The Golden State Warriors had their 2023-24 season sidetracked because of a tragedy as assistant coach Dejan Milojevic passed away during a team dinner in January, leaving the players and staff in shock. After having the time to process that loss over the offseason, franchise stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green opened up on how that personally affected them to Andscape.
Curry realized how fleeting life can be and was motivated to maximize the end of his basketball career.
“Deki is a reminder about how life is. There is no secret now, we only got a handful of years to [play basketball] at the highest level.”
Draymond had a much greater personal revelation about how he wasn’t maximizing his appreciation of the people around him, leading to a change of approach from the star.
“When Deki passed last season, you see all the pictures of everybody and stuff. And I realized, ‘All of the pictures, you’re not in none of them because you got bored with everything else,’ so, all the moments everybody’s enjoying, ‘All right. Got to do this. Got to do that. Got to go get my body ready. Got to do this.’ And you forget to enjoy it. So, then it just turns into the grind.”
“So, for me that was just a big reminder that you are missing the fun part of it. So, everything you’re doing is just to prepare to get ready. You’re missing the fun part of it. For me that’s an emphasis this year. I always go to team dinners for the most part. But I mean hanging out before the game, when I get to the arena, it’s boom, boom, boom, boom, game. It’s like, ‘I got to go.’ All the fun happens in between.”
Curry averaged 26.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.5 rebounds last season while Draymond put up 8.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists as the Warriors failed to make the Playoffs in a troubled season.
With Klay Thompson’s reported unhappiness in the locker room last season, it seems the Warriors are embracing a fresh start after the heavy emotional weight last season brought upon them.
Milojevic’s impact on the franchise will live on through the lessons he taught its star players and other coaches.
Draymond Green Decided To Distance Himself After The Jordan Poole Incident
The passing of Milojevic caused Draymond to change how he was conducting himself with the team and his teammates. After his disagreements with Jordan Poole led to him punching the young guard and led to him being traded one season later, Green withdrew himself from his teammates, something which changed after Milojevic’s passing.
“A couple of years ago, man, I really distanced myself. And I had to. I needed to. When that incident happened [with Poole], I just really needed to. So, I really distanced myself. And in doing that, you miss a lot. But once you do that it’s hard to come back. It just becomes a mindset and it becomes everybody else’s mindset, right? ‘Oh, we’re going to see him here but probably not there.’”
Green took an active role in fostering team-building for the Warriors through a busy preseason which saw them go to Hawaii as well for training camp. Hopefully, Green doesn’t have to sit through two suspensions during the season again for fighting opponents and can have a happy 2024-25.
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