00:00 How was practice today and did Andrew participate? 00:05 STEVE KERR: Andrew practiced. We'll see how he comes out after today. We scrimmaged quite a bit and got after a little bit. So he looked good, but we'll keep him as questionable for tomorrow, based on how he responds to the workload. 00:22 What were the goals of the scrimmaging? 00:24 Late game execution, situational stuff, just trying to take advantage of the time now. One game in a whole week, pretty rare to get this situation. So we're working on a lot of situational stuff that hopefully can help us close these games. 00:46 What are you - when you go looking at your fourth quarters, what are you seeing? I mean, I know we've talked about needing to get organized and stuff, but what are you seeing as the reason for this because, I mean, looking at the numbers, you guys have been, in the fourth quarter it's been pretty rough? 00:59 Yeah, it's been rough. So, not getting organized well enough. And I think we're playing slower, too. I think our pace is down. Last game, it felt like we were trying to bleed clock with three minutes left and we've gotta keep the pace going and get a good shot rather than try to run the clock out. 01:24 If I'm - correct me if I'm wrong - but last year, it seemed like the late collapses were more a matter of defense and not being able to get stops. This seems to be more like offensive-related. 01:35 For sure. 01:36 And is that, besides getting organized, is that just taking a - wise usage of the 24-second clock, or what do you see in there in terms of that? 01:46 Well, number one, I would much rather have it this way than last year. I think if you can get stops down the stretch, it's a lot easier to win games than if you're relying on just outscoring people. So I love where our defense is. We're fourth in the league, even in this stretch of the last 10 games, where we're 3-7. Our defense is Top Five in the league during that stretch. So this is all about our offensive execution, combinations, lineups, lineup construction. I've said this the last few weeks, but when we don't play with this much pace, then we get a little bit exposed in terms of the combinations that we're playing. There might be a lineup that doesn't have enough shooting. Maybe there's a lineup that doesn't have enough athleticism or defensive prowess. So we're mixing and matching quite a bit, probably more than I ever have in 10, 11 years here. 02:50 It sounds like you're patching it together because - obviously we'd like to - De'Anthony going out, but that changed everything. 02:56 Changed everything. De'Anthony was the guy who could help get us organized offensively as a secondary ball-handler, pick-and-roll guy, but also be an on-ball defender, spot-up shooter. So yeah, we're mixing and matching around his absence for sure and - but as I've said many times, I love the guys on this team, on this roster. I think we have a lot of depth and yes, we're mixing and matching, but that's what is required right now and that's what we're gonna continue to do. 03:33 When you opened the season, you wanted JK - you had JK at the 3, giving him a chance at the 3 with Draymond and Trayce, but you had Wiggins in the back court, if I remember correctly. Is that an option still, at some point, or is that experiment - ? 03:48 Everything's an option. There's always options, but I can tell you that JK at the 4 makes way more sense to me because if we have Draymond at the 4 and either Trayce or Loon at the 5, which is what I wanna do. Draymond is at his best at the 4. He is, I think, the world's best defender. And when you put him at the 4, he can do everything. If you put him at the 5, he's gotta take on a huge responsibility. You could see it the other night, having to guard Sengun the entire game down on the block. That takes a lot out of him. And then at the other end, he's the fulcrum of the offense as the 5-man in our - the way we play out of our delay actions. And he's at the top. It's a lot. It's a lot of responsibility. I think having Draymond at the 4 and either Trayce or Loon at the 5 is our best bet to have a consistently good two-way team. but that's tricky because it negates some of the minutes for other guys at other positions. 04:59 With all that being said about Draymond, how does it impact you on offense and defense when you have to bring him off the bench? 05:05 So when I have to bring - 05:07 When you bring Draymond off the bench? 05:09 Yeah . 05:10 Loon along with Kuminga or somebody else? 05:12 Yeah. 05:13 How does it impact your offense and defense? 05:15 Well, it hurts our defense for sure, because Draymond, as I said, I think he's the best defender in the NBA. And so if we don't start him, he's not on the other team's best player. He's not there for the first six minutes setting a tone. On the other hand, he's probably gonna still play the same minutes. It's just a different look. So Draymond's been good on offense at the 4. He has shot the ball well the last two years. So he ends up with more three-point shots, more corner threes. But I don't mind it at all. Like, I just think that we're a little better two-way team when he's at the 4, rather than when he's at the 5. 