Warriors remain Steph Curry’s team… with a little more “freshness”

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Warriors star Stephen Curry

Clearing a few notes from the table to make room for Thanksgiving…

Even some around the Warriors were a little (pleasantly) surprised. This is, after all, a team that finished 10th in the Western Conference before moving past Sacramento to finish 24th in the play-in game.

“I think we felt like we were trying to hold on to what we had instead of turning back,” a source familiar with the situation told Heavy Sports. “With Buddy (Hield) and the fact that he’s playing a deeper rotation now, there’s a freshness.

“It will always be Steph (Curry)’s team as long as he is here, but there are more people contributing.”

Just a few months after winning the 2022 championship, things quickly became difficult for Golden State. Jordan Poole chirped at Draymond Green at practice and Green punched him in the face. Poole was traded to Washington the following offseason, but a Warrior source told us, “There were trust issues after the incident.” For the most part, the guys said the right things, but one wondered what some people were thinking when things went quiet. Sometimes it just felt uncomfortable and that went away.”

After winning 44 games this year, the Dubs won two more in 2023-24, but the season was a nightmare. The collapse and death of assistant coach Dejan Milojevic at a team dinner cast a cloud over the club. Things just weren’t going well on the pitch.

“Klay (Thompson) was still coming back from injury and it was tough,” the source said. “He was trying to do things to get going and show that he could still be who he was, and that seemed to get in the way.

“You could understand a lot of things. Klay was such a big part of the success and everyone wanted him to get it all back. It had to be mentally tough for him. He tried so hard, but when things are going like that, it’s difficult to play with that loose flow.”

The Warriors fared better this year, securing a very nice win in Boston and remaining in second place in the West as the holidays approached.

“The key,” said an opposing assistant coach, “is whether they can play with as many people and the same style when the playoffs come and every minute is increased.” Is Steve (Kerr) going to spread the minutes out more, or Does he have to rely heavily on, say, a top eight?”

Payton Pritchard has earned his spot

Payton Pritchard was pleased to learn that some high school and even college coaches had come forward to say they had used the recent story about him here to highlight the work ethic needed to develop their players be.

But it was an NBA coach who said, ‘I wish you had talked to me about this story.’ I would have given you a damn comment.”

And?

“You’re playing the Celtics and nobody has that much time to prepare for a regular-season game,” he said. “So in shootaround and before the game, obviously the focus is on (Jaylen) Brown and (Jayson) Tatum.

“Then,” he added with a laugh, “this little (expletive) comes in and starts lighting us up. “That (expletive) isn’t fair.”

When discussing Pritchard’s preparation, we joked with his training man, Celtic assistant Craig Luschenat, that scoring so many points in practice must have taken a toll on his self-esteem. But he said he gets all the therapy he needs for his “wounds” from watching Pritchard sink shots during games.

Larry Bird still hates the Lakers

Nice story from eight-year NBA veteran Jim Petersen, who was in Boston on Sunday as a Timberwolves broadcaster.

The former Rocket, King and Warrior was recently at the Hall of Fame festivities in Springfield and recalled a scene from the hotel lobby.

“There were a lot of Lakers there because Michael Cooper came in, and a few of them were standing around,” Petersen said. “Then (Larry) Bird comes along and he didn’t even look at her. These players are all friends now, but Larry wanted nothing to do with these guys. It was beautiful.”

Steve Bulpett has been covering the NBA since 1985, the first 35 years as a beat writer/columnist for the Boston Herald. During that time, he has earned APSE National Top 10 honors as a columnist, beat reporter and feature writer. He has served as vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association since 2014. More about Steve Bulpett