Australian center Andrew Bogut tried to get the Warriors to sign countryman Matthew Dellavedova in 2013, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. After Dellavedova went undrafted, Bogut petitioned GM Bob Myers to take a chance on the guard, but Golden State didn’t have a roster spot available. Instead, Dellavedova signed with the Cavaliers’ summer league team, earned a place on the roster and will face the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
There’s more tonight from the Pacific Division:
- Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob hasn’t addressed a crowd since he was booed off the court three years ago, writes Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group. With Golden State in the NBA Finals, the response would assuredly be different, but Lacob wants to wait until he has a championship trophy in hand to speak to fans again. The booing incident came during Chris Mullin’s jersey retirement ceremony in March of 2012, less than two years after Lacob and Peter Guber purchased the team. Public opinion about ownership has changed since then, especially after the Warriors compiled the NBA’s best record and lost just three games while storming through the Western Conference playoffs. “I don’t think he thinks about it as redemption in any sense like that,” said Joe’s son, Kirk Lacob. “I think the booing thing just adds … it’s just another cool part of the story, hopefully.”
- With Game 1 of the NBA Finals five days away, Warriors coach Steve Kerr is confident that Klay Thompson will be ready, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. Thompson suffered a concussion in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals and will not be able to practice until he is symptom free. “He’s going through the [concussion protocol] process, but all is going well,” Kerr said today.
- Julius Randle, the Lakers‘ top pick in the 2014 draft, is almost fully recovered from a broken leg, writes Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. Randle has made steady progress since fracturing his tibia in the team’s season opener and hopes to be ready for summer league action in July. “The last time I checked probably about a month ago, the bone was 95% healed,” Randle said. “I feel great.”