Grieving Coach Deki’s passing, plus open thread
Team will privately grieve and process and then it’s back to practice on Sunday
Connor LeTourneau talked to some mental health experts on how the team may process Coach Dejan Milojevic’s tragic passing in How Warriors process grief after Milojevic’s death could define their season. Here are a few quotes, but the article has a lot more, so go read it.
The NBA postponed Golden State’s games Wednesday night against the Jazz and Friday night against the Mavericks. But come Sunday, players must filter back into Chase Center to start preparing for next Wednesday’s home game against the Hawks. Life moves on. Forty-two regular-season games remain.
By returning to practice Sunday, Golden State should be ready conditioning-wise for Wednesday’s game against the Hawks. The bigger question is whether the Warriors will feel mentally ready. …
“They need to process the information, process what has happened within themselves. That’ll continue to happen. Life can stop for a moment to respect the death of a person, but then we do need to move on. That’s critical. Grief does not happen in isolation and withdrawal. We need to be able to face things and live, as we’re still living.”
All three mental-health experts stressed that people handle grief differently. Though some Warriors players might appear fine by the weekend, others could be emotional over Milojevic’s death for weeks or even months.
Still, one thing is true for everyone who saw Milojevic collapse at Valter’s Osteria restaurant on Tuesday night: This grieving process will be multi-layered. …
During his 2½ seasons with the Warriors, Milojevic embodied the principles Kerr values most: joy, selflessness, diligence. In a field rife with ladder-climbers, he was an outlier — a successful head coach overseas who sought out a lower-ranking position stateside so he could learn and grow.
When players were frustrated after a poor performance, Milojevic reminded them to “relax, smile and enjoy yourselves” because “you’re living the dream.” If the Warriors were a family, he was the fun uncle who commanded respect by how he treated others.
…
In situations like the Warriors’, some sort of reset is often necessary. Kerr told his team Thursday to take time away from basketball so it can focus on grieving. If anyone needs to speak to a mental-health expert, the Warriors will provide them one
Add in the trade deadline speculation surrounding this team, and the Warriors stare down an even more daunting task. General manager Mike Dunleavy is expected to make significant changes to the roster by the Feb. 8 deadline. Can the Warriors tune out the noise, rally in the wake of tragedy and improve on the fly?
Their season depends on it.
JOKIC for Coach Deki!
21 points on 9/14 FGs, 1/3 threes, 2/6 FTs, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, 1 steal, 1 block, and 5 fouls in 34 minutes for Siakam's first game as a Pacer. Looks all right IMO. Pacers lost because their bench scored a measly 14 points. Also, Brogdon and Grant scored 30 and 37 points tonight, respectively.