There was a 10- or 15-minute period when the Warriors feared that Kevin Durant‘s knee injury would be much worse than an MCL sprain and bone bruise, GM Bob Myers tells Sam Amick of USA Today. However, after the MCL sprain showed up on an MRI, Golden State was able to diagnosis the bone bruise with a CT scan, alleviating the club’s most serious concerns.
The Warriors are certainly in no danger of losing their playoff spot, but with Durant potentially out until the postseason and the Spurs hot on their tails, the Dubs will be focusing on getting healthy and holding their No. 1 seed over the next several weeks, according to Myers.
“Health is probably the most important (issue), but (playoff) seeding is right up there,” the Warriors GM said. “I know we’re going to try to win as many games as we can. …We will do our best to keep the positioning we have now, but it’s not going to be easy.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific division:
- Matt Barnes‘ contract with the Kings didn’t feature any set-off language, according to Bobby Marks of The Vertical (via Twitter). That means that Barnes will continue to earn his full salary on his deal with Sacramento, and will receive a prorated minimum salary from the Warriors on top of that.
- Bill Oram of The Orange County Register spoke to several of Rob Pelinka‘s former clients and contacts around the NBA to get a sense of what sort of job Pelinka will do in his new role as the Lakers‘ general manager.
- Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com also indirectly takes a closer look at the Lakers‘ front office by going in-depth on the Spurs. As Holmes outlines, the Lakers would be wise to follow in the footsteps of the NBA’s most successful, stable, and well-run organization of the last two decades.
Well if everyone ran like the spurs there be alot more teams doing well. Spurs are the most well run team.
You make it sound so easy. If it was that easy everybody could do it.
Can you give me three specific things they do very well that separates them from the rest of the pack? You know, since it’s so easy to just say, other teams should be run the same way :)
By the way, I can’t.
And I don’t mean just saying, number one, draft well number two, hire a great coach.
I mean specific things, if you can. I think they would be great points to discuss.
I can give two:
1) Team-ball mentality. No player is above the rest of the team. It’s something the Warriors have adopted.
2) Fivethirtyeight did a great report on their defense against corner threes. If I remember correctly, they consistently rank near the top in opponent’s field goal % from the corner despite being near the bottom in terms of open corner 3s given each year (as in they give up a lot of corner 3s).
And this might be a stretch, as it might fall into what you just mentioned, but they also do a great job in international scouting.
Great points !!
Wit the Scouting, how many guys have they picked in the second round who have gone on to be very good players? Plus the late first-round. Geniuses.
Spurs have stability, no sudden roster moves and a real next man up mentality. Great at finding the right talent for their team esp European. No Superstar egos.