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Central Notes: Pistons, Carlisle, McConnell, Harden

October 28th, 2023 at 11:49am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Pistons are trying to build a team that could epitomize both the “Bad Boys” teams of the ’80s and ’90s, as well as the “Goin’ to Work” Pistons of the 2000s, according to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III. Defense is the key to doing so and, through two games, Detroit’s defense is forming its identity.

The Pistons held the Heat to 103 points in a narrow one-point loss on Wednesday and limited the Hornets to 99 points on Friday, one year after the league-wide scoring average was 114 points per game. Still, there’s plenty to clean up, Edwards writes, as the Pistons have committed 39 turnovers in two games.

“When you have those kinds of turnover numbers and fouls, you have to do something to offset it,” Pistons coach Monty Williams said. “It was the defense tonight. I mean, (the Hornets) shot 37 percent from the field. You don’t see that much in an NBA game. I thought our physicality had a lot to do with it, guarding the ball had a lot to do with it.”

The Pistons have one of the youngest rosters in the league and the oldest player in the starting lineup is 22. Still, they’re buying into the system Williams is setting in place, according to Edwards.

“I credit the guys we have, we understand the game more, but Monty coming in, putting in a system that we can follow easily, and the standard he’s set on the defensive end,” center Jalen Duren said. “Everyone is buying into it. We’ve got guys taking that end very seriously. When everyone is buying into that side of the basketball, this is the outcome.”

We have more from the Central Division:

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle signed a contract extension with the team on Thursday and he’s looking forward to be around the team for the long haul, Dustin Dopirak of IndyStar writes. “I’m excited to continue the challenge here,” Carlisle said. “It’s really not a day to celebrate. It’s a day to be reminded of the daunting responsibility that me and my staff have to continue to develop this group. We’ve done some pretty good things as an organization the last couple of years and we have to keep pushing forward.“
The Pacers are deep at the guard positions, leading Carlisle to make some difficult rotation decisions, including leaving T.J. McConnell out of the 10-man rotation, Dopirak details in a separate piece. “It was obviously a tough conversation as a competitor,” McConnell said. “But I’m just here to do my job. Whatever he thinks is best for the team, he’s got to do. I just have to stay ready.“
The Bulls could benefit from exploring a swap involving Zach LaVine and James Harden, Scoop Jackson of the Chicago Sun-Times opines. Chicago is 1-1 after an overtime victory over the Raptors on Friday, which came on the heels of a players-only meeting on Wednesday.

Raptors Notes: Schröder, Rajakovic, Barnes, Offense, Uzoh

October 28th, 2023 at 10:50am CST by Tristan Tucker

After Fred VanVleet departed the Raptors in free agency, Toronto was quick to sign Dennis Schröder to a two-year, $25.4MM contract. Schroder is the only player on the Raptors who has previous experience playing for head coach Darko Rajakovic, and that connection is already paying off, TSN’s Josh Lewenberg writes.

While there was some speculation that Scottie Barnes would assume most of the play-making duties after VanVleet left, respect was high between Schröder and Rajakovic from their time together with the Thunder, where Rajakovic served as an assistant, according to Lewenberg.

“[Schröder]’s an experienced point guard,” Rajakovic said. “We’re a new team, new terminology, new coaching staff. There’s so much new with our team and having somebody who’s been through different teams in that role of a point guard brings a calmness.”

Through his first two games as a Raptor, Schröder has been an effective passer (17 assists), an active defender, and a sound shooter (6-of-13 from deep).

“The relationship with me and Darko is great, and it’s honest,” Schröder said. “Whenever he’s got something to say he tells me, and I’ve got the same thing for him. And I think that’s what we’ve gotta do as a team, as well. When you put your egos to the side – and that’s what we did this summer with the national team – and it’s all about winning, then you can get into arguments and move on from it and get better. I think we’re moving in that direction with this team.”