06:01 Going back to pace for a second, teams are doing things to take away your pace. It felt like there was more pace at the beginning of the year. What has slowed that down? 06:10 Well, Houston, really, they're very athletic at every position. They can really pressure you and they got us into a little bit of a rush, so pace is relative. It's the old John Wooden line. Beat me quick, but don't hurry. You can't hurry, but you've gotta get the ball up the floor. And get to your spots. I say it all the time, if we don't get our spacing right, it's hard to play with pace because then all of a sudden the outlet pass isn't right. The pass that the ball-handler's expecting isn't there. Now the possession comes to a halt. So a big part of pace is spacing, but it's also a decision-making. I thought our decision-making the other night was really poor. 06:55 Do you still think you have enough shooters to play for 4-out at times? 07:05 No. No. So... 07:08 For the first couple of weeks, it looked like maybe, but now that's changed. 07:12 Yeah, I mean, like I said, we're not built that way, so I don't really worry about it, but I'm just answering your question. We're not a 4-out team, a 5-out team. We are - We're a defensive minded-team. That's our identity. We're almost a third away through the season. We have the fourth-ranked defense. That's held up. Like I said, even through the losses, the defense has held up. So our identity is a defensive-minded team. But our offense is much better when we can play with pace off of that defense. And we've had this stretch, shots haven't gone in like they did early in the season, but I think that's connected to pace. I think it's connected to the confidence that comes with playing fast. So the beginning of this stretch when we started, seven-out-of-nine losing stretch, shots weren't going in. I think we lost a little confidence and we've also played some tough teams who are playing good defense and it all makes sense. But we keep moving forward and keep trying to find answers. 08:20 How important is pushing after makes? 08:23 Huge. One of the best things Draymond does is, our team makes it and he gets it out quick and we race up the floor into our offense. The thing that's interesting to me is, every coach that I've ever had, if he took an early shot in transition, every coach I've ever had would say, "It's a bad shot. You can always get that shot." What we've learned in the modern NBA is they were all lying. All my coaches lied to me. Coaches across the country were saying the same thing, "You can always get that shot." Now the difference was, without a three-point line, back then to let my coaches off the hook and all those coaches back then, when the three-point line wasn't as big of a deal, they might have been right. Like, you could get a late-clock shot, long-range shot, but it wasn't worth three. So now that the three-point line is such a big deal, the shot you want is the early three in transition or a layup in transition and all the numbers show it. The first eight seconds, points per possession across the league for every team, is dramatically higher than the last eight. So, playing with pace has huge advantages, the main one being defenses can't get set up. 09:40 When did your mindset shift on that, just having it being drilled into your whole life by coaches? And when did you discover that that early shot is the right one? 09:49 When I started coaching Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. And it took me a little while because that had been ingrained in my head for forever. But a couple of months after I was coaching those guys, I realized, I'm on the bench, I'm going, "Man, that's a lousy shot from Steph." And it's like, "Oh yeah, but he's shooting 43 percent on that shot and they're three-point shots, points for possession way up." So yeah, those are good shots. [👇transcript continues in Reply Comment below👇]
