Bear Down Wildcats

Jefe wrote:Starting to get a little worried about Steve. How bad are these head aches?

The Golden State Warriors have played extraordinary basketball with Luke Walton as head coach, but the plan continues to be for Steve Kerr to return as soon as he's ready.

Kerr is expected back sooner rather than later.

The running joke around the Warriors, however, is Kerr will wait to return until the team has lost a game.

"Luke is a genuine guy," Draymond Green said. "He's the same guy he was as an assistant coach, and guys respect that. It goes a long way, for sure."

"We've been preparing for this with the core that we've had for the last four years," Curry said. "When Coach [Mark] Jackson was here, things started to change and we started to show some promise and we learned some lessons in failure that were invaluable for us. And then we all come back better players this year individually and as a team, so the confidence and belief was at an all-time high in training camp after a championship run. It should be, but it wasn't a false confidence because guys had come in and really worked over the summer and put themselves in a position to try to do it again."

BOSTON — A dude named “Q” has become the Curry Whisperer.
Both figuratively and literally.
Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser, nicknamed “Q” in the mid-1980s, doesn’t do a lot of talking, but when he speaks, it has the ability to inch Stephen Curry’s jump shot ever closer to perfection on court — or has the All-Star point guard covering his laughter with a towel off the floor.
“I should probably start a chronicle” of what Fraser says, Curry said. “The topics go all over the place. We cover everything. It’s like having two sets of eyes out there watching the whole arena and everything about the game.
“There’s a lot to talk about.”
Fraser and Curry invariably have a gazillion things to discuss, but Fraser didn’t push it right away. When he accepted a job on head coach Steve Kerr’s staff last season, Fraser went into the inquisitive role that earned him the nickname “Question Man” — shortened to “Q-Man” and eventually “Q.”
Unlike when he got saddled with the nickname in college with Kerr at the University of Arizona, Fraser, after coaching under Lute Olson, Larry Brown and Quin Snyder, now has most of the answers he used to seek. He still wasn’t going to begin shoving those answers at Curry.
“When you start working with someone like that, if you all of a sudden have all of these ideas, your first idea better be right” Fraser said. “You don’t want to guess. In a good way, our relationship grew, and Steph was receptive to what I saw.”
Fraser could have been more assertive or mandated things from Curry. Fraser’s long resume holds more water than Curry’s splash.
Fraser has worked with Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller and Steve Nash. When Kerr, one of the best shooters the game has seen, found himself in a slump, he wouldn’t have considered calling anyone else.
In that episode, Fraser flew to Portland, but didn’t want Kerr to pick up the airfare, hotel bill or food costs. Fraser simply wanted Kerr to shoot better and suggested a never-before-tried drill to do it.
“I’ve worked with some of the best,” Fraser said. “I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’ve got a good feel for the shot.”
Kerr wasn’t playing many minutes. When he was in, he’d get a shot or two. Then, he’d return to the bench.
So, Fraser had Kerr re-enact his usual 48-minute game without Kerr realizing it. The two would chat on the sideline for six minutes and then Fraser would jump up and pass Kerr a ball at the three-point arc.
Make or miss, Fraser would go back to the bench. Sometimes, he’d start reading a newspaper or start asking Kerr about his family. After 12 minutes passed, he’d dart for the ball, shuttle it to Kerr for another three-pointer.
He was bringing Kerr’s game days to life in practice, and that’s exactly what Fraser does for Curry now.
People play Curry to drive right, so Fraser drills the left; people are running Curry off the three-point arc, so Fraser has Curry shoot from 30 feet; and people are showing, blitzing or double-teaming Curry on pick-and-roll sets, so Fraser finds answers.
If you’ve ever seen Curry give up the ball to a teammate when he’s double-teamed and then race to a spot where a pass can be returned to him, you’ve seen Fraser’s handiwork.
“I just haven’t ruined him,” Fraser said.
No, he has made Curry a lot better.
Curry was the league MVP in 2014-15. This season, he’s scoring a league-high 32.2 points per game on career highs in field-goal shooting (52.9 percent) and three-point shooting (46.3).
“He’s been big,” Curry said. “You need that kind of inspiration on a day-to-day basis to try to figure out how you’re going to get better and keep things fresh. He’s great at just giving me little nuggets. It’s kind of like a pep talk. He knows my mood, the look on my face or my body language. He knows what to say to get me going.”
Fraser is remarkably intuitive, though Curry probably would have settled for merely somewhat consistent. Curry had four personal assistant coaches in his first four season: from Keith Smart to Stephen Silas to Jerry Sichting to Michael Malone.
Fraser, who sometimes juggles three balls while passing Curry another one — just to keep the point guard in rhythm during pregame warm-ups — is here for the long haul. He’s one of Kerr’s best friends, and showed his “company man” status perfectly during the interview for this story.
When interim head coach Luke Walton arrived for a previously scheduled question-and-answer session in a hotel lobby, Fraser yielded the floor to Walton. Fraser sat silently for 10 minutes, and once Walton was done, Fraser asked: “Do you still want to talk to me?”
Of course, everyone wants to talk to the man who whispers to Curry during fourth-quarter blowouts and has the face of the league covering that face with a towel.
“I don’t know if I should be called the Curry Whisperer, but I think we have a relationship that is pretty genuine, true and pure,” Fraser said. “We could be talking about anything — something that’s happening in the game with him, a player, a tendency or a guy who fouls all the time.
“Or, it might just be about the guy with the horrible yellow sweater in the fourth row.”