We have more on the Raptors:

The Raptors got off to a great defensive start on Wednesday when they held the Timberwolves to 94 points and they have the personnel to be one of the best in the league in that regard, Eric Koreen of The Athletic writes. According to Koreen, Barnes holds the keys for the Raptors taking the next step on that end. “That’s where my game starts — on the defensive end, being able to go out there and guard anybody, taking pride in it,” the former Rookie of the Year said. “That’s just my mentality going into every game, trying to start off on defense. That leads to great offense with transition and that just leads me to stay on lockdown throughout the game.“
While Toronto’s defense has been effective, their half-court offense looks subpar through two games, Koreen writes in another piece. The Raptors committed 21 turnovers on Friday and fell to the Bulls in overtime.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri and new scout Ben Uzoh have a history together, as detailed by ESPN’s Leonard Solms. Ujiri was Denver’s general manager during Uzoh’s playing career and invited him to training camp in 2012. “Our paths were actually very organically separate,” Uzoh said. “It just kind of aligned. We crossed paths initially [during] my rookie year. I was rumored to be traded to his team when he was the GM of the Nuggets… It didn’t happen, but then they signed me to a training camp opportunity. That’s when I kind of got more in touch with him and more of an up close and personal type of connection with him.“

Wolves Notes: Expectations, Payroll, Edwards, Towns, McDaniels

October 28th, 2023 at 9:21am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Timberwolves are setting a higher bar for their success as they enter their 35th season in the league, with team president Tim Connelly expressing his desire to win a playoff series in front of reporters at media day earlier this month, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes.

After pushing in all their chips for Rudy Gobert last season, the Wolves faced several bumps in the road, including an injury to Karl-Anthony Towns, struggles by their stars to adapt, and not being able to close out teams with losing records. Still, the Wolves ran it back and are looking to improve on a 42-40 season.

“We like what we have. We’re bringing back pretty much the entire rotation. And we love our coaching staff,” Connelly said. “We love our core pieces and, fingers crossed, that the optimism is well placed.”

The Wolves committed to their core, signing Anthony Edwards, Naz Reid and Jaden McDaniels to contract extensions and returning the top six players from their playoff rotation. As Krawczynski writes, there’s pressure for the Wolves to win now with a suddenly expensive and aging roster. Gobert and Towns will make $93MM next season, Edwards’ salary jumps from $13.5MM to, at minimum, $35.5MM, among other spikes in salary and Mike Conley‘s impending free agency.

“There’s been a very loud mandate and risen bar about how we handle ourselves,” Connelly said. “It’s 82 games. There’s no BCS. We can’t take nights off. There were way too many nights last year when we just didn’t show up. But then against the elite teams, we showed what we’re capable of.”

We have more from the Timberwolves:

Following the contract extensions the team completed this offseason, Chris Hine of the Star Tribune took a deeper look into Minnesota’s finances. As Hine explains, Edwards’ success will play a major role in the Timberwolves’ spending power looking forward because he can make up to $42.6MM if he makes an All-NBA team this season. Both Krawczynski and Hine note the Wolves are trending toward the second tax apron and that’s why there’s some speculation that the club might try and part with one of its large salaries by splitting it into multiple more palatable contracts, though that’s an issue for further down the road.
Everything the Wolves have said and done indicates they view Edwards as their No. 1 franchise piece, Hine writes in a separate piece. “Pretty much every decision we’re going to make moving forward is going to be with Ant paramount,” Connelly said in April. However, there’s still room for Towns to have a profound impact on this franchise’s future and this season will go a long way in determining the upside of the Towns and Edwards duo, Hine explains.
McDaniels is being listed as doubtful for the Wolves’ Saturday game against the Heat, according to the team (Twitter link). He’s dealing with a left calf strain.

Bucks Notes: Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Horst, First Game

October 28th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Tristan Tucker

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo responded to the team’s all-in push and the acquisition of Damian Lillard by signing a three-year, $186MM contract extension. It’s a quick turnaround for Antetokounmpo who, in August, said he wouldn’t sign a new deal with Milwaukee unless he felt everyone was on the same page as him.

The Bucks’ acquisition of Lillard proved to Antetokounmpo just how serious the franchise was about winning, and it’s the second time in three years general manager Jon Horst directly responded to uncertainty about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee by pulling off a blockbuster trade, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes.

The last time Horst and the Bucks made such a move in the offseason following a lackluster playoff showing, acquiring Jrue Holiday from New Orleans, Milwaukee won the title. And with rival superstars reaching out to Antetokounmpo, rival teams gearing up for a bidding war for his services, and the Bucks lacking resources to meaningfully improve in free agency, Horst knew he was on the clock to make another big move, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN writes.

