The Warriors ready to move past Kristaps Porzingis and don’t let the situation distract you, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Golden State is withholding payments Porzingis regarding his absence due to an undisclosed illness, and Draymond Green spoke after Thursday’s game about the players’ reaction.
“Since I’ve been here on this team, it’s never been about fighting, it’s never been about ‘Shame on that guy,’ ‘Shame on that guy.'” – said Green. “We’ve never had that culture. So the same goes for (Porzingis). Nobody’s sitting around bashing this guy or even worried about him for that matter. We think we’re moving forward with the players we have. (Does) everybody here thinks he can help us? Sure. We know what kind of player he is. But I don’t think anybody’s sitting here waiting for him to walk through that door. Everybody’s moved on. in his thinking.”
As Amick points out, now that the Warriors are winning, it’s easier to shake off the loss of Porzingis. They won their sixth straight on Thursday, bouncing back from what appeared to be a disastrous 0-3 start. Green said management hasn’t shared much information about Porzingis beyond the general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr telling the players they can focus on the games and the front office will handle whatever needs to be done.
“It’s a next-man-up mentality, right? It’s an opportunity for (the 26-year-old journeyman) Charles Bassey. This is an opportunity for (undrafted rookie) Graham Ike to get more minutes and keep trying to elevate my career,” Green added. “So you put your arms around those guys and you join them to try to help them in whatever way they can so they can ultimately help this team. But you can’t sit around and worry about spoiled milk.”
More on Warriors:
- Klay Thompsonwho faced Golden State on Thursday for the first time since joining the Heat, believes the team is in good shape to compete for a playoff spot, Ron Krojczyk of The San Francisco Chronicle relay in history for subscribers only. “They have a system that has been successful ever since Steve (Kerr) became the head coach” Thompson said. “Never count them out, especially with (Stephen Curry) and Draymond right there Jimmy (Butler) and Moses (Moody) coming back Strength in numbers has always been their mantra and I think they will be a force in the West.”
- Appearance at St The Dubs Talk Podcast, Brandon Williams said signing with the Warriors was an easier decision because De’Anthony Meltonhis former gymnasium classmate, was already there, trans Dylan Grouse of NBC Sports Bay Area. “It’s crazy, I was telling him about how I had to go through free will and what to expect.” Williams said. “But we didn’t know it was going to happen. Because we were playing the game every day, we probably talked too much. But I mean, the second week of free agency. That’s when I started to have a good idea. I didn’t tell him initially when I got the call. But after a couple of days, when I started to feel like it was going to happen, I’m like, ‘Hey, bro, it could happen.’ It was kind of cool.”
- As part of a series on the mental side of sports, Elise Devlin of The Athletic looks at how Curry has learned to enjoy trips to the free throw line, even during the occasional miss.