OAKLAND (KRON) — The NBA season is moving right along, and just days after opening training camp, the Golden State Warriors will play their first preseason game Saturday in Vancouver.
It will be our first chance to see the superstar-stacked group play together.
While this Warriors roster is loaded, chemistry still needs to be developed, and head coach Steve Kerr said they are a long way from being a finished product.
The great thing is everyone can be rest assured knowing Kevin Durant has been as good as advertised and hasn’t had to make any adjustments to his game.
“That’s why they wanted me here,” Durant said. “They wanted me to come out here and be myself. I’m not gonna play timid or try not to step on anybody’s toes, you know what i mean. But I’m still gonna try to be myself. Nobody has told me I’m shooting too much. I’m just trying to be myself out there. That’s all I can do.”
It would be easy for a superstar like Durant to want to take a team over and be eager to instantly put his fingerprint on the roster.
But the former MVP, and seven-time All-Star, has fully embraced the Warriors model of ball movement and unselfish play.
“I may shoot 25 shots one game. I may shoot seven. I’ve done it before,” Durant said. “I’ve scored 20 points on seven-eight shots before. It’s not even about the shots. It’s about once I get ’em, am I being disciplined? Am I trusting in my work and shooting good shots?”
“That’s what’s really intriguing about putting him with these guys, with Steph, Klay, and Draymond, Andre and Shaun,” Kerr said. “You got multiple playmakers, and if you move the ball, you should be able to cut down on turnovers as long as we don’t make it about the show and we make it about execution.”
And when the Warriors tip off the preseason, crisp execution is something we won’t see much of.
“It’s not gonna be pretty,” Kerr said. “I can tell you that.”