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Why Draymond is impressed by Steph's on-court growth, leadership originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Draymond Green is amazed at Steph Curry’s leadership development during their time with the Warriors.

Green recounted a moment during Golden State’s 121-116 NBA play-in tournament victory over the Memphis Grizzlies where Curry offered a critique and play suggestion.

“I said in my press conference, ‘Steph, in a very nice way, told me not to shoot,’ ” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Steph would never say ‘don’t shoot,’ but that’s how I wanted to hear what he was saying.

“Pretty much what he was saying was, ‘I want you to get the ball in the same spot that you just got it.’ I don’t want you to take the shot, I want you to get me the ball so I can take the shot.’

“And we went right back to it, and he took the shot, and if you see when he made the shot, he turned to me and [screamed].”

The tandem has played together on the Warriors for 13 years, during which Green has noticed Curry become a much more vocal leader on the court.

“I was right here for that year where I felt like his career really started,” Green told Davis. “So to watch the growth from that point and for him to come to me and be like, ‘Yo all right so just boom boom,’ we need to like that’s the growth that I’m most impressed by.

“Obviously, the shot-making, like all of that stuff, is incredible, but for me, I’ve seen it from the inside the entire time. Because that growth right there encompasses so many different areas, it encompasses his voice. You know he didn’t always have that voice right there.”

The 37-year-old has become known for his incredible shooting prowess and his ability to weave through opposing defenses with ease, something that leaves Green in awe to this day.

“All these years, that’s something that he grew into and the ability to read the defenses and see the floor,” Green explained. “He’s always been able to see the floor, but he sees the floor at such an elite level now, it’s crazy and the timeliness.

“So those are the areas of growth where people will see we have a certain connection on the court, right? That’s one of the ones where I’ll be sitting back like, wow. I’m amazed because I can remember those situations even seven years ago, five years ago, and he wouldn’t have said that.”

Curry turned in a resurgent second half of the regular season, with the Jimmy Butler trade rejuvenating the 37-year-old. His ability to nail clutch shots was on full display against Memphis as his 15-point scoring barrage in the fourth quarter was enough to hold off the Grizzlies.

Now, Green and Curry will turn their attention to a first-round playoff series against the Houston Rockets. Expect more vocal leadership and unreal shooting from one of the NBA’s all-time greats.

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Why Kings hiring ‘real basketball mind' Perry as GM excites Draymond originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

After missing the 2025 NBA playoffs, both the Kings and New Orleans Pelicans made major front-office moves in hopes of turning the page on their respective underwhelming 2024-25 seasons.

New Orleans hired Joe Dumars as executive vice president of basketball operations after the Pelicans finished the season as the No. 14 seed in the Western Conference with just 21 wins.

Sacramento (40-42) finished as the No. 9 seed and missed the playoffs for the 18th time in 19 years following a rollercoaster season. A change in leadership was needed, and the urgency was evident with former general manager Monte McNair and the Kings mutually agreeing to part ways shortly after the team’s season-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night in the NBA play-in tournament. The following morning, it was widely reported that the Kings hired respected NBA executive Scott Perry as their next general manager.

Both hires are moves that excite Warriors forward and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green.

“Joe Dumars to the New Orleans Pelicans. Scott Perry to the Sacramento Kings as the general manager. It excited me, because what that said to me is people are ready to get back to basketball,” Green said on “The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis.” “Like, let’s bring back these real basketball minds. That’s what those two moves said to me.

“We ain’t even started the playoffs yet and those two moves being made [means] let’s get back to real basketball now. Congratulations to those two guys and those two franchises. I think those are some incredible hires.”

Dumars is a Naismith Hall of Famer and two-time NBA champion as a player and a title-winning executive with the Detroit Pistons. He replaces David Griffin as the head of basketball operations for the Pelicans.

Perry, who started his executive career in 2000 with the Pistons, spent three months with the Kings in 2017 before leaving for the New York Knicks. He also has worked in front-office roles with the Orlando Magic and the then-Seattle SuperSonics.

“To see the Joe Dumars and the Scott Perrys, you see people are qualified for the job,” Davis said. “I get excited because I’m like, ‘Damn, I’ll go work for Scott Perry. I’ll go work for Joe Dumars.’ I think it’s going to open up the door for a lot of other former athletes. You look at the Landry Fields and Kyle Corver, what they’re doing in Atlanta. There was a regime of James Jones. But now you’re looking at it and you’re like, oh there could be some new blood, some new intelligence.