10:18 The shot that he took late in the game the other night, there were still people who didn't do it too soon. And I'm wondering if because you guys had a surprising number of shot clock violations in that game, if maybe that gets into your mind that we've had too many possessions where we didn't get a shot off at all, could that be a factor in taking a shot at that point? 10:36 I don't think so. I don't think so. I think Steph was just, he had a clean look and he's made that shot a million times. And what makes Steph who he is, is he's fearless. And he's not a game manager. He's not a guy who's gonna come down and he's gonna - he's a flamethrower. He's an assassin and he knows that and we've talked about it. He should have run the clock down, but I should have been screaming out there for him to do it, too, and telling Loon to stay down and not come out on the screen. And so we're all at fault on that late-game stuff and, again, you gotta learn and you gotta move on and make sure you do it right the next time. 11:22 Have you ever been in a game - can't remember coaching one - but played in a game where a team had so many shot-clock violations over the course of a game? 11:31 No, no, that was the most. I think it was four and then five. And then we had an eight-second violation. Then we had something else, too. But yeah - 11:44 You had six possessions that didn't get-- 11:46 Yeah, I think we had - what I saw was 15 individual turnovers and I've never seen that. So give Houston credit for for their defense. They put a lot of pressure on us, but there are ways we have to counter for sure. 12:03 Having seen stuff on the biggest stage, especially like Paris, would you have wondered what it would have been like to see Steph in Vegas? 12:12 Oh, for the - in the Play-in - in the Cup? 12:16 In a way, people talk about, "Oh, Vegas, the bad thing is it could take a lot out of a team." 12:21 Right, right, right. 12:22 But for you guys, maybe it might have jolted you guys the other way out of this? 12:27 We'll never know. We'll never know. Yeah. 12:29 Seeing Steph in Vegas, big stakes. 12:32 We all wanted that. We wanted - we wanted to be there. We're disappointed we're not, but we're not, so we take advantage of the practice time and the rest and try to get right. 12:44 Did you hear from the league about your comments about the officiating? 12:50 Privately, yeah, but no, I'm not gonna say anything about it publicly. 12:55 How's Moses doing? 12:56 And let me just say, I will say publicly, I am embarrassed about - any time I criticize an official, after the fact I feel terrible. I'm embarrassed by it. So, sometimes with these games, the emotion kicks in, you say things you regret. I wouldn't change anything about it complaining about the call, but Bill Kennedy is a great referee, been in the league a long time. I feel good when I walk into the arena and I see Bill and I feel lousy that I said what I said afterwards 'cause that, he didn't deserve that. And that was my mistake. 13:43 How's Moses? 13:44 Moses did not practice today. He'll be out tomorrow. 13:47 Okay. Do we know if this is gonna be a week-to-week thing or day-to-day thing or - ? 13:50 Day to day? Yeah. But aren't we all?
00:00 How was practice today and did Andrew participate?
00:05 STEVE KERR: Andrew practiced. We'll see how he comes out after today. We scrimmaged quite a bit and got after a little bit. So he looked good, but we'll keep him as questionable for tomorrow, based on how he responds to the workload.
00:22 What were the goals of the scrimmaging?
00:24 Late game execution, situational stuff, just trying to take advantage of the time now. One game in a whole week, pretty rare to get this situation. So we're working on a lot of situational stuff that hopefully can help us close these games.
00:46 What are you - when you go looking at your fourth quarters, what are you seeing? I mean, I know we've talked about needing to get organized and stuff, but what are you seeing as the reason for this because, I mean, looking at the numbers, you guys have been, in the fourth quarter it's been pretty rough?
00:59 Yeah, it's been rough. So, not getting organized well enough. And I think we're playing slower, too. I think our pace is down. Last game, it felt like we were trying to bleed clock with three minutes left and we've gotta keep the pace going and get a good shot rather than try to run the clock out.
01:24 If I'm - correct me if I'm wrong - but last year, it seemed like the late collapses were more a matter of defense and not being able to get stops. This seems to be more like offensive-related.
01:35 For sure.
01:36 And is that, besides getting organized, is that just taking a - wise usage of the 24-second clock, or what do you see in there in terms of that?
01:46 Well, number one, I would much rather have it this way than last year. I think if you can get stops down the stretch, it's a lot easier to win games than if you're relying on just outscoring people. So I love where our defense is. We're fourth in the league, even in this stretch of the last 10 games, where we're 3-7. Our defense is Top Five in the league during that stretch. So this is all about our offensive execution, combinations, lineups, lineup construction. I've said this the last few weeks, but when we don't play with this much pace, then we get a little bit exposed in terms of the combinations that we're playing. There might be a lineup that doesn't have enough shooting. Maybe there's a lineup that doesn't have enough athleticism or defensive prowess. So we're mixing and matching quite a bit, probably more than I ever have in 10, 11 years here.