Antetokounmpo had no idea Horst and the Bucks were in serious talks for Lillard until the trade happened, both Amick and Shelburne explain. As detailed previously, the Bucks kept everything under wraps so as to not compromise the contending team they already felt they had with Holiday running the point in case things soured. With Milwaukee swinging for the fences, Antetokounmpo made the decision to give more of his prime to the franchise that drafted him in 2013.

“The city shows me a lot of love,” Antetokounmpo said. “And also whenever I go out there and have time with my family, they also give me space. When they see me on the street, they give me space. They respect me, who I am as a person, what I’ve done for the city of Milwaukee. And for that, I can’t turn my back. Not now, not in the future, not never. I want to be committed. I want to give back to the city of Milwaukee. We won one championship, but I believe that we can win a second one.”

Waiting a year to sign an extension with the Bucks would have given Antetokounmpo to sign for an extra year and $65MM, but with Lillard on board, Horst still sent the franchise player an official offer letter for an extension the first day he was permitted to, Shelburne details. Horst and his team pitched Giannis on the idea of signing a three-year extension now, which would allow him to sign two more maximum extensions before the age-38 rule in the CBA would limit his flexibility.

“When we took the long-term view of how this decision gave him the best ability to maximize earnings over the next 10 years, it began to make more sense,” Antetokounmpo’s agent Alex Saratsis said.

We have more from the Bucks:

Milwaukee’s decision to trade for Lillard paid immediate dividends in the team’s opener against the Sixers on Thursday. The Bucks’ new point guard dropped 39 points, a team record for most points in a debut game, including the final 11 points scored by the club in the 118-117 victory, ESPN’s Jamal Collier notes. “At the end of the day, he had the hot hand and you’ve got to keep on feeding it. You’ve got to keep going with what works,” Antetokounmpo said.
Lillard and Antetokounmpo have had extensive conversations about closing games out, and Lillard gave some insight into those talks following Thursday’s game. “They trust my judgment and they trust me making decisions,” Lillard said via Gabe Stoltz of Brew Hoop (Twitter link). “All the way down to the very last play where I got fouled and I went to the free throw line, they inbounded it to Giannis and I was just kind of reading him like, “What do you want to do?” And he was like “Come get the ball.” … He wanted me to make that final decision. For a player of his level to respect me in that way, it means a lot to me but I think it just shows that his No. 1 priority is to be the best we can be and win games.“
Lillard delivered the ultimate first impression to his teammates in his 39-point debut, CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney writes. “It was tough man, he was hooping,” Cameron Payne said. “It was crazy, we really ain’t got to see that Dame yet. That was our first time seeing him go crazy on our team, because in preseason he was getting trapped. We really didn’t get to see that. But he put on a show tonight. I know he’s gonna keep that going. The boy looked good.“

And-Ones: Extensions, Breakouts, B. Smith, Defenders

October 27th, 2023 at 10:35pm CST by Rory Maher

2023 set a record for rookie scale extensions, with 14 contracts signed before the October 23 deadline. Typically, rookie scale extensions go almost exclusively to stars or at least starters, but that wasn’t the case this year.

John Hollinger of The Athletic classifies it as a “middle-class revolution” with six players signing at or below the projected 2024/25 mid-level exception, and a couple others receiving slightly more than that. Several of those players come off the bench for their respective clubs.

As Hollinger writes, there are several reasons why both teams and players may have been motivated to reach new deals. For players, avoiding restricted free agency was surely a factor — Magic guard Cole Anthony and Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu recently said that was the case for them.

For teams, a salary cap that is projected to rise substantially in the coming years will help “water down” some of the contracts. Mid-sized contracts are also very useful for trade purposes, Hollinger observes, with free agency limitations likely a major consideration for the Celtics (Payton Pritchard) and Nuggets (Zeke Nnaji) due to their payrolls (both project to be over the second apron in ’24/25).