“And to your point, the NBA is getting back to great basketball minds, finding great talent, and putting together great teams. The analytics will take you so far. … So I love the fact that Joe D and Scott Perry were the first hires, even before the season is over. I think that sets the tone for the summer, that sets the tone for free agency, and then we’ll see the Pelicans and the Sacramento Kings improve.”

Next on Sacramento’s offseason to-do list, which has plenty of items, is finding an assistant general manager to work alongside Perry since Wes Wilcox announced his midseason exit. Finding a head coach, or removing Doug Christie’s interim title, also is top of mind.

But Green believes Perry’s hire sets the tone the rest of the way.

“One thousand percent. There will also be coaching hires,” Green said. “I think this sets the tone for that as well. Time to get back to real basketball, guys.”

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The Clippers enter the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak that helped them secure fifth place in the highly competitive Western Conference and a matchup with the Denver Nuggets, who won the 2023 NBA title behind three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

The Clippers do have size with 7-foot Ivica Zubac to combat Denver's all-world center as well as a healthy and once-again productive Kawhi Leonard, one of three players averaging 20-plus points along with James Harden and Norman Powell.

The Nuggets have recovered since a four-game losing streak cost Michael Malone, the franchise's most successful coach, his job. Denver has recovered under interim coach Dave Adelman, winning three in a row to close the season and secure the fourth seed.

The two clubs last met in the postseason during the 2020 bubble playoffs when the Nuggets rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to eliminate the Clippers.

Here's how two Western Conference scouts, speaking on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about opponents, break down the series:

Scout 1

“I think it's probably gonna be one of the best series out there. Like, I don't know if a team is playing better than the Clippers are right now, and you're going against the best player in the world.

“I think it'll be it'll be a chess match, and I'm curious to see how Adelman does against arguably the best Xs and O's coach in the league [in Tyronn Lue]. I think they're gonna throw a lot a lot of different looks at Joker. But I think I think if I'm the Nuggets, the Clippers are one of the teams that I would not want to be playing because I think they can play you a lot of different ways. Like, they have size to go against Joker to keep them from just bullying. If they want to kind of speed up the game, they can go small at five and match up to him as a shooter.

"Yeah, the Clippers have got pretty good wing defenders in Kris Dunn and obviously Kawai and Derrick Jones that they can kind of stay with the movement of Denver off the ball. So, I think it's going to be a tough matchup for Denver. I think on paper Denver is the more talented team, but they've had so much turmoil this season. It's hard to pick against the team playing as well as the Clippers are with Kawhi playing like he is.”

Read more:How do the Clippers match up against the Nuggets entering their playoff series?

“I think with something like the Clippers’ defense, especially in the playoffs, it's all about can you take away what they really want to do and what Joker wants to do is get everybody else involved because when Michael Porter is hitting open threes, and Jamal Murray is getting his scoring and Christian Braun is cutting back door and doing all that stuff, they just become really, really potent. If you can kind of take them out of that — I don't know if it's the stay home on everybody and make Jokic score 50 method. I don't know if it's still like play one on one with with Zu down there and if he beats you over the top out of the post you live with it. But to me, I think it's both the initial look and you take away what they want to do and then what's your adjustment and that's where I think Ty is so good at like you know whether it's bringing a double team or doing something different in like the Joker-Murray two-man game. Like, I think there's just a lot a lot optional there because that group's been together in that group kind of knows what to do. I think they've done some different things throughout the season to experiment with some different stuff. So I think it's been a really good series.”

Scout 2

“The whole game plan is going to start with the Clippers dealing with Nikola Jokic. The one advantage the Clippers have that a lot of teams don’t is that they got the size with Zubac to matchup with Jokic. Like, Jokic can’t push him around or bully him under the basket because Zubac is just as big. So, I don’t think the Clippers will need to double team. I think they’ll be content with just playing him straight-up with Zubac. Because with Jokic, if you start double-teaming him, he picks you apart. So it’s almost like you want to play him one-on-one and have him score in the paint rather than getting everybody else involved. So, what I see with the Clippers is playing him straight up with Zubac and not really wanting to double-team him.

“Now when he steps out and shoots those threes, I think you come up and contest those threes. You don’t back all the way off him. You got to put a little bit of a contest, get your hand up. But you live with him making a couple a game.

“Now the Clippers have weapons with Kawhi, James, Norman and Zu. The Clippers have much more firepower than Denver, much more. They got four guys that can at any time score 20. They got two guys at any time could score 30. The Clippers create much more problems than Denver does for the Clippers on offense. The biggest concern is James has got to keep playing. He can’t revert back to 19 dribbles, one-on-one, all that stuff. There’s going to be spots in the game where he’s going to have to isolation, but he’s got to keep playing the way he’s been playing this last two or three months.

