Steve Kerr shares plan for Steph Curry's injury return before Warriors game
Warriors coach Steve Kerr speaks to reporters before Golden State's game against the Washington Wizards on Friday at Chase Center.
Steve Kerr shares plan for Steph Curry's injury return before Warriors game originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
How you doing, Steve?
Good.
How you doing?
Good, good.
we saw the update on Steph.
Is there a date in mind that you guys are targeting for a potential scrimmage for him?
Whenever Rick says.
Yeah.
How'd you enjoy the, festivities last night?
Say that again.
Game.
How'd you enjoy it last night?
Oh, that was fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, they looked good.
You, you guys are clearly heading towards, you know, some type of pick probably, like, you know, late first, I Or I mean mid-first.
I know it's not your department, but do you find yourself watching You know, last night there's, there's several potential lottery picks in the building.
Do you find yourself at all with a scouting eye kinda watching what this draft is looking like?
Just a little bit.
You know, Mike was there.
That's, obviously his, his job.
but yeah, when I, when I watch college games, I, I always try to envision what a, what a guy would look like on an NBA court.
For the past, I don't know, it's been eight weeks now that Steph's been out, and you guys have tried to patch holes for him and others.
When you look ahead now, the next couple games at least, what are the things you wanna try and do to make sure that the team stays on task?
Because obviously you're not gonna get him tonight and probably not Sunday, so Well, we're looking at the process, always.
You know, our, the detail within the game, you know, springing the floor, getting, spacing, making good decisions.
We haven't done that at all the last, four games, you know?
So, we, we have a lot to clean up tonight, and, I would hope that, our guys will, will do that.
you know, I f- I, I said it after the game the other night, I mean, the, the fatigue from the trip played a, played a factor.
I have no doubt about that.
But, tonight we don't have that excuse.
you know, we're, we've won the last couple games, but we've, we turned it over 24, 25 times in each of them.
we're not going anywhere by doing that, and, we have to, have to clean that up, and then that impacts our defense, dramatically.
You know?
It's impossible to guard, transition effectively.
I mean, you can, you can be somewhat good at it, and save a couple of plays here and there with great hustle, but, you know, you're digging out of a huge hole if you're playing, playing in transition constantly defensively.
So we, we have to clean up our, offensive execution.
Steve, I'm curious what you've seen from Will Riley in this rookie season, especially over the course of what he's been able to do the last six weeks with his slow improvement, but coming on strong to the rest of the NBA.
Yeah, I don't know him well enough to really make a well-informed comment there.
You know, we played, played them last week.
He played well.
he's an impressive looking young player, but, I can't really go into depth and, you know, you know, I'm, I'm focused on our team and, and, so what, you know, what film I have watched, you know, he's, he's, he's a good young player for sure and, and, you know, I can't, can't say much beyond that.
Obviously it's not your decision, it's Steph, it's Rick, it's Bob I mean, it's not Bob, it's, it's Mike's and maybe it's Bob's decision.
other than obviously he helps you have a chance to get through the play-in, is there Can, can you, you know, specify things just having Steph back playing basketball would help you with?
Or just because you wanna see him out there before the season ends, is there something other than just the competitive level that Steph would bring if he makes it back for five games, four games, you know, whatever that dwindling number is?
He would bring, a lot of joy to the arena, I can tell you that.
everybody's missing him play.
Not, not just his teammates and his coaches, but our fans and, so yeah, the whole idea is if he's healthy, he's gonna play.
He's, if he's not healthy or if there's any risk at all, then he won't play.
And, that's just, you know, how he's built.
It's how we're built.
he clearly gives us, you know, a dramatically better chance to win a game, if he's on the floor.
So, besides that, the intangibles of how much confidence the rest of the guys have, even in themselves when they're playing next to Steph, all that is really palpable and, and, so yeah, we're hoping he comes back, but we're, we're not gonna take any chances.
Steve, to that point, you've said all along there's no drop dead date.
When Rick says he's ready, he's ready.
Has that changed at all in the last couple weeks here?
it, it hasn't changed, but it's, it, it's, it, it's actually a conversation now, right?
I mean, you bring, you bring it up.
It's a good question.
and so I think the way I would phrase it is, you know, we, we wanna see him.
You know, we're, we're not bringing him back, like, for the play-in game, and that's his, you know He, he needs to play some games to and we need to, you know, we need to give him a runway, if this is gonna work, and we are running out of games.
So that's fair to say.
But, but he's, you know, he's, he's still working, and Rick is working with him with the mindset that he will be back.
Steve, Steph has said that he wants to play with Kristaps.
Kristaps has said, "I wanna play with Steph."
How important is it for you to have a chance to see those two on the floor together?
Right now you can visualize it, but you can't see it.
Right.
Um-It's important, just from the standpoint that, sure looks like it would be a good combination.
but you always wanna see how something plays out, how it, how it's gonna work.
but, yeah, it's very intriguing to think about the space that Kristaps provides, with, Steph's ability to, to attack the defense.
So we all wanna see it.
H- how have Steph's spirits been in this process?
It seems like it could be a frustrating process.
He's been at times frustrated.
he's in a good place right now.
He's, encouraged and, you know, he's such a competitor.
This matters so much to him.
he loves the game so much.
He loves the process of preparing for the games.
so, it means a lot to him.
So some You can see the emotion.
and, yeah, we're all, really, so lucky to have him just because it's, it's great for the other guys to see how much it means to him, you know?
it's kind of the secret, I think, to, to being, a great, great player.
I mean, it's not just the talent, the obvious talent.
It's just how much it means to him, or Tim Duncan, or Michael Jordan, or, you know, LeBron.
I mean, you, you can go down the list.
Bill Russell.
I mean, it's the, the guys who care the most who have, the matching talent, they're the ones who become iconic, you know, superstar Hall of Famers.
With all that he's accomplished at this point, and I'm asking you to sort of channel what drives or motivates Steph, but considering where you guys are and, and what's at stake, what do you think it is that does have him or does make it still so important to him that he get back and be able to contribute and lead this team in some way?
It's just inherent.
It's just in his blood, you know?
It's, He'll probably be the same way when he's s- 78, returning from an injury that's affected his golf game, you know?
I mean, he's just, he's an unbelievable competitor and, it might be the thing about him that, the casual observer would n- not know, because they see his joy, and they see, just the flow and the beauty, the grace, but he is an absolutely fierce competitor, and you don't teach that.
It's just, just how he's built.