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

In another article for The Athletic, Hollinger lists 12 players he believes are primed for breakout seasons in 2023/24, with some fairly obvious choices and some under-the-radar picks as well. Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga, Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Hornets center Mark Williams are five of the players Hollinger thinks will see “big upticks in production.”
Former Cavaliers forward Bingo Smith has passed away at age 77, according to Tom Withers of The Associated Press. Smith played 10 season for Cleveland from 1970-80. Smith is still sixth in franchise history in points and fourth in games played, among other statistical marks. His No. 7 jersey hangs in the rafters as one of only seven players to have their number retired, Withers adds. “Bingo was always a giving teammate and one of the most fierce competitors I ever played with,” said former Cavs star and current broadcaster Austin Carr. “This is truly a sad moment in our franchise history and my heart goes out to his family.”
Jon Krawczynski and Josh Robbins of The Athletic ran an anonymous poll to see which players coaches identify as the best defenders in the NBA. Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was the only unanimous choice for first-team All-Defense, receiving all 12 votes. The remaining spots were filled by Jaren Jackson Jr. (forward), Brook Lopez (center), Alex Caruso (guard), OG Anunoby, and Draymond Green (the latter two tied for the second forward spot). Holiday was also third in the survey’s Defensive Player of the Year voting behind Jackson and Lopez, who finished first and second for the actual award last season. Evan Mobley, who was third in DPOY media voting last season and named first-team All-Defense, finished sixth in DPOY voting in The Athletic’s coaches poll and was second-team All-Defense.

Northwest Notes: Henderson, Holmgren, Markkanen, Dunn

October 27th, 2023 at 8:14pm CST by Rory Maher

Scoot Henderson, the third overall pick in the 2023 draft, had an inauspicious regular season debut in Wednesday’s loss at the Clippers, recording just two points and one assist until the fourth quarter, when the Trail Blazers were down 26 points to open the final frame.

As Bill Oram of The Oregonian writes, Henderson grew up emulating Russell Westbrook, who dominated the head-to-head matchup. The rookie point guard ultimately finished with 11 points (5-of-11 shooting), four assists and four turnovers after accumulating some garbage-time stats.

“There’s going to be some nights he’s going to look 19,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “Tonight was one of those nights.”

Still, the Blazers know they’re going to take their lumps in 2023/24, and it will all be about how Henderson and the rest of the team develop and respond, according to Oram.

Despite his opening night struggles, teammates and coaches said Henderson remained unflappable throughout the game, a testament to to his mentality and maturity, per Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian (subscriber link).

“I didn’t see him get frustrated all,” center Deandre Ayton said. “He was pretty calm and collected. He was talking to me more than anything … Even though he knew he made a couple of mistakes, he just went on to the next play and played harder. He handled it well as a professional, for sure.”

Portland and Henderson will look to bounce back in tonight’s home opener vs. Orlando, though starting backcourt mate Anfernee Simons is out four-to-six weeks after tearing a ligament in his thumb. Second-year guard Shaedon Sharpe will start in Simons’ place, Billups told reporters, including Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter link).

Here’s more from the Northwest:

Thunder big man Chet Holmgren had to wait a year to make his regular season debut after missing all of last season with a foot injury. Was the second pick in 2022 nervous on Wednesday in Chicago? “More excitement, and I guess a little bit of (anxiety),” he said, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. “Just the waiting part, knowing that eventually the ball’s gonna tip up. All day you’re just waiting for that moment.” Holmgren finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists, a steal and was plus-14 in 25 minutes, Mussatto notes.
Jazz head coach Will Hardy says Lauri Markkanen will have a difficult year, as the All-Star forward’s breakout season in 2022/23 has made him a “marked man” on opposing teams’ scouting reports, not to mention he’ll face increased scrutiny because of elevated expectations. However, Hardy is confident he’ll handle the extra attention well, writes Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. “Yeah, I mean, they started making changes obviously during the last year, too. And we kind of knew what was going to come, so no surprises there,” Markkanen said after Wednesday’s loss to Sacramento. “But I think that’s a good challenge for me. I’m not gonna put my head down if I make a mistake or whatever. I’m here to get better every day.”
Kris Dunn recently had his contract for 2023/24 guaranteed by the Jazz, and he says he’s “super grateful for the opportunity” after dealing with injuries the past handful of seasons and working his way back to the NBA by playing in the G League for most of 2022/23, as Sarah Todd of The Deseret News details. “I fell in love with the game even more,” Dunn said of his time with the Capital City Go-Go. “When you’re down and out, you’ve got to find a way to really battle through and I just really, really worked on my fundamentals and tried to develop my game so that when the shot did come and present itself, I was ready.”

Injury Notes: Garland, Allen, Claxton, Johnson, Martin

October 27th, 2023 at 6:44pm CST by Rory Maher

Cavaliers point guard Darius Garland will miss Friday’s home opener against Oklahoma City with a left hamstring strain, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff previously called Garland “very questionable,” tweets Thunder sideline reporter Nick Gallo.