02:50 It sounds like you're patching it together because - obviously we'd like to - De'Anthony going out, but that changed everything.
02:56 Changed everything. De'Anthony was the guy who could help get us organized offensively as a secondary ball-handler, pick-and-roll guy, but also be an on-ball defender, spot-up shooter. So yeah, we're mixing and matching around his absence for sure and - but as I've said many times, I love the guys on this team, on this roster. I think we have a lot of depth and yes, we're mixing and matching, but that's what is required right now and that's what we're gonna continue to do.
03:33 When you opened the season, you wanted JK - you had JK at the 3, giving him a chance at the 3 with Draymond and Trayce, but you had Wiggins in the back court, if I remember correctly. Is that an option still, at some point, or is that experiment - ?
03:48 Everything's an option. There's always options, but I can tell you that JK at the 4 makes way more sense to me because if we have Draymond at the 4 and either Trayce or Loon at the 5, which is what I wanna do. Draymond is at his best at the 4. He is, I think, the world's best defender. And when you put him at the 4, he can do everything. If you put him at the 5, he's gotta take on a huge responsibility. You could see it the other night, having to guard Sengun the entire game down on the block. That takes a lot out of him. And then at the other end, he's the fulcrum of the offense as the 5-man in our - the way we play out of our delay actions. And he's at the top. It's a lot. It's a lot of responsibility. I think having Draymond at the 4 and either Trayce or Loon at the 5 is our best bet to have a consistently good two-way team. but that's tricky because it negates some of the minutes for other guys at other positions.
04:59 With all that being said about Draymond, how does it impact you on offense and defense when you have to bring him off the bench?
05:05 So when I have to bring -
05:07 When you bring Draymond off the bench?
05:09 Yeah .
05:10 Loon along with Kuminga or somebody else?
05:12 Yeah.
05:13 How does it impact your offense and defense?
05:15 Well, it hurts our defense for sure, because Draymond, as I said, I think he's the best defender in the NBA. And so if we don't start him, he's not on the other team's best player. He's not there for the first six minutes setting a tone. On the other hand, he's probably gonna still play the same minutes. It's just a different look. So Draymond's been good on offense at the 4. He has shot the ball well the last two years. So he ends up with more three-point shots, more corner threes. But I don't mind it at all. Like, I just think that we're a little better two-way team when he's at the 4, rather than when he's at the 5.
06:01 Going back to pace for a second, teams are doing things to take away your pace. It felt like there was more pace at the beginning of the year. What has slowed that down?
06:10 Well, Houston, really, they're very athletic at every position. They can really pressure you and they got us into a little bit of a rush, so pace is relative. It's the old John Wooden line. Beat me quick, but don't hurry. You can't hurry, but you've gotta get the ball up the floor. And get to your spots. I say it all the time, if we don't get our spacing right, it's hard to play with pace because then all of a sudden the outlet pass isn't right. The pass that the ball-handler's expecting isn't there. Now the possession comes to a halt. So a big part of pace is spacing, but it's also a decision-making. I thought our decision-making the other night was really poor.
06:55 Do you still think you have enough shooters to play for 4-out at times?
07:05 No. No. So...
07:08 For the first couple of weeks, it looked like maybe, but now that's changed.
07:12 Yeah, I mean, like I said, we're not built that way, so I don't really worry about it, but I'm just answering your question. We're not a 4-out team, a 5-out team. We are - We're a defensive minded-team. That's our identity. We're almost a third away through the season. We have the fourth-ranked defense. That's held up. Like I said, even through the losses, the defense has held up. So our identity is a defensive-minded team. But our offense is much better when we can play with pace off of that defense. And we've had this stretch, shots haven't gone in like they did early in the season, but I think that's connected to pace. I think it's connected to the confidence that comes with playing fast. So the beginning of this stretch when we started, seven-out-of-nine losing stretch, shots weren't going in. I think we lost a little confidence and we've also played some tough teams who are playing good defense and it all makes sense. But we keep moving forward and keep trying to find answers.
08:20 How important is pushing after makes?