“It hurts Denver a little bit that Mike Malone got fired so late in the season. But the one thing that helps them is that the assistants have been there for a couple of years. The others guys have been there so they are real familiar with the players, they are familiar with the Clippers. So, it’s not as bad as some people think. Now, does it affect them a little bit? Sure, because Malone is a championship coach, like Ty Lue, who has been through it. But at least they have some continuity there with their assistants.

Read more:Clippers' Kawhi Leonard still has 'love' for the game of basketball

“So, when you look at Denver’s team, really the key is is Jamal Murray healthy and does Michael Porter make jump shots. Because if Porter is making jumpers, they are a whole different team. He’ll shoot from anywhere, anytime. The best play in the NBA, when Murray is healthy, is the Murray and Jokic two-man pick-and-roll game. It’s that tough to defend. When both guys are healthy and got it going, that two-man game with them, it’s a nightmare.

“The Clippers have the depth advantage. Denver does not have a good bench. They don’t have the bench that the Clippers have, not even close. That’s going to be a factor.

“So, even though the Clippers don’t have home court, I still think they are going to win the series."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Warriors' four keys to four NBA playoff wins vs. Rockets originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Breaking their NBA play-in tournament curse, the Warriors used an extra game as a gift to get back into the playoffs, earning a trip to Houston to play the Rockets. These two teams have a long history in the playoffs, too. The coach is new, as is the roster, but the bad blood remains.

The Warriors won the season series 3-2, and their core has much more postseason experience. They’ll be leaning on that to take down the No. 2-seeded Rockets, starting Sunday night. Will that be enough? 

Here are four keys to the Warriors getting four wins in the first round against the Rockets.

Protect The Ball

Jimmy Butler blew a kiss and thanked the basket nearest the Warriors’ bench at Chase Center in Tuesday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies after making back-to-back free throws. Butler hates missing free throws and had gone 1 of 2 at the line his previous four trips. It was obvious how annoyed Butler was with missing a total of six shots at the free-throw line, but it’s even more clear what part of the game frustrates him most. 

Turnovers. Nothing compares for the 14-year veteran.

“I hate turning the ball over,” Butler says. “Free throws; but turnovers really irk me.” 

A lack of turnovers had to make Butler happy after surviving the Grizzlies. The Warriors committed half as many turnovers as the Grizzlies – 20 to 10 – and scored 27 points off turnovers, compared to giving up 12. Nearly every player, along with coach Steve Kerr, said turnovers will be the main factor in the Warriors’ either moving on to the second round, or having to answer a long list of questions from a first-round exit. 

They turned the ball over 20 times in their most recent game with the Rockets, a 106-96 loss, and that turned into 18 points for Houston. The Rockets in that game had 14 more fastbreak points than them, 16 more points in the paint and two more second-chance points in a win where they shot 33.3 percent from 3-point range. The equation is simple: Don’t give the Rockets more chances. 

Their half-court offense can keep them out of games, but they make up for it by hitting the offensive glass and sprinting past you. The Warriors, in their three wins against the Rockets, averaged 11.7 turnovers and 14 points conceded off them. But in their two losses, they averaged 21 turnovers and 24 points conceded off them. 

Ball security will either make or break the Warriors against the Rockets.

Freeing Steph

Like a phantom haunting him all over the court, nobody made Steph Curry look more human this season than Amen Thompson. The 22-year-old made his Defensive Player of the Year case in the final regular-season game between the Warriors and the Rockets. Thompson had three steals and two blocks, badgering Curry all game. 

Here’s what an off-night it was for Curry: His four turnovers were more than the three points he scored. Curry was 1 of 10 overall and 1 of 8 on threes, making a heave at the end of the first half. Thompson was the main defender guarding Curry’s nine missed shots just once. A combination of Dillon Brooks and Fred VanVleet made up for the rest. 

But it was all the off-ball trouble that Thompson caused. Curry played three games against the Rockets this year and averaged 16.3 points on 36.4 percent shooting (16 of 44) and 30 percent on threes (9 of 30), all being incredibly low numbers for him. The Rockets will force the referees to adjust to them, particularly with the physicality of guarding Curry. 

