Recovering Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson isn’t participating in full contact workouts yet, but he’s “starting to really get movement on the court,” head coach Steve Kerr told Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Thompson continues to rehab from an Achilles tear he suffered in November 2020.
“He’s still a ways away from actually playing basketball in a 5-on-5 setting,” Kerr said. “But there’s a big step with the Achilles when you can actually start running again. It’s a huge psychological boost. The rest of the body gets going, you start feeling the soreness and aches and pains that actually feel good when you’ve been out for a while. He’s at that point.”
Kerr addressed a few other topics of note during his conversation with Slater. Here are some of the highlights:
- Coming off knee surgery that ended his rookie season, James Wiseman is “right on schedule for everything,” according to Kerr, who says the expectation is still that the young center will be ready for training camp.
- Discussing the addition of Kenny Atkinson as an assistant coach, Kerr said he was worried about “groupthink” with the current staff and believes Atkinson will bring a new perspective to the group. “Very clever. Very analytically driven,” Kerr said of Atkinson. “We’ve had a lot of basketball conversations over the years and I’ve always been impressed with the way he sees and feels the game. In a way, it’s different from me.”
- Mike Brown has been Kerr’s associate head coach for the last several years, making him the lead assistant on the staff. Atkinson has a claim to that role too, but neither coach is concerned about the title, according to Kerr. “I talked to Kenny about titles. He didn’t care. I talked to Mike, said I was interviewing Kenny and hadn’t talked title. Mike said, ‘I don’t care either,'” Kerr told Slater. “To me, they’re just both assistant coach. Both guys are comfortable in their own skin.”
- Kerr said he isn’t as involved this year in scouting and evaluating draft prospects because of the Olympics and his commitment to Team USA, but he’s excited about what the Warriors will be able to do with the seventh and 14th overall picks. “Based on what I’ve watched on tape, I’ve seen a few guys who can play right now,” Kerr said. “You can go that route or go the younger route, get a prospect. Maybe you get one of each. Get one guy who is ready now and one guy who may pop in a few years. Who knows. But I think we’re in a really good position asset-wise to look at everything.”
I can’t wait to see Klay Thompson back playing basketball. Dude is one of the easiest guys to root for in the sport.
True. Shame he has missed so much time. Honestly his injury is a main reason the league has rebalanced. Even without Durant, a healthy GSW would have been a top-3 odds favorite to win the title.
Idk that I’d have put them in top 3. But they’d be up there.
Who is 7？
Great question. I don’t know if anyone knows yet. I guess the top six are very clear and none of those guys are going to slide. After that you either go Young Wing who’s not ready or low ceiling guy who is ready.
Sillivan what do you think the Warriors do in this draft?
I think someone will probably slide and the Dubs will snag him at 7. They revamped their development staff with their new hires, so signs seem to be pointing towards keeping their picks unless another team panics.
Any huge trade would prob have to involve Wiggins since the hard cap looms, unless Oubre decides to do a S&T (seems very unlikely).
7
Draft a young player who is nba ready
Mitchell and Kispert are old
You are 7…I’m not a number.
You are 2
:)
Why does Sillivan get to be 7?
Think they are leaning towards Moses Moody at 7. He’s the only player they reviewed Film with last week in all of those Draft workouts. He’s viewed as a Klay plug-and-play substitute as Klay will likely not be ready by Opening night.
Personally, I’d prefer James Bouknight as a player that can create his own shot get us Buckets off the bench.
Don’t like Moody. He disappeared in Tournament. I’d take Bouknight or Mitchell if I’m Warriors. But I think they are trading for a vet.
He carried the Hogs all season (I’m a fan). Rumors were he wasn’t fully healthy headed into the tournament and that attributed to his poor play. Why would you ever judge a prospects potential on ONE tournament? That’s downright foolish, IMO.
I’d almost prefer Wagner to the bunch, and there’s a chance a Moody/Mitchell falls to 14, but I doubt Wagner does. He’s also Said to be closer to 6’10 than 6’8, and we have a need for a 2way big wing.
I like Giddey too, however when his comps are either LaMelo or 6’8 Ricky Rubio, there’s obviously some hesitation. Idk why nobody’s compared him to Livingston as you’d think it’d be an easy comparison to make, yet I hear more Iggy/LaMelo/6’8 Rubio.
Roko Prkacin and Trey Murphy look good as well, and if they go Moody/Mitchell at 7, I’d prefer a Wagner/Jalen Johnson(if he falls) to perhaps even Duarte.
Sandro Mamukelshvili is a stud to watch in the early 2\late 1st.
Signing a Boban/Robin Lopez/Olynk or Willy Hernangmtjjsnomez would be a solid additional bigs to the center rotation
Warriors best move and cheaper move. Us a sign no trade with Obrue for Barnes. Even with a third team. He fits them and they need him. Wiggins can be the scoring off bench. But will start till Klay is ready. Wiggins to me has become a better all around pkayer with Warriors. And don’t sleep on his scoring. Against second (bench) teams he can put up 30.
Atkinson has done a good job of developing guys, so he should help in that regard
Curious to see how Klay looks after his 2 injuries. He is mostly a below the rim guy, so hopefully he should still be ok. That being said, his last 3 healthy years, he wasnt great. They need to make sure to bring in guys that can help him defensively on the wing/at the guard spot, so he can focus mostly on his role coming off screens and knocking down shots. I also hope to see him get back in the post in half court situations, which he kind of went away from his last couple of years, most likely due to them having Kevin Durant for that