According to Fedor, Garland didn’t participate in the team’s shootaround on Friday morning, and the Cavs decided to take a cautious approach with the 2021/22 All-Star.

Garland will be Cleveland’s second starter sitting out, as Jarrett Allen continues to deal with a left ankle bone bruise. The 25-year-old center is expected to miss Saturday’s back-to-back against Indiana as well, Fedor writes.

The Cavs are hopeful that Allen will make his 2023/24 season debut on Tuesday against the Knicks, sources tell Fedor. Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade, who missed Cleveland’s first game with an illness, will start in place of Garland and Allen.

Here are a few more injury notes:

Nets big man Nic Claxton has a left ankle sprain and is out for Friday’s game at Dallas, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. Brooklyn’s starting center will be a free agent next summer — he’s on an expiring $9.6MM contract. According to Lewis (Twitter link), head coach Jacque Vaughn said Claxton is day-to-day.
Nets forward Cameron Johnson will also be in street clothes on Friday, having been downgraded from questionable to out with a left calf contusion (Twitter links via Lewis). Vaughn said the team is just being cautious with Johnson, who re-signed with Brooklyn on a four-year, $90MM+ contract this summer. It’s worth noting that Johnson missed all of training camp and preseason with a mild left hamstring strain, though he did start and play 26 minutes in Wednesday’s opener vs. Cleveland.
The Heat will be shorthanded again on Friday at Boston, with Caleb Martin (knee) the latest wing player sidelined (Twitter link via the team). Josh Richardson (foot) and Haywood Highsmith (knee) didn’t travel with Miami on its three-game road trip, as we previously relayed. On Tuesday, Martin said his knee still wasn’t 100%, calling the injury “a work in progress.” He played 20 minutes in Wednesday’s opener vs. Detroit.

Wolves Exercise 2024/25 Team Option On Wendell Moore Jr.

October 27th, 2023 at 5:23pm CST by Rory Maher

The Timberwolves have picked up their third-year team option on second-year wing Wendell Moore Jr., the team announced in a press release.

Moore, the 26th overall pick in the 2022 draft out of Duke, will now have a guaranteed $2,537,040 salary in 2024/25. The Wolves will have until the end of October 2024 to decide if they want to pick up their fourth-year team option on Moore’s rookie scale contract for ’25/26.

The 22-year-old only appeared in 153 regular season minutes over 29 NBA games (5.3 MPG) as a rookie in ’22/23. He was not in Minnesota’s rotation for the team’s season opener on Wednesday.

Moore did receive some run in the G League for the Iowa Wolves last season, appearing in 13 total games (31.1 MPG) during the Showcase Cup and regular season. He averaged 18.8 PPG, 4.7 APG and 4.6 RPG on .451/.370/.793 shooting in those appearances.

Many teams have already made decisions on 2024/25 rookie scale team options this fall, with the deadline set for next Tuesday, October 31. However, some decisions are still outstanding. The full list can be found right here.

Western Notes: THT, K. George, Kings, Booker, Pokusevski

October 27th, 2023 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After letting several players battle for the role in training camp and preseason, the Jazz made Talen Horton-Tucker their starting point guard on Wednesday. According to Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune, head coach Will Hardy explained that a domino effect related to two other starters was a major factor in the decision.

“Talen pairs well with Jordan (Clarkson). Jordan is very much a good pairing with Lauri (Markkanen), because he provides a second threat offensively, a second ball-handler, a second play-maker, a second focal point of the offense,” Hardy said. “When we made the determination that Jordan was going to play with Lauri, Talen was the best fit to play with Jordan.”

As Larsen notes, of the players on Utah’s current roster, No. 16 overall pick Keyonte George is the best bet to be the point guard of the future. George had a solid debut, scoring eight points on 3-of-5 shooting in 19 minutes (Horton-Tucker had eight points on 3-of-9 shooting in 22 minutes), but Hardy isn’t ready to throw the rookie in the deep end by starting him and playing him heavy minutes.

“I think that Keyonte is a good player. I think we have high expectations for Keyonte and his future,” the Jazz coach said. “But in no way are we going into these games just saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to play Keyonte to play Keyonte.’ I thought he was reading the game well, he made some really good decisions. He made some great passes to shots that didn’t go in. But, I thought that in the flow of the game, he had a good thing going.”