08:23 Huge. One of the best things Draymond does is, our team makes it and he gets it out quick and we race up the floor into our offense. The thing that's interesting to me is, every coach that I've ever had, if he took an early shot in transition, every coach I've ever had would say, "It's a bad shot. You can always get that shot." What we've learned in the modern NBA is they were all lying. All my coaches lied to me. Coaches across the country were saying the same thing, "You can always get that shot." Now the difference was, without a three-point line, back then to let my coaches off the hook and all those coaches back then, when the three-point line wasn't as big of a deal, they might have been right. Like, you could get a late-clock shot, long-range shot, but it wasn't worth three. So now that the three-point line is such a big deal, the shot you want is the early three in transition or a layup in transition and all the numbers show it. The first eight seconds, points per possession across the league for every team, is dramatically higher than the last eight. So, playing with pace has huge advantages, the main one being defenses can't get set up.
09:40 When did your mindset shift on that, just having it being drilled into your whole life by coaches? And when did you discover that that early shot is the right one?
09:49 When I started coaching Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. And it took me a little while because that had been ingrained in my head for forever. But a couple of months after I was coaching those guys, I realized, I'm on the bench, I'm going, "Man, that's a lousy shot from Steph." And it's like, "Oh yeah, but he's shooting 43 percent on that shot and they're three-point shots, points for possession way up." So yeah, those are good shots.
[👇transcript continues in Reply Comment below👇]
10:18 The shot that he took late in the game the other night, there were still people who didn't do it too soon. And I'm wondering if because you guys had a surprising number of shot clock violations in that game, if maybe that gets into your mind that we've had too many possessions where we didn't get a shot off at all, could that be a factor in taking a shot at that point?
10:36 I don't think so. I don't think so. I think Steph was just, he had a clean look and he's made that shot a million times. And what makes Steph who he is, is he's fearless. And he's not a game manager. He's not a guy who's gonna come down and he's gonna - he's a flamethrower. He's an assassin and he knows that and we've talked about it. He should have run the clock down, but I should have been screaming out there for him to do it, too, and telling Loon to stay down and not come out on the screen. And so we're all at fault on that late-game stuff and, again, you gotta learn and you gotta move on and make sure you do it right the next time.
11:22 Have you ever been in a game - can't remember coaching one - but played in a game where a team had so many shot-clock violations over the course of a game?
11:31 No, no, that was the most. I think it was four and then five. And then we had an eight-second violation. Then we had something else, too. But yeah -
11:44 You had six possessions that didn't get--
11:46 Yeah, I think we had - what I saw was 15 individual turnovers and I've never seen that. So give Houston credit for for their defense. They put a lot of pressure on us, but there are ways we have to counter for sure.
12:03 Having seen stuff on the biggest stage, especially like Paris, would you have wondered what it would have been like to see Steph in Vegas?
12:12 Oh, for the - in the Play-in - in the Cup?
12:16 In a way, people talk about, "Oh, Vegas, the bad thing is it could take a lot out of a team."
12:21 Right, right, right.
12:22 But for you guys, maybe it might have jolted you guys the other way out of this?
12:27 We'll never know. We'll never know. Yeah.
12:29 Seeing Steph in Vegas, big stakes.
12:32 We all wanted that. We wanted - we wanted to be there. We're disappointed we're not, but we're not, so we take advantage of the practice time and the rest and try to get right.
12:44 Did you hear from the league about your comments about the officiating?
12:50 Privately, yeah, but no, I'm not gonna say anything about it publicly.
12:55 How's Moses doing?
12:56 And let me just say, I will say publicly, I am embarrassed about - any time I criticize an official, after the fact I feel terrible. I'm embarrassed by it. So, sometimes with these games, the emotion kicks in, you say things you regret. I wouldn't change anything about it complaining about the call, but Bill Kennedy is a great referee, been in the league a long time. I feel good when I walk into the arena and I see Bill and I feel lousy that I said what I said afterwards 'cause that, he didn't deserve that. And that was my mistake.
13:43 How's Moses?
13:44 Moses did not practice today. He'll be out tomorrow.
13:47 Okay. Do we know if this is gonna be a week-to-week thing or day-to-day thing or - ?
13:50 Day to day? Yeah. But aren't we all?