Time and time again for nearly 25 years, Kerr has received praise for making a record 57.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc for Arizona’s 1987-88 Final Four squad. Deep down, though, Kerr is peeved that he didn’t perform even better.

If only it wasn’t for that blasted game against Oklahoma.

“It’s the only game I played that I still think about from time to time,” Kerr said of the Wildcats‘ national semifinal loss to the Sooners in Kansas City. “What happened that night still bothers me.”

Kerr entered the contest shooting an eye-popping 59.9 percent (112-for-187) on the season before making just two of his 12 3-point attempts in what ended up being his final college game.

“I can’t help but that think, if I’d shot my normal percentage, we’d have won the game and gone on to win the championship two nights later,” Kerr said. “I guess you remember your failures more than your successes.”

rgdeuce wrote:That loss made me cry, literally. But I was only 12, so I have that excuse.

Puerco wrote:Thanks for reminding me of that one, Jefe. It's worse than 2005 for me.

8. Luke Walton is about to get PAID

This became clear during the Warriors' winning streak, and it only became more certain once we found out that the Knicks will be added to the sweepstakes with the Lakers. If I were Luke Walton's agent, I'd already be drafting a list of demands, just to see how far we can push the bidding. Ideas:

• Unlimited use of a yacht. (Note: Does not need to own a yacht. Everyone knows it's better to know a yacht owner than own one yourself. Nevertheless ...)

• Naming rights for said yacht.

• Right to hire the 2001 Arizona Wildcats as advisers (Loren Woods, Eugene Edgerson, Gilbert Arenas, etc.)

• Team of bodyguards.

• Flock of doves to introduce him at every press conference, like a John Woo movie.
Helicopter to and from every game.

• Personal chef

• Everything on this DJ's tour rider, used to furnish the coach's office before every away game.

• Every paycheck is delivered in cash, in a gym bag, like Ricky Roe in Blue Chips.

• Speaking of Ricky Roe, Bill Walton needs a new tractor.

Those are just a few suggestions. He's got another few months to fine tune everything before it's time to talk to the Knicks and Lakers. It's good to be Luke Walton, and it's good to be Luke Walton's agent.
Helicopter to and from every game.

• Personal chef

• Everything on this DJ's tour rider, used to furnish the coach's office before every away game.

• Every paycheck is delivered in cash, in a gym bag, like Ricky Roe in Blue Chips.

• Speaking of Ricky Roe, Bill Walton needs a new tractor.

Those are just a few suggestions. He's got another few months to fine tune everything before it's time to talk to the Knicks and Lakers. It's good to be Luke Walton, and it's good to be Luke Walton's agent.

Chicat wrote:Luke should be the co-recipient.

Chicat wrote:Luke should be the co-recipient.

MrBug708 wrote:God I hope not. He essentially rolled the ball out there. The game plan was already part of the team, players knew their roles and policed themselves and the culture was there. I can't imagine Luke even bothered to show up to practice. He'll get a head coaching job but unless the Lakers feel like tanking one more year, I'd just as soon hire someone like Van Gundy.

MrBug708 wrote:God I hope not. He essentially rolled the ball out there. The game plan was already part of the team, players knew their roles and policed themselves and the culture was there. I can't imagine Luke even bothered to show up to practice. He'll get a head coaching job but unless the Lakers feel like tanking one more year, I'd just as soon hire someone like Van Gundy.

Chicat wrote:

MrBug708 wrote:God I hope not. He essentially rolled the ball out there. The game plan was already part of the team, players knew their roles and policed themselves and the culture was there. I can't imagine Luke even bothered to show up to practice. He'll get a head coaching job but unless the Lakers feel like tanking one more year, I'd just as soon hire someone like Van Gundy.

Youve done an excellent job here assuming a ton of bullshit. Kudos....

MrBug708 wrote:

Chicat wrote:

MrBug708 wrote:God I hope not. He essentially rolled the ball out there. The game plan was already part of the team, players knew their roles and policed themselves and the culture was there. I can't imagine Luke even bothered to show up to practice. He'll get a head coaching job but unless the Lakers feel like tanking one more year, I'd just as soon hire someone like Van Gundy.

Youve done an excellent job here assuming a ton of bullshit. Kudos....

He won with the defending champion and and MVP. Ernie Kent or Josh Pastner wouldn't have been able to screw that up. Walton may indeed be a solid to gread coach but I'd rather see if he can actually coach on someone else's terrible team before he gets hired here. If he's smart, he rides out the Warriors good times for an even bigger payday and and bettw3 situation so his first coaching stint doesn't become his last.

MrBug708 wrote:What does Arizona have to do with anything? Once they hit the league, I could care less where they played. I rooted for him hard as a Laker. I'd feel the same way about hiring Earl Watson too.