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

The Kings were the feel-good story of 2022/23, winning 48 games and snapping a 16-season playoff drought, but head coach Mike Brown isn’t satisfied with their achievements, telling the team entering this season that “good is the enemy of great,” as Anthony Slater and Sam Amick of The Athletic detail in an in-depth piece on the team’s desire to reach the next level. “I feel like he’s erased everything we did last year from his memory, from our memory,” Domantas Sabonis said of Brown. “He only brings up that we lost against the Warriors (in the first round of the playoffs). He’s definitely pushing us harder, and I love it. It’s fair. That happens usually (where) guys get complacent or think, ‘Oh, whatever we did last year.’ But if we don’t do all the little details, nothing’s going to change, you know?”
Suns guard Devin Booker missed Thursday’s game due to what has been diagnosed as a left mid-foot sprain, according to TNT’s Jared Greenberg (Twitter link), who says the injury occurred during Tuesday’s win over Golden State. Booker will undergo an MRI upon returning to Phoenix and is aiming to return to the court on Tuesday vs. San Antonio, a team source tells Greenberg.
When the Thunder announced on September 20 that Aleksej Pokusevski had sprained his right ankle in a workout, they said he would be reevaluated in six weeks. However, Pokusevski was active for the team’s regular season opener on Wednesday, beating a recovery timeline that would’ve sidelined him until November, tweets Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. The fourth-year forward may not be part of Oklahoma City’s regular rotation at this point though — he only played two minutes of garbage time in Wednesday’s victory over Chicago.

Warriors Notes: Thompson, Green, CP3, Kuminga

October 27th, 2023 at 3:05pm CST by Luke Adams

Klay Thompson and the Warriors can finalize an extension at any time between now and June 30, 2024, so they didn’t need to come to an agreement before the regular season begins. Still, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic notes (via Twitter video), some players view opening night as an artificial deadline and prefer to table those talks until after the season if they don’t agree to terms by then.

Asked if he’s taking that route, Thompson didn’t confirm it one way or the other, but he also didn’t sound like a player who plans to be actively engaged in pursuing a new deal during the season.

“I’m focused on the daily dedication it takes to do this job,” Thompson said. “I’m not worried about an extension right now. That’ll all play itself out.”

Recent reports from ESPN and The Athletic have indicated that the Warriors and Thompson are pretty far apart on years and money, increasing the likelihood that the veteran sharpshooter could reach free agency next summer. It’s very possible the two sides will bridge that gap at some point between now and June 30, but Thompson acknowledged that he intends to savor this season “just in case” it’s his last in Golden State.

“Oh yeah, you never know what’s going to happen,” Thompson said. “I’m going to savor this as much as I can, especially in this uniform. I was here before it sweet, before it was four championships. Twenty-three wins (in 2011/12). I was here building the foundation, so yeah I’m going to savor it. Because everyone around the world thinks it’s sweet when they look at (the) Warriors, but it hasn’t always been like this. So I’m going to savor the heck out of it.”

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Warriors forward Draymond Green won’t play on Friday vs. Sacramento, but he just needs to regain his proper conditioning and is “close” to returning to action, per head coach Steve Kerr (Twitter link via Kendra Andrews of ESPN).
Regardless of whether or not Chris Paul continues to start for the Warriors once Green returns, his main role will be as the floor general for the team’s second unit, a source tells Kendra Andrews of ESPN. Paul is the “quintessential” player for that role, according to Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic, who observes that the veteran guard’s playing style represents the counterbalance to Golden State’s “organized chaos.”
Even after Green is back, Kerr expects it to take a few weeks for the Warriors to get fully comfortable with their new lineups and the new additions to their rotation, according to Andrews. “This is just the first glimpse of the regular season,” he said. “It usually takes 20, 25 games to really know your team and feel the actions you need, the combinations you have.”
After rolling with Jonathan Kuminga over Andrew Wiggins – and giving Gary Payton II some playing time – in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, Kerr told reporters that he liked the way Kuminga and Payton were defending, and that he won’t hesitate to go with the hot hand in crunch time this season. “That’s how it’s going to be a lot of nights this year,” Kerr said, per C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle. “Whoever is playing best will finish the game.”

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