Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic has been hospitalized in Salt Lake City, team sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
According to ESPN’s report, Milojevic – who was in Utah with the team for Wednesday’s game vs. the Jazz – was at a dinner with players and coaches when he suffered a “sudden and serious” health issue. The exact nature of that issue is unclear.
As Anthony Slater of The Athletic relays (via Twitter), the Warriors confirmed this morning in a statement that Milojevic suffered “a medical emergency” at a private team dinner, adding that updates on his status will be provided as appropriate.
A former star player in Europe and the longtime head coach of Mega Basket in Serbia, Milojevic made the move to the NBA for the first time in 2021, joining Steve Kerr‘s staff in Golden State and winning a title to cap off his first year with the franchise. This is his third season as a Warriors assistant.
Here’s more out of Golden State:
- Although the Warriors haven’t been shy about going deep into luxury tax territory in recent years, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said during an appearance on NBA Today (YouTube link) that he believes the club will be more conscious of its financial situation going forward, in large part due to the increased restrictions facing teams above the second apron in the new CBA. “I don’t think their decisions are simply, right now, ‘Hey, we see a player we really like and we’re going to trade for him,'” Wojnarowski said. “Because financially they can’t keep going forward at the salary level they’re at.”
- Draymond Green‘s return from his indefinite suspension on Monday didn’t go as planned for the Warriors, who fell to the undermanned Grizzlies by a score of 116-107. Green came off the bench and played just 23 minutes, telling reporters after the game that “it was fun being back on the court” despite the loss, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “I think (the minutes) will go up pretty fast, but until it does I will try to be the best I can be in the minutes I have and bring a spark to this team,” Green said.
- Green wasn’t happy with the defensive effort he saw from the Warriors in Monday’s loss, according to Andrews. “(The defensive plan) falls off when it’s about having pride,” he said. “You have to have pride in yourself as a man, that I’m not going to let a guy score. But our closeouts were too soft, and rotations were too slow, so there’s just no pride. Until every guy takes pride in themself and wants to stop the guy in front of them, we’ll suck.”
- Monday’s ugly loss in Memphis, which dropped the Warriors’ record to 18-22 on the season, increased the level of pressure on the team’s front office, suggests Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Hope he gets better
Surprised the players union was OK with the cap restrictions since now most of the teams have problems moving players with big contracts.
The union got things in return that they obviously thought were worth it. Things like adding merchandise and licensing revenue into the income pot that is used for calculating the cap. The players shouldn’t care if teams have trouble moving big contracts.
the writing on the wall is teams will be more reluctant to signing players to the max contracts.
That will last for maybe one or two seasons, and then they’ll realize that if they want to keep their players, they have to. Same way it worked with the previous rules increasing player salary in the 90s and early 2000s. Either pony up or get stiffed.
As they should be because they give them around like party favors to dude’s who don’t deserve them.
I’m afraid the NBA, sports media & us fans are stuck with Draymond Green.
Pride is what leads you to punching people in the face ya putz. Be humble
Green is a jerk, but he’s correct. The Warriors lack of hustle has been really obvious this season. Particularly with defensive rebounds. “Oh, but they’re so small, of course they’ll struggle with that”, not so. Last season they were 7th in the league in defensive rebounds, they’re now 10th and falling, and they were 2nd in the league in DRB in the 21-22 championship season. Their transition defense has also cratered. It’s not just age, they’re not moving well out there at all, top to bottom. With their high turnover and foul rates because of how the motion offense works, the Warriors cannot be so slow getting back and cutting off opposing possessions. Even more so when they’re no longer the most prolific 3pt shooting team in the league and are now middle of the pack in 3pt percentage.
Sometimes what is perceived as a lack of hustle is really just lack of ability and/or lack of basketball instincts. The Warriors are a team of athletically declining vets and mistake prone young players with nothing in between (not a single player in his athletic and performance prime). You could argue that Wiggins should be at his peak given his age but he clearly has fallen off a cliff for whatever reason.
That is part of it, but you can’t blame all of it on lack of physical ability. There are plenty of way to compensate for that, like superior positioning and scheme. Things the Warriors have succeeded with in the recent past. The drop-off is too steep for it to be just age.
Also, Wiggins, Looney, Saric, and Payton are all either within their prime or close to it. And Kuminga’s physical ability should be spurring him further as well. TJD too. It’s at least partly due to laxness. It basically has to be unless everyone went from above-average to fossil, athletically, in one offseason. They aren’t Roy Hibbert, so I don’t think it’s likely.
The Warriors were mediocre, at best, defensively last season. This season is a continuation of a decline; not a sudden drop off. For some reason some fans act like last season didn’t happen.
Still shouldn’t be to this level. They were a middle of the pack defensive team last season. Dropping straight to the bottom without massive injury problems is weird, to say the least.
And as a Cavs fan, the Warriors will never be a team I like. They’re interesting to discuss, but not a team I care for.
A bit of perspective… As of this moment, the Disaster Grizzlies have only three fewer wins than the Warriors…
Lmao the warriors look absolutely terrible. Their three “stars” are all washed as hell and their role players suck. The fall of a dynasty