GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 29, 2023

Jacob Rubin

Media Conference

JACOB RUBIN: It's crazy. I get chills, honestly, thinking about it. The first time I went to Summer League was like in 2009, and I was just like, just finding a way to be around the game. Like I get chills talking about it. For Coach Kerr and Mike and Kirk and Joe and Peter and everybody to give me this opportunity, it's the opportunity of a lifetime.

I told the guys, I'm excited. I lost my voice already kind of in day one. It's a huge opportunity that I'm so thankful for, and we're just trying to do our best to put them in a position to succeed.

Q. How have the first few days been, and what's a practice with Jacob Rubin like as the head coach?

JACOB RUBIN: So today was the first day of practice. It's get your work in and get off your feet. That's the type of practice it is. It's a lot of defense. It's a lot of defense. It's a lot of ball movement, sharing the ball, just trying to instill in them what it's going to take to play for us, what it's going to take to win.

They know point blank, period, we're going to compete at the highest level. Every team that comes in against us knows we're going to compete. They're going to really have to bring it to play against us.

This means ball movement in everything we do. That's just one of the things we do is share the ball, and then it's a big part of our practice is being a great teammate because that's who we are here.

Q. How do you combine wanting to win but have like the player development in Summer League, too? What's the challenge of that as a coach?

JACOB RUBIN: Yeah, for sure. I actually talked to the guys about this. We want to win. There's no doubt about it. But that's kind of the result. The goal is the process of trying to get better every single day. We're going to have to live with some growing pains, especially from some of our rookies, some of our first-year guys that we have.

But that's just what makes it more fun. Just trying to put them in a position where they don't have to think, just put them in a position where they can play fast, play quick and play free, and hope that we just continue to give them little things that we want them to work on that we think will translate.

But I think if we do those things, I think it will translate to winning.

Q. For guys like Brandin and Trayce, how much is what you're trying to communicate to them how the Warriors -- what their roles could be versus this is a completely separate group of guys?

JACOB RUBIN: Yeah, it's a good question. We're figuring it out. We're figuring it out. I think Coach Kerr has given me a little bit of freedom to just put some stuff in that I think will be good for us. I think for everyone watching, it'll be a nice little blend of who we are but of some things we might be able to do better, some stuff we thought we lacked last season that maybe we can focus on and get better for this season.

So we'll sprinkle some stuff in that's a little different, but at our core we'll always kind of look like who we are.

The great thing is when we have this many guys, there's so many reps. We're also able to pull guys like Brandin and Trayce aside and just hit them with certain things that they might need to know for a Warriors game that maybe is sort of coming up but not really coming up for a Summer League game.

Brandin has asked a ton of questions already. Some of them were questions that in Summer League he might not face, but it's like you can already start to see like he's thinking the game at a high level, and so it's great to just have those conversations and get everyone on the same page.

Q. What are your overall impressions of Brandin and Trayce, and what can you tell us about Javan Johnson you picked up on draft night?

JACOB RUBIN: All three of them compete. That's for sure. Javan brings it. Like you can just kind of tell. He has this ability to just play fast and get to the basket and get paint touches and kind of create chaos downhill. Obviously he's a really good athlete, and he can shoot it with his feet set, so there's a lot of stuff that he can help us out with Summer League.

Then for Brandin and Trayce, it's great because they just fit in seamlessly to how we want to play in Summer League. They'll fit in with how we want to play with the big club. Both of them have great feel. Both of them have great IQ. They can play with the ball in their hands. They can both play with the ball off their hands. Whether Trayce is playing in the dunker or working behind the defense, he's done a great job of following the help and cutting from the weak side.

But I think what's shocked me is both of them can do both. Usually it's like you've got to sacrifice one, but both of them so far have stood out in their individual workouts and in the team stuff we're doing with just being able to play with the ball and without the ball.

Then they just kind of have a knack for getting the ball. Getting to the ball, getting to the basket, creating angles where the defense might have cut you off, and all of a sudden, it's up and under some footwork, whatever it is to get to the basket. So they're both crafty getting to their left hands around the basket.

