It remains to be seen just how much time Steve Kerr will take away from the game to recover from back surgery. Considering the Coach of the Year runner-up was at training camp just one day after announcing his leave, it’s safe to say he won’t be gone long. But in the interim, Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors are ensuring they stay sharp by holding one another extra accountable.
In a story by the Contra Costa Times’ Carl Steward, the loudmouth forward says his team’s leaders will “step up” to account for any practice-court slippage gleaned from Kerr’s absence.
“It’s like if your boss leaves work, everyone relaxes,” Green said Saturday. “It’s like a weight off your shoulders. When your boss checks out, it’s like, ‘Oh, man, what’s up, now we can chill.’ It’s just human nature. So it’s a challenge for us to not do that.”
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“That’s myself, that’s Steph (Curry), that’s (Andrew) Bogut, that’s Andre (Iguodala), that’s us as leaders,” he said. “If something isn’t going right, we have to step up. At the end of the day, Luke can do it and he will do it, but anytime you can get something from another player, it’s better. Coach Izzo always had a saying, ‘A player-coached team is always better than a coach-coached team.’ “
Steph Curry echoed Green’s comments, noting that Golden State can’t lose a sense of focus and attention to detail without its coach’s voice in the gym.
As Green and Curry indicate, that shouldn’t prove to be too much of a problem for the Warriors. They boast one of the league’s most mature, close-knit locker rooms, one that started cautioning against title-related complacency well before training camp began last week. Not even the specter of Harrison Barnes’ ongoing contract negotiations seem to be a distraction for the reigning champs; they’re locked in with the regular season fast approaching, and should be considered prohibitive favorites to hoist another Larry O’Brien Trophy next June.
Some championship teams aren’t built for longevity. Roster turnover and mental makeup can doom the chance for a repeat long before season’s end, and the sudden and unexpected loss of a head coach in training camp certainly could, too. But if Golden State fails to win another title, it won’t be due to Kerr’s absence – Green, Curry, and company are making sure of that.
(Via Contra Costa Times)
