Category: Golden State Warriors Blog

Warriors blog -Golden State Warriors blog

DeMarcus Cousins using G League to prepare for NBA return

DeMarcus Cousins, coming off injury, is now in the G League, only temporarily, for health rehab purposes, preparing for big-time basketball with the Warriors. Here’s the San Jose Mercury News with an update:

With about 10 minutes left in his second practice with the Santa Cruz Warriors, all-star center DeMarcus Cousins threw down a thunderous dunk that gave a glimmer of what could be when he eventually returns to the lineup.

“It felt good,” Cousins said. “It’s all coming back for me, slowly but surely. But it felt good to get up and dunk a little bit.”

Cousins, who tore his Achilles in January, went through a full practice with the G-League squad Wednesday morning, participating in a five-on-five scrimmage that included two six-minute periods. The session was a part of a plan to send Cousins — who signed a one-year, $5.3 million deal in July — back and forth to Santa Cruz in an effort to ramp up his workload.

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Warriors center Damian Jones out after surgery

Warriors center Damian Jones out after surgery

Warriors center Damian Jones, who suffered a torn left pectoral muscle in last Saturday’s game against the Pistons in Detroit, underwent what the team describes as successful surgery on Wednesday to repair the injury.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Benjamin Domb at Adventist Medical Health Center in Chicago and will enable Jones to begin rehabilitation in six weeks.

According to the Mercury News, “with All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins rehabbing his left Achilles tendon, Jones mostly assumed the starting position and experienced varying success and struggles. He averaged 5.4 points, 3.1 rebounds. 2.6 fouls and a block in 17.1 minutes in 24 games, including 22 as a starter. With Draymond Green also sidelined for 13 of the past 15 games because of a sprained right toe in his right foot, the Warriors currently only have fourth-year forward Kevon Looney, second-year forward Jordan Bell and two-way player Marcus Derrickson at the center spot.”

Warriors center Damian Jones injury update

Warriors center Damian Jones, who exited last night’s game with 5.7 seconds remaining in the third quarter with a left shoulder injury, underwent an MRI late last night in Detroit.

It has been determined that Jones has suffered a torn left pectoral muscle. He is scheduled to see a specialist in the coming days.

Jones’ long-term status and an estimate return date will be updated once he has met with the specialist.

Andre Iguodala discusses his eventual retirement

 

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Once an NBA player is in his mid 30’s, there is nothing surprising about retirement talk. The only exceptions to that would perhaps be if a player was still at his best yet talking about hanging the sneakers up earlier than expected, or if he was clearly all washed up yet insisting on playing many more years. The extremes. Anything in the middle, there’s no shock. Still, it’s always interesting to keep up with how players feel about their career wrapping up. Here’s NBC Sports Bay Area on Warriors veteran Andre Iguodala, who will turn 35 years old this coming January:

Andre Iguodala is counting down the remaining years of his NBA career. No need to count the days or weeks, because others have been doing that since, oh, about 2015.

“I’m going to be done soon,” he told NBC Sports Bay Area this week. “I could probably play a legit five more years, but I’ll probably max out at three more after this year – maybe three more.

“But if I’m not here, that will weigh heavily on what I will do. I possibly have another year here – if we win. That’s it. I know that. I’m fine with it.”

Possibly? Reminded that he is under contract for the 2019-20 season, at 17.2 million, the final year of the three-year, $48 million deal he signed in July 2017, Iguodala waves it off.

Since joining the Warriors in the 2013-14 season, Iguodala has yet to average double-digit points. But his defense and various intangibles as a veteran leader has definitely been helpful. This season he’s putting up just 4.5 points per game, but also a decent 3.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 22.8 minutes per game of playing time.

Warriors exercise contract option on Damian Jones

Warriors exercise contract option on Damian Jones

The Warriors have exercised the fourth-year contract option on center Damian Jones, which is for the 2019-20 NBA season.

Jones, 23, has started all eight games for the Warriors this season, averaging 6.0 points on 77.8 percent from the field to go with 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 16.9 minutes per game. Originally selected by the Warriors with the 30th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Jones has appeared in 33 career regular season games in addition to eight postseason games as a member of both of Golden State’s previous two championship teams.

Under the terms of the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement, the first two years of a first-round draft pick’s contract are guaranteed, while the third and fourth year of the contract are the team’s option.

Klay Thompson sets NBA record with 14 three-pointers made in one game

The Warriors beat the Bulls in Chicago 149-124 on Monday. They had an incredible 92 points at the half to the Bulls’ 50. Klay Thompson scored 52 points and set an NBA record with 14 three-pointers made in a single game. His final stats for the evening: 18-of-29 from the field, 14-of-24 threes and 2-of-2 free throws, plus five rebounds, no assists. An epic performance that served further notice to the rest of the NBA just how scary and powerful this Warriors team is. As if they needed such a reminder.

NBC Sports Bay Area: “Thompson scored 22 points in the first quarter, 36 for the half and 52 points in a total of 27 minutes. He smashed Stephen Curry’s single-game record for 3-pointers in the process when he drained his 14th triple in the third quarter. Kevin Durant and Curry, so tremendous in holding up the offense while Thompson struggled, could take a breath, become gracious teammates and behold the white-hot offensive pyrotechnics of Thompson. “It was an unbelievable night,” Curry told reporters at United Center. “Everything was clicking from the jump. Klay starts off hot and we’ve been waiting for him to shoot like himself. Obviously, he did that.”

