Warriors-Rockets pregame: Paschall/Wiseman out, rivalry ushered in pace & space, Silas remembers rookie Stephen Curry
Kerr on Atlanta shootings #StopAsianHate, gun violence
Here are notes & quotes from Warriors pregame with Stephen Silas and Steve Kerr in Houston. Please check our YouTube channel for more videos, the first one is above and clickable. The second one below is on the absences of James Wiseman and Eric Paschall due to NBA COVID protocols:
SILAS:
- Christian Wood and Daniel will play: “we haven’t won a game since Christian went out…limited minutes (restriction)…both proven veteran players.”
- GSW HOU rivalry: “the precursor to how teams are playing now…immense ball handling passing talent…beginning stages of switching everything…very similar to how most teams are playing right now…an injury here or there changes the whole scope…really cool stuff to watch.”
- young guys stepping up during injuries: “having to guard some of the best players and learn some really intricate stuff…it’s good for their growth…we’re still injured like crazy, we don’t have John, we don’t have Vic…pretty tough to come in and not know if you’re playing a lot or a little.”
- won’t divulge minutes for Wood tonight
- memories of Steph as a rookie? “One game in NY…he was playing every game…he didn’t play at the Garden his rookie year until like the last four minutes…crowd was going crazy…Steph was so disappointed…couple season later he had like 55 or 50…I texted him, like a little different than your rookie year, right?…we did the 2-ball dribbling drill initially and he was not great it (now) it’s a big deal…couldn’t happier to a better human being.”
- having John/Vic back: “been working on it and I want those guys to play…Kevin Porter Jr…KJ…a lot better problem to have than only having eight guys.”
- Kevin Porter Jr: “he’s done everything that we’ve needed him to do.”
- fifth starter? Sterling Brown
KERR:
- Paschall Wiseman how long out? “We’re gonna wait and see, we’ll just get the word from the league.”
- how many? “There’s four or five staff members. I’m not allowed to say names.”
- testing? “We tested last night, we tested again this morning…I didn’t get confirmation until this afternoon. There were a number of texts starting late last night.”
- rotation? “This is just modern life. Everybody seems to be going through this in some level in sports. For the young players involved it’s just gonna be a blip on the radar screen ultimately…these guys have long careers ahead of them…try to keep the league going…long term this is not going to be a big factor.”
- stay at hotel? “The only thing I can tell you is they’ll be in the hotel tonight.”
- Wiseman: “a guy who has a 15-20 year career ahead of him. As it relates to this season of course it’s a big deal…it’s our job to deal with it…frustrating especially when you’re young, a week or a couple weeks seems like an eternity…for now it’s a blow.”
- don’t know when will hear from league.
- Silas: “inherited a very difficult job…always been someone with a very level head…close with Steph, we interviewed him four years ago when we ultimately hired Mike Brown…(liked experience of Brown).”
- Atlanta: “a million things went through my mind, number one just the continue hatred and racism that’s going on in the wake of the pandemic, so disappointing that we would judge each other on our heritage/ethnicity but this is the world we live in…feel bad for everybody who’s dealing with…this racism…the other issue that this brings up is the access to guns…this person is clearly mentally ill, nobody mentally healthy walks in and kills eight people…background checks…something that 90%…regardless of political affiliation…Senate won’t put it to a vote…because of connections to the NRA…disgusting…we have no freedom if we’re being murdered by mentally ill people with guns…freedom would be to live without fear of being murdered…Congress has something sitting right in their hands…if we could save one life it would be worth it.”
- rhetoric: “there’s no doubt that the rhetoric during this pandemic has instigated what we’re seeing whether it’s just animosity or in this case violence and murder. Let’s be honest, our ignorant ex-President hasn’t helped matters…as if where we’re from or what we look like…responsible for virus…Pop…we are all just an accident of birth…we just come out as we are…flesh and blood…to blame people because of the way they look because of a virus, think of how stupid that is…how dangerous that is…start at the top (President).”
/end
Say what you want about Kerr as a coach (and he's doing just fine, thank you very much): happy to have a guy as thoughtful and compassionate as he is guiding this team.