Steve Kerr, Draymond Green, and the rest of the Warriors are ready to start a new NBA campaign that will present a lot of challenges for the 6x NBA champions. After two disappointing seasons, the Dubs want to return to the top spots in the West and challenge the rest of the league for the championship.
Kerr and Green have had some spats during their time together in the Bay, but that has only strengthened their relationship. Ahead of a new campaign where the Warriors will try to relive old glories, Kerr made it clear he’s counting on Draymond to achieve their goals.
Talking with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Steve revealed his expectations for Draymond this upcoming season.
Kerr was a Team USA assistant and spent many weeks around both Draymond and Durant during the gold-medal run in the Tokyo Olympics and they all seemed fine with each other. I asked Kerr: Are you and Draymond OK with each other going into this training camp?
“I love Draymond,” Kerr said. “I can’t wait for this season. He’s going to be a huge part of it. It’s amazing when you think about what has been built here over the last decade by these players. I’m sitting here at Chase right now looking at the wall and looking at pictures of Steph and Klay and Andre and Draymond. It’s just stunning to think about a decade ago when these guys first started to arrive. … You think about what exists now in the Bay Area, the connection that these guys have built with our fans, what they’ve built in terms of the basketball success, but more importantly, just this amazing connection with the fan base. It’s beautiful. Draymond’s obviously right in the middle of all that. I’m lucky to coach all these guys and really excited about this year.”
Moreover, the head coach talked about his relationship with the player, explaining that they have similar personalities and can quickly lose their cool when things aren’t going their way. Still, that has helped this team be successful, and he doesn’t expect that to change.
I’ve written many times that Kerr and Draymond are much more similar than many people presume. They’re both quite edgy when they’re in the middle of high competition and sometimes that leads to great things from both of them and sometimes it leads to temporary eruptions of anger. The point is, the relationship has worked just fine for the Warriors about 98 percent of the time and they wouldn’t have three championships without it.
“We both have the ability to snap, to completely lose our minds,” Kerr said. “So you’re right, we are more alike than people would guess. I think the competitive fire inside us is actually very similar. It drives us. It’s what drove me from the time I was a little kid to now. It’s what’s driven Draymond. That competitiveness is always going to drive us.
“It’s part of who we are organizationally; it’s part of who we are individually. It’s something I look at, and every day I’m thankful to go to war with Draymond Green.”
They have created something good in the Bay, going to five straight NBA Finals from 2015 through 2019, winning three championships in the process.
Klay Thompson is returning after a two-year absence, and Stephen Curry will try to show he’s one of the best players in the league again. If things work out for the Dubs as before, the Los Angeles Lakers might have a serious competitor in the Western Conference.