NBC Sports Bay Area: Thompson may not have broken the record without Curry’s encouragement. He said after the game that Curry told him at halftime the record was in sight, and that Thompson should “go get it.” “It’s great, it might not last for long though,” Thompson told NBC Sports Bay Area’s Kerith Burke after the game. “[Curry’s] a pretty good player, he might do it pretty soon.”

Mercury News: “Thompson tied for his second highest scoring performance of his eight-year NBA career, trailing only his career-high 60-point effort against Indiana on Dec. 5, 2016. Thompson also set an NBA record with most 3-pointers made in a game (14), eclipsing Stephen Curry’s 13 3-pointers he made against New Orleans on Nov. 7, 2016. The Bulls called timeout after Thompson made his record-breaking 3-pointer for a 113-69 lead with 4:53 left in the third quarter, prompting the Warriors’ bench to greet Thompson at halfcourt with chest bumps and high fives.”

Knicks vs Warriors pregame notes

The Warriors visit the Knicks tonight, 7:30 p.m. ET. Game televised on MSG and NBATV.

PREGAME NOTES

The Knicks enter this game with a 1-4 record. They beat the lowly Hawks in their October 17 season opener, then lost to the Nets, Celtics, Bucks and Heat. The team’s leading scorer has been Tim Hardaway Jr. (24.4 points, 41.6% FG), followed by Enes Kanter (16.8 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 57.4% FG), Damyean Dotson (14.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 48.6% FG), Trey Burke (11.2 ppg, 5.0 apg, 38.7% FG), Mario Hezonja (10.0 ppg, 37.7% FG), Kevin Knox (9.3 ppg, 35.5% FG), Allonzo Trier (9.2 ppg, 37.8% FG), Noah Vonleh (7.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg in just 17.0 minutes per game) and Frank Ntilikina (6.6 ppg, 36.1% FG).

The Warriors enter tonight’s game 4-1, beating the Thunder and Jazz, then losing by two points to the Nuggets, then beating the Suns by 20 and the Wizards by 22. They’ve been led in scoring so far this season by Stephen Curry (34.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 6.8 apg, 55.0% FG, 52.4% 3FG), followed by Kevin Durant (27.4 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 6.0 apg, 52% FG, 25.0% 3FG), Klay Thompson (15.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 39.5% FG, 14.8% 3FG), Damian Jones (8.4 ppg, 85.7% FG), Shaun Livingston (7.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 60.0% FG), Jonas Jerebko (6.6 ppg, 50% FG), Kevon Looney 6.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 61.9% FG) and Draymond Green (6.0 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 7.0 apg, 37.9% FG)

A FEW THINGS TO WATCH

The Warriors have to expect that Klay Thompson will find his shot sometime soon. And that Draymond Green will pick things up a bit in that department as well. Also, the Golden State center rotation is always worth watching… The Warriors offense is close to the top of the league, but their defensive efficiency hasn’t been impressive just yet.

Playing without Kristaps Porzingis and talented rookie Kevin Knox, the Knicks in general are in a state of rebuild and early this season in particular are mostly looking for stability in the form of learning which young players are worthy of the most minutes… In their first five games the Knicks defense has been reasonably efficent, but their offense is still a work in serious construction.

BOTTOM LINE

The Warriors are really good.

Enjoy the game.

Jonas Jerebko hits game-winner for Warriors

When you think of big game-winning plays for the Warriors, Jonas Jerebko probably isn’t the first name you had in mind. But life is unpredictable sometimes. Learn to accept this. And, here’s the Deseret News reporting:

As Jonas Jerebko was out shooting warmup shots 90 minutes before Friday night’s Utah-Golden State game, all eyes were glued to another guy, one Steph Curry.

Jerebko was all business as he fired up shots from every angle, but he couldn’t help but grin when a couple of women near mid-court unfurled a big blue-and-yellow Swedish flag.

A few minutes later, while hordes of fans leaned over the rails to try to get autographs from Curry as he exited the court, only a handful asked for Jerebko’s signature.

A couple of hours later, Jerebko was all smiles as he of all players was the one who broke Jazz players hearts with a tip-in off a Kevin Durant miss with 0.3 seconds remaining to give the Warriors a 124-123 victory in the home opener for Utah.

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Warriors give Marcus Derrickson a two-way contract

The Golden State Warriors have exercised the two-way player conversion option on forward Marcus Derrickson.

Derrickson joins guard Damion Lee as the Warriors’ two-way players.

Derrickson, who originally signed with Golden State on September 20, appeared in five preseason games with the Warriors (four starts), averaging 14.0 points and 4.8 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game.

Derrickson, 22, an undrafted early-entry candidate in 2018 Draft, averaged 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 32.0 minutes in 29 games (all starts) during his junior season at Georgetown University. He was named to the All-Big East Second Team and ranked second in Big East Conference in three-point field goal percentage (.500 3FG%, 29-of-58 3FG).

Per NBA rules, teams are permitted to sign two players to two-way contracts in addition to the 15-man regular-season roster. Players signed to a two-way contract may accrue no more than 45 days of service with their respective NBA club during the regular season, spending the remainder of the season with the team’s G League affiliate. The Warriors’ two-way players will have the ability to spend time with both Golden State and the team’s G League affiliate in Santa Cruz.