Q. You had mentioned that Steve is giving you the freedom to do what you guys -- what the Warriors are but also address some things that you guys lacked last season. What specifically do you feel like you guys were missing last year?

JACOB RUBIN: That's probably something that Coach Kerr is a little more at bay to share with you guys. I think what everything comes down to is quick decisions and decision making. So we're really focusing on being efficient in the half court. We're working on being quick and efficient in transition.

Without getting into the details of what he exactly would want, I think when you watch us, you'll hopefully see that we're playing quick, we're making better decisions, and we're trying to simplify the game so those decisions are a little bit easier to make on both ends of the floor.

Q. You talked about this briefly a second ago, but what does a successful Summer League look like for guys like Lester, guys like Podziemski and of course the other draft picks? And for some of the young guys that have been with you guys but are playing against this season, from the perspective of a coaching staff, what is a successful Summer League?

JACOB RUBIN: Yeah, everything starts with defense. For us it's going to start with defense. With all those guys, Lester, Brandin, Trayce, can they guard? Can they guard their position? Can they guard other positions? We want to put them in an environment where they can do that.

We'd like to win, but we're not going to try and win at like sacrificing who we are and the development of those guys because they're a big piece of what we want to do. We have to find the balance. We want to get them playing time. We want to put them in positions, like I mentioned earlier, to succeed.

I think it can be an individual answer for all of them, but it's how can we get them on the floor and how can we keep them on the floor and try to minimize mistakes and try to maximize the decisions that put us at an advantage in the defense and the offense at a disadvantage.

Q. What have you guys noticed as a staff about Lester's evolution or growth from last year to this year?

JACOB RUBIN: He has something to his game. He has something to his game. I think a big thing with him is just continuing to be consistent with it. That's kind of what separates like the people in the league who are great from those levels is how consistent can he be.

But his work ethic is right up there with anyone. You can tell he's more confident. He's more quick in his decisions. I think the game has started to slow down a little bit for him, and there's a little bit of like okay, I'm Lester, like I belong here, and I think that's kind of his confidence has translated.

He needs to continue to work on both sides of the ball, defensively and offensively. He's dynamic, but we need to make sure he's consistent making plays for others, making plays for himself, always team it simple but doing the right things.

Q. For Brandin the shooting numbers stood out big time, but with defense, how can he improve there during the summer, and what does improving on defense look like to you?

JACOB RUBIN: Yeah, I mean, I would say what we try and do is we try and simplify the situations he's going to see, and we try to rep it out as much as possible. We don't want to overload him, but he's someone who's definitely willing to kind of hear more from us.

So just honing in on angles and understanding positioning on defense on and off the ball. Like there's a way to take advantage of everything. Everyone lacks something defensively, but if we can build the mind, if we can build the body to kind of see things and know what's coming next, I think that's what puts him at an advantage for us, so we're going to test him. We're going to make him really guard.

But I think through trial and error, he's going to figure it out, and we've already started working on, can you see the pictures. The earlier you see the pictures, the more you're able to react, the earlier you can be there, and it's kind of just five guys on a string. That's how it works for us.

So we're working with him on it. We do it in an individual scenario, and then I kind of opened it, defensively in practice I promise you we're working on that for sure.

Q. What's some of the advice you've gotten from some of your fellow assistant coaches or from Coach Kerr when you were named the Summer League coach?

JACOB RUBIN: It's kind of crazy, I was talking with my wife about this, but if you think back to when I started here to where I am now, the people who have been on these staffs, it's like -- it's crazy. There's so much basketball knowledge that has been passed down.

I think the biggest thing that people have told me is be me. I just am who I am for whatever reason it is. Just to keep things simple but preach what you believe, believe what you preach. I try to be as genuine and authentic as possible. That's kind of been the biggest thing, and it's trust your instincts, trust what you've been through. I'm going into year eight here.

Just trust what you've been through and just let it go. Like just be who you are and see what happens with it.

Q. (Indiscernible).

JACOB RUBIN: I told myself, I'm the same with everything except for the refs. That's the one thing I told myself. Unless we need a jump start, and I'm sure someone out there -- you want to have the fine if I get it? Someone is going to cover the fine if I need to jump the guy.