He has scored just five points with Thompson as his primary defender this season, going 2 of 8 overall and 1 of 6 from deep. Curry’s 0 of 5 with Brooks as his main defender, all being 3-pointers, but 4 of 8 with VanVleet on him. Can Curry exploit Jalen Green or Alperen Sengun in the pick-and-roll? Can Butler’s early scoring recently allow Curry to cook when it counts most? 

In the simplest of terms, this series can be decided on Kerr finding ways to free up his 37-year-old star. Curry is the king of adjusting throughout a series, and the opposing coach called him out for crying about fouls last game. Every “Steph Stopper” has eventually failed. The mental and physical toll of a renewed rivalry should be a treat.

Big vs. Small

Houston houses a starting backcourt of a 6-foot VanVleet and a 6-foot-4 Green, who plays even smaller. Then, there’s just a long line of players who are big, long and want to impose their size over you. 

An Ime Udoka-led team can throw Tari Eason and Jabari Smith Jr. at you off the bench, and they’re sure to go to the two-big lineup of Sengun and Steven Adams. Those two played 162 minutes together this season and had a 29.9 net rating with a 122 offensive rating and 92 defensive rating. As Sengun had a 19-point, 14-rebound double-double last game against the Warriors, including seven offensive rebounds, Adams was a plus-7 with eight rebounds in 17 minutes. 

Curry went 3 of 10 – 1 of 7 from three – when Sengun guarded him this season. Adams defended him for 11 seconds and forced a turnover. Sengun offensively has not been good in the post with Green on him. In the Warriors’ three wins over the Rockets this season, Sengun was a minus-36. That two-big lineup cannot work when Curry’s on the floor.

The biggest flare-up less than two weeks ago was with Draymond Green and Sengun. Watch the 22-year-old try to make a statement on the 35-year-old. And watch how the four-time champion responds. Against the Grizzlies, Green kept so many possessions alive, and he knocked numerous balls out from the scrum. The Warriors need him to contain Sengun on the offensive glass and remain out of foul trouble. 

Will Kerr show his faith in Kevon Looney? How much of a factor can Quinten Post be as a stretch-five to pull the Rockets’ big men away from the rim? 

Both Gary Payton II and Moses Moody can have major roles in small-ball lineups. Moody should have open shots the Warriors need him to knock down, and Payton was the Warriors’ best player against the Rockets last game with 16 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Then there’s the player who can match the Rockets’ youth, size and athleticism. 

Is This The Kuminga Series?

His skill set would suggest yes. So would his numbers against Houston this season. But Jonathan Kuminga remains the biggest question mark for the Warriors’ playoff run, as well as the offseason. 

Kerr essentially declined to answer a pregame question about Kuminga on Tuesday before the Warriors’ play-in tournament game, saying that conversations to maintain a player’s mental strength can’t be necessary at this stage of the season. But Kerr and the Warriors will have to hope Kuminga has stayed ready, mentally and physically, for a series he very well could be needed in. 

“He’ll contribute,” Green said later that night. “He’s great. He’s getting his work in. That’s all you can do in that situation is get your work in.

“And he’ll be meaningful for us in that series. I have zero doubt about that. I think the challenge for him is to stay mentally engaged, as it is for anyone in that situation. But I have zero doubt in my mind that he’s going to help us in this series. He will, 1,000 percent.” 

Kuminga played in four of the Warriors’ five games against the Rockets this season, missing their 105-98 win on Feb. 13 while still dealing with a badly sprained right ankle. The four games (two starts) he did play were a sample of why it could be hard for Kerr to completely ignore him. Kuminga averaged 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game against the Rockets. 

In their first meeting, Kuminga led the Warriors to an overtime win as a plus-18 off the bench with 23 points and six rebounds, scoring six of their eight points in OT. He was even better the next time the two teams played each other. The Warriors’ former top draft pick dropped a then-career-high 33 points on 13-of-23 shooting, made three of his six 3-point attempts and skied for seven rebounds. On a night the Warriors didn’t have Curry or Green, Kuminga showed all the promise the franchise has invested in. 

The Warriors have lost their last two games against the Rockets that Kuminga has played, but not because of him. He had 20 points and another seven rebounds in his third game against them, and then played just 19 minutes off the bench in the Warriors’ loss to the Rockets earlier this month, despite being a team-high plus-9 with nine points and seven rebounds. Everything shows the Rockets were Kuminga’s best matchup, by far, and he’s Golden State’s only player who is as athletic and long as Houston’s young and hungry roster.

It’ll be extremely telling where Kuminga’s present and future as a Warrior stand in the case he’s reduced to his warmups on the sidelines for however long the first round goes.

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