Iguodala’s injury will impact Warriors — but how much?

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Steinmetz

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said before Saturday’s game against the Phoenix Suns that forward Andre Iguodala would miss two weeks because of a sprained ankle. Iguodala injured the ankle during Friday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, when Damian Lillard and Iguodala got caught up going for a loose ball.

According to my co-host John Dickinson, Kerr said during pregame availability that the injury to Iguodala was “a really big deal,” because of how much Iguodala impacts the game on both ends of the floor.

Earlier today, on the “NBA This Week,” we talked extensively about Iguodala and how important he is to the Warriors.

You can listen to to the “NBA This Week” here.

During the course of our conversation, we talked about how Iguodala has gotten more and more important to the Warriors the longer he’s around. If you’ll remember, it wasn’t all good with Iguodala from the get-go.

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Posted in NBA This Week, Phoenix Suns, Warriors | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Warriors assistant Jarron Collins: on nit-picking this team, how Curry has gotten better, the proven formula for repeating

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Steinmetz

Jarron Collins is a Warriors assistant coach, so that right there makes him a potential head coach down the road. When you’re doing as well as the Warriors, assistants can become head coaches in a hurry.

Alvin Gentry went from Warriors assistant to New Orleans head coach last offseason, and now Luke Walton looks like he’ll be in the running for a head job come the end of the year. So, who knows? Things can happen pretty quickly.

Collins joined the “NBA This Week” and discussed a variety of Warriors’ topics, including the importance of Ron Adams, establishing habits for the playoffs, this incredible two-year run, whether to nit-pick the team or not, and lots of other terrific stuff.

You can listen to the interview with Jarron Collins here. Included below are some excerpts of the interview.

–On the difficulty of coaching this team and knowing the difference between legitimate criticism and nit-picking:

COLLINS: That’s the beauty of coaching: It’s our job to nit-pick. There’s something you may mention or may think or see as a small thing – say, not boxing out. For a guard, say a shot is taken and a guard didn’t get to what we like to call the ‘boxes and elbows’. So bigs cover the boxes, guards cover the elbows to get a defensive rebound. Say somebody leaks out trying to get in offensive transition. He doesn’t necessarily get to that elbow to get that defensive rebound.

It’s maybe a small thing because we may be able to get that defensive rebound but a small thing can be a big thing when each possession means so much later in the year, in the playoffs.

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What’s eating Draymond Green … or is there anything?

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Steinmetz

Let me start out this post by saying: I have no idea what I’m talking or writing about. I don’t know what’s going on with Draymond Green. I’m not even entirely sure there is something going on with Green. What I do know is that he hasn’t looked exactly like himself lately, even if I can’t quite put my finger on it.

And I’m not the only one who’s noticed it. I was flipping around the radio dial all day and heard four different shows address it. Although there wasn’t anything really tangible to discuss … Only that it “seems” like something’s up with the Warriors’ emotional leader.

We know about the incident at halftime of the Feb. 27 game against the Thunder in Oklahoma City, where Green was involved in a shouting match, presumably with coach Steve Kerr. While all the parties downplayed it afterwards, apparently it was serious enough that Green apologized for the outburst.

Now, against that backdrop, Green seems to be playing a little bit different. Notice I said a little bit different and not drastically different. Green is still doing all the dirty work and then some for the Warriors, and as always, filling up important columns in the boxscore consistently.

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Posted in Oklahoma City Thunder, Warriors | Tagged , , | 2 Comments