much of your time here, you've had 25 or 30 centers on your team, on your roster -- STEVE KERR: You're not exaggerating, either. Q. Going into this season, it looks like you might not have anything close to that, it's gone the other way. What kind of challenges does that pose given that on your roster as it stands right now, you don't really have a true NBA center on the roster? STEVE KERR: Well, I would argue that Willie Cauley-Stein is -- you mean going into camp without a healthy Willie? Yeah. Yeah, I think the big difference is that while we may not have had the ability of one guy at center over the last few years, we did with Bogut, the first couple years he was our starting center, but what we've had over the past few years is a stable of veteran guys who could all fill particular roles, Zaza and JaVale and David West, and even going back, playing David Lee at the 5 or Draymond, we've had a lot of different possibilities. So this year is different because we're relying on a couple of rookies, at least in camp with Alen and Omari, who are kind of 4/5s, and Looney is also kind of a 4/5. But that's the way the NBA has turned. It's more of a league with wings and bigs, so we just look at them as bigs. But that's part of the excitement of this season. I think it's one of the things that our fans should look forward to is watching the team grow, watching this team develop as the season goes rather than seeing a finished product. They're going to see a team that really has to define itself over the course of the year, and that's especially true at the center position. Q. Last year you guys ranked second to last in pick-and-roll frequency, and last year I think D'Angelo Russell ranked second in the league in pick-and-rolls run. How do you see his offense adjusting to you guys' scheme, and how do you adjust to his style of play? STEVE KERR: Well, we'll get a chance in camp to kind of see what makes sense, what doesn't. I think having lost a lot of passers, a lot of veteran basketball players, Andre, Shaun, Kevin, even going back a couple years, Zaza, David West, our roster has really been filled with passers, and so it made a lot of sense for us to get the ball moving. We'll see what we have. I like what I see in pickup ball over the last couple weeks in terms of some of the guys' ability to pass, but it's different. They haven't done it yet at this level. If you don't have that kind of passing, then you tend to rely on more specific sets, and so that's what I would look for with this team as we go. We'll figure out what we have. We know D'Angelo is really good in pick-and-roll, so we're going to put him in pick-and-roll. As far as the percentages, I have no idea, but we'll do whatever it takes to win a game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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